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

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

From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 11, 2026

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 Conybeare, Edward

These are small, hard, gray nodules, obtained by washing a stratum, of about one foot in thickness, lying in the upper greensand formation in Cambridgeshire.

From The Galaxy, Volume 23, No. 2, February, 1877 by Various

That it is by them is shown by the stone used, which is greensand and not the Caen stone of later-Norman workmen, and by differences in working.

From Bell's Cathedrals: The Cathedral Church of Rochester A Description of its Fabric and a Brief History of the Episcopal See by Palmer, G. H. (George Henry)

Between the chalk and the gault clay is a very narrow band of upper greensand, only occasionally noticeable in the southern range, but strongly marked in the North Downs.

From Seaward Sussex The South Downs from End to End by Holmes, Edric