Keilhack, K. 1920. Das Ratsel der Lossbildung. Zeit. Deutsch. Geol. Ges. 72, 146-161.
In 1920 Keilhack's paper on 'The Riddle of Loess Formation' was published in ZDGG; this is the famous paper in which Keilhack aired the idea of 'cosmic loess'. It is ironic that this great scholar should be largely remembered by a casual remark made at the end of an important paper on the problems and paradoxes involved in the formation of loess deposits.
"The difficulties of the loess problem, one may even say of the loess riddle, have their roots in the following five facts:
1. Geographical distribution.
2. Very gigantic mass.
3. Restriction of its occurrence to such a small segment in the history of the Earth.
4. Regularity and the peculiarity of its composition.
5. Difficulty of determining its original and constituent substances."
"From the assumptions of truth or the probability that the entire loess in all the world is a homogeneous mixture and must have originated from a common source which caused its deposition, it is only one step to the question of whether this completely precludes the possibility of an extraterrestrial or cosmic origin of loess. But this is for the astonomers to decide. However, I must point out that with such a seemingly bold assumption some of the questions I have raised could find a satisfactory answer: for example, the homogeneity of composition, the impossibility of a derivation from any terrestrial minerals, the restriction to the diluvium (i.e. the Quaternary), the zonal distribution over the whole world (just think of Saturn's rings), and the causal relationship to the Glacial Periods." (translated from Keilhack 1920; for more see Smalley I.J. 1975 Loess Lithology & Genesis pp.47-50).
In 1920 Keilhack's paper on 'The Riddle of Loess Formation' was published in ZDGG; this is the famous paper in which Keilhack aired the idea of 'cosmic loess'. It is ironic that this great scholar should be largely remembered by a casual remark made at the end of an important paper on the problems and paradoxes involved in the formation of loess deposits.
"The difficulties of the loess problem, one may even say of the loess riddle, have their roots in the following five facts:
1. Geographical distribution.
2. Very gigantic mass.
3. Restriction of its occurrence to such a small segment in the history of the Earth.
4. Regularity and the peculiarity of its composition.
5. Difficulty of determining its original and constituent substances."
"From the assumptions of truth or the probability that the entire loess in all the world is a homogeneous mixture and must have originated from a common source which caused its deposition, it is only one step to the question of whether this completely precludes the possibility of an extraterrestrial or cosmic origin of loess. But this is for the astonomers to decide. However, I must point out that with such a seemingly bold assumption some of the questions I have raised could find a satisfactory answer: for example, the homogeneity of composition, the impossibility of a derivation from any terrestrial minerals, the restriction to the diluvium (i.e. the Quaternary), the zonal distribution over the whole world (just think of Saturn's rings), and the causal relationship to the Glacial Periods." (translated from Keilhack 1920; for more see Smalley I.J. 1975 Loess Lithology & Genesis pp.47-50).
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