outwash

American  

[out-wosh, -wawsh] / ˈaʊtˌwɒʃ, -ˌwɔʃ /

noun

Geology.

1. the material, chiefly sand or gravel, deposited by meltwater streams in front of a glacier.

---

outwash British  

/ ˈaʊtˌwɒʃ /

noun

1. a mass of gravel, sand, etc, carried and deposited by the water derived from melting glaciers

---

Etymology

Origin of outwash

First recorded in 1890–95; out- + wash

Example Sentences

Outwash streams commonly flow into proglacial lakes where glaciolacustrine sediments are deposited.

From Textbooks • Jan. 1, 2015

Outwash plains are plains of sand and gravel which frequently border terminal moraines on their outward face, and were spread evidently by outwash from the melting ice.

From The Elements of Geology by Norton, William Harmon

Outwash plains are sometimes pitted by bowl-shaped basins where ice blocks were left buried in the sand by the retreating glacier.

From The Elements of Geology by Norton, William Harmon

Outwash plains are the deposits formed by streams which, during the Ice Age, issued from the glaciers.

From Grand Teton [Wyoming] National Park by Interior, United States Dept. of the