Tufa

Description

A porous, calcareous mineral formed by hot springs, dry lakes or ground water deposits. Tufa is a microcrystalline type of Limestone that has been used occasionally since ancient times for sculptures (Mayer 1969). See Travertine and tuffaceous limestone.

Synonyms and Related Terms

calc-tufa; calc-tuff; calcareous tufa; tufa limestone; tuffeau (Fr.); tufo calcário (Port.); Kalktuff (Deut.); tuf (Ned.)

Resources and Citations

• R. J. Gettens, G.L. Stout, Painting Materials, A Short Encyclopaedia, Dover Publications, New York, 1966

• G.S.Brady, Materials Handbook, McGraw-Hill Book Co., New York, 1971 Comment: p. 70

• Ralph Mayer, A Dictionary of Art Terms and Techniques, Harper and Row Publishers, New York, 1969 (also 1945 printing)

• Richard S. Lewis, Hawley's Condensed Chemical Dictionary, Van Nostrand Reinhold, New York, 10th ed., 1993

• Luciana and Tiziano Mannoni, Marble: the history of a culture, Facts on File Publications

• Random House, Webster's Encyclopedic Unabridged Dictionary of the English Language, Grammercy Book, New York, 1997

• A.Lucas, J.R.Harris, Ancient Egyptian Materials and Industries, Edward Arnold Publishers Ltd., London, 4th edition, 1962

• The American Heritage Dictionary or Encarta, via Microsoft Bookshelf 98, Microsoft Corp., 1998