Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to
show current usage.Read More
Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors.
Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of alluviumThe tunnel will traverse multiple difficult subsoil layers: a surface of historical and active landfill materials, including spoil from London tunneling projects and decades-old power station fly ash, a thick layer of alluvium composed of silts, clays, and peat, and, finally, highly variable chalk.—Theo Burman, MSNBC Newsweek, 6 July 2025 At some point, alluvium buried the entire tusk, possibly from major storm flooding.—Andrew Paul, Popular Science, 14 Aug. 2024 The tusk was covered with alluvium, possibly during a major flooding event, MDEQ said.—Meredith Deliso, ABC News, 13 Aug. 2024 These waters carried debris called alluvium, that makes up the Delta's fertile soil.—Richard Mason, Arkansas Online, 23 May 2021 Scott traces their advent to a few hundred years later, in a constellation of cities that sprang up on the Mesopotamian alluvium around what was then the northern end of the Persian Gulf.—Tim Flannery, The New York Review of Books, 12 Mar. 2020
These rivers shaped the story of California — a sense of place — from the native peoples shaped by these rivers to the men who extracted riches from the silt.
—
Sacramento Bee staff,
Sacbee.com,
8 Jan. 2026
This stretch of the Great Hungarian Plain was once the nation’s breadbasket, a lush expanse of silt and soil regularly replenished by the flooding of the Danube and Tisza rivers.
Mazzei explains that Il Caggio features a combination of factors ideal for Sangiovese, including altitudes between 1,050 and 1,150 feet, which ensure balanced ripening, and deep and well-drained clay, schist, and calcareous marl soils dotted with a type of sandstone that imparts intense minerality.
—
Mike DeSimone,
Robb Report,
14 Dec. 2025
In Friuli Venezia Giulia, the soils are rich in marl and sandstone, locally referred to as ponca.
Masala chai here is served in mitti kulhad clay cups, the traditional vessels still handmade on a potter’s wheel and once forgotten in favour of glasses and paper or plastic cups.
—
Rebecca Ann Hughes,
Forbes.com,
29 Jan. 2026
Watch for pedestal logs, remnants of ancient trees perched atop a crumbly stand of thick clay as if on display.