CE-204 - Soil Mechanics

Lecture 02 (Origin of Soil and Grain Size)

(Hafiz) Asif Arshid

BSc, UET Lahore (2003-07)
MSc, Saitama University, Japan (2012-14)

1
 CONTENTS 2

1. Earth Core
2. Types of Rocks & Rock Cycle
3. Weathering
4. Soil Particle Size
5. Mechanical Analysis of Soil
 1) Earth’s core 3

1. The Crust has a thickness of

about 10 to 40 km. It is mostly
made up of light silicates with an
average g = 3 g/cm3.

2. The upper and lower mantle is

about 3000 km thick, and is
made up of metallic silicates and
sulfides with g = 3.5 to 6 g/cm3.

3. The liquid core is about 2100 km

thick and is made up primarily of
liquid Fe and Ni, with a g = 10
g/cm3.

4. The solid inner core has a

diameter of 1300 km and a g = 13
g/cm3.
 2) Igneous rocks 4

• Igneous rocks are created when

molten material such as magma
(within the Earth) or lava (on the
surface) cools and hardens. The
hot materials crystallize into
different minerals.

• The properties and sizes of various

crystals depend on the magma’s
composition and its rate of cooling.

• Examples: Granite, Obsidian,

Basalat, Pumice, Andesite, Diorite,
Rhyolite.
 2) Metamorphic rocks 5

• Metamorphic rocks are much less common at the

earth’s surface than are sedimentary rocks.
• They are produced when sedimentary or igneous
rocks literally change their texture and structure as
well as mineral and chemical composition, as a result
of heat, pressure, and shear.
• Examples: Marble, slate, quartzite, schist, gneiss
 2) Sedimentary rocks 6

• Sedimentary rocks are made up of

sediments eroded from igneous,
metamorphic, other sedimentary
rocks, and even the remains of
dead plants and animals.
• These materials are deposited in
layers, or strata, and then squeezed
and compressed into rock.
• Most fossils are found in
sedimentary rocks.
• Examples: sandstone, shale,
conglomerate, limestone, chert,
coal, gypsum.
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2) Different rock types found on Earth’s surface
 2) Rock cycle 8

• Basic types of rock :

– Igneous
– Metamorphic
– Sedimentary

• ROCK CYCLE : is the formation cycle of

different types of rock and the processes
associated with them
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 3) Weathering 10

• Weathering converts exposed rock to soil in place

• Erosion transports dissolved or fragmented material from
the source area where weathering is occurring to a
depositional environment.
• Most of the earth’s surface is covered by exposure of
sediment or sedimentary rock, by area.
• But the sediment layer is thin in most places, with
respect to overall crustal thickness, so sedimentary rock
is a minor volume fraction of the crust (in part by
definition: once buried to the mid-crust, sediments get
cooked to metasediments).
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 3) Origin of soil 12

• Soil is a product of weathering.

• Weathering: process of breaking down of rocks by
mechanical and chemical processes into smaller
pieces.
• Mechanical weathering : expansion and contraction
of rocks from the continuous gain and loss of heat.
• Chemical weathering: the original rock materials are
transformed into new minerals by chemical reaction.
– Involve water and carbon dioxide from atmosphere that
reacts with the existing rock minerals to form new
minerals and soluble salts
 3) Weathering 13

• Mechanical Weathering
– Making little pieces out of big ones.
– Composition of original rocks does not change.
– Result: lithic fragments

• Chemical Weathering
– Original minerals chemically break down.
– Result: formation of new minerals stable at Earth-surface
conditions.
3) Mechanical weathering 14
 3) Soil deposits 15

Soils can be categorized according to where they are

ultimately deposited relative to the location of the
parent rock.
• Residual soils: The products of weathered rocks may
stay in the same place, in which case they are called
residual rocks.
• Transported soils: If the soils are moved to other
locations by water, ice, wind, and gravity, in which
case they are called transported soils.
3) Transportation of weathering products 16

ICE

TRANSPORTATION
GRAVITY AGENTS WATER

WIND
 3) Transported soils 17

Transported soils: depends on their mode of transportation

• Glacial soils are transported and deposited by glaciers
• Alluvial soils are transported and deposited by streams
and rivers
• Lacustrine soils are the deposits in quiet lakes
• Marine soils are deposited under seas
• Aeolian soils are transported and deposited by wind
• Colluvial soils are rapidly deposited soils via gravity in
the form of mudslides or landslides.
 Home Work 18

Study the Transported Soils for the following:

 Definition
 Agent of Transportation
 Properties/Characteristics (3-5)
 Pictures/Figures (2)
 4) Soil-Particle size 19

• Soils are generally called gravel, sand, silt or clay.

• Gravels are pieces of rocks.
• Sand particles are made of mostly quartz and feldspar.
• Silts are microscopic soil fractions that contain very fine
quartz grains and some flake-shaped particles.
• Clays are mostly flake-shaped microscopic /sub-microscopic
particles of mica, clay minerals etc.

No. 200 No. 4 3-in.

fines sand gravel cobbles

.075 mm 4.75 mm 75 mm
4) ASTM Soil Classification 20
5) Mechanical analysis 21

• Mechanical analysis is the

determination of the size
range of particles present in
a soil, expressed as a
percentage of the total dry
weight.
• Two methods used:
– Sieve analysis: for particle
sizes larger than 0.075 mm in
diameter.
– Hydrometer analysis: for
particle sizes smaller than
0.075 mm in diameter.
5) Sieve analysis 22
 5) Sieve designation – larger 23

• Sieves larger than the No.

4 sieve are designated by
the size of the openings
in the sieve.
• Commonly used larger
sieve sizes:
– 3 in.
– 2 in.
– 1.5 in.
– 1 in.
– 3/4 in.
– 1/2 in.
– 3/8 in.
 5) Sieve designation – smaller 24

• Smaller sieves are

numbered according to 10 openings
the number of openings per inch
per inch.
• Commonly used smaller
size sieves: 1 inch
– No. 4
– No. 10
– No. 20
– No. 40
– No. 60
– No. 140 No. 10 sieve
– No. 200
 5) US standard sieve sizes 25

Sieve No. Opening (mm) Sieve No. Opening (mm)

3 inch 76.200 20 0.850
2 inch 50.800 25 0.710
1.5 inch 38.100 30 0.600
1 inch 25.400 35 0.500
3/4 inch 19.000 40 0.425
3/8 inch 9.520 50 0.355
4 4.750 60 0.250
5 4.000 70 0.212
6 3.350 80 0.180
7 2.800 100 0.150
8 2.360 120 0.125
10 2.000 140 0.106
12 1.700 170 0.090
14 1.400 200 0.075
16 1.180 270 0.053
18 1.000
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Fine gravel Coarse gravel
4.75 – 19.0 mm 19.0 – 75.0 mm

Fine Sand Medium Sand Coarse Sand

0.075 – 0.425 mm 0.425 – 2.00 mm 2.00 – 4.75 mm
 5) Sieve analysis - Procedure 27

• Soil used in sieve analysis is oven-dried and all lumps

are broken.
• The soil is then shaken through a stack of sieves with
opening of decreasing size from top to bottom.
• A pan is placed below the stack.
• Breaking lumps in clayey soils may be difficult.
– In this case, the soil may be mixed with water to make a
slurry and then washed through sieves.
– Portions retained on each sieve are collected separately
and oven-dried.
– Mass retained on each sieve is determined.
 5) Sieve analysis - Calculations 28

• Determine the mass of soil retained on each sieve (i.e. M1,

M2, . . . , Mn) and in the pan (i.e. Mp).
• Determine the total mass of the soil: SM = M1 + M2 + . . . + Mn
+ Mp.
• Determine the cumulative soil mass retained above each
sieve. For the ith sieve, it is (Mi)retained = M1 + M2 + . . . + Mi.
• The mass of soil passing the ith sieve is
(Mi)passing = SM – (M1 + M2 + . . . + Mi).
• The percent of soil passing ith sieve ( or percent finer) is
F = (Mi)passing/SM×100.
 5) Sieve analysis - Calculations 29

Sieve Mass Cumm Mass Mass %age Mass

No Retained Ret. Passing Passing
4 5 5 75 93.8
10 10 15 65 81.3
40 5 20 60 75.0
100 15 35 45 56.3
200 10 45 35 43.8
Pan 35 80 0 0.0
Total = 80
 5) Grain size distribution curve 30

A: fine-grained soils
Cu = 5
Cc = 0.8

B: coarse-grained soils
Cu = 13
Cc = 0.83
5) Grain size distribution curve 31

Cu = 1.63
Cc = 0.96
C: poorly graded
5) Grain size distribution curve 32

Cu = 190
Cc = 1.18
D: well-graded soils

E: gap-graded soils
Cu = 111
Cc = 0.18