sapropelic, a. Geol. and Zool.
(sæprəʊˈpɛlɪk)
[ad. G. sapropelisch (R. Lauterborn 1901, in Zool. Anzeiger XXIV. 50), f. Gr. σαπρός putrid + πηλός mud, earth, clay: see -ic.]
Found in, characterized by, or derived from sapropel.
| 1901 Jrnl. R. Microsc. Soc. 144 ‘Sapropelic’ Fauna... Dr. R. Lauterborn uses the term ‘sapropelische’ to denote the organisms found in the muddy debris covering the bottom of stagnant fresh-water pools. 1918 [see humic a.]. 1963 D. W. & E. E. Humphries tr. Termier's Erosion & Sedimentation xi. 239 The presence of a sapropelic bottom inhibits aerobic life over the whole of the lower part of the basin. 1966 [see humic a.]. 1971 Nature 31 Dec. 508/1 They [sc. labyrinthodonts] are never found in humic coals, but usually in sapropelic coals, laid down in the deep anaerobic mud which formed in stagnant conditions. |