Open Geosci. 2018; 10:925–931

Research Article

Ian Smalley* and Slobodan B. Markovic An enthusiasm for loess: Leonard Horner in Bonn and Liu Tungsheng in Beijing https://doi.org/10.1515/geo-2018-0073 tic. Liu followed determinedly in these footsteps; a great Received Jan 10, 2018; accepted Dec 18, 2018 scholar, and a great enthusiast. Loess scholarship needs careful and precise investigation Abstract: Liu Tungsheng featured on the list of twelve no- and reporting but it also needs a broad sweep of enthusi- table loess investigators prepared for the great LoessFest asm, an appreciation of loess for the extraordinary mate- meeting, held in Heidelberg and Bonn in 1999. He fully de- rial that it is. served his position on this list of eminent loess scholars; in fact it might be argued that his was the major contri- Keywords: Loess, loess investigation, loess enthusiasm, bution. His contribution was a true paradigm shift in the Leonard Horner, Liu Tungsheng world of loess investigation. Obruchev and Richthofen had produced an earlier paradigm shift when they propagated the idea that loess deposits form by aeolian deposition- a “The thick silt sediment in North China deposited by the wind paradigm shift away from the earlier Lyellian idea of la- during the dry period of the Quaternary period is unique in many custrine or fluvial deposition. But that was a fairly simple aspects. Its great thickness, wide distribution, complex develop- ment history, rich fossil contents and the characteristic topogra- shift, a tweak of the sedimentological event structure. Liu, phy it shows make it unequalled as compared with the loess de- and his co-workers in China, produced a new vision, a new posits in other parts of the world.” way of looking at loess, not so much a paradigm shift as a Liu & Chang 1964 p.523 [12] paradigm enlargement. Post-Liu the Quaternary era was a new land, a new place with a real chronology and a land- scape of events and amazing happenings. 1 Introduction Liu related to the amazing. We propose that he played a role in promoting and maintaining an enthusiasm for Loess was first described and defined by Karl Caesar von loess. Loess science has become very precise and the Leonhard, in Heidelberg, in 1824 [1]. Loess is entry #89 scholars are respected for their exact and insightful ob- in von Leonhard’s list of interesting and significant geo- servations; but Liu offered an extra dimension, we need materials. This entry, in volume 3 of von Leonhard’s great to recognize the dimension of enthusiasm; the realization work, we see as the founding reference to loess, and the that loess is a remarkable material and the need to propa- beginning of almost 200 years of loess research and schol- gate that fact. And in recognising Liu as the major loess arship. The fortuitous arrival of in Heidel- enthusiast of the 20th Century we should acknowledge berg in 1832 meant that this potentially obscure material Leonard Horner, the first loess enthusiast. Karl Caesar von became known throughout the world. Lyell was engaged Leonhard named loess and placed it in a scientific context; at the time in writing ‘The Principles of Geology’ the book Charles Lyell took the idea of loess and spread the science which would keep him occupied for the rest of his life. world-wide, but it was Horner, in those few years at Bonn It was one of the great early compendiums of geological (1831-1833), who recognised loess for the marvellous ma- knowledge and had huge influence in the developing sci- terial that it was and gave us permission to be enthusias- ence. Lyell placed a short exposition on loess in volume 3 and because of the world-wide distribution and relative fame of the book the loess became well known, and many *Corresponding Author: Ian Smalley: Centre for Research in the people speculated about its nature and possible origins [2– Built & Natural Environment, Coventry University, Coventry CV1 4]. 5FP, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland; Loess investigation and loess scholarship progressed Email: [email protected] Slobodan B. Markovic: Laboratory for Palaeoenvironmental Re- in many directions, in many disciplines, in many coun- construction, Faculty of Sciences, University of Novi Sad, Novi Sad tries, in many languages, and with growing levels of sci- 21000, Serbia; Email: [email protected] entific expertise and the development of many interest-

Open Access. © 2018 I. Smalley and S. B. Markovic, published by De Gruyter. This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 License 926 | I. Smalley and S. B. Markovic ing scientific techniques. And, of course, many individuals many climatic cycles that shaped so much of our contem- were involved; an attempt has been made to examine the porary world. course of loess research via the involvement of 100 signif- We can make a case for Liu being a major loess scien- icant individuals [5]. Liu Tungsheng was involved in this tist but we propose an additional virtue. We represent Liu interesting assembly, but he also featured in a more select as a major loess enthusiast; a very necessary and possi- group of loess scholars. bly under-valued role. Loess science advances within an ocean of loess interest, but the level of interest must be kept high. Enthusiasts are needed to promote and encour- 2 Twelve Loess People age the study of loess. We propose Liu as a great loess en- thusiast, and as a setting for the whole idea of loess enthu- siasm we identify Leonard Horner as the first loess enthu- For the 1999 LoessFest Conference an attempt was made siast, a nineteenth century promoter of loess. to identify and discuss twelve individuals who had made really significant contributions to the advance of loess sci- ence [6]. It would be tempting to write.. had made the greatest contribution to loess science.. but this would have 3 Leonard Horner (1785-1864) in been an unreasonable and overly subjective statement. Bonn The twelve made major contributions, among these were probably the most significant advances and paradigm For a capsule biography of Horner (Figure 1) see Martin [7]. changers in loess scholarship. He was present in the important early years of the develop- The 1999 LoessFest was held to celebrate the 175th an- ment of geology, and had a part to play in awakening in- niversary of the announcement of loess by von Leonhard, terest in loess. He spent some time in Bonn and it was this and he was the first of the select twelve. Lyell, the great dis- time which was geologically important in several ways. seminator, was logically next, and then: F.von Richthofen, V.A.Obruchev, John Hardcastle, P. Tutkovskii, L.S.Berg, R.J.Russell, R.Grahmann, J.Fink, Liu Tung sheng and George Kukla. It is fairly easy to encapsulate the achieve- ments which led to inclusion on the list: Richthofen sup- ported the idea of the aeolian deposition of loess material to form deposits, and set in train the aeolian paradigm; Hardcastle pointed out the glacial connection and was also the first to recognise loess as a ‘climate register’, he invented scientific palaeoclimatology; Tutkovskii re- lated loess formation to glacial action; Berg produced a remarkable theory of loess formation via ‘loessification’ and stimulated an amazing amount of discussion; Russell, like Berg, favoured an in-situ mode of formation and pro- voked much loess study; Grahmann produced the first ma- jor loess map- of Europe; Fink organised the INQUA Loess Commission, he provided a framework for loess study and research; Liu Tungsheng pointed the way to precise loess Figure 1: Leonard Horner: print from a crayon drawing by Samuel stratigraphy and demonstrated the true nature of the Qua- Lawrence. ternary; and Kukla related the loess record to the deep ocean record and demonstrated the validity of the loess Horner only spent two years in Bonn, 1831-1833, but record in palaeoclimatology. Liu sits comfortably in this these were significant years; important years in the story of list of major contributors. It can be argued that his was per- the development of loess research. Horner had six daugh- haps the most impressive contribution, he transformed the ters and in 1832 Charles Lyell turned up in Bonn to marry study of loess from small scale sedimentology to a new vi- the oldest, Mary. Charles married Mary and the couple pro- sion of the whole of Quaternary. He provided a new frame- gressed down the Rhine on honeymoon. They stopped in work for Quaternary studies by clearly establishing that Heidelberg and met von Leonhard and Bronn, and looked the Quaternary was a time if multiple events, a time of at the loess [3, 4, 6]. Charles was in the process of prepar- An enthusiasm for loess: Leonard Horner in Bonn and Liu Tungsheng in Beijing | 927

Figure 2: The sketch map by Horner of a region near Bonn, used in volume 3 of Principles of Geology by Charles Lyell. One of the first geo- logical maps of the Eifel region. ing volume 3 of the Principles of Geology and after the Hei- Horner was a great enthusiast for loess and consistent in delberg revelations he made space for a short section on his support of his famous son-in-law. He spent his career loess. Horner became involved in the new realizations of as Government inspector of industry, trying to ensure that loess and he and Lyell made several excursions to see the the workers in the rapidly developing industries in Eng- loess of the locality. When the Horners returned to Eng- land were properly treated and not exploited. He is one of land Leonard presented a paper at the Geological Society the few people mentioned by name by in Das in , and set in train the enthusiasm for loess. The Kapital; Marx was an admirer of Horner and saw him as paper was eventually published in 1836. It contained a re- a champion of working people. He managed to maintain markable manifesto for loess research: his interest in geology despite an amazing work load and was in fact president of the Geological Society of London “To give a history of loess in the valley of the Rhine, by a care- in 1845 and 1860. ful examination of its composition, organic remains, its form of Figure 2 is his sketch of the geology near Bonn which deposition and levels, and to trace it, if possible, to its source, would be a most interesting subject of inquiry, and should not was published in Principles of Geology; his mapping ef- fail to prove a valuable contribution to geological science” [8]. forts were among the earliest in the volcanic region of the Eifel. Horner and Lyell together explored the crater of the Rodderberg and admired the loess and Horner maintained 928 | I. Smalley and S. B. Markovic his interest in, and enthusiasm for, loess throughout his ‘2nd edition’ was published in 1988, and this has become life. the default treatise on loess in China [9]. This 2nd edition was elevated to the status of ‘Classic of Physical Geogra- phy’ and a substantial appreciation published [10]. Liu’s 4 Liu Tungsheng (Figures 3, 4) position as a scholar of the loess is well established. We attempt a division of the Liu career; it is tempt- ing to suggest a three part structure. Early activities were discussed in Liu [9] in 1988 and culminate in the visit to Poland in 1961 (for the INQUA meeting) and the revela- tion of the multi-event Quaternary. There was a significant publication in Acta Geological Sinica in 1962 [11], and the INQUA report [12] which helped to establish the impor- tance of these stratigraphical observations, and then the Cultural Revolution happened and loess research experi- enced a hiatus. The Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution caused dis- turbance and disruption in Chinese life for about ten years, say from 1966 to 1976. So the revolution began just as the loess revelations were being published for the first time. Liu was sent to work, with many other scholars and scien- tists, into the north of China and loess research was inter- rupted. Stage two appears as ten years of loessic inactivity. Figure 3: Liu Tungsheng 2002; receives a John & Alice Tyler prize. Then, post 1976, steps were taken to quickly re-establish scientific activity, and to re-connect with scholars from the outside world. Several noteworthy events occur relatively quickly; official delegations start to arrive in China asvar- ious national academies send delegations to aid in the re- connection process. Two, perhaps three, of these delega- tions are of critical importance. The Australian Academy of Sciences sent a delegation in November 1975, and this group contained Dr. Jim Bowler of the Australian National University at Canberra. The visit to the Loess Plateau was a life changing experience for Bowler and he was converted instantly into a loess enthusiast- and this had consider- able influence on the trajectory of stage three of the Liu loess journey. Bowler was not just an outstanding scholar he was also a formidable organiser, and the timing was just right for a major initiative at the Birmingham INQUA Congress of 1977. The Royal Society in Britain also sent a high-powered delegation, which contained Dr. Edward Derbyshire of Figure 4: Liu Tungsheng at the New Zealand Soil Bureau in 1980. Also in the picture Ian Smalley (with tie) and Martin te Punga of the Keele University. Derbyshire, like Bowler, was a notable New Zealand Geological Survey. physical geographer, and also like Bowler he was an amaz- ingly efficient facilitator. The events that placed Bowler and Derbyshire on the loess plateau in the mid 1970s Horner may have initiated interest in loess but one of would have a major influence on the progress of loess th the great progenitors in the 20 Century was Liu Tung- research. Derbyshire went on to make strong links with sheng. He came to represent the amazing loess deposits workers in Lanzhou and this led to considerable studies of China, the default loess. on loess slope stability [13]. A third, less well known, dele- Loess in China , edited by Liu Tungsheng, was first pub- gation to China was the Canada Energy Delegation, led by lished in 1985 by the China Ocean Press in Beijing; then a Dr. H. Stafford. The Canadians contributed in an editorial An enthusiasm for loess: Leonard Horner in Bonn and Liu Tungsheng in Beijing | 929 fashion and made a considerable impact on the produc- Bowler was pivotal because he made the major con- tion of Loess in China. tribution to the setting up of the Western Pacific Working All three delegations had an influence on the devel- Group of the INQUA Loess Commission. This was a major opment of loess science in China and in the burgeoning of effort towards re-incorporating China back into world sci- stage three of the Liu adventure. If stage one was the stage ence. of fundamental science, and stage two was the time of op- pression, then stage three shall be the stage of enthusiasm and fulfilment. As the cultural revolution ended Liu was 5 The Western Pacific Working quickly into action re-establishing loess activity. He vis- ited Alaska and conversed with Troy Pewe [6] and in early Group 1980 he was in New Zealand, and visiting the Soil Bureau at Lower Hutt. He wrote the title for the newsletter Loess The Western Pacific Working Group of the INQUA Loess Letter. The cover page for Loess Letter 4 is shown in Fig- Commission started life at the 10th INQUA Congress, held ure 5, this was the issue which announced the Australian in Birmingham UK in 1977 [14, 15]. This was an impor- field meeting of the WPWG; the vision of Jim Bowler made tant year for loess investigations and for Liu Tungsheng. manifest. The Loess Commission met in Birmingham and President Julius Fink announced that he was retiring. Marton Pecsi of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences in Budapest became the new president. He immediately announced some new directions for the Loess Commission; he proposed that the foundations laid by Fink, in Central Europe, and largely fo- cussing on stratigraphy, would allow for some expansion of interests. He proposed that the Commission take a world view and consider loess deposits throughout the world, and that some studies are developed on practical problems with loess ground, most particularly in the regions of hy- droconsolidation and subsidence. The most obvious, the most visible aspect of the enlargement of the scope of the Commission was the establishment of the Western Pacific Working Group, designed to encourage loess research in Australia, New Zealand and China and to generate coop- eratives projects between the three countries. Liu was in- volved in the foundation of the WPWG along with the lead- ing enthusiast Dr. Jim Bowler of the Australian National University in Canberra [15, 16]. The aims of the WPWG were to facilitate joint work be- tween China, Australia and New Zealand – countries as- sociated with the Western Pacific region. The topic was, of course, loess and wind-blown sediments, and the prac- tical proposal was the holding of three field conferences, one in each country- for mutual benefit and instruction. The first international steering group meeting was held in Auckland in 1978 where it was decided that the first confer- ence should be in Australia in 1980, and that to support the activities of the working group a newsletter should be pub- Figure 5: Loess Letter 4, for October 1980, showing the title written lished twice a year. The newsletter was Loess Letter and the by Liu Tungsheng on his visit to the New Zealand Soil Bureau head- quarters at Lower Hutt earlier in 1980. LL4 announced the first field New Zealand group took on publishing responsibility (see meeting of the WPWG, held in Australia. www.loessletter.msu.edu). The 1980 Conference brought the Chinese loess scien- tists to Australia. Liu Tungsheng led the delegation, which consisted of An Zhisheng, Yuan Baoyin, Wu Zirong, Zheng 930 | I. Smalley and S. B. Markovic

Honghan and Wen Qizong. They explored part of south- enthusiasm- the INQUA Loess Commission, which ran un- east Australia and travelled from Canberra to Broken Hill- til 2003, peaking in 1999 with the Heidelberg-Bonn Loess- admiring the ‘Walls of China’ at Lake Mungo en route. The Fest [15]. second WPWG meeting was in China, and the third in New The second INQUA Congress of great significance was Zealand. Each of the main parties in the WPWG had their the 10th Congress, held in Birmingham UK in 1977. Here local conference and field trip. The Chinese meeting was Fink handed the Loess Commission over to Marton Pecsi by far the largest and signalled to the world that Chinese and the scope was enlarged, and the WPWG was estab- loess research was back on track, was in fact burgeon- lished and the study of Chinese loess was reborn. Liu was ing [16]. an important part of the WPWG, in fact it was the rela- tionship between Liu and Jim Bowler which provided the driving dynamic for the whole operation. So, post 1977,the 6 Commentary study of loess was officially a worldwide operation. Which was superbly displayed at the 13th Congress in Beijing in 1991. A magnificent event, presided over by Liu and featur- Three INQUA Congresses should be considered; each re- ing over 200 papers on loess; a nice contrast to the eleven lates to the Liu Tungsheng story. In 1961 INQUA met in in 1961. Loess arrived at the centre of the Quaternary world Poland; it had been a difficult task arranging for an IN- and Liu’s work in establishing the multi-event nature of QUA Congress in Poland but at last in 1961 it was there [14]. the Quaternary reached a sort of culmination. Loess enthu- At the Polish conference there was a ‘loess workshop’ or- siasm peaked. ganised by Julius Fink of the University of Vienna. Eleven The 13th INQUA Congress (Figure 7) demonstrated all papers, eventually published in 1964 in vol.4 of the Pro- the virtues of a very successful scientific congress. Here ceedings. Fink invited Liu to attend, and he did, and pre- was the exact combination of science and enthusiasm. Liu, sented one of the key papers in the history of loess re- in 1991, presided over a remarkable event. Within the IN- search [12], (see Figure 6). It was at this 6th Congress QUA collective the Loess Commission was also flourishing, that Fink established the precursor of the Loess Commis- and becoming much more international, as Marton Pecsi sion, the Sub-Commission for Loess Stratigraphy. It was desired. An Zhisheng of the Chinese Academy of Sciences a sub-commission of the Stratigraphy Commission (it be- became president in Beijing, and Ian Smalley of Leicester came a full Commission in 1969 at the Paris Congress). University became secretary and the Commission set out Liu was present at the birth of that great exercise in loess for its own particular grand climax at the Heidelberg-Bonn LoessFest of 1999 [17]. The next task in the world of loess scholarship is to improve the relationship between the ‘western/ European’ tradition/history and the Chinese his- tory. A major step forward has been made [18] and progress should be maintained. There has also been some progress in the recognition of Horner as a significant player in the loess drama [19] and that is to be welcomed.

Figure 6: The first real loess stratigraphy, this figure, reproduced from Loess Letter 38 shows the beginning of precision in loess stratigraphy and the announcement of the multi-event Quaternary. The figure originally appeared in Liu & Chang 1964. Figure 7: Beijing (13th) INQUA Congress logo; one of the more satis- Caption details: 1: Malan loess, 2: Upper Lishih loess, 3: Lower fying INQUA logos (see Smalley 2011 for other INQUA logos). Lishih loess, 4: Wucheng loess, 5: buried soils = palaeosols, 6: Lower Pliocene conglomerate, 7: Palaeozoic sandstones. An enthusiasm for loess: Leonard Horner in Bonn and Liu Tungsheng in Beijing | 931

[7] Martin, B. 1969. Leonard Horner: a portrait of an inspector of 7 Conclusions factories. International Review of the Sociology of History 14, 412-443. We propose that enthusiasm be included in the complex of [8] Horner, L. 1836. On the geology of the environs of Bonn. Trans- factors that are involved in loess study and scholarship. We actions of the Geological Society of London. 4 (2nd series) 433- also propose that Leonard Horner might be recognised as 481. [9] Liu Tungsheng (editor) 1988. Loess in China 2nd ed. Springer the progenitor of loess enthusiasm. Circumstances meant Verlag Berlin 224p. that he was quite a minor geologist but he was in place, [10] Smalley, I.J. 2006. Classics in Physical Geography revisited: in space and time, to promote the beginnings of interest Loess in China 2nd ed. Liu Tungsheng. Progress in Physical Ge- in loess. Liu Tungsheng was a great loess enthusiast of ography 30, 673-676. the 20th Century; here we recognise two major enthusiasts: [11] Liu Tungsheng, Chang Tsunghu 1962. The loess of China. Acta Julius Fink and Liu. Fink in Europe, Liu in China; both ca- Geologica Sinica 42, 1-14 (in Chinese). [12] Liu Tungsheng, Chang Tsunghu 1964. The ‘Huangtu’ (loess) of reers were disturbed by war and civic unrest. Fink had a China. Report 6th INQUA Congress 4 (Symposium of Loess) 503- relatively short life (1918-1981) but Liu was long lived (1917- 524. 2008) and survived to see loess interest spreading world- [13] Derbyshire, E., Meng, X., Dijkstra, T.A. (eds.) Landslides in the wide, and to experience the apotheosis of the 13th INQUA thick loess terrain of north-west China. Wiley Chichester 288p. Congress in Beijing, close to the loess. [14] Smalley, I.J. 2011. Notes for a history of INQUA- the Interna- tional Union for Quaternary Research (Association pour l’etude du Quaternaire, Internationale Quartarvereinigung etc.) Loess Letter 65, 1-23. (see www.loessletter.msu.edu) References [15] Smalley, I.J., Markovic, S.B., O’Hara-Dhand, K. 2010a. The IN- QUA Loess Commission as a Central European enterprise. Cen- tral European Journal of Geosciences (Open Geosciences) 2, 3-8 [1] Jovanovic, M., Gaudenyi, T., O’Hara-Dhand, K., Smalley, I.J. (reprinted in Loess Letter 63, April 2010, see www.loessletter. 2013. Karl Caesar von Leonard (1779-1862) and the beginnings msu.edu) of loess research in the Rhine valley. Quaternary International [16] Smalley, I.J., O’Hara-Dhand, K. Markovic, S.B. 2010b. The West- 334/5, 4-9. ern Pacific Working Group of the INQUA Loess Commission: ex- [2] Smalley, I.J.(ed.) 1980. Loess- A Partial Bibliography. Geo- pansion from Central Europe. Central European Journal of Geo- Books/Elsevier Norwich 103p. sciences(Open Geosciences) 2, 9-14 (reprinted in Loess Letter [3] Smalley, I.J., Gaudenyi, T., Jovanovic, M. 2014. Charles Lyell and 63, April 2010, see www.loessletter.msu.edu) the loess deposits of the Rhine valley. Quaternary International [17] Smalley, I.J., Smalley, G.J., Howarth, J., Nugent, H. 2011. The 372, 45-50. INQUA Loess Commission goes from Budapest to Beijing, and [4] Smalley, I.J., Kels, H., Gaudenyi, T., Jovanovic, M. 2016. Loess then returns to Europe (1991-2003). Scribd.com upload. encounters of three kinds: Charles Lyell talks about, reads [18] Ding, H., Li, Y., Yang, Y., Jia, X., 2018. Origin and evolution of about, and looks at loess. GeoLogos 22, 71-77 modern loess science 1824-1964. Journal of Asian Earth Sci- [5] Smalley, I.J., Smalley, G.J., O’Hara-Dhand, Jary, Z., 2013. The ences. https://doi/10.1016/jseaes.2018.10.024 Loess Biobiographical Project, with some emphasis on Polish [19] Smalley, I.J., Kels, H. 2018. Leonard Horner and an enthusiasm investigators (in memory of Jerzy Cegla 1935-1984). Quaternary for loess. Aeolian Research 31B, 85-90. International 296, 7-14. [6] Smalley, I.J., Jefferson, I.F., Dijkstra, T.A., Derbyshire, E. 2001. Some major events in the development of the scientific study of loess. Earth Science Reviews 54, 5-18.