| 释义 |
loess Geol.
(ˈləʊɛs, Ger. lœs)
Also löss, erron. loëss.
[a. Ger. dial. lösz.]
A deposit of fine yellowish-grey loam which occurs extensively from north-central Europe to eastern China, in the American mid-west, and elsewhere, esp. in the basins of large rivers, and which is usually considered to be composed of material transported by the wind during and after the Glacial Period. Also attrib.
1833Lyell Princ. Geol. III. 151 There is a remarkable alluvium filled with land-shells of recent species..which we may refer to the newer Pliocene era. This deposit is provincially termed ‘Loess’. 1873J. Geikie Gt. Ice Age xxxii. 453 Underneath the vast deposits of löss belonging to the last cold period. 1879Lubbock Sci. Lect. v. 141 The antiquities..are usually found in beds of gravel and loam, or, as it is technically called, ‘loëss’. 1882F. Richtofen in Geol. Mag. IX. 302, I believe I am correct in stating that, among those who have had extensive experience in Loess regions, all who have pronounced an opinion of late years are agreed that sub⁓aërial deposition is the only mode of origin by which all its peculiar features can be easily explained. 1882R. K. Douglas China vi. 135 The huge tract of loess country in northern China. 1906Westm. Gaz. 4 Dec. 2/1 North of the river [sc. the Hwang Ho] we come into the land of the loess, a loose light soil of prodigious fertility and the joy of the agriculturist. 1938C. L. Whittles tr. Reifenberg's Soils Palestine ii. 25 Microscopic examination shows that loess consists mainly of extremely small particles of quartz together with calcareous particles which frequently, from their markings, etc., have been derived from fossils. 1972J. G. Cruickshank Soil Geogr. ii. 59 During the deglaciation phases of the Pleistocene glaciations, wind-blown silt was deposited on a spectacular scale in extensive, stoneless loess. |