Ruritania is a fictional Central European country (Hope 1894, 1896, 1898). Ruritania is also a placeholder country; this means that it can serve as a model country, an ideal country, a country or concept against which ideas or theories can be tested. A moderately recent study by Vesna Goldsworthy (1998) uses Ruritania as the model or focus for a study of literary visions of East/Central Europe. So Ruritania might be considered as an ideal geographical setting, and in particular as a visionary setting for a study, in general terms, of loess formation in Central Europe.
The placeholder idea might work well in the loess world, with loess science. We need, in loess science, a set of defining ideas. Until very recently there was considerable controversy about the mode of formation of loess deposits, and there is now some discussion about the ways in which the actual loess particles are formed. We see Ruritania as a setting for a deterministic vision of loess. In a deterministic system a set of rules will always produce the same, predictable result. So with loess we need some definite and credible ideas about making the constituent materials (essentially quartz silt formation), definition of the critical transportation modes in the early part of the deposition process- we need flood plains and aeolian transportation.
Ruritania has mountains and rivers; it is close to the Danube. It is the perfect setting for Central European loess. In the deterministic world Ruritanian mountains and rivers and the residues of glacierization must deliver loess. It is a principality; a young prince was born a short time ago, Prince George of Ruritania, and he will support the idea of Ruritania and encourage Ruritanian Studies. It is possible that some part of this deterministic landscape remains undiscovered and unexplored, there might still be tasks for field scientists crossing from Slovenia or Serbia or Moldova.
Not many landscape pictures available; the picture of Tintin entering the country shows mountains near the border. These could be the source of loess particles carried by Ruritanian rivers towards the Danube.
The placeholder idea might work well in the loess world, with loess science. We need, in loess science, a set of defining ideas. Until very recently there was considerable controversy about the mode of formation of loess deposits, and there is now some discussion about the ways in which the actual loess particles are formed. We see Ruritania as a setting for a deterministic vision of loess. In a deterministic system a set of rules will always produce the same, predictable result. So with loess we need some definite and credible ideas about making the constituent materials (essentially quartz silt formation), definition of the critical transportation modes in the early part of the deposition process- we need flood plains and aeolian transportation.
Ruritania has mountains and rivers; it is close to the Danube. It is the perfect setting for Central European loess. In the deterministic world Ruritanian mountains and rivers and the residues of glacierization must deliver loess. It is a principality; a young prince was born a short time ago, Prince George of Ruritania, and he will support the idea of Ruritania and encourage Ruritanian Studies. It is possible that some part of this deterministic landscape remains undiscovered and unexplored, there might still be tasks for field scientists crossing from Slovenia or Serbia or Moldova.
Not many landscape pictures available; the picture of Tintin entering the country shows mountains near the border. These could be the source of loess particles carried by Ruritanian rivers towards the Danube.
Peter Kovacs wrote "The Danube basin can.. be comprehended as a kind of perceptional, conceptional region" - this is where the Ruritanian loess fits in- into this perceptional, conceptional world; these are good words for the Ruritanian loess landscapes.
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