Soil Description &

Classification
 Learning Outcomes:

1. Definition soil material constituents

2. Differentiate the shape, composition
and the size range of grains
3. Describe and classify the soil
4. Describe the mineral composition in
clays
 Description of soil
A statement describing the physical
nature and state of the soil.
Can be of a sample, or a soil in situ
Visual examination, simple tests,
observation of site condition, or
geological history
 Classification of soil
Separation of soil into classes or groups
with similar characteristics and
potentially similar behaviour (although
not necessarily) such as permeability,
stiffness, strength etc.
Based mainly on sizes of soil, Atterberg
limits etc.
The class to which a soil belongs to can
be used in its description
Soil Particle Types & Size

Size range of grains

Fine Soils Coarse Soils Very Coarse

Soils
British Soil Classification System:
Basic Soil Type Group
Very coarse BOULDERS >200mm
soils COBBLES 60-200mm

Coarse soil G Coarse 20-60mm

GRAVEL Medium 6-20mm
Fine 2-6mm
S Coarse 0.6-2.0mm
SAND Medium 0.2-0.6mm
Fine 0.06-0.2mm
Fine Soil M Coarse 0.02-0.06mm
SILT Medium 0.006-0.02mm
Fine 0.002-0.006mm
C CLAY <0.002mm
 GRAVEL
SAND particles are visible to
naked eye
SILT dusty when dry and
easily brushed off
CLAY greasy and sticky
when wet, hard when dry, and
have to be scraped or washed
off
 Coarse/Fine soils
Coarse soils (over 65 % sand and gravel sizes)
Gravelly sands and gravel-sands
Fine soils (over 35 % silt and clay sizes)
Silty clays and clay-silts
Major differences in engineering behavior:
permeability, compressibility, shrinking/swelling
potential, strength etc.
Presence of clay minerals in a soil has a great
influence in the engineering properties of soil as a
whole.
When moisture is present, the engineering behavior
of a soil will change greatly as the percentage of clay
mineral content increases.
For all practical purposes, when the clay content is
about 50% or more, the sand and silt particles float
in a clay matrix, and the clay minerals primarily
dictate the engineering properties of the soil.
 Coarse soil
From broken rock particles
General shape is rotund
Rounded:
Water- or air-worn; transported sediments
Irregular:
Irregular shape with round edges; glacial
sediments (sometimes sub-divided into 'sub-
rounded' and 'sub-angular')
 Coarse soil
Angular:
Flat faces and sharp edges;
residual soils, grits
Flaky:
Thickness small compared to
length/breadth; clays
Elongated
Length larger than
breadth/thickness; screed, broken
flagstone
Flaky & Elongated
Length>Breadth>Thickness;
broken schist and slates
Surface texture of coarse particles

Quarry sand River sand

Mining sand Marine sand

Fine Soil - Clay & Silt
 Fine Soil - Clay
Clay particles are flaky
Thickness is very small relative to length & breadth
(1:100)
Very high specific surface value (surface area per unit
mass)
The surfaces carry small ve electrical charge
(anions) that will attract positive end of water
molecules H2O-
This charge depends on the soil mineral
In dry clay, the neg. charge is balanced by
exchangeable cations like Ca2+, Mg2+, Na+,
and K+ surrounding the particles held by
electrostatic attraction.
When water is added to clay, these cations and a few
anions float around the clay particles forming diffuse
double layer. Innermost part is called adsorbed water.
Diffuse double layer
Diffuse double layer
 Specific Surface
Ratio of surface area per unit weight.
SAND grains (size 2.0 - 0.06mm) are
close to cubes or spheres in shape, and
have specific surfaces near the
minimum value.
CLAY particles are flaky and have much
greater specific surface values.
Examples of specific surface
The more elongated or flaky a particle
is, the greater will be its specific
surface.
cubes, rods, sheets
 Specific Surface
Mineral Grain size (m) Thickness (mm) Specific surface
(m2/g)

Quartz 100 d 0.02

Kaolinite 0.3-2.0 0.2d 20

Illite 0.2-2.0 0.1d 80

Montmorillonite 0.01-1.0 0.01d 800

 Clay mineral
Mainly from chemical weathering and
decomposition of feldspars and some mica.
The key to clay soils properties like plasticity,
compressibility, swelling/shrinkage potential,
lies in the structure of the clay minerals.
They are complex aluminium silicates
composed of two basic units: silica
tetrahedron and alumina octahedron
 Silica tetrahedron
Four O2 atoms surrounding one silicon
atom

silica sheet
 Alumina octahedron
Six hydroxyls (OH) atoms surrounding
one aluminium atom

Octahedral sheet (gibbsite sheet)

 Combination of silica sheet and alumina
sheet (gibbsite sheet) gives three main
groups of clay minerals
Kaolinite
Illites
Montmorillonites
 Main groups of clay
Kaolinites minerals
Decomposition of
Alumina sheet
orthoclase
feldspars (e.g. in Silica sheet

granite) Hydrogen
bonds
Kaolin is the 0.72 nm thick

principal constituent
in china clay and
ball clay
Common in humid
tropical region
To have a feel of the no. of units in a
particle of kaolinite clay

If the thickness of a kaolinite particle is 0.3

m, then the no. of layer of silica-alumina
sheet will be 420 layers.
Carroll (1970) reported that approximately
600 units of silica-alumina form one particle
of kaolinite which is about 9.0 nm wide, 10.3
nm long and 2.1 nm thick.
 Main groups of clay
Illites minerals
Commonest clay
minerals. Alumina sheet

Formed by Silica sheet Potassium

ions
decomposition of
some micas and Each layer
Alumina sheet
feldspars; thickness is
0.96nm
Predominant in Silica sheet

marine clays and

shale (e.g. London Alumina sheet
clay, Oxford clay)
Silica sheet
 Main groups of clay

minerals
Montmorillonites
Formed by alteration Alumina sheet
of basic igneous Silica sheet Layers held
rocks containing together by
silicates rich in Ca Van der
Waals
and Mg; Alumina sheet forces and
Weak linkage by exchangea
Silica sheet ble ions;
cations (Na+, Ca++) easily
High in shrinking and infiltrated
by water
swelling potential
Alumina sheet
expansive clay
Silica sheet
Buildings From Clay
The importance of understanding the
mineralogy aspects of clay
Soil mineralogy controls the size, shape, and
physical and chemical properties of soil
Size, shape, physical and chemical properties in turn
affect the engineering properties of soil such as shear
strength, compressibility, consolidation, settlement,
and permeability of soil.
Kaolinite for example is a stable clay mineral, does
not swell easily in presence of water, thus will exhibit
less compressibility and settlement than
montmorillonite.
The clay particles

Illite

Kaolinite
The individual clay particles

Kaolinite Illite
 Soil Fabric
Besides mineralogy, another important
aspect of soil which contributes to the
engineering properties of soil is the soil fabric.
For example, a study on the geometric
arrangement of particles and contact forces
between them is needed to understand the
shear behavior of the soil.
Also as an example, the arrangement of
particles affects the permeability of the soil.
 Soil Fabric
Assuming soil particle to be rigid, during
deposition, mineral particles are arranged into
structural frameworks that we call soil fabric
(also known as soil structure).
Soil structure or fabric is defined as the
geometric arrangement of soil particles to
each other.
Particles arrangement could be in flocculated
structure and dispersed structure.
Soil Fabric
 Soil Fabric
Any loading, tectonic or otherwise, will
permanently alter the soil fabric in a way
unique to that particular loading
condition
The soil fabric is the brain; it retains the
memory of the birth of the soil and
subsequent changes that occur
 Soil Fabric
The spaces between mineral particles are
called voids
It can be filled either with liquid (eg water) or
gases (eg air)
Changing volume of void causes soil to expand
(dilate) or compress (settle)
Rate of settlement depends on
interconnectivity of voids
Settlement in fine-grained soil is slow and
almost ceaseless due to larger surface area
provides greater resistance to the flow of water
through voids.
Soil Fabric Peds, clusters,
domains
 Soil Fabric sediment
structures
When clay particles initially
dispersed in water come
close to each other, they
will aggregate into visible
flocs with face-to-edge
contact.
In high salt environment,
the flocculations will be
more towards face-to-face
(a) dispersed (b) nonsalt
contact. flocculation (c) salt flocculation
Soil Fabrics close up
Soil Fabric close up
Soil Fabric close up
 Comparison
Properties Coarse Grained Soil Fine Grained Soil
Load bearing Good Poor
Capacity
Drainage Good Poor impermeable
Volume & Not significantly affected Varies to moisture
Strength change by moisture presence presence
Density Incompressible when Compressible at a slow
dense, significant rate.
volume change when Continuous process
loose
Engineering Determined by particle Determined by
properties size and structural mineralogical factors
arrangement