molasse

/ məˈlæs /

noun

1. a soft sediment produced by the erosion of mountain ranges after the final phase of mountain building

Word History and Origins

Origin of molasse¹

C18: from French, perhaps alteration of mollasse, from Latin mollis soft

Example Sentences

On Thursday morning, the second half of the device - which weighs a few tens of kilos - left its cleanroom to be picked up by a crane and lowered 100m into the cavern hewn out of the local Molasse sandstone to house the CMS experiment.

From BBC

That same quarry yielded the molasse rock that makes up the core of the Palais Idéal du Facteur Cheval, a marvel of outsider art about 18 miles northeast of Tain in Hauterives.

From New York Times

It is found in the Pliocene sands of Holland, the Eocene sands of Paris and the “Molasse” of Switzerland, but is much more abundant in the Lower Cretaceous rocks of N. Europe, especially in the subdivision known as the Greensand.

From Project Gutenberg

O. Heer, who examined the numerous plant remains from these beds, concluded that they belonged to the same geological horizon as the Molasse or Oligocene of Switzerland.

From Project Gutenberg

Miocene molasse with Clypeaster, &c., forms the plain of Aleria on the east coast, and occurs also at St Florent in the north and Bonifacio in the south.

From Project Gutenberg