A mode of sediment transport in which the particles are moved progressively forward in a series of short intermittent leaps, hops, or bounces from a bottom surface; e.g., sand particles skipping downwind by impact and rebound along a desert surface, or bounding 2742 downstream under the influence of eddy currents that are not turbulent enough to retain the particles in suspension and thereby return them to the streambed at some distance downstream. It is intermediate in character between suspension and the rolling or sliding of traction. Etymol: Latin saltare, to jump, leap.