DESCRIPTION AND FIELD IDENTIFICATION OF SOILS

1. Major Divisions of Soils

Soils may be sub-divided into three major groups, namely: Coarse -Grained, Fine

-Grained and organic.

Descriptio
visible to
coarse-grained if its individual particles are
A soil is considered to be
the unaided eye. The two principal soil types that comprise the coarse-grained group
are gravel and sand. These are loose water-worm fragments
of rocks, gritty and

cohesionless.
are not visible to the
A soil is considered fine-grained if its individual particles
are silt and clay; they
unaided eye. The two principal soil types comprising this group
are similar in appearance but they exhibit
different physical properties. The coarser
is
little or no cohesion. The fine type, clay,
type, silt, has a smooth texture; it possesses
texture is also smooth, it is cohesive
derived from the chemical weathering of rock, its
and plastic when wet.

amount of decayed animal

Organic soils are those which contain an appreciable
black color and foul odor.
and/or plant matter. They are characterized by their gray to
Peat is fibrous soil
The common type are peat, muck, organic silts and organic clays.
contains more oxidized
composed of decayed plant matter. Muck, compared to peat,
more organic matter. Organic silt
organic matter, it is much older, denser and contains soils are
and organic clay contain finely divided organic matter and are plastic. Organic
settle excessively.
highly compressible and any structure supported by this soil may

Engineering Properties

Coarse-grained soil have load bearing qualities, they are easy to drain, they
are

in water
not subject to appreciable changes in volume or strength due to changes
acted upon by static loads but
content, and they are comparatively incompressible when
if loose or not adequately compacted they will compress considerably if subjected to

vibratory action.

Fine-grained soils have poor load-bearing qualities, poor drainage

and they will
characteristics, they will compress under the action of a sustained load,
change in volume and strength due to changes in water content. Compared to clays,
silts have better load-bearing qualities, they are less compressible, they are easier to

drain, and they are less susceptible to volume-change due to changes in water content.

Organic soils have poor load-sustaining qualities and change in volume very
considerably even under comparatively light loads.

2. Size and shapes of soil Particles

The engineering properties of coarse-grained soils are controlled largely by the

size of the individual particles. Particle size, therefore, is used to differentiate between
the soil type of this group. A soil sis called gravel if its particles are bigger than 2 mm.
The upper limiting diameter is usually 8 inches or 203 mm, but in highway engineering it
is only 3 inches. Or 70 mm. Rock fragments which are coarser than the upper limiting
size for gravel are called boulders. A soil is called sand if its individual particles are less
than 2 mm, but are visible to the un
 Aided eye. The lower limiting diameter for sand, or the coarse-grained soils in general,
IS Considered to be 0.074 mm (the opening of # 200 sieve).
Particle size has a insignificant effect on the engineering properties of fine-
grained soils.
(refer to table of Soil Types in Terms of Particle Size)
The shape of coarse-grained soils may be rounded, sub-angular or angular. The
particles are mostly "bulky' or the dimensions in three mutually perpendicular directions
do not vary greatly, unlike the flat particles of fine-grained soils.

Silt particles which exhibit little or no cohesive properties are rounded, while the
cohesive varieties contain an appreciable quantity of flake-shaped particles. Clay
particles are predominantly flake-shaped or rarely, needle-shaped.