alluvium

Deposits of alluvium and volcanic ash have made desirable soil that is among the top 2% in the world.

“Nature-based solutions are a great option, because they’re a softer option and less intrusive,” said Leslie Duncan, senior Aboriginal consultant with Alluvium Consulting and CEO of Economic Participation of Indigenous Communities in Australia.

The last video, “Becoming Alluvium” by the Vietnamese artist Thao Nguyen Phan, is topical too.

Paved surfaces end miles from the rock outcrop, so we drive on overgrown rutted two-tracks that cross the loose sandy dune fields that show up on our geologic maps as “QAL”—Quaternary alluvium.

Thus, a landscape architect I know savors the very smell of the dirt embedded in his botany texts; it is the alluvium of his life’s work.