Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • adjective Ultrabasic.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • adjective geology Describing igneous rocks that contain magnesium and iron and only a very small amount of silica, such as are found in the Earth’s mantle.
  • noun A rock with such properties.

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

ultra- +‎ mafic

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Examples

  • That was as far as the analysis went in the past, but much newer work in mineral physics - specifically concerning what are known as "ultramafic" rocks - have changed all that.

    TIME.com: Top Stories 2011

  • The second and third types of vent sites are hosted in rocks called ultramafic that form deep below the seafloor and are composed of material similar to the much hotter lavas that erupted on Earth's very earliest seafloor, thousands of millions of years ago.

    PhysOrg.com - latest science and technology news stories 2010

  • The second and third types of vent sites are hosted in rocks called ultramafic that form deep below the seafloor and are composed of material similar to the much hotter lavas that erupted on Earth's very earliest seafloor, thousands of millions of years ago.

    Newswise: Latest News 2010

  • The second and third types of vent sites are hosted in rocks called ultramafic that form deep below the seafloor and are composed of material similar to the much hotter lavas that erupted on Earth's very earliest seafloor, thousands of millions of years ago.

    PhysOrg.com - latest science and technology news stories 2010

  • The second and third types of vent sites are hosted in rocks called ultramafic that form deep below the seafloor and are composed of material similar to the much hotter lavas that erupted on Earth's very earliest seafloor, thousands of millions of years ago.

    Newswise: Latest News 2010

  • Geological Survey have surveyed the United States and found 6,000 square miles (15,500 square kilometers) of so-called ultramafic rocks at or near the surface that could be ideal for storing the excess gas.

    Livescience.com 2009

  • There are minor amounts of Pre-Cretaceous metamorphic and ultramafic rocks on San Clemente Island.

    Southern Channel Islands (Bailey) 2009

  • Some small areas of mafic and ultramafic rocks also occur, producing more basic soils.

    Ecoregions of North Carolina and South Carolina (EPA) 2009

  • C peridotite and dunite the upper mantle is composed of ultramafic rock called peridotite which is mostly olivines and pyroxenes.

    Earth Robot | SciFi, Fantasy & Horror Collectibles 2009

  • Cenozoic marine and nonmarine sedimentary rocks and alluvial deposits, and Mesozoic granitic and ultramafic rocks.

    Central California Coast (Bailey) 2009

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