From Swiss German 'lösch' (loose/crumbly), coined by a geologist for the Rhine Valley's wind-deposited silt.
A fine-grained, wind-deposited sediment of silt and clay, forming fertile but erosion-prone soil.
From German 'Löss,' from Swiss German 'lösch' (loose, crumbly), from 'lösen' (to loosen). Named by geologist Karl Caesar von Leonhard for the crumbly yellow soil deposits along the Rhine Valley. Loess covers about 10% of Earth's land surface. Key roots: lösen (German: "to loosen, to release").