Loess in Russia V: N.Ya.Denisov

Nikolai Yakovlevich Denisov 1908-1966. Notes from the obituary in Osnovaniya, Fundamenty i Mekhanika Gruntov no.6, p.40, November-December 1966.

N.Ya.Denisov began his career in 1924, working at first on the railways and then as a miner. After graduating in 1932 from the North Caucasus Geological Exploration Institute he devoted his life to scientific and pedagogical activity. In 1936 he received the degree of candidate of geological and mineralogical sciences; in 1943 he defended his doctoral thesis; in 1944 he received the rank of professor, and from 1946 he was head of the department of Engineering Geology at the Moscow Civil Engineering Institute.

He worked on loess ground and became well known for several monographs: Nature of Slumping Phenomena in Loess Loams, and Construction Properties of Loess and Loessial Loams. Denisov made many suggestions concerning new methods of construction on slumping, swelling, and weak clay soils. In all, he published more than 100 works.

 

Loess in Russia IV: Simple Sketch Map

This is a very experimental map- hardly a map at all; more like an exercise or puzzle- fit the Soviet Union into a 2:1 rectangle.  (Very roughly) it shows the great rivers, and the mountainous regions to the south and east, and hints at the glaciated regions in the north and the west.  The top map shows the locations of the loess regions investigated by Jiri Chlachula (2003  The Siberian loess record and its significance for reconstruction of Pleistocene climate change in north-central Asia. Quaternary Science Reviews 22, 1879-1906). This is loess in Siberia.

That's the science in the top map; the lower map has some classification and deterministic speculation. The P symbols show locations of loess material production- by mountain glaciers or continental glaciation. Rivers carry this material towards places of deposition. The J regions are those places proposed by Jefferson et al in their classification of loess in the Soviet Union. Of course now that we are looking at loess in Russia we lose some of J1 the western loess, J2 the Caucasus, and J3 Central Asia. The J5, J6 and J7 regions contain the Chlachula observations.