caliche

American  

[kuh-lee-chee] / kəˈli tʃi /

noun

Geology.

1. a surface deposit consisting of sand or clay impregnated with crystalline salts such as sodium nitrate or sodium chloride.

2. a zone of calcium carbonate or other carbonates in soils of semiarid regions.

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caliche British  

/ kæˈliːtʃɪ /

noun

1. Also called: calcrete.  a bed of sand or clay in arid regions cemented by calcium carbonate, sodium chloride, and other soluble minerals

2. Also called: duricrust.  a surface layer of soil encrusted with calcium carbonate, occurring in arid regions

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caliche Scientific  

/ kə-lē′chē /

1. See hardpan

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Etymology

Origin of caliche

1855–60; < Spanish: flake of lime, equivalent to cal lime (< Latin calc-; chalk ) + -iche noun suffix

Example Sentences

I sprinkled caliche all over because it’s very important on your way up here, but it’s also a metaphor of what it’s like to be an immigrant in the United States.

From Los Angeles Times • Sep. 15, 2022

Expect gooseberry, pink grapefruit and minerality thanks to the caliche soils these vines grow in.

From Seattle Times • Oct. 28, 2020

And yet, Berlin is not only a soulful chronicler of the lost corners of America, whose semi-autobiographical stories brim with red caliche clay, arroyos, drainage ditches and smelter towns.

From New York Times • Dec. 4, 2018

He’s divorced with three grown daughters and lives alone in a small cabin on the ranch, removed from civilization by 30 miles of bone white caliche road.

From The Guardian • Jun. 19, 2017

By the time of Gilmore’s visit, Blackwater Draw was an arid, almost vegetation-free jumble of sandy drifts and faces of fractured caliche.

From "1491" by Charles C. Mann