ABSTRACT
The origin of arid soils is bounded with three principal factors: climate, parent material and local conditions. Though arid soils form a special group of soils, their behaviour should follow the same pattern like any soil but with some specific features. One of the most prominent one is the bonding of arid soils with cementation bonds as accentuated with evaporites. The writer’s starting point is the collapse of loess structure on wetting. It is well known that such a collapse is not confined to loess but loess represents a suitable model material for dealing with it. Since debonding of the soil structure means the decrease of the soil rigidity and strength, the practical significance of those studies is apparent. Since climate and local conditions are time-variable, paleoarid soils may be encountered produced under favourable conditions. An example of such a soil is represented by loess, soil of eolian origin coming from the arid interglacials of Quaternary period.
