sediment

«sediment» in Mova's school dictionary: sand, mud, stones and other bits that are carried by… — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples, with 2 sentences of Mova's corpora that use it.

part of speech

noun (sediment, uncountable; a sediment, sediments)

meaning for a pupil

1) Sediment is sand, mud, stones and other bits that are carried by water, wind or ice and then settle in a layer, for example at the bottom of a river, lake or sea. tree →

2) Sediment is also the bits that sink to the bottom of a liquid, like in a glass of juice or a bottle of medicine. tree →

sense in the lessons

In science and geography lessons, rivers carry sediment downstream and drop it (deposition) where they slow down, forming deltas, beaches and floodplains; over millions of years, layers of sediment press together into sedimentary rock like sandstone, chalk and limestone, where fossils are found. In kitchen science, you see sediment when you let muddy water stand. Phrases: «layers of sediment», «sedimentary rock», «carry sediment», «settle as sediment».

examples

• The river carried sediment down to the sea. tree →
• Layers of sediment slowly turned into rock. tree →
• Fossils are found in sedimentary rock. tree →
• Leave the muddy water to stand and the sediment will sink. tree →
• There was a brown sediment at the bottom of the bottle. tree →
• The delta is made of sediment dropped by the river. tree →

note

Mostly uncountable: «a lot of sediment». Adjective: «sedimentary». Sediment sinks because it is heavier (denser) than water; tiny bits settle more slowly.

In the corpora

• A delta forms where a river drops its sediment at the mouth faster than the sea can carry it away.
• The world's rivers carry billions of tonnes of sediment to the sea every year.

Trees and pragmatics

Every meaning and example of «sediment» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.