Soil Science in Strange Times: R.S.Il'in on loess and palaeopedology.

download Soil Science in Strange Times: R.S.Il'in on loess and palaeopedology.

of 29

Transcript of Soil Science in Strange Times: R.S.Il'in on loess and palaeopedology.

  • 7/29/2019 Soil Science in Strange Times: R.S.Il'in on loess and palaeopedology.

    1/29

    R. S. Ilin and the study of loess and palaeosols

    Ian Smalley

    Giotto Loess Research Group, Geography Department,

    Leicester University, Leicester LE1 7RH, UK

    ([email protected])

    Having no possibility to deepen my study of pedogenesis (as I did not

    have analytical data at my disposal during my exile), I directed my

    energy towards the study of general problems of geology. R.S.Ilin

    Abstract

    Rostislav Sergeevich Ilin (1891-1937) was a soil scientist,

    geologist, geomorphologist who published major works on

    loess and was a pioneer of the study of palaeopedology. He

    was influenced by the A.P.Pavlov stream-deluvial theory of

    loess formation, and particularly concerned with the zonality

    of the natural world; the continuous displacement of natural

    zones was a recurring theme of his work. He was executed

    during the great terror in 1937, and rehabilitated in 1956.

    A major loess book was published in 1978, and hard work by

    1

  • 7/29/2019 Soil Science in Strange Times: R.S.Il'in on loess and palaeopedology.

    2/29

    his son I.R.Ilin has ensured that his contribution to science

    is not overlooked. He had interesting correspondence with

    V.I.Vernadsky on matters philosophical, and developed

    some remarkable ideas based on epigenological principles.

    His loess work has a significant place in the history of loess

    investigation.

    Keywords: R.S.Ilin, A.P.Pavlov, loess formation,

    deluvial/stream theories of loess formation, early studies in

    palaeopedology, geographical zones, epigenological

    principles, V.I.Vernadskii

    Introduction

    L.S.Berg (1964 p103) in his book on Loess as a Product of

    Weathering and Soil Formation lists seven items by

    R.S.Ilin. Berg was very efficient and punctilious about

    providing bibliographies in his various works and this has

    proved to be of immense benefit to historians of loess

    research. Attached to the entry for Ilin (1935a) in the 1964

    bibliography is a comment by Berg (the other entries do not

    get comments) to the effect that I was not able to find out,

    from this article, what relationship [there] may be between

    natural zones and loess origin.

    2

  • 7/29/2019 Soil Science in Strange Times: R.S.Il'in on loess and palaeopedology.

    3/29

    This intriguing comment forms the basis for this study of

    Ilin and his writings on loess. It is a peculiar comment in

    many ways, in particular because in the Berg view of the

    loess world, heavily influenced by Dokuchaev, the idea of a

    loess zone would be quite acceptable. Ilin (1935a) and Ilin

    (1935b) are listed in the bibliography; Sycheva (2007) lists

    Ilin (1935b), which is a major statement of Ilins view of

    the natural world, but not Ilin (1935a) which appears to be

    a(the?) major paper encapsulating loess ideas . What were

    the loess ideas (and other ideas) of Ilin, which were largely

    buried and obscured by the detritus of exile and persecution,

    but effectively rescued by the efforts of his son, Igor

    Rostislavovich Ilin? They are unusual and eccentric and

    difficult to access; some attempts at elucidation will be

    made in this paper. Ilin lived in the extraordinary times

    so described in the book by Fitzpatrick (1999) which deals

    with life in the Soviet Union during the Stalin dictatorship.

    Ilin managed to make significant contributions to loess

    science, but he did so under very challenging conditions(see

    Shaw & Oldfield 2008 for some background details).

    Sycheva (2007) is probably the default account of the work

    of Ilin; she gives a clear idea of the six major ideas of Ilin;

    no.5 relates to the synthetic subaerial-stream theory of the

    origin of loess.

    3

  • 7/29/2019 Soil Science in Strange Times: R.S.Il'in on loess and palaeopedology.

    4/29

    Student and teachers

    Ilin started his studies at Moscow university in around 1909-

    1910, graduated in 1913 and moved to the Moscow

    Agricultural Institute. Ivanov(2006) and Sycheva (2007)

    have listed some of his teachers, and indicated areas of

    influence. He was exposed to the influence of P.Ya.

    Armashevskii, who contributed thoughts on humus layers in

    loess, and on ancient soils. Armashevskii has four papers

    listed by Kriger (1965) and was obviously a significant loess

    scholar; he may have been killed by the Cheka in 1919, in

    the first terror. A.P.Pavlov offered opinions on the deluvial or

    sub-aerial stream theory of loess formation and was a

    significant influence on the young Ilin:

    In the year of my graduation from the university (1913)

    A.P.Pavlov asked me about the soil record of the history of

    the subsoil. I could not answer this question. R.S.Ilin

    R.I.Abolin discussed the concept of epigenesis, and problems

    with bogs and mires and peat; V.V.Dokuchaev talked about

    zones and zonality in soils and landscapes, and V.R.Williams

    contributed on the theory of universal soil forming

    processes. Ilin studied at the Moscow Agricultural Institute

    until 1917; Sycheva (2007) records him rushing into a

    young science- soil science- with his first work On the

    problem of the genesis of humus horizons in loesses of

    4

  • 7/29/2019 Soil Science in Strange Times: R.S.Il'in on loess and palaeopedology.

    5/29

    southern Russia which was published in the journal Russian

    Soil Scientist [Russkii pochvoved; World List 48330], no.5-6,

    1916 (Ilin 1916, listed by Berg 1964, Kriger 1965, Sycheva

    2007). This must have been one of the first papers

    published in the field of palaeopedology. Sycheva described

    Ilin as tackling a complicated and absolutely undeveloped

    problem: buried soils in loess. He (she claimed) was the first

    to prove that buried soils are fossil soils preserved from

    ancient landscapes. He has a claim to have been a pioneer

    in the development of the science of palaeopedology;

    Marsigli and Hardcastle had earlier observations but Ilin

    helped to develop a science.

    A. P. Pavlov and his loess theory

    Pavlov is associated with the deluvial theory of loess

    formation, which possibly sounds better as the complex

    subaerial-stream theory of the origin of loess; Berg (1964

    p.18) called it the stream/torrential or deluvial theory.

    Pavlov was very interested in the loess in Central Asia

    (which he called Turkestan; Pavlov 1903) and his torrential

    or stream theory is still discussed with respect to the loess

    deposits of Uzbekistan (see Smalley et al 2006).

    The Pavlov approach deserves attention (in its own right and

    because he was close to the young Ilin); Yeliseyev (1973)

    said that there were five main approaches to the problem of

    5

  • 7/29/2019 Soil Science in Strange Times: R.S.Il'in on loess and palaeopedology.

    6/29

    the formation of the Central European loess: the proluvial,

    alluvial, soil-eluvial, deluvial and aeolian. The deluvial

    approach belongs to Pavlov.

    Its hard to find it clearly described; essentially loess material

    is carried down mountains and out into the foothill plains,

    where it forms loess deposits. A clearer idea might be

    derived from the negative view expressed by Yeliseyev

    (1973):

    The origin of the loess soils cannot be explained either as

    being the result of the action of streams of either rain or

    meltwater, i.e. deluvial activity, as it is very improbable that

    such streams could travel from the mountains over a

    distance of 100-110 km without coalescing into larger rivers.

    Even if we believe that rain and meltwater streams flowed

    along the flat surface of the debris cone nearer its apex, this

    would not explain the origin of loess. (Yeliseyev 1973.)

    Pavlov claimed that all the loess in Central Europe was

    deluvial, which seems like a rather extreme idea- but which

    actually has some merit. Pavlov could have been describing

    the early stages in the sequence of events which is currently

    being proposed to explain the formation of loess deposits in

    the Danube basin (Smalley et al 2009).

    Publications

    6

  • 7/29/2019 Soil Science in Strange Times: R.S.Il'in on loess and palaeopedology.

    7/29

    Berg (1964) listed seven Ilin publications, Kriger (1965) has

    five. Sycheva (2007) in her appreciation of Ilin listed twelve

    publications and she has performed a valuable service to the

    loess historian and bibliographer by gathering together data

    on Ilin:

    Ilins main work Origin of Loess was published in 1978.

    This work turned out to be so novel and original that many

    readers who did not know the authors fate considered it to

    be a contemporary work. S.A.Sycheva 2007

    The 602 page manuscript for this book is dated by Sycheva

    at 1934. Thanks to Ivanov we know that Ilin planned to put

    on the front cover of his Origin of Loess book a

    reproduction of a picture by Fedor Andreevich Bronnikov

    called Hymn of Pythagoras to the Rising Sun. Perhaps Ilin

    was philosophically inclined towards Pythagorean ideals.

    Sycheva (2007), in addition to listing 12 Ilin publications,

    selected ten which she designated his main publications

    (with a date range 1928 to 1991), and she displayed these

    in a table . Ilin (1935a) was a major statement of opinions

    on loess, and was the paper commented on by Berg. Ilin

    (1935b) appears to be a major staement of Ilins larger

    general philosophy of the earth sciences; Sycheva (2007)

    certainly viewed this as a major contribution.

    7

  • 7/29/2019 Soil Science in Strange Times: R.S.Il'in on loess and palaeopedology.

    8/29

    Ilin was not neglected in the world of loess scholarship; for

    example Pyaskovskii (1945) in a very influential paper gave

    two Ilin citations: Ilin (1935a, 1936):

    The character of loess necessarily shows the effects of

    local, non-zonal factors, such as relief, to which R. Ilin

    attributes a unique role (Ilin 1936), and above all the

    parent stratum.

    In the opinion of R. Ilin biological factors of the desert and

    semi-desert- the scanty vegetation and the as yet

    insufficiently studied micro-organisms- play an important

    part in the matter of loess formation (Ilin 1935a, pp.86-

    87).

    Kaluga Oblast

    Ilin worked on the soils of the Kaluga oblast (Ilin 1927,

    1928). The location of Kaluga is shown in fig.3; west of

    Moscow, near the southern limit of Bergs mixed forest zone.

    To the south of Kaluga is the forest steppe zone.Ilin (1927)

    was particularly concerned with the boundaries of the

    podzolic and forest-steppe zones.

    Situation

    There were four great Terrors(episodes of persecution of

    just about everybody) in the history of the Soviet Union: the

    Cheka terror 1918-1921, the OGPU terror 1929-1933, the

    8

  • 7/29/2019 Soil Science in Strange Times: R.S.Il'in on loess and palaeopedology.

    9/29

    NKVD terror 1936-1939 and the late terror 1948-1952. If

    you were lucky, like L.S.Berg (see Shaw & Oldfield 2008),

    you survived all four; if you were unlucky, like R.S.Ilin, one

    of them caught you and you were executed. Ilin was killed

    in 1937. The Cheka terror almost caught V.I.Vernadsky; he

    was due to be arrested in late 1917 but escaped to Kiev. He

    was eventually arrested in 1921 but enough influence was

    brought to bear, by, amongst others S.Oldenburg, the

    permanent secretary of the Academy of Sciences, that he

    was released in July 1921, and went on to be one of the

    most revered Soviet scientists and scholars.

    Ilin was arrested in 1916. In 1919-1922 he worked in the

    Moscow Gubzemotel organization and then in the soil

    committee at Narkomzem- the Peoples Commissariat for

    Agriculture, at the same time combining jobs with the

    Research Institute of Soil Science at Moscow State

    University as a teacher in the Soil Science department.

    He was arrested again in 1920, and in 1921, and in 1925

    and was imprisoned until 1927.

    In 1927 he was deported to Siberia, to the Narymsky region,

    a traditional place of exile, in Tsarist Russia and in the

    Soviet Union.

    Palaeopedology pioneer

    9

  • 7/29/2019 Soil Science in Strange Times: R.S.Il'in on loess and palaeopedology.

    10/29

    There has been some discussion, largely driven by

    D.H.Yaalon, about the invention and the early days of

    palaeopedology. Ilin certainly deserves a mention in a

    discussion on the founding events of palaeopedology. Who

    first noticed and described buried soils? Who first realised

    that they had climatic significance and could act as

    indicators of past climates? Tsaskin(1997) and

    Retallack(1990) have discussed some of these problems.

    Marsigli has been picked out as the very first person to

    record a palaeosol(Markovic 2000). He noted the presence

    of the loess-palaeosol systems in Voyvodina, north Serbia,

    while on duty safeguarding the borders of the Austro-

    Hungarian empire in the eighteenth century(Marsigli 1777).

    But it was only an observation, and a recording.

    Hardcastle(1889,1890), at the end of the nineteenth century

    noticed the variations in the coastal loess deposits at Timaru

    in the South Island of New Zealand and pointed out that the

    observed phenomena were due to climatic variations; here is

    a new science slowly creeping into being. He published in an

    obscure New Zealand journal and his observations had no

    contemporary impact, but his work is listed by

    Retallack(1990).

    It was Russian scientists at the very end of the nineteenth

    century and the beginning of the twentieth who properly

    connected soils found within loess deposits with past

    10

  • 7/29/2019 Soil Science in Strange Times: R.S.Il'in on loess and palaeopedology.

    11/29

    climates and past landscapes and described their findings in

    a proper pedological setting. Ilin played a part in these

    Russian initiatives; his 1916 paper alone qualifies him as a

    significant pioneer (as Sycheva 2007 claimed). Lysenko

    (1971, p.7) has given some views on the beginnings of

    palaeopedology. He proposed that a stratigraphic division of

    the loess strata on the Russian Plain was first attempted by

    Nabokikh (1911), who singled out in Ukraine one horizon of

    buried soil and two horizons of loess. He later (Nabokikh

    1915) distinguished in the Ukrainian loess two horizons of

    buried soils and three horizons of loess. He established that

    the structure of the upper part of the loess stratum was not

    quite the same in the glacial and in the periglacial regions.

    In the latter region the upper loess was separated from the

    middle loess by a buried soil. In the glacial region, the

    stratigraphic scheme was different: upper loess, fossil soil

    with boulders, morainic loam, and middle loess. It was

    proposed that a glacial period must have intervened

    between the periods of deposition of the middle and the

    upper loess.

    Krokos (1916) refined Nabokikhs scheme and distinguished

    four stages of loess, which were related to four glacial

    periods. He connected the formation of each stage of loess

    with a glacial advance. As Krokos was publishing his material

    about the Ukrainian loess Ilin (1916) was making similar

    11

  • 7/29/2019 Soil Science in Strange Times: R.S.Il'in on loess and palaeopedology.

    12/29

    observations about the loess in southern Russia. Ilin and

    Krokos were both significant palaeopedological pioneers.

    Both were eliminated in the Great Terror.

    Zones and zonality

    The original Dokuchaev concept of soil science contained

    several precepts; soil as a natural body, the idea of

    horizonation developing in a soil system, and the idea of soil

    zones, essentially controlled by climatic variations (zonation

    developing in horizontal and vertical planes). The zonal idea

    has been very important in Russian science since the time of

    Dokuchaev. Lysenko (1971, p.8) wrote that.. The great

    merit of Dokuchaev was his discovery of the zonal character

    of the distribution of soils. Zones were important in the Berg

    concept of geography, the idea of a loess zone is very much

    a soil science idea, in contrast to the Pavlov approach which

    looked to loess deposits, and was promoting a geological

    idea. The Pavlov and Berg approaches were essentially

    incompatible, in particular because Pavlovs was essentially

    an event based approach to loess formation and distribution.

    The zonal idea was very strong with Soviet loess scholars;

    N.I.Kriger, that most prolific of loess investigators, was very

    attached to the idea of a zonal index which would control the

    development of loess (Kriger 1965). The idea carries

    through; major Russian loess investigators retain a

    12

  • 7/29/2019 Soil Science in Strange Times: R.S.Il'in on loess and palaeopedology.

    13/29

    connection to the idea of zonality: Dokuchaev to Berg to

    Kriger to Velichko to Makeev.

    Velichko has written:

    During the last glacial maximum the following three natural

    belts formed in the eastern hemisphere under the impact of

    decreased temperatures and increased aridity The zonal

    structure of the earth simplified considerably at this time

    and was replaced by a hyperzone. (Velichko 1987, p.18).

    The zonal concept invites generalizations (as Velichko

    demonstrates): the movement of zones- simply a spatial

    manifestation of climate change. At one reference point the

    climate is observed to vary- or become warmer or cooler.

    Zones move relative to this point. The climate is constantly

    changing, therefore the zones are constantly in motion; and,

    in fact, the spatial motion is the same as the temporal

    motion. A zone that moves in space inevitably moves in

    time.

    Berg, surely one of the great zone makers, divided the

    lowlands of the Northern Hemisphere into twelve zones (see

    fig.2 & Lysenko 1971, p.9): 1, Tundra; 2, forests of

    temperate climate; 3, forest steppe; 4, steppe; 5,

    Mediterranean; 6, semi-desert; 7, deserts of the temperate

    belt; 8, sub-tropical forests; 9, tropical forests; 10, tropical

    steppes; 11, tropical forest steppe/ savanna; 12, tropical

    13

  • 7/29/2019 Soil Science in Strange Times: R.S.Il'in on loess and palaeopedology.

    14/29

    rain forest. Bergs great work on the Geographical Zones of

    the USSR was at the centre of the Bergist approach to

    geography, an important aspect of his landscape science . It

    impressed the concepts of zonality firmly on to Russian

    geography and landscape studies. Ilin features, in a small

    way, in the great work: (from the German edition

    1958,p.235)

    Iljin betrachtet die Strukturlehme um Moskau als

    Ubergangstypen zu den podsolierten Waldsteppenboden mit

    Nussstruktur des B-Horizontes, er mochte in diesen

    Bildungen, die er am Nordabfall der Klin-Dmitrower-Hohe

    beobachtete, Spuren alter Steppen sehan.

    Bergs zonality was a fairly straightforward latitudinal

    zonality. The Ilin approach to zonality carried it into much

    more fanciful regions. It is important to understand just how

    important the zonal idea was in the early years of pedology

    and palaeopedology; Boulaine 1989, p156) wrote:

    A la fin de sa vie, Dokouchaev avait enonce la theorie de la

    zonalite des sols dans un texte largement diffuse en

    France et en Allemagne. Cette notion eut un tres grande

    succes; cetait un moyen dexposition commode des faits et

    qui avait lavantage de bien montrer loriginalite des sols par

    rapport aux roches dont Humboldt avait montre lubiquite.

    14

  • 7/29/2019 Soil Science in Strange Times: R.S.Il'in on loess and palaeopedology.

    15/29

    Les climatalogues et les biologistes se firent un plaisir de la

    vulgariser. La zonalite regna donc pendant toute la periode

    de 1900-1950, elle apparut meme un moment comme la

    notion centrale de la Pedologie. Nous verrons quil faut,

    actuellement, la nuancer serieusement. (IS emphasis).

    Natural bodies

    Like zones, natural bodies were much discussed by

    Vernadsky, Berg and Ilin and contemporary scholars. This is

    another basic Dokuchaev concept and carries with it

    Dokuchaevs immense influence. He certainly wrote of soil as

    a natural body. Vernadsky deployed the concept, he wrote:

    It is the concept of a natural body(Vernadskys italics). We

    shall name so.. any object logically distinct from its

    environment; formed as a result of a regular natural process

    taking place in the biosphere or generally in the Earths

    crust.

    Real science is built up through identifying natural bodies,

    and in scientific work it is important to simultaneously take

    into consideration both the concepts corresponding to

    natural bodies and the really existing, scientifically defined

    natural bodies. V.I.Vernadsky (1997, p.162)

    So loess is a natural body; it could be argued that what Von

    Leonard did early in the nineteenth century by identifying

    15

  • 7/29/2019 Soil Science in Strange Times: R.S.Il'in on loess and palaeopedology.

    16/29

    and naming loess was describing a natural body- some part

    of the biosphere/earths crust that could/should be defined

    and studied and explained.

    Epigema(epigenic regions); epigenological principles

    Here are some more terminological problems; what did Ilin

    mean by epigema? what were epigenological principles?

    Abolin (1914) applied an epigenological classification to

    mires/bogs/peats, and as a teacher of Ilin probably

    introduced the epigenological idea to his pupil. Abolin

    proposed some additions to landscape science as started

    almost simultaneously by Berg in Russia and Passarge in

    Germany in 1913. He created a hierarchical classification of

    landscape units- the largest being the epigenema,

    comprising the whole Earth; this was divided into life zones.

    One has to speculate that Abolin was very influential in the

    intellectual development of Ilin. Abolin, like his illustrious

    pupil, did not survive the Great Terror and was executed in

    1939; he was probably killed for being an Latvian.

    Where did Ilin go on his epigenological journey? Ivanov

    (2007) has attempted a form of summary of Ilins main

    ideas and this can be reworked. The small book Space and

    Time as the Basis of Soil Classification and the

    Epigenological Principle of Nature (Ilin 2002) contains a

    distillation of Ilins thought. It is a pocket edition with a

    16

  • 7/29/2019 Soil Science in Strange Times: R.S.Il'in on loess and palaeopedology.

    17/29

    portrait of the author on the front cover. It contains an

    abstract sent by the exiled Ilin to the Second International

    Congress of Soil Science in Moscow 1932. Comments on this

    abstract were provided by I.A.Krupenikov, and the forward

    devoted to the literary heritage of Ilin was prepared by his

    son, I.R.Ilin. Ivanov (2006) has commented on the

    Krupenikov comments; further comments are added here

    but the Ilin proposals, surviving translations and

    commentary, remain obscure and difficult . Ivanov (2006)

    suggested that the publication of Ilin (2002) 70 years after

    composition was justified by the power and novelty of Ilins

    ideas. There are nine statements (here in an extremely

    abbreviated form):

    1. Soil is the central core and a symbol of the epigema. At

    once a difficult term; Ivanov has epigema denote surface

    formations; it obviously derives from epigene which means

    formed, originating, or occurring on or just below the

    surface of the earth (Greek: epigenes). An epigenological

    classification would be a classification of the upper portion/

    surficial parts of the earth, or a classification based on these

    upper parts. Maybe the basic claim could be reworked to

    soil science is the most important part of geomorphology.

    I.R.Ilin did appear to claim that R.S.Ilin had invented

    17

  • 7/29/2019 Soil Science in Strange Times: R.S.Il'in on loess and palaeopedology.

    18/29

    geomorphology but there were probably translation

    problems related to his statement.

    2. Space-time relationships are the basis of the Universe. In

    reduced form, these categories are manifested on the

    Earths surface and in soils.

    3. The soil profile reflects the quantity and quality of the

    energy emitted by the Sun in particular time periods (during

    the geological cycles) and in space (the distances between

    the Earth and the Sun). Vertical and horizontal soil zones

    are, in essence, planes shifting in time and space. Modern

    soil zonality is a result of interaction between the vertical

    and horizontal planes (these must be the planes which

    puzzled Berg.)

    4. A concept of the analogy between local physiographic

    and global natural axes was advanced. Thus, local divides

    are analogues of the Earths poles (local poles), and local

    bases of erosion are analogues of the equator (local

    equators).

    5. According to Ilin, the geological processes renew nature

    and create new subsoil.. (this predated the

    Chesworth(1982) idea that related the worlds good soils to

    18

  • 7/29/2019 Soil Science in Strange Times: R.S.Il'in on loess and palaeopedology.

    19/29

    recent geological activity). Local and global axes and focal

    points are shifted in space and time in relation to the orbital

    position of the Earth, fluctuations in sea level, and tectonic

    movements. Ivanov (2006) pointed out that, at that time (in

    1932) the only other person developing the ideas of orbital

    cycles was Milutin Milankovitch.

    6. The law of zonality governs the distribution of soils on

    horizontal and vertical planes.

    7. Climate is the major factor of pedogenesis; its action is,

    however, uneven in space and time.

    8. The epigenological principle- according to which the

    chains of epigemas of different scales have their end in the

    zero point corresponding to sea level at the equator. He

    argued that the chain of epigemas is limitless in time and

    space.

    9. Every finite segment of a chain of epigemas can be

    extended in any direction: from the pole to the equator,

    from the equator to the pole, and beyond their limits. In one

    of his letters, Ilin considered the pedosphere as the first

    and foremost carrier of life; it lives its own life and serves as

    the source of life for others.

    19

  • 7/29/2019 Soil Science in Strange Times: R.S.Il'in on loess and palaeopedology.

    20/29

    For a more substantial discussion of the nine points see

    Ivanov (2006), or Ilin (2002). Ivanov suggested that these

    statements by Ilin, along with Ilin (1935b), appear to be

    the most philosophical and mysterious work in soil science.

    V.I.Vernadsky

    Vernadsky taught mineralogy at Moscow University from

    1895 to 1911. Ilin was a student at the university from

    perhaps 1910 to 1913; it seems possible that Vernadsky

    taught mineralogy to Ilin. Some correspondence with

    Vernadsky has been published; among the topics discussed

    was the problem of the origin of loess.

    Vernadsky was attracted to the idea of natural bodies (as

    was Dokuchaev).

    The Vernadsky archive at the Russian Academy of Sciences

    contains letters from Ilin (see in particular

    It appears that Vernadsky was influenced by A.P.Pavlov; the

    idea for which Vernadsky is mostly remembered and

    honoured is the biosphere and this owes a lot to Pavlovs

    concept of the anthropogenic era- a concept which has

    contemporary relevance. Pavlov contrived to influence both

    Vernadsky and Ilin, both of whom turned out to have

    speculative and imaginative aspects of their characters.

    20

  • 7/29/2019 Soil Science in Strange Times: R.S.Il'in on loess and palaeopedology.

    21/29

    Commentary

    Berg (1964), that great window on to the history of Russian

    loess studies, allows several glimpses of the work of Ilin

    (Berg 1964,p.16,18). R.S.Ilin (1935a, p.80) [has] even

    called the Richthofen theory by the name of aeolian-

    proluvial or stream-aeolian. Among our [Russian]

    proponents of the aeolian hypothesis, many attributed some

    subordinate importance to deluvial processes.

    The deluvial hypothesis, in some form at least, is supported

    by Armashevskii (1881, 1883, 1903) by R.S.Ilin (1930,

    1935a, 1936). Authorities who propound other theories give

    nevertheless some greater or lesser attention to deluvial

    processes also (Berg 1964)

    The stream-aeolian term used by Ilin to describe the

    Richthofen theory appears to offer a considerable insight.

    The origin of loess is still being discussed;

    Ilin wrote extensively on loess. Ilin was persecuted,

    imprisoned, exiled and executed. No sensible reason has

    been found for the persecution, imprisonment, exile or

    execution, but in the time of the terrors no reason was

    required; many Soviet earth scientists were arbitrarily

    eliminated. Recent Russian publications have drawn

    attention to Ilin and his ideas, in particular Sycheva(2007),

    21

  • 7/29/2019 Soil Science in Strange Times: R.S.Il'in on loess and palaeopedology.

    22/29

    Ivanov (2006) Sergeev(1966) wrote a biographical article

    to celebrate the Ilin 75th birthday- but this gave his death as

    1944 and has been criticised by I.R.Ilin as spreading KGB

    propaganda; for some reason the true date of his death had

    to be concealed.

    All over the world the top one metre of surficial material is

    mapped and classified via soil science and soil classification.

    If, all over the world, there existed a classification of the top

    ten metres this could be an epigenological classification. One

    could see the attraction of this idea to Abolin, with respect to

    peat deposits, and to Ilin, with respect to loess deposits. A

    classification between soil and geology. A classification which

    moves loess from being a mere soil, as it might be in a

    simple zonal classification, to being a special material in a

    special region, in the epigenic zone, in the epigema. Loess

    would be a special material in the Pavlov style. Abolin and

    Pavlov influences come together.

    References

    Abolin, R.I. 1914. An attempt at an epigenological

    classification of bogs. Bolotovedenie [Peatland science;

    Minsk; World List 8511] 3, 1-55. (in Russian).

    22

  • 7/29/2019 Soil Science in Strange Times: R.S.Il'in on loess and palaeopedology.

    23/29

    Armashevskii, P.Ya. 1881. Orography of the Chernigov

    province in relation to loess distribution. Zapiski Kievskogo

    Obshchestva Estestvoispytatelei [World List 58307] 6, no.3

    (protokol zasedaniya 16 maya 1881) (in Russian).

    Armashevskii, P.Ya. 1883. Geological outline of Chernigov

    province. Zapiski Kievskogo Obshchestva Estestvoispytatelei

    7, no.1. (in Russian)

    Armashevskii, P.Ya. 1903. General geological map of

    Russia: Folio 46: Poltava-Kharkov-Obayan Trudy

    Geologicheskogo Komiteta [World List 54539] 15,no.1

    (about loess pp.222-246) (in Russian).

    Berg, L.S. 1947. Geographical Zones of the USSR. OGIS

    Moscow, 3rd.ed. 865p. (in Russian: German edition Die

    geographischen Zonen der Sowjetunion. Teubner Leipzig

    840p. 1958)

    Berg, L.S. 1964. Loess as a Product of Weathering and Soil

    Formation. Israel Program for Scientific Translations,

    Jerusalem 207p.

    Chesworth, W. 1982. Late Cenozoic geology and the

    second oldest profession. Geoscience Canada 9, 124-132.

    23

  • 7/29/2019 Soil Science in Strange Times: R.S.Il'in on loess and palaeopedology.

    24/29

    Feofilaktov, K.M. 1879. Geological investigations in

    Lybensk district of Poltavsk province. Kiev 69p.

    Fitzpatrick, S. 1999. Everyday Stalinism: Ordinary Life in

    Extraordinary Times: Soviet Russia in the 1930s. Oxford

    University Press 310p.

    Ilin, I.R. 1988. A selection from the correspondence of

    V.I.Vernadsky and R.S.Ilin. Pochvovedenie, for 1988, no.8,

    103-108.(in Russian).

    Ilin, I.R. 1990. Along a Thorny Path. Shtiintsa Chisinau

    112p. (in Russian).

    Ilin, I.R., Krupenikov, I.A.(eds.) 1978. The Origin of Loess;

    From a History of Questions. Nauka Moscow 226p. (in

    Russian).

    Ilin, R.S. 1916. Genesis of humus horizons of the southern

    Russian loess. Russkii Pochvoved (Russian Pedologist) no.5-

    6, 135-141.(in Russian).

    24

  • 7/29/2019 Soil Science in Strange Times: R.S.Il'in on loess and palaeopedology.

    25/29

    Ilin, R.S. 1927. Boundaries of the Podzolic and Forest-

    Steppe zones: soils of the Kaluga oblast. Pochvovedenie, for

    1927, no.3, 5-28. (in Russian).

    Ilin, R.S. 1935a. The origin of loess, in the light of the

    doctrine about natural zones that shift in space and time.

    Pochvovedenie, for 1935, no.1. 80-100 (in Russian).

    Ilin, R.S. 1935b. Recent displacement of zones.

    Zemlevedenie 37 (2) 113-144 (in Russian).

    Ilin, R.S. 1936. The fundamental regularity of distribution

    of upper strata and soils according to relief(age) in

    sculptured(denudation) plains. Pochvovedenie, for 1936,

    no.4. 588-599. (in Russian).

    Ilin, R.S. 1978. Origin of Loesses (Historical Background).

    Nauka, Moscow 236p (in Russian).

    Ilin, R.S. 2002. Space and Time as the Bases of Soil

    Classification and the Epigenological Principle of Nature; ed.

    I.A.Krupenikov. Litera Tiraspol 26p. (in Russian).

    Ivanov, I.V. 2006. New books on the scientific work of

    R.S.Ilin. Eurasian Soil Science 39, 339-341.

    25

  • 7/29/2019 Soil Science in Strange Times: R.S.Il'in on loess and palaeopedology.

    26/29

    Kriger, N.I. 1965. Loess, its Characteristics and Relation to

    the Geographical Environment. Nauka Moscow 296p. (in

    Russian; bibliography[pp. 255-294] published as Loess

    Letter Supplement 13, 1986).

    Krokos, V.I. 1916. Data on the geology of the Tiraspol

    county in the Kherson province. Geologicheskii Vestnik,

    vol.2, Kiev (in Russian).

    Krupenikov, I.A.(ed.) 2004. Correspondence between

    V.I.Vernadsky and R.S.Ilin. Tilar Tiraspol 86p. (in Russian).

    Krupenikov, I.A., Ilin, I.R. 1991. The role of R.S.Ilin in the

    history of soil science (for the 100th birthday).

    Pochvovedenie, for 1991, no.7, 127-137 (in Russian).

    Lysenko, M.P. 1971. Loessial Rocks of the European USSR.

    Israel Program for Scientific Translations Jerusalem 168p.

    Pavlov, A.P. 1903. Loess in Turkestan and in Europe.

    Protokoly Godichnykh Zasidanii Moskovogo Obschestva

    Ispytatelei Prirody, 17, 23-30 (in Russian).

    26

  • 7/29/2019 Soil Science in Strange Times: R.S.Il'in on loess and palaeopedology.

    27/29

    Nabokikh, A.I. 1911. Composition and origin of different

    horizons in certain soils and grounds of southern Russia.

    Selskoe Khozyaistvo I Lesovodstvo Feb.1911, St.Petersburg

    [World List 49463](in Russian).

    Nabokikh, A.I. 1915. Facts and hypotheses about the

    composition and origin of post-Tertiary sediments of the

    Chernozem belt in Russia. Materialy po Issledovaniyu Pochv

    I Gruntov Khersonskoi Gubernii no.5 Odessa (in Russian).

    Pyaskovskii, B.V. 1946. Loess as a deep soil formation.

    Pochvovedenie, for 1946, no.11, 686-696. (in Russian,

    English translation Loess Letter Supplement 3, July 1989).

    Retallack, G.J. 1990. Soils of the Past: An Introduction to

    Palaeopedology. Unwin Hyman Boston 520p.

    Sergeev, L.A. 1966. In memoriam of R.S.Ilin (1891-1944).

    Pochvovedenie, for 1966, no.4, 163-166. (in Russian).

    Shaw, D.J.B., Oldfield, J.D. 2008. Totalitarianism and

    geography: L.S.Berg and the defence of an academic

    discipline in the age of Stalin. Political Geography 27, 96-

    112.

    27

  • 7/29/2019 Soil Science in Strange Times: R.S.Il'in on loess and palaeopedology.

    28/29

    Smalley, I.J., Mavlyanova, N.G., Rakhmatullaev, Kh.L.,

    Shermatov, M.Sh., Machalett, B., OHara-Dhand, K.,

    Jefferson, I.F. 2006. The formation of loess deposits in the

    Tashkent region and parts of Central Asia; and problems

    with irrigation, hydrocollapse and soil erosion. Quaternary

    International 152/153, 59-69.

    Sycheva, S.A. 2007. Rostislav Sergeevich Ilin: A soil

    scientist and geologist ahead of his time. Eurasian Soil

    Science 40, 341-346.

    Tsatskin, A. 1997. A history of Soviet palaeopedological

    studies and their relation to soil science and Quaternary

    geology. In History of Soil Science- International

    Perspectives ed. D.H.Yaalon, S.Berkowicz, Advances in

    GeoEcology 29, Catena Verlag Reiskirchen, 277-291.

    Velichko, A.A. 1987. Relationship of climatic changes in high

    and low latitudes of the Earth during the Late Pleistocene

    and Holocene. In Paleogeography and Loess (Studies in

    Geography in Hungary 21) ed. M.Pecsi, A.A.Velichko, pp.9-

    26.

    Vernadsky, V.I. 1997. Scientific Thought as Planetary

    Phenomenon. Nongovernmental Ecological V.I.Vernadsky

    28

  • 7/29/2019 Soil Science in Strange Times: R.S.Il'in on loess and palaeopedology.

    29/29

    Foundation, Moscow 265p (translation of original 1991

    Russian edition).

    Yeliseyev, V.I. 1973. On the loess soils of Middle Asia and

    Kazakhstan. Byulleten Komissii po Izucheniya

    Chetvertichnogo Perioda 40, 52-68 (in Russian).