Research on permafrost carbon has dramatically increased in the past few years. A new estimate of 1672 Pg C of belowground organic carbon in the northern circumpolar permafrost region more than doubles the previous value and highlights the potential role of permafrost carbon in the Earth System. Uncertainties in this new estimate remain due to relatively few available pedon data for certain geo...

Introduction: Recently released, high-resolution images from the Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) and the Thermal Emission Imaging System (THEMIS) reveal a myriad of intriguing landforms banked along the northern edge of Terby Crater located on the northern rim of Hellas (~28°S, 287°W). Landforms within this crater include north-trending troughs and ridges, a remarkable 2.5 km–thick sequence of expose...

Paleoenvironmental reconstructions on a (supra-)regional scale have gained attention in Quaternary sciences during the last decades. In terrestrial realms, loess deposits and especially intercalations of buried soils, so called loess-paleosol sequences (LPS) are important archives to unravel response e.g. climatic fluctuations reconstruct paleoenvironments Pleistocene. The analysis LPS requires...

The behaviour of collapsible soils (loess) is studied in this paper. Simulations of the stress and strain behaviour of the soil are made via the theoretical framework of Structured Cam Clay, with the effect of glutinous ingredient in loess suggested to be modelled as cementation effect. Based on the simulations, the capacity of the model for representing the behaviour loess is investigated, and...

The Loess Plateau of China is a unique geographical unit characterized by extensive loess distribution, serious soil erosion, low vegetation coverage and high soil carbonate content. Since the 1950s, the Chinese government has made great efforts to control soil erosion and restore vegetation, including large-scale tree plantation in the 1970s, integrated soil erosion control in the 1980s and 19...

Based on the morphological characteristics of loess hilly and gully areas, a simple and effective method for extracting loess shoulder-lines based on object-based image analysis is proposed. A case study is conducted in the northern Shaanxi Loess Plateau of China and the digital elevation model with a grid size of 5 m is applied as original data in this research. In order to get clear edge of D...

Multi-proxy analysis was used to produce a high-resolution paleoclimatic record from an exceptionally thick section of the Holocene Bignell Loess near Wauneta, Southwestern Nebraska, in the central Great Plains. The Wauneta section has excellent age control, based on optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) and radiocarbon dating, and records multiple episodes of rapid loess deposition alternati...