tufa

American  

[too-fuh, tyoo-] / ˈtu fə, ˈtyu- /

noun

Geology.

1. Also called calcareous tufa, calc-tufa.  Also called calc-tuff.  a porous limestone formed from calcium carbonate deposited by springs or the like.

2. (not in technical use) tuff 2 .

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tufa British  

/ tjuːˈfeɪʃəs, ˈtjuːfə /

noun

1. Also called: calc-tufa.  a soft porous rock consisting of calcium carbonate deposited from springs rich in lime

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tufa Scientific  

/ to̅o̅′fə /

1. A soft, friable, and porous sedimentary rock consisting of calcium carbonate and formed by the evaporation of water, especially at the mouth of a hot spring or on a drying lakebed. It is similar to, but harder than, travertine.

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• tufaceous
  adjective

Etymology

Origin of tufa

1760–70; < Italian tufo < Latin tōfus

Example Sentences

Environmentalists say the horses are degrading the otherworldly landscape at Mono Lake, including bird habitat and its famed tufa — textured rock columns that would look at home on Mars.

From Los Angeles Times • Oct. 7, 2025

As they walk toward the shore, the group is dwarfed by the lake’s famous craggy formations called tufa nearly 20 feet above them.

From Los Angeles Times • Aug. 8, 2025

But today, just to stand beside the small tufa niche where a Jewish child was laid to rest 2,000 years ago feels like a kind of prayer.

From New York Times • May 1, 2023

In these Etruscan travel essays, pages and pages of descriptions and interpretations are devoted to what he finds inside the tombs, including porches, columns, household items made out of stone and tufa beds.

From Washington Post • Sep. 2, 2021

These subterranean galleries, cut in the soft tufa, extend for miles under the present city: branching out in all directions they form a veritable labyrinth of secret passages.

From The Story of Assisi by Gordon, Lina Duff