‘Soil aggregate. plasticity, and classification 19 Figure 1.22 fa) Saleand (B} nensal floctulation of elay particles. 1.8 CONSISTENCY OF COHESIVE SOILS ‘The presence of clay minerals ina fine-grained snil will allow it te be remalded inthe presence uf some moisture without crumbling. Ifa clay slurry is dried, the moisture content will gradually decrease, and che slurry will pass from a liquid state to a plastic state. With further drying, it will change to a semisolid state and finally to a solid seate, as shown in Figure 1.23. In 1711, A, Atterberg, a Swedish scientist, developed a method for describing the limie consistency of fine-grained soilg on the b: These limits are the liquid linet, the plastic limit, and the shrinkage finis, The liquid limit is defi is the am the soil changes from a liquid stare to a plastic state. The moisture contents (in percent] at which the soil changes from a plastic to a semisolid state and from a semisolid to a solid state are defined as the plastic limit and the shrinkage limit, respectively. ‘These limits are generally referred to as the Afterberg bimits. The Atterberg limits of cohesive soil depend om sev- eral factors, such as the amount and type of clay minerals and the rype of adsorbed cation, of moisture content el 4, in percent, at which isture cont Moistune canitent decreasing Figure J.27 Consistency of cohesive soils.