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CIVE 2210
SOIL MECHANICS
LECTURER’S NAME:
NOORBAYA BINTI MOHD SALLEH

EMAIL:
noorbaya@iukl.edu.my

PHONE EXT:
880

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CHAPTER 1:

SOIL
COMPOSITION

The process that convert solid rocks into

soils by the following controlling factors:
• Nature and composition of the parent rock.
• Climatic conditions, particularly temperature and humidity.
• Topographic and general terrain conditions such as degree of shelter or exposure,
density and type of vegetation.
• Length of time related to particular prevailing conditions.
• Interference by other agents, e.g. cataclysmic storms, earthquakes, action of
humans.
• Mode and conditions of transport (water flow/wind)

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Rock Cycle and the Origin of Soil

• Mineral grains that form the solid phase of a soil aggregate are the product of rock
weathering.
• Many of the physical properties of soil are dictated by the size, shape and chemical
composition of the grains.
• From mode of rock origins, there are three basic types of rock, i.e. igneous,
sedimentary and metamorphic. Figure 1.1 shows the rock cycle with the processes
associated with them.

Rock Cycle and the Origin of Soil

Figure 1.1 Rock Cycle

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Engineering Soil Terminology

• Rock – hard rigid coherent deposit forming part of the earth’s crust, which may be
igneous, sedimentary or metamorphic origin.
• Soil – any loose or diggable material that is worked in, worked on or worked with.
• Organic soil – this is a mixture of mineral grains and organic material of mainly
vegetable origin in varying stages of decomposition. Many organic soils have their
origins in lakes, bays, estuaries, harbors and reservoirs. The presence of organic
matter tends to make the soil smoother to the touch, it may be also characterized by
a dark color and a noticeable odor.
• Peat – true peat is made up entirely of organic matter, it is very spongy, highly
compressible and combustible. Inorganic minerals may also be present and as this
increases the material will grade towards and organic soil. From an engineering point
of view, peats pose many problems because of their high compressibility, void ratio
and moisture content and in some cases their acidity.

Engineering Soil Terminology

• Residual soils – these are the weathered remains of rocks that have undergone no
transportation. They are normally sandy or gravelly, with high concentrations of
oxides resulting from leaching processes, e.g. laterite, bauxite and china clay.
• Alluvial soils (alluvium) – these are material, such as sands and gravels, which have
been deposited from rivers and streams. Alluvial soils are characteristically well
sorted, but they often occur in discontinuous or irregular formations.
• Cohesive soils – fine soils containing sufficient clay or silt particles to impart
significant plasticity and cohesion.
• Cohesionless soils – coarse soils, such as sands and gravels, which consist of rounded
or angular (non-flaky) particles and which do not exhibit plasticity or cohesion.

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Engineering Soil Terminology

• Boulder clay – sometimes called till, this is soil of glacial origin consisting of a very
wide range of particle sizes from finely ground rock flour to boulders.
• Drift – this is a geological term used to describe superficial unconsolidated deposits
of recent origin, such as alluvium, glacial moraine and boulder clay, wind-blown
sands, loess, etc.

Igneous rock
• Formed by the solidification of molten magma ejected from deep within the earth’s
mantle.
• Sometimes magma stopped its mobility below the earth’s surface and cools to form
intrusive igneous rocks that are called plutons.
• Intrusive rocks formed in the past may be exposed at the surface as a result of the
continuous process of erosion of the materials that once covered them.
• Types of igneous rock formed by the cooling of magma depend on factors such as
the composition of the magma and the rate of cooling associated with it.
• Depending on the proportions of minerals available, different types of igneous rock
are formed.

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Igneous rock
• Bowen’s reaction principle:- describes the sequence by which new minerals are
formed as magma cools. The mineral crystals grow larger and some of them settle.
The crystals that remain suspended in the liquid react with the remaining melt to
form a new mineral at a lower temperature. This process continues until the entire
body of melt is solidified.
• Granite, gabbro, basalt, etc.

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Igneous rock
Table 1.1 Composition of Minerals Shown in Bowen’s Reaction Series

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Igneous rock
Table 1.2 Composition of Some Igneous Rock

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Weathering
• The natural processes which result from the single or combined actions of such
agencies as wind, rain, frost, temperature change and gravity.
• The process of breaking down rocks by mechanical and chemical processes into
smaller pieces.
• Mechanical weathering may be caused by the expansion and contraction of rocks
from the continuous gain and lost of heat, which results in ultimate disintegration.
• In chemical weathering, the original rock minerals are transformed into new minerals
by chemical reaction.

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Transportation of Weathering Products

• The products of weathering may stay in the same place or may be moved to other
places by ice, water, wind and gravity.
• Soil that have not been transported, i.e. have remained at their parent site, are
termed residual soil.
• The principle effect of transportation is that of sorting. During the processes of
movement, separation of the original constituents takes place.
• An important characteristic of residual soil is the gradation of particle size. Fine
grained soil is found at the surface and the grain size increases with depth.

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Transportation of Weathering Products

• The transported soils may be classified into several groups depending on their mode
of transportation and deposition.
i. Glacial soils – formed by transportation and deposition of glaciers
ii. Alluvial soils – transported by running water and deposited along streams
iii. Lacustrine soils – formed by deposition in quiet lakes
iv. Marine soils – formed by deposition in the seas
v. Aeolian soils – transported and deposited by wind

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Sedimentary Rock
• The deposits of gravel, sand, silt and clay formed by weathering may become compacted
by overburden pressure and cemented by agents like iron oxide, calcite, dolomite and
quartz.
• Cementing agents are generally carried in solution by groundwater. They fill the spaces
between particles and form sedimentary rock.
• Rocks formed in this way are called detrital sedimentary rocks which have a clastic
texture.

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Sedimentary Rock
• Sedimentary rock also can be formed by chemical processes. Rocks of this type are
classified as chemical sedimentary rock.
• These rocks can have clastic or nonclastic texture.
• Sedimentary rock may undergo weathering to form sediments or may be subjected
to the process of metarmophism to become metamorphic rock.

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Metamorphic Rock
• The process of changing the composition and texture of rocks (without melting) by
heat and pressure.
• During metamorphism, new minerals are formed and mineral grains are sheared to
give a foliated-texture to metamorphic rock.
• Gneiss is a metamorphic rock derived from high-grade regional metamorphism of
igneous rock such as granite, gabbro and diorite.

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Metamorphic Rock
• Schist is a type of metamorphic rock derived from several igneous, sedimentary and
low-grade metamorphic rocks with a well-foliated texture and visible flakes of platy
and micaceous minerals.
• Metamorphic rock generally contains large quantities of quartz and feldspar.

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Residual Soil
• Residual soils can be found in areas where the rate of weathering is more than the
rate of which the weathered materials are carried away by transporting agents.
• Residual soil deposits are common in the tropics.
• The nature of a residual soil deposit will generally depend on the parent rock. When
hard rocks, such as granite and gneiss undergo weathering, most of the materials are
likely to remain in place.
• These soil deposits generally have a top layer or clayey or silty clay material, below
which are silty or sandy soil layers.
• These layers in turn, are generally underlain by a partially weathered rock and then
sound bedrock.

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Weight - Volume Relationships and Plasticity

V = Vs + Vv = Vs + Vw + Va (1.1)
Where:-
Vs = Volume of soil solids
Vv = Volume of voids
Vw = Volume of water in the voids
Va = Volume of air in the voids
W = Ws + Ww (1.2)

Where:-
Ws = weight of soil solids
Ww = weight of water

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Weight - Volume Relationships and Plasticity

Figure 1.2 (a) Soil element in natural state; (b) three phases of the soil
element

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Volume Relationships

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Volume Relationships

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Weight relationships
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Weight relationships
•

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Weight relationships

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Weight relationships

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Relationships among Unit Weight, Void

Ratio, Moisture Content and Specific Gravity

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Figure 1.3 Tree separate phases of a soil element with

volume of soil solids equal to 1

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Figure 1.4 Saturated soil element with volume of

soil solids equal to 1

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Table 1.3 Void Ratio, Moisture Content and Dry Unit Weight for Some Typical
Soils in a Natural State

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Relationships among Unit Weight, Porosity and

Moisture Content

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Figure 1.5 Soil element with total volume equal to 1

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Figure 1.6 Saturated soil element with total

volume equal to 1

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CHAPTER 1: SOIL COMPOSITION

Example 1.2

In the natural state, a moist soil has a volume of 0.3 m3 and weights 5500
N. The oven dry weight of the soil is 4911 N. If Gs = 2.74, calculate the
moisture content, moist unit weight, dry unit weight, void ratio, porosity
and degree of saturation.

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CHAPTER 1: SOIL COMPOSITION

Example 1.3

A representative soil specimen collected from the field weighs 1.8 kN and has a
volume of 0.1 m3. the moisture content as determined in the laboratory is 12.6
%. Given Gs = 2.71, determine the following:

a) Moist unit weight

b) Dry unit weight
c) Void ratio
d) Porosity
e) Degree of saturation

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Relative Density

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Relative Density
Table 1.4 Qualitative description of granular soil deposits

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Relative Density
• Cubrinovski and Ishihara (2002) studied the variation of emax and emin for
a very large number of soils. Based on the best-fit linear-regression lines,
they provided the following relationships.
• Clean sand (Fc = 0 – 5%)

emax = 0.072 + 1.53 emin

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Relative Density

Figure 1.7 Test results of Miura et al. (1997) –

plot of emax vs. emin for clean sand

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Relative Density

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Relative Density

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CHAPTER 1: SOIL COMPOSITION

Example 1.6

Laboratory test results of a clean sand show that emax = 0.81, Gs = 2.68.
the same sand was compacted in the field to a dry unit weight of 15.68
kN/m3. Estimate the relative density of compaction in the field.

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