Professor Ian J. Smalley
Honorary Professor of Physical Geography
Contact Details
- Tel: 0116 254 4607
- Email: ijsmalley@googlemail.com
Research Interests
My main research area is loess, in particular the formation and distribution of loess material; soil structure in loess deposits and the problem of hydrocollapse and subsidence; and fragipan formation in loess soils. Regions of interest are: Danube basin, in particular Bulgaria and Hungary; Central Asia, in particular Uzbekistan; and, for a UK-NERC group project, North Africa - Libya and Algeria. See Loess Letter online for more information.
There is an active loess group in the Midlands including Loughborough University, Coventry University, Birmingham University, Nottingham Trent University, Leicester University and the British Geological Survey. The BGS is organising a monograph on UK loess to which we are all contributing.
I am currently President of the INQUA Loess Commission and we are promoting research in Russia, the Danube basin and Central Asia. The main Danube concern at the moment is the proposal to build a nuclear waste repository in the thick loess at Kozlodny in N.W. Bulgaria.
A secondary research interest is ground deformation in glacial till landscapes and the problem of drumlin formation. This is a long-running but low level interest. Smalley and Unwin in 1968 devise the dilatancy hypothesis. Smalley and Piotrowski improve it. Smalley and Warburton invent the golf-ball model: Smalley, Ping Lu and Jefferson develop it and add an aspect of self-organising criticality. We approach Eiju Yatzu's 'why' question.
Selected Publications
Smalley, I.J., Ping Lu and Jefferson, I.F., 2000. The golf-ball model and the purpose of drumlin formation. Studia Quaternaria 17, 29-33.
Smalley, I.J., 2000. The INQUA Loess Commission. Quaternary Newsletter, 92, 44-46.
Assallay, A.M., Rogers, C.D.F., Smalley, I.J. and Jefferson, I.F., 1998. Silt: 2-62µm, 9-4Ø. Earth Science Review, 45, 61-88.
Dibben, S.C., Jefferson, I.F. and Smalley, I.J., 1998. The 'Loughborough Loess' Monte Carlo model of soil structure. Computers and Geoscience, 24, 345-352.
Assallay, A.M., Jefferson, I.F., Rogers, C.D.F. and Smalley, I.J., 1998. Fragipan formation in loess soils: development of the Bryant hydroconsolidation hypothesis. Geoderma, 83, 1-16.
