coal measures

American  

plural noun

Geology.

1. coal-bearing strata.

2. (initial capital letters) in Europe, a portion of the Carboniferous System, characterized by widespread coal deposits.

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Coal Measures British  

plural noun

1. a series of coal-bearing rocks formed in the upper Carboniferous period; the uppermost series of the Carboniferous system

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Etymology

Origin of coal measures

First recorded in 1655–65

Example Sentences

The peculiarity is due to the hard carboniferous limestone, which forms its periphery, having better resisted denudation than the softer matrix of the coal measures embraced by it.

From No Quarter! by Reid, Mayne

In Vancouver’s Island in British Columbia, Cretaceous coal measures occur, comparable in value and in the excellence of the fuel they afford with those of the true coal formation.

From The Chain of Life in Geological Time A Sketch of the Origin and Succession of Animals and Plants by Dawson, Sir J. William

In those older strata land plants are almost as rare as they are abundant or universal in the coal measures.

From Principles of Geology or, The Modern Changes of the Earth and its Inhabitants Considered as Illustrative of Geology by Lyell, Charles, Sir

Here there are coal measures in abundance—in the South, Central, and Northern divisions of the State, and on the Darling Downs.

From Our First Half-Century: A Review of Queensland Progress Based Upon Official Information by Queensland

His carbon, nitrogen, oxygen, and hydrogen are the carbon, nitrogen, oxygen, and hydrogen of the coal measures, soils, atmosphere, oceans, of the earth.

From Psychical Miscellanea Being Papers on Psychical Research, Telepathy, Hypnotism, Christian Science, etc. by Hill, J. Arthur