auriferous
/ɔːˈrɪf(ə)rəs
/adjective
(Of rocks or minerals) containing gold: not all the quartz veins are auriferous...
- To protect potential mining sites and timber supplies, the Box-Ironbark eucalypt forests which characterised auriferous soils were held back from agricultural settlement.
- The combination of these factors limited the nature of auriferous fluids, if any, that could have deposited gold in zones of structurally induced permeability.
- The auriferous veins there are usually interbedded sandstone mudstone varieties metamorphosed into greenschist facies.
Origin
Mid 17th century: from Latin aurifer 'gold-bearing' (from aurum 'gold') + -ous.