Most of the dust carried by dust storms is in the form of silt-size particles. Deposits of this windblown silt are known as loess. The thickest known deposit of loess, 335 meters, is on the Loess Plateau in China. This very same Asian dust is blown for thousands of miles, forming deep beds in places as far away as Hawaii. In Europe and in the Americas, accumulations of loess are generally from 20 to 30 meters thick. The soils developed on loess are generally highly productive for agriculture.