oolite

American  

[oh-uh-lahyt] / ˈoʊ əˌlaɪt /

noun

Geology.

1. a limestone composed of minute rounded concretions resembling fish roe, in some places altered to ironstone by replacement with iron oxide.

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oolite British  

/ ˈəʊəˌlaɪt /

noun

1. any sedimentary rock, esp limestone, consisting of tiny spherical concentric grains within a fine matrix

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oolite Scientific  

/ ō′ə-līt′ /

1. A sedimentary rock consisting of ooliths that are cemented together by calcium carbonate.

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Other Word Forms

• oolitic
  adjective

Etymology

Origin of oolite

1775–85; (< French oölithe ) < New Latin oölithēs. See oo-, -lite

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

oolite

The Ammonites, whose beautiful whorled and chambered shells, and the casts of them, are so abundant in every stratum, especially in the lias, the chalk, and the oolite, had four gills also.

From Sea Monsters Unmasked and Sea Fables Explained by H. W. (Henry William) Lee

Therefore the Hartz, the Cote d'Or, and Mount Pilus of Forez, have risen from the globe since the formation of the Jura oolite, and before the deposit of the three other formations.

From The American Quarterly Review, No. 17, March 1831 by Robert Walsh

This is an oolite limestone, that is to say, the cream-coloured soft building stone so familiar in building, which hardens in time, and is generally dubbed Bath-stone.

From George Alfred Henty The Story of an Active Life by George Manville Fenn

The belemnites are the internal shells of a sort of cuttle-fish which swam about in enormous numbers in the seas whose sediment forms our modern lias, oolite, and gault.

From Falling in Love With Other Essays on More Exact Branches of Science by Grant Allen

The Plaine, resting on oolite limestone, is treeless but fertile.

From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 8, Slice 3 "Destructors" to "Diameter" by Various