detritus

/dɪˈtraɪtəs/

There aren't many things more depressing than walking on a beautiful beach and discovering a stretch of it that's covered in detritus. Detritus means trash or debris.

Usually, detritus refers to waste or junk of some kind, but it can actually mean any accumulation of material, not only man-made stuff. Loose gravel, silt, and sand can all be called detritus, and so can decomposed organic matter, like piles of dead leaves. The Latin word detritus literally means "a wearing away."

Definitions of detritus

1. noun

   loose material (stone fragments and silt etc) that is worn away from rocks
   type of:

   material, stuff

   the tangible substance that goes into the makeup of a physical object
2. noun

   the remains of something that has been destroyed or broken up
   synonyms: debris, dust, junk, rubble

   types:

   slack

   dust consisting of a mixture of small coal fragments and coal dust and dirt that sifts out when coal is passed over a sieve

   type of:

   garbage, refuse, rubbish, scrap, trash

   worthless material that is to be disposed of