caliche
a surface deposit consisting of sand or clay impregnated with crystalline salts such as sodium nitrate or sodium chloride.
a zone of calcium carbonate or other carbonates in soils of semiarid regions.
Origin of caliche
1Words Nearby caliche
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024
How to use caliche in a sentence
Magnificent language, a luminous, fevered dream of obsessive caliche-hued desert love.
All this is the result of digging for caliche, and blasting it out of the sandy bed in which it has lain God only knows how long.
Peru in the Guano Age | Alexander James DuffieldHence, roads are referred to as clay, gumbo, sandy or caliche roads as local custom may elect.
American Rural Highways | T. R. AggThe caliche varies in thickness from a few inches to 10 or 12 feet, and rests on a soft stratum of earth called cova.
Manures and the principles of manuring | Charles Morton AikmanThe caliche, or raw nitrate of soda, is not equally distributed over the pampas.
Manures and the principles of manuring | Charles Morton Aikman
The caliche is then separated by means of picks from the overlying costra and carried to the refinery.
Manures and the principles of manuring | Charles Morton Aikman
British Dictionary definitions for caliche
/ (kæˈliːtʃɪ) /
Also called: calcrete a bed of sand or clay in arid regions cemented by calcium carbonate, sodium chloride, and other soluble minerals
a surface layer of soil encrusted with calcium carbonate, occurring in arid regions: Also called: duricrust
Origin of caliche
1Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Scientific definitions for caliche
[ kə-lē′chē ]
The American Heritage® Science Dictionary Copyright © 2011. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
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