Collapsing engineering soils are a formidable hazard around the world. These difficult materials also include some of the world's most fertile agricultural soils, fostering dense human populations which are therefore increasingly at risk. Despite an impressive literature on the engineering aspects of collapsing soils, these materials are coming under increasing scrutiny by scientists in other fields. This is most evidently the case with soil scientists, stratigraphers and sedimentologists. Past earth surface conditions have a direct influence on the detailed behaviour of collapsible soils: as...