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 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

The variety of their strata make the cliffs interesting to geologists, for here are found layers of different kinds of chalk, limestone, greensand, marls, chert, and interspersed lines of flints.

From Devon, Its Moorlands, Streams and Coasts by Northcote, Rosalind

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

This separated out the nodules, while the greensand and water was run off as thick mud; used, when dry, for levelling the land, and sometimes for brick-making.

From Highways and Byways in Cambridge and Ely by Conybeare, Edward