red soil

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

Examples of red soil in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web Both seasons take place in remote northwestern Australia, but while the first prominently features a sprawling ranch, the new one brings Jay to a town where turquoise waters collide with red soil. — Elisabeth Vincentelli, New York Times, "Aaron Pedersen Is a Different Kind of Archetypal Leading Man," 12 Oct. 2020 South Africa has been in a drought for a few years, and the red soil has frazzled into puzzle pieces. — Lois Parshley, Scientific American, "How Climate Change Is Making It Harder to Predict Outbreaks," 1 May 2018 Scientists are still attempting to bring samples of Mars' red soil back to Earth for further study, and human trips to Mars are still years from being feasible. — Lauren Kent, CNN, "What we now know (and still don't) about life on Mars," 6 Dec. 2019 Below the towering mahogany trees that blanket this lush mountainside, hidden beneath the brown-red soil, lie millions of tons of very valuable rock. — Stacey Knott, Washington Post, "Mining Ghana’s bauxite would bring in billions from China. But it could also taint the water for 5 million people.," 28 Oct. 2019 The garden, designed by Jilayne Rickards, is a recreation of a rural Zimbabwean outdoor classroom, with rocky red soil planted with edible crops, including iron-rich beans, papaya, and banana trees. — Ingrid Abramovitch, ELLE Decor, "The Top 5 Takeaways from the 2019 Chelsea Flower Show," 23 May 2019 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

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.

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Cite this Entry

“Red soil.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/red%20soil. Accessed 22 Jan. 2021.

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