fossiliferousadj.
/ˌfɒsᵻˈlɪf(ə)rəs/, U.S. /ˌfɑsəˈlɪfərəs/ Geology.
Of rock, a stratum, etc.: containing fossils.
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the world > life > biology > organism > fossil > [adjective] > bearing fossils
fossiliferous1829
the world > the earth > structure of the earth > structural features > formations by contents > [adjective] > containing organic remains > containing fossils
fossiliferous1829
ammonitiferous1830
nummulitic1830
hippurite1831
indusial1833
fucoid1839
encrinal1845
reptiliferous1845
fucoidal1849
nummuline1861
encrinitic1863
encrinital1876
spiriferous1888
1829 H. T. De la Beche in Philos. Mag. 6 440 That rocks may be divided into two great classes, the stratified and the unstratified;—that of the former some contain organic remains, and others do not;—and that the non-fossiliferous stratified rocks, as a mass, occupy an inferior place to the fossiliferous strata. [Note] The term fossiliferous is here confined to organic remains.
1858 A. Geikie Story of Boulder vi. 97 Richly fossiliferous beds of the mountain limestone.
1881 Trans. Amer. Inst. Mining Engineers 1880–1 9 135 Fossil ore, fossiliferous red hematite.
1940 F. F. Grout Kemp's Handbk. Rocks (ed. 6) viii. 171 The limestones with fine grain and only scattered shells are best called fossiliferous limestones.
1985 D. Lowenthal Past is Foreign Country (1988) ii. 44 As honorary curator of one such museum, John Fowles defended public access to Dorset's fossiliferous cliffs.
1999 Rock & Gem Dec. 71/1 None of the land-laid Triassic exposures is fossiliferous.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, November 2010; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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adj.1829