eluvialadj.
/ɪˈl(j)uːvɪəl/ 1. Geology. Pertaining to, or of the nature of, eluvium.
ΚΠ
1862 G. P. Scrope Volcanos (ed. 2) 172 There is another not unfrequent cause of such ‘eluvial’ debacles.
1881 A. Geikie in Nature 6 Jan. 225/1 The superficial weathering of rocks, and the formation of ‘eluvial’ accumulations.
2. Soil Science. Pertaining to a layer of soil which has undergone eluviation n., as in eluvial horizon.
ΚΠ
1924 Geol. Mag. LXI. 451 Three main horizons are generally recognized,..the A or eluvial horizon, the B or illuvial horizon, and the C horizon, which consists of the parent material.
1934 Forestry 8 26 The leached layer above being known as the eluvial horizon.
1952 P. W. Richards Trop. Rain Forest ix. 208 All soils of the rain-forest region..are therefore strongly leached and have an eluvial horizon, or leached zone, above the illuvial horizon.
1963 D. W. Humphries & E. E. Humphries tr. H. Termier & G. Termier Erosion & Sedimentation vi. 138 A soil is composed of an impoverished zone, the eluvial horizon, and also a zone of enrichment or accumulation, the illuvial horizon.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1891; most recently modified version published online June 2018).
<
adj.1862