coalify

English

Etymology

From coal +‎ -ify.

Verb

coalify (third-person singular simple present coalifies, present participle coalifying, simple past and past participle coalified)

1. (paleontology, of a fossil) To change into coal.
   • 2015 July 9, “Cranial Anatomy of Wendiceratops pinhornensis gen. et sp. nov., a Centrosaurine Ceratopsid (Dinosauria: Ornithischia) from the Oldman Formation (Campanian), Alberta, Canada, and the Evolution of Ceratopsid Nasal Ornamentation”, in PLOS ONE‎^[1], →DOI:

     The fossils are produced from an approximately 40 cm thick, organic-fragment-rich clayey, sandy mudstone that is rich in coalified root traces, both horizontal and vertical, suggesting a saturated or water-logged anoxic deposit.

Related terms

• charcoalize
• coalification (noun)