a. rare. Also erron. terrigeneous. [f. as prec. + -OUS.]
1. Produced or sprung from the earth; earth-born.
1684. T. Burnet, Th. Earth, I. 189. Our terrigenous animals must have been wean’d as soon as they were born.
1830. Lyell, Princ. Geol., I. I. iii. 31. Either these were terrigenous, or … the animals they so exactly represent have become extinct.
† 2. Chem. A term for those metals of which the oxides are called earths. (Cf. CALCIGENOUS.) Obs.
1854. J. Scoffern, in Orr’s Circ. Sc., Chem., 433. Silicates, either of the terrigenous or the calcigenous class.
c. 1865. J. Wylde, in Circ. Sc., I. 394. Tests for the terrigeneous earths.
3. Geol. Land-derived: applied to marine deposits derived from the neighbouring land.
1882. Geikie, Text Bk. Geol., III. II. ii. § 6. 437. Mechanical deposits of the sea … Land-derived or Terrigenous.
1884. Nature, 22 May, 84/2. Terrigenous deposits in deep water near land.
