Welcome to INQUA Loess Focus Group
INQUA Loess Focus Group Meeting in honour of Professor Ian Smalley
The University of Leicester, Leicester UK, 10th-12th September 2013
A meeting dedicated to interfaces between the various involved disciplines; also focussing on new regions where loess exploration and investigation is happening, geotechnical aspects of loess and new techniques to date and characterise loess material, and in particular aiming to look at the human/loess interface. Loess had a critical role to play in the development of human society.
The meeting will be held in honour of Professor Ian Smalley for his outstanding contribution to loess research over more than fifty years. Ian “pioneered fundamental studies of loess origin, lithologic characteristics and depositional processes” (Dodonov and Zhou, 2008).
For more information please visit the official page
In Memoriam: Professor Henryk Maruszczak
It is with deep sorrow that we inform you about the death of Professor Dr. Henryk Maruszczak doyen of the Polish geographers, geomorphologist, paleogeographer, physical geographer who has left us forever on October 12th, 2012 at the age of 90. Professor Henryk Maruszczak was a co-originator of the Lublin school of loess research. He studied relief of loess areas, lithology, stratigraphy and typology of loess, and also undertook regional investigations of the Ukrainian, Russian, Bulgarian and German loess deposits.
Read about Professor Henryk Maruszczak here »
Ed@80s - Loess in China & Europe | 27-29 Sept 2012 Novi Sad Serbia
On behalf of the INQUA Loess focus group and Local Organizing Committee, it is an honour and a pleasure to invite, you to a international conference on loess research entitled “ED@80: Loess in China and Europe - A Tribute to Edward Derbyshire“, to be held in Novi Sad, Serbia, 27-30 September 2012
Find out more about the conference here »
About Us - The History
At the 6th INQUA Congress in Poland in 1961 the INQUA Sub-Commission of European Loess Stratigraphy came into being as a specialist group operating within the remit of the Stratigraphy Commission. This initiative was due to Julius Fink of the University of Vienna and it was his vision of loess research in Europe which provided the structure and drove forward the activities of the sub-commission in the early days. In fact it was Fink’s vision which carried the Loess Commission through its entire 40 year existence. At the 8th INQUA Congress in Paris in 1969 the Sub-Commission was upgraded to full Commission status, and by then the programe was settled and a considerable amount of activity had occurred... Find out more »
Very interesting article about this organisation entitled "The INQUA Loess Commission as a Central European Enterprise" was published by Central European Journal of Geosciences in 2010 (authors: Ian J. Smalley, Slobodan B. Markovic and Ken O’Hara-Dhand). You can download the full paper here »
New Loess Focus Group officers
Recently new officers of INQUA Loess Focus Group has been elected. The new president is Slobodan B. Marković and vice presidents are Shiling Yang, Erick A. Oches and Paul Hesse.
New team and all members of INQUA Loess Focus Group kindly appreciate the effort and work of previous presidents prof. Ludwig Zöller (president) and prof. Liping Zhou (vice-president). Thank you!
Latest publications realted to loess research
Check out some of the latest publications related to loess research publiched in QUATERNARY INTERNATIONAL and EISZEITALTER UND GEGENWART – Quaternary Science Journal. Find out more »
LoessFest'09
Aug. 31st – Sept. 3rd, 2009 | Novi Sad | Serbia
Lossfest’09 is planed as a conference which will consider all actual and will promote potential aspects of loess science. The concept is similar to the one presented at previous Loessfest held in Bonn and Heidelberg in 1999 organized by Edward Derbyshire, Ian Smalley, and Ludwig Zöller. Loessfest’99 has been probably the best ever organized international conference related to loess research. It has initiated several very successful scientific projects and resulted in two special issues published in leading international geoscience journals Earth Science Reviews and Quaternary International. Read more »
