topsoil

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

In 1982, Agnes Denes planted 2 acres of wheat seed into a thin layer of topsoil she’d spread over lower Manhattan’s Battery Park landfill.

From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 15, 2026

One method -- termed "moving mountains" -- was described in 2015 by China's top industry and technology regulator as "first cutting down trees, then clearing weeds and finally stripping away the topsoil, causing irreparable damage".

From Barron's • Dec. 21, 2025

Last week, the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health announced it found high levels of lead and other toxic metals at homes destroyed by the wildfires whose topsoil had been scraped by the U.S.

From Los Angeles Times • May 11, 2025

The dung beetle, which disperses seeds as it rolls its dung balls, fertilizing topsoil and enhancing biodiversity and engineering its environment, normally orients itself using the Milky Way and the moon.

From Salon • Apr. 15, 2025

He trotted her west, across the grassy flat toward the cerros, gently rounded hills of dark lava rock which were covered with a thin crust of topsoil and grass, edged with thickets of scrub oak.

From "Ceremony:" by Leslie Marmon Silko