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The process of turning some plant material into stone by infiltration with water carrying mineral particles without changing the original shape
Answer for the clue "The process of turning some plant material into stone by infiltration with water carrying mineral particles without changing the original shape ", 13 letters:
petrification
Word definitions for petrification in dictionaries
Wiktionary
Word definitions in Wiktionary
n. 1 the process of replacing the organic residues of plants (and animals) with insoluble salts, the original shape and topography being retained 2 (context figurative English) obduracy; callousness
WordNet
Word definitions in WordNet
n. the process of turning some plant material into stone by infiltration with water carrying mineral particles without changing the original shape [syn: petrifaction ]
The Collaborative International Dictionary
Word definitions in The Collaborative International Dictionary
Petrification \Pet`ri*fi*ca"tion\, n. [Cf. F. p['e]trification. See Petrify .] See Petrifaction . Fig.: Obduracy; callousness. --Hallywell.
Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
Word definitions in Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
1610s, from French petrification (16c.), Latinized noun of action from Middle French pétrifier (see petrify ). Etymologically better than the more common petrifaction .
Usage examples of petrification.
For example, when the autopsy shewed the brain and several other internal organs of the petrified Fijian to be fresh and unpetrified, though hermetically sealed by the petrification of the exterior flesh - an anomaly about which physicians are still guardedly and bewilderedly debating - we did not wish a furore to be started.
Over time, the human elements would be replaced atom by atom, cell by cell, with the Qanskan equivalents, much the same way as wood petrification occurs.
Similarly, considering Danaë's brass tower, the sea-chest, the strapping tasks of Polydectes, Danaë's bondage to him, and Andromeda's manacles on the one hand, and on the other, my conquests of Atlas, Phineus, Polydectes, and the rest by petrification, could not one say that my goal for myself and gift to others was typically release from immobility, and my punishment -- of both my Medusa'd former enemies and my latterly tied-down self -- typically its opposite?
When I was visiting ancient cities, sacred but wholly dead, and without present value for the human race, I promised myself to save this Rome of mine from the petrification of a Thebes, a Babylon, or a Tyre.