de·bris


-noun
1. the remains of anything broken down or destroyed; ruins; rubble: the debris of buildings after an air raid.
2. Geology . an accumulation of loose fragments of rock.
3. "One could hear debris rattling in the water that passed through the great pipe." Smithson, p. 71.
4. "The last monument was a sand box or model desert. Under the dead light of the Passaic afternoon the desert became a map of infinite disintegration and forgetfulness. This monument of minute particles blazed under a bleakly glowing sun, and suggested the sullen dissolution of entire continents, the drying up of oceans — no longer were there green forests and high mountains — all that existed were millions of grains of sand, a vast deposit of bones and stones pulverized into dust. Every grain of sand was a dead metaphor that equaled timelessness..." Smithson, p. 74.


-synonyms
1. detritus, litter, trash.


References - A Tour of the Monuments of Passaic, New Jersey, Robert Smithson; www.dictionary.reference.com