Loose soil or sediment that is eroded and redeposited in a non-marine setting
"Alluvial" redirects here. For the American racehorse, see Alluvial (horse). For the type of flow diagram, see Alluvial diagram.
Alluvium (from Latinalluvius, from alluere 'to wash against') is loose clay, silt, sand, or gravel that has been deposited by running water in a stream bed, on a floodplain, in an alluvial fan or beach, or in similar settings.[1][2][3] Alluvium is also sometimes called alluvial deposit.[4][5] Alluvium is typically geologically young and is not consolidated into solid rock. Sediments deposited underwater, in seas, estuaries, lakes, or ponds, are not described as alluvium.[1]
Floodplain alluvium can be highly fertile, and supported some of the earliest human civilizations.[6]
^ abJackson, Julia A., ed. (1997). "alluvium". Glossary of geology (Fourth ed.). Alexandria, Virginia: American Geological Institute. ISBN0922152349.
^Jackson, Julia A., ed. (1997). "alluvial deposit". Glossary of geology (Fourth ed.). Alexandria, Virginia: American Geological Institute. ISBN0922152349.
^Allaby, Michael (2013). "alluvium". A dictionary of geology and earth sciences (Fourth ed.). Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN9780199653065.
^Kidder, Tristram; Liu, Haiwang; Xu, Qinghai; Li, Minglin (July 2012). "The Alluvial Geoarchaeology of the Sanyangzhuang Site on the Yellow River Floodplain, Henan Province, China: THE YELLOW RIVER FLOODPLAIN, HENAN PROVINCE". Geoarchaeology. 27 (4): 324–343. doi:10.1002/gea.21411. S2CID140587757.