natural levee

noun

1. a deposit of sand or mud built up along, and sloping away from, either side of the flood plain of a river or stream.

Example Sentences

The entire delta, under natural conditions, lay above sea level, ranging from a few inches along the coastal fringe to over a dozen feet high at the crest of the Mississippi River’s natural levee.

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Throughout New Orleans’ first two centuries, development was densely clustered on this natural levee, making residents less vulnerable to flooding.

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Photograph: General Photographic Agency/Getty But massive drainage systems installed in the late-19th and early 20th centuries emptied out city-owned cypress tree swamps behind the natural levee.

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Each side of the channel is thus raised so as to form what is termed a natural levee.

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The wetlands also act as a natural levee with its grasses and bushes slowing water from moving inland when storms hit the Gulf.

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