alluvium
Americannoun
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alluviums,
plural
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alluvia
plural
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a deposit of sand, mud, etc., formed by flowing water.
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the sedimentary matter deposited thus within recent times, especially in the valleys of large rivers.
noun
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alluviums
plural
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of alluvium
1655–65; < Latin, noun use of neuter of alluvius washed against, equivalent to alluv- ( see alluvion) + -ius, -ium adj. suffix; see -ium
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
Deposits of alluvium and volcanic ash have made desirable soil that is among the top 2% in the world.
From Seattle Times ● Jun. 16, 2023
Paved surfaces end miles from the rock outcrop, so we drive on overgrown rutted two-tracks that cross the loose sandy dune fields that show up on our geologic maps as “QAL”—Quaternary alluvium.
From Scientific American ● Dec. 15, 2020
Thus, a landscape architect I know savors the very smell of the dirt embedded in his botany texts; it is the alluvium of his life’s work.
From Slate ● Feb. 4, 2020
The island’s geology — a heart of granite in the west, compacted alluvium in the east — is such that most of it could be hollowed out.
From New York Times ● Apr. 20, 2017
The soil consists chiefly of black basaltic alluvium, often more than 20 ft. deep; but along the banks of the Nerbudda the fertility of the land compensates for the tameness of the scenery.
From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 13, Slice 7 "Horticulture" to "Hudson Bay" by Various
S., good sections of these old brecciated alluvia occur.
From Early Days in North Queensland by Edward Palmer
But it is not often that borings come to be made in river alluvia.
From The Geological Story of the Isle of Wight by J. Cecil Hughes
They are probably contemporary with the older alluvia.
From The Project Gutenberg Encyclopedia Volume 1 of 28 by Project Gutenberg
Hence it was long and erroneously determined that bare rocks in the neighbourhood of shallow alluvia characterise rich placers, and that the wealthiest mining-regions are poor and stunted in vegetation.
From To The Gold Coast for Gold, Vol. II A Personal Narrative by Sir Richard Francis Burton
I start with two Mason-bees of the Walls working at their nests on the pebbles in the alluvia of the Aygues, not far from Serignan.
From The Mason-Bees by Alexander Teixeira de Mattos
Herculaneum was situated several miles nearer to the volcano, and has, therefore, been always more exposed to be covered, not only by showers of ashes, but by alluviums and streams of lava.
From Principles of Geology or, The Modern Changes of the Earth and its Inhabitants Considered as Illustrative of Geology by Sir Charles Lyell
There are great tracts of alluviums lying along the banks of the Derwent, the Ouse, and the Trent, and the Romney Marsh of Kent along the banks of the Thames.
From The New Gresham Encyclopedia. Vol. 1 Part 1 A to Amide by Various
Besides, the last operations of water have a tendency to disturb and confound together all pre-existing alluviums.
From The Student's Elements of Geology by Sir Charles Lyell
He pointed out with great clearness the resemblance of the tufaceous matter in the vaults and cellars at Herculaneum and Pompeii to aqueous alluviums, and its distinctness from ejections which had fallen through the air.
From Principles of Geology or, The Modern Changes of the Earth and its Inhabitants Considered as Illustrative of Geology by Sir Charles Lyell
In the course of ages, a new system of valleys was excavated, so that the rivers ran at lower levels than those at which the first alluviums and sheets of lava were formed.
From The Student's Elements of Geology by Sir Charles Lyell
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
