Definition of "carboniferous" [carboniferous]

• Containing or producing carbon (adjective)

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• "The group with which we have to deal is called the carboniferous or coal bearing system, and it includes four classes of rocks, viz.: 1, sandstone; 2, shale or bind; 3, limestone; 4, coal and underclay."
• "It is one great sheet of old coral-reef and coral-mud, which is now called the carboniferous limestone."
• "Coal strata are nearly confined to the group termed the carboniferous formation."