Hypotheses of the brown loam formation in the Primorye region (Russian Far East): Hindsight and the new view

This paper addresses the hypotheses of the formation of the brown loams widely spread in the zone with hummocky relief within the intermontane Razdol’noe-Khanka Depression. These hypotheses were proposed in the 1970s–1980s. The accumulation of information on the loess formation in southern East Siberia, as well as obtaining new analytical data on the microtextural, mineralogy, and major and trace-element composition of the brown loams, and the comparative analysis of these deposits provided for the formulation of a more substantiated view concerning the place of the brown loams in the group of loess-type rocks.