What is "new red sandstone"

New \New\ (n[=u]), a. [Compar. Newer (n[=u]"[~e]r); superl. Newest.] [OE. OE. newe, AS. niwe, neowe; akin to D. nieuw, OS. niwi, OHG. niuwi, G. neu, Icel. n[=y]r, Dan. & Sw. ny, Goth. niujis, Lith. naujas, Russ. novuii, Ir. nua, nuadh, Gael. nuadh, W. newydd, Armor. nevez, L. novus, Gr. ne`os, Skr. nava, and prob. to E. now. [root]263. See Now, and cf. Announce, Innovate, Neophyte, Novel.]

1. Having existed, or having been made, but a short time; having originated or occured lately; having recently come into existence, or into one's possession; not early or long in being; of late origin; recent; fresh; modern; -- opposed to old, as, a new coat; a new house; a new book; a new fashion. ``Your new wife.''
   --Chaucer.

2. Not before seen or known, although existing before; lately manifested; recently discovered; as, a new metal; a new planet; new scenes.

3. Newly beginning or recurring; starting anew; now commencing; different from what has been; as, a new year; a new course or direction.

4. As if lately begun or made; having the state or quality of original freshness; also, changed for the better; renovated; unworn; untried; unspent; as, rest and travel made him a new man.

   Steadfasty purposing to lead a new life.
   --Bk. of Com. Prayer.

   Men after long emaciating diets, fat, and almost new.
   --Bacon.

5. Not of ancient extraction, or of a family of ancient descent; not previously known or famous.
   --Addison.

6. Not habituated; not familiar; unaccustomed.

   New to the plow, unpracticed in the trace.
   --Pope.

7. Fresh from anything; newly come. New from her sickness to that northern air. --Dryden. New birth. See under Birth. New Church, or New Jerusalem Church, the church holding the doctrines taught by Emanuel Swedenborg. See Swedenborgian. New heart (Theol.), a heart or character changed by the power of God, so as to be governed by new and holy motives. New land, land cleared and cultivated for the first time. New light. (Zo["o]l.) See Crappie. New moon.

   1. The moon in its first quarter, or when it first appears after being invisible.

   2. The day when the new moon is first seen; the first day of the lunar month, which was a holy day among the Jews.
      --2 Kings iv. 23.

      New Red Sandstone (Geol.), an old name for the formation immediately above the coal measures or strata, now divided into the Permian and Trias. See Sandstone.

      New style. See Style.

      New testament. See under Testament.

      New world, the land of the Western Hemisphere; -- so called because not known to the inhabitants of the Eastern Hemisphere until recent times.

      Syn: Novel; recent; fresh; modern. See Novel.

The New Red Sandstone is a chiefly British geological term for the beds of red sandstone and associated rocks laid down throughout the Permian (280 million years ago) to the end of the Triassic (about 200 million years ago) that underlie the Jurassic Lias; the term distinguishes it from the Old Red Sandstone which is largely Devonian in age.

Its upper layers consist of mudstones, but most of the formation consists of reddish sandstones, interbedded with rare evaporite minerals such as halite and gypsum; these indicate deposition within a hot and arid palaeo-environment e.g. a desert or sabkha.