lithified
/ˈlɪθɪfaɪd/
adjective
- Turned into rock; describing sediment that has become solid rock through natural processes.
- Hikers walked across a lithified lava flow that had cooled and hardened thousands of years ago.
- Fossils are often found in lithified mud that was once soft and wet.
- The lithified sand dunes now form a beautiful red sandstone cliff.
Synonyms
verb
- Past tense of lithify: to have turned into rock.
- Scientists studied how the ancient seabed lithified under the weight of glaciers.
- The volcanic ash lithified quickly after being buried by later eruptions.
- Over millions of years, the sediment lithified into a hard layer of limestone.