What is Accretion?

You’re walking down by the shore and you notice that sand has collected around the pier, to the point that it has become a sizable peninsula. That gradual addition of land by force of nature is called accretion, which can be considered the opposite of erosion.

Accretion also happens in volcanic areas, such as Hawaii and Iceland, where lava has reached the shores and cooled to add more land mass.

For more information, see also the following entries:

• :Alluvion:
• :Erosion:
• :Land: