greensand

American  

[green-sand] / ˈgrinˌsænd /

noun

1. a sandstone containing much glauconite, which gives it a greenish hue.

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greensand British  

/ ˈɡriːnˌsænd /

noun

1. an olive-green sandstone consisting mainly of quartz and glauconite

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Etymology

Origin of greensand

First recorded in 1790–1800; green + sand

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

greensand

Pockets of chalk, clay and greensand encourage an exuberant spread of botanical life.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 11, 2026

The Blackdowns in the S.W. are not quite so elevated as their neighbours; near Otterford and Chard they consist of greensand, whilst chalk appears at Combe St Nicholas and Cricket St Thomas.

From Somerset by G. W. Wade

The rivers “then ran down the slopes of the dome, and as the chalk and greensand gradually weathered back ... deepened and deepened their valleys, and thus were enabled to keep their original course.”

From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 8, Slice 6 "Dodwell" to "Drama" by Various

Similar bodies are found in the lower part of the Siluro-Cambrian, in the Quebec group at Point Levis; and there they are filled with a species of glauconite constituting a sort of greensand rock.

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

Here and there along the Green gush out bright fountains of delicious water from artesian wells driven into the "greensand," some 200 feet below the surface.

From Highways and Byways in Cambridge and Ely by Edward Conybeare