LOENING, RICHARD ( ig4S— ) . A German jurist, brother of Edgar Loening, horn in Fratek fort and educated at the universities of Heidel berg and Berlin. In 1578 he was made professor extraordinarius and in 1882 professor ordinarius at Heidelberg.. He wrote: Der int ittsehcn Hecht (1576) ; Der Reinigungscid bci Ungerichtsklagen im den tschen Mitt, loll. r (1SA); Grundriss zu rorlcsungen iihsr den Strafre•ht (1985) : and Die ,Shakopeares (1593).
LOESS, (Ger.). A loamy or sandy de posit of Pleistocene age, occurring in many parts of the world. It was first described as occurring in the [thine Valley. but it is now known to cover large areas in Central Europe. in the western half of the United States, and in China. Its general character is that of a very tine grained homogeneous sand, with very little clay. but often calcareous. In the United States and China the deposits attain great thickness. 250 feet or more. and where cut into by rivers like the Alississippi or Hoang-ho they form high cliffs. Loess affords a fine fertile soil. especially when charged with organic matter, but. owing to its porous nature, it requires abundant moisture. The origin of loess has been variously expl tined. Where the material lies in river valleys it is un doubtedly due to stream deposition, this having probably occurred in glacial or post-glacial tint, s.
when the waters contained much tine sediment derived from the melting ice. Where. however. it covers vast areas, a different mode of origin must be sought. Many geologists ec mid( r th t much of the loess of the Great Plains regu n was de posited in glacial lakes: Itichtholen belies that the loess of China is of a-olian origin. The tact that shells of land-snails are oecasienally in the American loess leads sue geologists to claim a similar origin for at least portions t f it. A material resembling loess. called adobe. is found in many valleys of the far \\ est. It is a calcareous clay, derived fry in the disintegration of rocks on the valley slopes. The chief economic value of the loess is for brick-making. When irrigated it forms an unusually productive soil.
Consult : Chamberlin an i Salisbury. Driftless Area of the Upper Mississippi Valley," Sixth Annual Report of the United States Geo logical Survey (\Vashington, 1888) ; Sardeson, American Journal of Science, vol vii., Fourth Series, p. 58 (New Haven. 1899) ; McGee, "The Pleistocene flistory of Northeastern Iowa," in United States Geological Survey, Eleventh An nual Report (Washington, 1891).