Old Red Sandstone

British  

noun

1. a thick sequence of sedimentary rock (generally, but not always, red) deposited in Britain and NW Europe during the Devonian period

2. (in Britain) another term for Devonian

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Example Sentences

At the time, this terrain lay far from the arctic, at lower latitudes, locked in the arid interior of a landmass called the Old Red Sandstone Continent.

From Science Magazine • May 27, 2020

It shows up through the Trias and Lias in extensive inliers near Bridgend, while in Gower it dips away from the Old Red Sandstone of Cefn-y-bryn.

From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 12, Slice 1 "Gichtel, Johann" to "Glory" by Various

The formation of this Carboniferous range was followed in northern Europe by a second continental period somewhat similar to that of the Old Red Sandstone, but the continent extended still farther to the south.

From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 9, Slice 8 "Ethiopia" to "Evangelical Association" by Various

They had Hugh Miller's Old Red Sandstone in green, and Selected Sayings of Marcus Aurelius in brown, and others in various colours; but it was the red that struck the eye at the greater distance.

From Mushroom Town by Onions, Oliver

Pterichthys, ter-ik′this, n. a genus of fossil ganoid fishes in the Old Red Sandstone strata, with wing-like pectoral fins.

From Chambers's Twentieth Century Dictionary (part 3 of 4: N-R) by Various