Other Definitions
chert (dict)
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ChertChert is a fine-grained silica-rich cryptocrystalline sedimentary rock that may contain small fossils. It varies greatly in color from white to black, but most often manifests as gray, brown, grayish brown and light green to rusty red; its color is an expression of trace elements present in the rock, and both red and green are most often related to traces of iron (in its oxidized and reduced forms respectively). It outcrops as nodules in limestone, chalk, and dolostone formations as a replacement mineral, as well as in thin beds when it is a primary deposit, and is generally considered to be less attractive and more common than flint, although the two materials are closely related. In geological terms flint and chert are the same, with the term flint referring to chert found in chalk. Chert and Precambrian fossils The cryptocrystalline nature of chert, combined with its above average ability to resist weathering, recrystallisation and metamorphism has made it an ideal rock for preservation of early life forms. For example: Chert and flint: archaeological and historical uses In prehistoric times, chert was often used as a source material for stone tools. Like flint, obsidian, and chalcedony, as well as some rhyolites, felsites, quartzites and a few other tool stones used in lithic reduction, chert fractures in a Hertzian cone when struck with sufficient force. This results in conchoidal fractures, a characteristic of all minerals with no cleavage planes. In this kind of fracture, a cone of force propagates through the material from the point of impact, eventually removing a full or partial cone; this result is familiar to anyone who has seen what happens to a plate-glass window when struck by a small object, such as an airgun projectile. The partial Hertzian cones produced during lithic reduction are called flakes, and exhibit features characteristic of this sort of breakage, including striking platforms, bulbs of force, and occasionally eraillures, which are small secondary flakes detached from the flake's bulb of force. When a chert stone is struck against steel, sparks result. This makes it an excellent tool for starting fires, and both flint and chert were used in various types of fire-starting tools, such as tinderboxes, throughout history. This practice continues up until today for cigarette lighters and certain specialized tools like the igniters used by modern welders to ignite their torches. A primary historic use of chert was as flints for flintlock firearms, in which flint or chert striking a metal plate produces a spark that ignites a small reservoir containing black powder, discharging the firearm. In some areas chert is ubiquitous as stream gravel and fieldstone and is used as construction material and road surfacing.
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