chert
a compact rock consisting essentially of microcrystalline quartz.
Origin of chert
1Other words from chert
- cherty, adjective
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024
How to use chert in a sentence
Cherty quartzites interbedded with mylonites occur on the flanks of the Nandi hills, but their age is not known.
The arenacious and cherty varieties frequently occur in the same bed; sometimes they form distinct beds.
Narrative of a Second Expedition to the Shores of the Polar Sea | John FranklinThey were deep in the obscurity of the oak thicket now; the path was cherty, grassless.
Mountain | Clement WoodThere was the long line of cherty hills to the left, covered by a dark growth of stunted pines.
The Young Mountaineers | Charles Egbert CraddockInland of these, the ordinary pale carboniferous sandstone and cherty limestone re-appeared.
In the Arctic Seas | Francis Leopold McClintock
British Dictionary definitions for chert
/ (tʃɜːt) /
a microcrystalline form of silica usually occurring as bands or layers of pebbles in sedimentary rock. Formula: SiO 2 . Varieties include flint, lyddite (Lydian stone): Also called: hornstone
Origin of chert
1Derived forms of chert
- cherty, adjective
Collins 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 chert
[ chûrt ]
A hard, brittle sedimentary rock consisting of microcrystalline quartz. It is often reddish-brown to green but can also occur in a variety of other colors, especially white, pink, brown, or black. Chert often contains impurities such as calcium, iron-oxide, or the remains of silica-rich organisms. It usually occurs as nodules in limestone and dolomite and has curved fractures.
The American Heritage® Science Dictionary Copyright © 2011. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
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