The washing away or erosion of land, soil, or shoreline by the action of water.
From Latin abluvio, combining ab- (away) + lavere/luere (to wash). The geological term describes water's erosive power literally washing land away over time.
Abluvion is the technical term geologists use for natural bank erosion—and understanding abluvion became critical when engineers realized that trying to prevent it by building dams often causes it to accelerate by concentrating water flow in one spot!
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