Recent Examples on the WebBenson and his colleagues studied samples of both smectite and illite drilled from the ground throughout the caldera.—Rahul Rao, Popular Science, 30 Aug. 2023 In 2018, Wallace co-led an offshore drilling expedition to Hikurangi, which pulled up a lot of clay sediments rich in the mineral smectite, often used by the oil and gas industry as a lubricant in drilling muds.—Bypaul Voosen, science.org, 21 June 2023
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'smectite.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
Word History
Etymology
smectis fuller's earth, modification of Greek smēktris kind of fuller's earth, from smēchein to clean
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