Crossword clues for travertine
travertine
The Collaborative International Dictionary
Travertine \Trav"er*tine\, n. [F. travertin, It. travertino, tiburtino, L. lapis Tiburtinus, fr. Tibur an ancient town of Latium, now Tivoli.] (Min.) A white concretionary form of calcium carbonate, usually hard and semicrystalline. It is deposited from the water of springs or streams holding lime in solution. Extensive deposits exist at Tivoli, near Rome.
Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
1797, from Italian travertino "a kind of building stone," from Latin tiburtinus, from Tiburs, adjective from Tibur (modern Tivoli), in Latium.
Wiktionary
n. (context mineralogy English) A light, porous form of concretionary limestone (or calcite) deposited from solution, and sometimes quarried for building.
Wikipedia
Travertine is a form of limestone deposited by mineral springs, especially hot springs. Travertine often has a fibrous or concentric appearance and exists in white, tan, cream-colored, and even rusty varieties. It is formed by a process of rapid precipitation of calcium carbonate, often at the mouth of a hot spring or in a limestone cave. In the latter, it can form stalactites, stalagmites, and other speleothems. It is frequently used in Italy and elsewhere as a building material.
Travertine is a terrestrial sedimentary rock, formed by the precipitation of carbonate minerals from solution in ground and surface waters, and/or geothermally heated hot-springs. Similar (but softer and extremely porous) deposits formed from ambient-temperature water are known as tufa.
Usage examples of "travertine".
It had coated the travertine flowstone like poured polyurethane, sharpening the delicate oranges, greens and reds of the original mineral salts into a crystalline riot of color.
He found it hard to concentrate with the amphisbaena shifting in and out of the travertine couch.
At the far end of the boardroom the lift light blinked red and chromium doors opened in the wall of travertine marble.
As they were passing three rows away from us, Korneff slid off the travertine slab and, in compliance with the cemetery regulations, we took our caps off for the procession from the pastor to the next of kin.
The central core alone was over twenty feet tall—a rugged mountain of travertine marble riddled with caves and grottoes through which the water churned.
The central core alone was over twenty feet tall-a rugged mountain of travertine marble riddled with caves and grottoes through which the water churned.
Over the ages water had scoured a deep trough, then travertine, percolating out of the solution, lined it with a natural cement.