red soil

noun

|Updated on: 20 Jul 2018

Definition of red soil

: any of a group of zonal soils that develop in a warm temperate moist climate under deciduous or mixed forests and that have thin organic and organic-mineral layers overlying a yellowish-brown leached layer resting on a red horizon marked by illuviation — called also red podzolic soil

Recent Examples of red soil from the Web

Before long, severe thunderstorm warnings were hoisted as the city was plunged into a menacing mass of rain, lightning and burnt-red soil.

— matthew cappucci, Washington Post, "‘One of the most incredible sights’: Monster dust storm sweeps across Southern Arizona," 10 July 2018
The second tsunami rolled across a far larger swath of red soil, almost 400,000 square miles, and traveled further inland as well, more than 400 miles.

— william herkewitz, Popular Mechanics, "There Were Mega-Tsunamis on Mars," 19 May 2016
Those red soils, too, are the product of Mount Konocti, which once smothered its radius with blazing, mineral-rich lava.

— esther mobley, San Francisco Chronicle, "The rise of the Red Hills of Lake County," 1 June 2018
This time of year, Shawn Holladay is usually sitting atop a tractor, laying cotton seeds into rows of red soil on his farm here on the High Plains.

— jim carlton, WSJ, "Farmers Across High Plains Brace for Hard Times as Drought Bears Down," 13 May 2018

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'red soil.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.