ALLUVION

(1) The flow of water against a shore or bank. Inundation by water; flood. (2) (Legal) The increasing of land area along a shore by deposited Alluvium or by the recession of water. (3) (Lake) In its legal meaning, alluvion is an accretion to land, made gradually, composed of detritus deposited by streams or of deposits accumulated by the action of waves and currents. On lakes, accretions are made: by alluvial deposition on the advancing front of a delta; by filling of shoreline lake bottom by erosion detritus carried by effluents, gullies and superficial surface run-off or rainwash; by shifting dune sand; and by waste disposal such as tailing from mine operations. Also natural accretions may be made to islands, bars and beaches of lakes. The deposits are realities, but whether or not, in specific instances, they constitute legal alluvion which involves land ownership is, ultimately, a matter for court decisions. See: Reliction