alluvial
Americanadjective
noun
-
alluvial soil.
-
Australia. gold-bearing alluvial soil.
adjective
noun
-
another name for alluvium
-
alluvium containing any heavy mineral, esp gold
Other Word Forms
- nonalluvial adjective
Etymology
Origin of alluvial
First recorded in 1795–1805; alluvi(um) + -al 1
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.
The forested ridges catch rain, and water percolates into the canyon’s alluvial soil, where the trees’ roots tap into shallow groundwater.
From Los Angeles Times • Nov. 29, 2023
“The weaker alluvial sediments can amplify shaking, and mountains are vulnerable to landsliding, including along the roads that lead to mountain villages.”
From National Geographic • Sep. 11, 2023
Prospectors call it “flood gold” — fine-sized flakes carried by alluvial waters and then deposited as flow recedes.
From Seattle Times • May 22, 2023
Whereas the unpredictable flooding of the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers in southern Mesopotamia commonly brought destruction along with fresh alluvial deposits, the Nile’s summer flooding, predictable as clockwork, brought only welcome deposits of rich sediment.
From Textbooks • Apr. 19, 2023
During the rest of the year, the climate is drier, and farmers plant and tend their milpas on the alluvial soil.
From "1491" by Charles C. Mann
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.
