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Loess—Its Formation, Transport and Economic Significance

  • Chapter
Physical and Chemical Weathering in Geochemical Cycles

Part of the book series: NATO ASI Series ((ASIC,volume 251))

Abstract

Thick deposits of loess or windblown silt are common in many parts of the world. They accumulated mainly in areas close to extensive Pleistocene glaciers, the silt being blown principally from proglacial outwash plains. Some smaller deposits of hot or desert loess, as opposed to the cold or periglacial loess, were formed by repeated dust storms originating in hot arid regions. An alternative hypothesis, that loess originates by weathering in situ, does not explain all of its characteristics, but some aspects of this loessification theory may be necessary to account for the wide range of secondary carbonate forms almost universal in loess and the peculiar distribution of thin loess deposits in parts of Britain.

Thick loess sequences, subdivided by buried soils formed during warmer and wetter Quaternary stages, occur in central Europe, Tadzhikistan and China. These provide the best evidence from terrestrial deposits for the extremely complex sequence of Quaternary climatic changes originally inferred from ocean floor sediments. Soils formed in loess are very valuable agriculturally, but are prone to disaggregation, crusting and erosion under heavy rain. Some clay-deficient loesses are also problematic as metastable foundation materials in civil engineering. Dust storms, leading to the formation of modern desert loess deposits, cause several other economic problems in many parts of the world.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Soils and Plant Nutrition Department, Rothamsted Experimental Station, AL5 2JQ, Harpenden, Hertfordshire, UK

    John A. Catt

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  1. John A. Catt
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  1. Department of Geological Sciences, Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois, USA

    A. Lerman

  2. Institut de Biogéochimie Marine, Ecole Normale Supérieure, Montrouge, France

    M. Meybeck

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© 1988 Kluwer Academic Publishers

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Catt, J.A. (1988). Loess—Its Formation, Transport and Economic Significance. In: Lerman, A., Meybeck, M. (eds) Physical and Chemical Weathering in Geochemical Cycles. NATO ASI Series, vol 251. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-009-3071-1_6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-009-3071-1_6

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