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GGE Research SeminarThe Earliest Years: Loess investigation in the Nineteenth Century
Honorary Professor Ian Smalley
School of Geography, Geology and the Environment, University of Leicester
Lecture Theatre 10, Bennett Building
In the beginning was the word and the word was Loess. In 1824 Karl Caesar von Leonhard fixed the word to the deposit.
Loess in Heidelberg; named, defined and described by von Leonhard in 1824: Section 89 of vol.3 of his ‘Characteristik der Felsarten’ contains the first account of the sedimentary material which we came to know as Loess.
Charles Lyell published vol.3 of ‘The Principles of Geology’ in 1833. This volume contained a small section on loess, on loess in the Rhine valley- in 1833 loess was essentially confined to the Rhine valley. This book introduced loess to the world at large. It is said that his copy reached Charles Darwin in 1834 in Valparaiso, on his great circumnavigation.
Also in 1833 Leonard Horner gave his paper on the Loess at Bonn to a meeting of the Geological Society in London. This was not published until 1836 but it was probably the first presentation on loess in English. Horner in particular described loess as an interesting material which presented several novel geological problems.
As a sediment: it was associated with the Rhine, so logically it was deposited by the Rhine, or perhaps from lakes which were formed from Rhine waters. Darwin in the ‘Origin’ in 1859 was happy to have the loess as a Rhine sediment ‘We have evidence in the loess of the Rhine of considerable changes of level in the land..’
In 1877-1885 Ferdinand von Richthofen published ‘ China: Ergebnisse einer Reisen und darauf gegrundeter Studien’ in 5 vols. The loess description and discussion in vol.1 were largely responsible for establishing the aeolian theory of deposition and the fame of Richthofen, and showing the importance of Chinese loess.
In 1890 John Hardcastle in Timaru, New Zealand introduced the really key idea into loess research (an idea that drives much of todays research) that loess recorded climate. He claimed loess as a ‘Climate Register’. His observations at the Dashing Rocks section in Timaru on the South Island of New Zealand were truly pioneering observations. He ends the nineteenth century with the key observation made (the direct connection between loess deposits and climate observations) and opens the way for a century of great scientific advance, and the accumulation of much scientific data.
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Event Venue & Nearby Stays
University Road, LE1 7RH Leicester, United Kingdom, Leicester, United Kingdom