Alluvial Soil

By Deane Barker • •

This is soil that has been deposited by water. If, at some time in the past, an area of Earth was covered with water due to a prior river or flood, that water would deposit sediment that remained once the water is gone. This sediment is known as alluvium, and is known to be very agriculturally productive.

This comes from the word “diluvial,” which means something related to a flood. And that’s where we get antediluvian, which means the period of time before the Great Flood of the Bible.

Why I Looked It Up

From On Paper: The Everything of Its Two-Thousand-Year History:

In the absence of building stones and forests, the rich alluvial soil became vital to their quality of life.

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