Caliche

Quick meaning: Caliche is a noun meaning (mineralogy) A crude form of sodium nitrate from South America; used as a fertilizer.

Meaning

(mineralogy) A crude form of sodium nitrate from South America; used as a fertilizer.

More Meanings

1. A layer of hard clay subsoil or sedimentary rock; hardpan.

Example Sentences

Caliche in various forms, namely powdery, nodule, tube, fracture-infill, laminar crust, hard laminated crust (hardpan) and pisolitic crust, is widespread in the Mersin area in southern Turkey (Eren et al., 2008; Kadir and Eren, 2008).

Having a layer of caliche at depths of 16 inches and less really puts a damper on the garden site. The caliche does not allow roots to penetrate it (tree roots often take 10 years to break through a caliche layer) nor does this mineral allow water to drain.

According to local well drillers, in wells drilled on the high plains a few hundred feet back from the caliche escarpment or in other locations on the high plains in this area no hard caliche or white layer, such as would characterize a soft layer of high lime-carbonate content, is generally reached at a depth corresponding to the elevation of the caliche escarpment.

Word Forms

• caliches

Synonyms for caliche

Depending on context, synonyms include hardpan.

Related Words

Related dictionary entries include hardpan, nitrocalcite, nitrochalk, nitratine, calcarinite, calcia.

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