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New Red Sandstone
(Encyclopedia)New Red Sandstone, name for the thick red layer of the Triassic formation in Great Britain (see Triassic period). It is many thousands of feet thick and is composed chiefly of red sandstones, clays, a...Hofmeister, Wilhelm
(Encyclopedia)Hofmeister, Wilhelm vĭlˈhĕlm hōfˈmīˌstər [key], 1824–77, German botanist. Although self-taught, he made such valuable studies of the reproduction and development of plants that he was appoin...lobefin
(Encyclopedia)lobefin, common name for any of a group of lunged, fleshy-finned, bony fishes, also called crossopterygians, that were dominant in the Devonian period and may have given rise to amphibians. They had h...Sedgwick, Adam
(Encyclopedia)Sedgwick, Adam, 1785–1873, English geologist. He was a professor at Cambridge from 1818. His most important work was a study, made with R. I. Murchison, of the rock formation of Devonshire, which th...antacid
(Encyclopedia)antacid, any one of several basic substances that counteract stomach acidity (see stomach). Antacids are used by physicians to treat hyperchlorhydria, i.e., the excessive production of hydrochloric ac...Dickinson, Edwin Walter
(Encyclopedia)Dickinson, Edwin Walter, 1891–1978, American painter, b. Seneca Falls, N.Y. He studied in New York City with William Merritt Chase, and spent most of his life on Cape Cod. Working during the moderni...dew
(Encyclopedia)dew, thin film of water that has condensed on the surface of objects near the ground. Dew forms when radiational cooling of these objects during the nighttime hours also cools the shallow layer of ove...Gobi
(Encyclopedia)Gobi gōˈbē [key], Mandarin Yintai shamo, great stony desert of N central Asia, c.500,000 sq mi (1,295,000 sq km), extending c.1,000 mi (1,610 km) from east to west across SE Mongolia and N China fr...Precambrian
(Encyclopedia)Precambrian, name of a major division of geologic time (see Geologic Timescale, tablegeologic timescale, table), from c.5 billion to 570 million years ago. It is now usually divided into the Archean a...wombat
(Encyclopedia)wombat, shy marsupial of Australia and Tasmania, related to the koala. The wombat is a thick-set animal with a large head, short legs (giving it a shuffling gait), and a very short tail. It is about 3...Browse by Subject
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