floating debris
Water-borne refuse matter
Floating debris is wreckage, refuse, or scattered material drifting on water.
The phrase appears in maritime contexts, flood reports, and environmental discussions: Floating debris from the hurricane clogged the harbor.
It can include anything from branches and trash to ship remnants.
The term sometimes extends metaphorically to anything adrift: floating debris of a failed relationship.
- driftwoodSea-delivered shore lumber
- wreckageDestroyed remains of something
- flotsamDebris from wrecked vessels
- jetsamGoods deliberately discarded at sea
- seaweedSaltwater aquatic plants
washed ashore · plastic · plastic bag · bottles · buoy · current · tide · ocean · river · garbage · tangled · bobbing · swirling · branches · drift net · storm · storm surge · pollution
- floodwaterflood waters, rising water, rising waters, muddy water, overflow
- navigation obstructionssandbars, reefs, rocks, shoals, wrecks
- river hazardsflooding, rapids, whirlpool, rocks, current
- igapoblackwater, seasonal flooding, aquatic plants
- ocean pollutionoil spills, plastic pollution, plastic waste, toxic waste, chemical spills
- sea phenomenawaves, tides, currents, storm surges, rogue waves