Alluvium can be used as a synonym for avalanche or avalanche.
Alluvium is a term that has its etymological root in the Latin language: alluvĭo, alluvionis . The first meanings mentioned by the Royal Spanish Academy ( RAE ) refer to an intense torrent of water or to the current that carries various sediments .
For example: “The northern town is still trying to recover from the flood it suffered last month that left more than a hundred people evacuated” , “The heavy rains caused the river to overflow, generating a flood that caused all kinds of destruction” , “Three people are missing due to a flood in San Jacinto” .
On the term alluvium
As mentioned in the first paragraph, the study of the etymology of the term alluvium refers us to its Latin ancestor alluvio, alluvionis , which can be translated as a flood of water, a space of land that is flooded or the overflow of a body of water.
Regarding its structure, we can say that this word begins with the prefix of Latin origin ad- , which can also be presented in its form a- and is used to indicate "contiguity or proximity" , in addition to allowing the intensification of concepts; other terms in which it can be seen are attract, attached, adrenal, approximate and admire .
After this prefix we find the root belonging to the Latin verb lavare , which translates as "to bathe, to wash" . At this point it is necessary to point out that the root suffers from apophony , a phenomenon that can alter different aspects of the terms of Latin origin when a prefix or a second root is placed before them; if we look at the vowels of lavadorare and luvión we cannot ignore this alteration.
Uses of the concept
The concept is not only used to refer to the avalanche of water that devastates a terrain , but also to those spaces of land that are dragged by rainwater and rivers until they end up in plains or valleys, deposited after having been carried abruptly, causing varying degrees of destruction in their path. Likewise, it is possible to use the term alluvial to refer to these terrains.
Common materials that form part of alluvium include clay, silt, gravel and sand , and these may accumulate in deltas, river channels, alluvial fans or flood plains. These particles carried by the water are deposited permanently or temporarily, as the case may be. Unless otherwise specified, the word alluvium describes materials that are not consolidated. Two possible synonyms for this phenomenon are avalanche and landslide .
In a symbolic sense, the idea of a flood refers to a pile-up or accumulation. For example: "migratory flood."
Alluvium as an agglomeration or accumulation
The idea of a flood is also used to name the agglomeration or accumulation of individuals, objects or symbolic elements . Let us suppose that the police, with the aim of catching the person responsible for a crime, make a series of arrests: all the suspicious persons are locked up. It can be said, in this context, that there was a flood of arrests .
In a similar sense, when thousands of people arrive at a place at the same time, it is said that a flood occurs. The humanitarian crisis that occurred in Syria due to the civil war that broke out in 2011 caused a flood of refugees in Europe , just as the serious economic problems that Argentina went through in 2001 caused a flood of migration by people who left the country in search of new job opportunities. Both cases brought consequences of various kinds, both for locals and for immigrants.
A company that provides poor service, on the other hand, may receive a flood of complaints from its customers, just as a massive scam affecting thousands of people may result in a flood of lawsuits .