David Norbury

D Engineering Geologist N FIELD DESCRIPTION OF SOILS in accordance with BS5930:2015

SOIL
Very Coarse soils Coarse soils Fine soils
GROUP
PRINCIPAL
BOULDERS COBBLES GRAVEL SAND SILT
SOIL TYPE
CLAY
Large
Boulder Cobble Coarse Medium Fine Coarse Medium Fine Coarse Medium Fine
Particle size boulder
(mm) 6.3 – 0.2 - 0.02 - 0.0063 -
>630 630 - 200 200 - 63 63 - 20 20 - 6.3 2.0 - 0.63 0.63 - 0.2 0.063 - 0.02 <0.002
2.0 0.063 0.0063 0.002
Only coarse silt visible with hand lens;
Dry lumps can be broken but not powdered between the
Easily visible to naked eye; exhibits little plasticity and marked
Only seen complete in pits or exposures. Visible to naked eye; fingers; dry lumps disintegrate under water but more
Visual dilatancy; slightly granular or silky to the
particle shape can be described; no cohesion when dry; slowly than silt; smooth to the touch; exhibits plasticity but
identification touch; disintegrates in water; lumps dry
Difficult to recover whole from boreholes. grading can be described. grading can be described. no dilatancy; sticks to the fingers and dries slowly; shrinks
quickly; possesses cohesion but can be
appreciably on drying usually showing cracks
powdered easily between fingers.
Term Very soft Soft Firm Stiff Very stiff
Finger Thumb
Finger easily pushed in makes
No terms defined. Can be indented Can be indented
Density/ Classification of relative density on the basis of N value (Table 10), or pushed in up up to 10 impression
Qualitative description of packing by slightly by thumb. by thumb nail.
Consistency field assessment using hand tests may be made (Table 11). Field to 25 mm. mm. easily.
inspection and ease of excavation. Crumbles in Cannot be
test Exudes Moulded Cannot be
rolling thread. moulded,
between by light moulded by
Remoulds crumbles
fingers finger fingers. Rolls
pressure to thread
Describe spacing of features such as fissures, shears, partings, isolated beds or very very
Scale of Term widely medium closely extremely closely
laminae, desiccation cracks, rootlets etc. widely closely
Discontinuities spacing of
Fissured: Breaks into blocks along unpolished discontinuities. Mean spacing
discontinuities >2000 2000 - 600 600 - 200 200 - 60 60 - 20 <20
Sheared: Breaks into blocks along polished discontinuities. (mm)
very
Describe thickness of beds in accordance with geological definition. thickly medium very thinly thickly thinly
Scale of Term thickly thinly bedded
Alternating layers of materials are Inter-bedded or Inter-laminated and should be bedded bedded bedded laminated laminated
Bedding bedding bedded
described by a thickness term if in equal proportions, or by a thickness of and spacing thickness Mean thickness
between subordinate layers where unequal. >2000 2000 - 600 600 - 200 200 - 60 60 - 20 20 - 6 <6
(mm)
HUE Red / Pink / Orange / Yellow / Cream / Brown / Green / Blue / White / Grey / Black Colours may be mottled
Colour can be preceded by LIGHTNESS Light / - / Dark More than 3 colours is multi-coloured
and/or CHROMA Reddish / Pinkish / Orangish / Yellowish / Brownish / Greenish / Bluish / Greyish
Term in slightly very slightly very Terms used to
(sandy) SAND AND Term in fine (sandy)
For mixtures involving very coarse soils see coarse (sandy) (sandy) (sandy) (sandy) Silty CLAY reflect secondary
Secondary
Note 2 GRAVEL soils Note 5
33.4.4.2 soils Note 2 Note 2 Note 4 Note 5
fine constituents
constituents Proportion Proportion
5-20% >20% About 50% 35 – 65% >65% Clayey SILT where this is
secondary <5% secondary <35%
Note 3 Note 3 Note 3 Note 6 Note 6 important
Note 1 Note 1
Terms can include: glauconitic / micaceous / shelly / organic / calcareous For example: slightly (glauconitic) / (glauconitic) / very (glauconitic)
Mineralogy
Carbonate content: carbonate free = no reaction to HCl / slightly calcareous = weak or sporadic effervescence / calcareous = clear but not sustained effervescence / highly calcareous = strong, sustained effervescence.
Organic soils contain secondary finely divided or discrete particles of organic matter, often with distinctive smell, may oxidise rapidly. For example: slightly organic – grey / organic – dark grey / very organic – black
Very angular / Angular / Sub-angular / Sub-rounded / Rounded / Well rounded
Particle shape
A dominant shape can be described, for example: Cubic / Flat / Elongate
PRINCIPAL LARGE
BOULDERS COBBLES GRAVEL SAND SILT CLAY
SOIL TYPE BOULDERS
Tertiary Example terms include: shell fragments / pockets of peat / gypsum crystals / pyrite nodules / calcareous concretions / flint gravel / brick fragments / rootlets / plastic bags
constituents Qualitative proportions can be given: with rare / with occasional / with numerous/ frequent/ abundant. Proportions are defined on a site or material specific basis, or subjectively
Geological Unit Name in accordance with published geological maps, memoirs or sheet explanations.
Notes: 1) Percentage coarse or fine soil constituents excludes cobbles and boulders. 2) gravelly or sandy and/or silty or clayey. 3) Or described as fine soil depending on mass behaviour.
4) gravelly and/or sandy. 5) gravelly or sandy. 6) Or described as coarse soil depending on mass behaviour