Professor Yoon, Soon-Ock published ‘Loess Geomorphology of Korea’ 

Loess is a type of soil formed by an accumulation of silt in the semiarid zone on the continent. Silt is carried by wind and loess is casually called red clay. In the old days, there were questions about whether loess topography existed. Therefore, loess research of Korea in old days was like a wasteland. In this situation, Yoon, Soon-Ock, a professor at KyungHee University(KHU) Department of Geography, set foot in loess research to solve age-dating problems and found loess in various regions in Korea. Professor Yoon had strived on Korea’s loess research for 20 years and showed the processes and results in her recently published book, ‘Loess Geomorphology of Korea’.

‘Loess Geomorphology of Korea’: Relationship of Loess and Koreans

Korean life and loess have a deep relationship. In the very old days, the upper middle highland of China faced cold and dry ice age and after that, the yellow dirt covered the highland which had moved. The dirt had flown all the way to the Korean peninsula and had accumulated. Pre-humans of Korea had made houses on this yellow dirt and humans had made houses with the yellow dirt. Through ‘Loess Geomorphology of Korea’, readers can get information on what is loess and how to research and conduct experiments in the first and second chapters. Then, readers can learn the characteristics of Korea’s loess topography which professor Yoon had strived for a long time. In the third chapter, she discusses the property of Korea’s loess distribution and in the fourth chapter, she discusses the relationship between yellow dust and loess.

‘Loess Geomorphology of Korea’: Seeking Past Times through Loess Research

Loess research offers clues to understand past times that helps understand the feature of the paleoenvironment. This helps restore of history of man and nature. Therefore, research on loess can be used as a decisive clue in geomorphology and archeology. Especially, for the topography which is hard to age date using recent technology, loess is a significant clue since researchers can perceive the topography’s age by measuring the upper loess sedimentation period. Loess gives a solution to measuring the period of the paleolithic site. Through ‘Loess Geomorphology of Korea’, readers learn how to gain feature of past times and restore it through loess research.

‘Loess Geomorphology of Korea’: Connecting Past and Future through Loess

In the sixth chapter of ‘Loess Geomorphology of Korea’, she first discusses how her research team had restored Paleoclimate and how they used it on suggesting Korea’s own loess-paleo soil continuous layer formation model. In addition, she discusses how loess research can be used on the perception of future times in this chapter. Professor Yoon especially mentioned that loess research can be used in the restoration of past features and estimation of future climate. Professor Yoon focused on the drier environment of the continent and researched the future alteration of Asia’s silk and sand areas. She also mentioned that researchers can understand how the alteration and yellow dust will affect Korea in the future.

Korea’s loess research can extend the region of Korea Geomorphology and can lead to East Asia’s geomorphology and Quaternary research. Through ‘Korea’s Loess Geomorphology’, readers gain a chance to learn how Koreans and Loess topography is related. In addition, readers gain insight into the significance of loess research in the aspect of past restoration and future estimation.