red clay

noun

clay whose redness results from iron oxide (Freq. 1)

• Hypernyms: ↑clay, ↑mineral

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noun

1. : clay that usually owes its reddish color to oxide of iron

2. : a slowly accumulating abysmal deposit covering some 55,000,000 square miles of the deepest parts of the ocean bottom and consisting of the insoluble residual material of volcanic and meteoritic or cosmic dust mingled with nodules of manganese oxide, crystals of the zeolite phillipsite, sharks' teeth, the siliceous tests of Radiolaria, and other resistant organic debris

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—red-clay, adj.

Geol.

a brown to red, widely distributed deep-sea deposit consisting chiefly of microscopic particles and tinted red by iron oxides and manganese.

[1350-1400; ME]

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red clay noun

1. A clayey deposit of oceanic abysses, stained reddish or brown by manganese and iron oxides

2. Cave-earth

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Main Entry: ↑red

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red clay,

Geology. a reddish-brown mud that covers the ocean bottoms at depths below 12,000 feet. It consists of very fine particles of volcanic ash, mica, quartz, pumice, and meteoritic material.