The
Loess Plateau , also known as the
Huangtu Plateau, is a
plateau that covers an area of some
640,000 km² in the upper and middle reaches of
China's
Yellow River.
Loess is the name for the
silty sediment that has been deposited by wind storms on the plateau over the ages. Loess is a highly
erosion-prone soil that is susceptible to the forces of wind and water; in fact, the soil of this region has been called the "most highly erodible soil on earth". The Loess Plateau and its dusty soil cover almost all of
Shanxi and
Shaanxi provinces, as well as parts of
Gansu province, the
Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, and the
Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region.