loess
/ˈləʊɪs
/ /ləːs /noun [mass noun] Geology
A loosely compacted yellowish-grey deposit of wind-blown sediment of which extensive deposits occur e.g. in eastern China and the American Midwest.The thickest loess occurs in central China on the Loess Plateau, where it reaches a thickness of about 330 m near Lanzhou....
- Many researchers have concluded this sediment is actually loess, or wind-blown silt, which is mixed with some clay and sand.
- Companion studies of dust samples from the Sahara and the Saudi coast and loess from China show that the higher the calcium in the mineral, the more reactive they are in with nitric acid.
Derivatives
loessial
- The northeastern part of the Gaza Strip, with loessial and alluvial soils, also contains some wadis.
- Proper consideration should be given to zoning of areas of collapsible loessial soils.
- Predicted yields for different terrains of the loessial soil showed that the soil in the plain lands and the table lands had a higher productivity than that of the slope lands and the terraces.
loessic
- The south-eastern slope bears heavy loessic soil, mixed with superficial pebbles and compact loam soil.
- It has a relatively large component of loess and contains ovoid inclusions of loessic silt which were deposited by solifluction.
- Selecting soils from stable upland positions that developed in loessic parent material allowed us to isolate modern climate as the main influence on soil properties.
Origin
Mid 19th century: from German Löss, from Swiss German lösch 'loose'.
Rhymes
- mass meeting
- mass movement
- mass murder
- mass murderer
- mass noun
- mass number
- Mass Observation
- mass-observe
- mass observer
- mass of maneuver
- mass of manoeuvre
- mass of the day
- massoi
- Masson, André
- Massorah
- Massorite
- massotherapist
- massotherapy
- massoy
- mass phenomenon
- mass-point
- mass-priest
- mass-produce
- mass-producer
- mass-producible