Soil Science in Strange Times: R.S.Il'in on loess and palaeopedology.
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Transcript of Soil Science in Strange Times: R.S.Il'in on loess and palaeopedology.
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R. S. Ilin and the study of loess and palaeosols
Ian Smalley
Giotto Loess Research Group, Geography Department,
Leicester University, Leicester LE1 7RH, UK
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
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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.
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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.
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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
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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
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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
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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.
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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.
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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.
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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.
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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),
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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.
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