Rock +Water > Clay For example, The CO> gas can dissolve in water and form carbonic acid, which will become hydrogen ions H’ and bicarbonate ions, and make water slightly acidic. CO+H:0 HCO; 9H" +H1COr The acidic water will react with the rock surfaces and tend to dissolve the K ion and silica from the feldspar. Finally, the feldspar is transformed into kaolinite, Feldspar + hydrogen ions+water —> clay (kaolinite) + cations, dissolved silica 2KAISi:Os+2H" +H20 —> Al:SiOs(OH) + 2K* +4Si02 ‘Note that the hydrogen ion displaces the cations. The word ‘clay ' is generally understood to refer to a material composed of a mass of small mineral particles which, in association with certain quantities of water, exhibits the property of plasticity. According to the clay mineral concept, clay materials are essentially composed of extremely small crystalline particles of one or more members of a small group of minerals that are commonly known as clay minerals. Minerals can be classified as primary and secondary minerals. Primary minerals will be the same as in parent rock, sand and gravel, which are products of mechanical weathering, which are products of mechanical weathering, are composed of primary minerals. They neither possess cohesion nor plasticity characteristics. They are bulky particle and their behavior is governed by gravitational forces. Silts and clays possess secondary minerals which are results of chemical weathering. It is further classified as non clay minerals and clay minerals. The clay minerals are basically composed of tiny crystalline substance of one or more members of a small group of minerals commonly known as clay minerals. Chemical weathering are the main cause of clay minerals evolution. Chemically these minerals are hydrous alumino sllicates with other metallic ions. In nature, basically there are three types of clay minerals— 1. Kaolinite clay, 2. Ilite clay, and 3. Montmorillonite clay. These clays have different atomic structures and behave differently and are all made of two basic atomic sheets—namely, silica tetrahedral sheets and aluminum octahedron sheets, as seen in figure 4.1. Naturally abundant atom silica (Si) and aluminum atom (Al) occupy the centerpositions of the sheets, and oxygen atom (O°) and hydroxyl (OH) are strongly bonded to those core atoms, respectively. These bonds are either ionic or covalent, and actual bonds in silica and aluminum sheets are combinations of these two types of bonds. (a) Tetranedral unit (b) Silica sheet @ Silicons © Oxygen Symbolic representation of asilica sheet (a) Octahedral unit (b) Octahedral sheet @ Hydroxyis ac Ona Synbote rpeomation Syrbaiccmras () and (b) basic structural sheet nthe octahetral sheet (Grim, 1988) nits in the silicon Figure 4 1: () Basie suc Tetrahedral unit consists of a silicon atom (Si") surrounded by four oxygen atoms (O) forming the shape of tetrahedron. Oxygen atom are the tip of the tetrahedron whereas the silicon atom is at its centre, The combination of tetrahedral silica units gives a silica sheet. Octahedral unit consists of six hydroxyls (OH) forming a configuration of an octahedron and having one aluminium atom at the centre. (AI) aluminium atom has + posite charges, and octahedral unit has 3 —ve charges. And the combination of the octahedral aluminum hydroxyl units gives an octahedral sheet(This also is called a gibbsite sheet). Sometimes magnesiumreplaces the aluminum atoms in the octahedral units; in this case, the octahedral sheet is called a brucite sheet. Sica sheet ‘ities sheet ‘Alumina sneet Alumina sheet eee L—ainelbesteat Silica sheet Silica sheet J+—Layers held Hydrogen bonds. Potassium ions together by van ser Waals forces and exchangeable fons easily infiltrated by water {) Kaolinite ite (6) Montmaritinite Figure 4 2:Siructure of kaolinite, ite, and montmorillonite 1. Kaolinite Kaolinite has a structure that consists of one silica sheet and one alumina sheet bonded together into a layer about 0.72 nm thick and stacked repeatedly (Figure 4.2a). The layers are held together by hydrogen bonds, Tightly stacked layers result from numerous hydrogen bonds, They are very stable with strongly bonded structure and absorb little or no water. They have little or no swelling and shrinkage with response to water content and is less problematic. So it is used to make pottery and it is also important ingredient in paper, paint and other products. 2. lite lite consists of repeated layers of one alumina sheet sandwiched by two silicate sheets (Figure 4.1b). The layers, each of thickness 0.96 nm, are held together by potassium ions. In the octahedral sheets some of the aluminium is replaced by iron and magnesium and in the tetrahedral sheets there is a partial replacement of silicon by aluminium. The bonds with the non exchangeable K+ ions are weaker than the hydrogen bonds, but stronger than the water bond of montmorillonite. Thus they tends to absorb more water than kaolinites and have higher swelling and shrinkage characteristics. Glacial clays in the great lakes region are primarily comprised of illite 3. Montmorillonite Montmorillonite has a structure similar to illite, but the layers are held together by weak van der Waals forces. That is, one gibbsite sheet sandwiched between two silica sheets (Figure 4.1), Potassium ions are not present here as in the case of illite, and a large amount of water is attracted into the space between the layers. Montmorillonite shows high water absorption, swelling and shrinkage characteristics. Bentonite is a member of this mineral group and usually formed from weathered volcanic ash. Because of its much expansive property it is either troublesome or very usefiul depending open the situation. It is used as grout in the plugging of leaks in reservoirs and tunnels also as a drilling mud for soil boring. Bentonite, is commercially mined and sold for such works. However problems with soil expansion include extensive distortions in structures, highways, and other civil engineering projects. ‘When many clay particles are mixed together in water, particles interact. Several interactive forces (attractive or repulsive) exist between particles when those particles are brought closer. 4.2.1. Van der waal.’s force (attractive)Overlapping of electrons’ motion on their orbits of atoms creates this close-range attractive force. It is believed that the magnitude of the attractive force is inversely proportional to approximately the third power of the spacing (r) between particle. 4.2.2 dipole cation dipole attraction A negatively charged clay surface attracts the positive side of a dipole (water), and the opposite side (-) of the dipole attracts a cation (+), which attracts the negative side of another dipole and so on, as seen in Figure. 4.2.3 cation linkage (attractive) As it has been seen in the case of illite clay, cations act as the intermediate charge between the particles (Figure). 4.2.4 cation-cation repulsive force Cations repel each other if they are brought closer, as seen in Figure. 4.2.5 anion-anion repulsive force ‘Two adjacent clay surfaces (both negatively charged) repel each other when they are in a close encounter (Figure). (a) Dipole-cation-dipole (attractive) _(b) Cation linkage (attractive) ©. ya @% %o ot % (©) Cation-cation (repulsive) (d) Anion-anion (repulsive) TIMID Figure 4.3 Interactive forces between clay particles. The term soil structure in general, refers to the arrangement or state of aggregation of particles in a soil mass. But deeper understanding of soil structure demands consideration of mineralogical composition, shape and orientation of soil particles; the nature and properties of soil water, and the forces of interaction between soil particles and soil water. The engineering behavior of soils is influenced by soil structure to varying degrees. Following are the types of soil structure which have been recognized in various soil deposits 1. Single grained structure — in case of coarse grained soil deposits (sand)Honeycomb structure ~ in the case of silt deposits Flocculated structure ~ in the case of clay deposits Dispersed structure ~ in the case of clay deposits Coarse grained skeleton structure ~ in the case of composite soils Cohesive matrix structure — in the case of composite soils 1, SINGLE GRAINED STRUCTURE This type of structure will be found in the case of coarse grained soil deposits (see Fig-1). When such soils settle out of suspension in water, the particles settle independently of each other. The ‘major force causing their deposition is gravitational and surface forces ate too small to produce any effect. There will be particle-to-particle contact in the deposit. The void ratio attained depends on the relative size of grains, Fig-1 Single Grained structure 2. HONEYCOMB STRUCTURE This type of structure is associated with silt deposits. When silt particles settle out of suspension, in addition to gravitational forces the surface forces also play a significant role. When particles approach the lower region of suspension they will be attracted by particles deposited as well as the neighboring particles leading to the formation of arches. The combination of a number of arches leads to the honeycomb structure as shown in Fig-2. As the deposit has high void ratio, when disturbed as in pile driving, there will be large reductis volume due to breakdown of structure,3. FLOCCULATED STRUCTURE These are the two types of structures found in clay deposits. Inthe case of flocculated struct there will be edge to edge and edge to face contact between the particles (see Fig-3). This type of formation is due to the net electrical forces between the adjacent particles at the time of deposition being attractive in nature. The concentration of dissolved minerals in water leads to formation of flocculated structure with very high void ratio as in the case of marine deposits 4. DISPERSED STRUCTURE In the case of dispersed or oriented structure, the particles will have face to face contact (see Fig-4). This type of formation is due to net electrical forces between adjacent soil particles at the time of deposition being repulsive in nature. This type of structure is common in fresh water deposits. Clay with floceulated structure will have relatively high void ratio. Remoulding of such soils or application of pressure as in compaction leads to slippage of particles resulting in dispersed structure with decrease in void ratio. Consolidation also tends to reorient the particles to form dispersed structure with decrease in volume. 5, COARSE GRAINED SKELETON STRUCTURE The coarse grained skeleton structure can be found in the case of composite soils in which the coarse grained fraction is greater in proportion compared to fine grained fraction. The coarse grained particles forms the skeleton with particle to particle contact and the voids between the particles will be occupied by the fine grained particles.6. COHESIVE MATRIX STRUCTURE The cohesive matrix structure can be found in composite soils in which the fine- fraction is more in proportion compared to coarse grained fraction. In this case the coarse grained particles will be embedded in fine grained fraction and will be prevented from having particle to particle contact. This type of structure is relatively more compressible compared to the more stable coarse grained skeleton structure.