First stage of the joint Russian-Chinese expedition in the Chinese province of Gansu, which has received grant support from the Russian Geographical Society is over. The project is dedicated to the 120th anniversary of outstanding Russian geographer and geologist Vladimir Obruchev’s travel to Central Asia (1892) and China (1894). More than a hundred years ago the members of the expedition under the leadership of Obruchev overcame 13 thousand kilometers of the little-studied regions of the Chinese Empire. The objective of the expedition was also to study loess formations in the region.
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Loess is homogeneous, porous, friable, slightly coherent, typically non-stratified and often calcareous mantle of Pleistocene age, pale yellow or buff.
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Scientific leader of today’s expedition is the famous explorer and adventurer – Andrey Velichko, the winner of the Grand Gold Medal of the Russian Geographical Society, which he received at a meeting of the Board of Trustees of the Society. Under his leadership scientists from Russia and China carried out a large-scale field study on sampling of loess. Analysis of the material can give a detailed picture of the climate of this region in the past, at least the last 130,000 years.
In addition to important field work the members of the expedition carried out preparations for the second phase of the project: full-scale shooting of a documentary about the culture and nature of Gansu Province will start in October.
