Soil Formation

Soil texture, Grain Shape, Fabric and Mineralogy

Grain Size Distribution

Atterberg’s Limits and Indices

Soil Classification systems [USCS, BS, AASHTO]

• What is soil?

• Where does it come from?

• Soil – an assemblage of discrete solid particle
of organic and inorganic composition with air
and/or water occupying the void space
amongst the particles.

Example
• Mainly due to physical and chemical
weathering of rock
• Physical weathering causes reduction of size
without changes of the composition
* agent- erosion, freezing, unloading
• Chemical weathering causes reduction in size
and altered the composition of rock
*agent- hydration, carbonation, oxidation
 SOIL TYPE
During the Pleistocene Ice Age, glaciers
covered large areas of the earth. The glaciers
advanced and retreated with time. During their
advanced , the glaciers carried large amounts
of sand, silt, clay, gravel and boulders. Drift is a
general term for the deposit laid down by the
Glacial soil glaciers.

Marine soil
 SOIL TYPE
The formation of soil due to the wind blow.
Deposit of windblown sand generally take
the shape of dunes.
Loess is an aeolian deposit consisting of silt
and silt-sized particles. The grain size
distribution of loess is rather uniform.
Aeolian soil

Alluvial soil deposits derive from the action of

streams and rivers and can be divided into:
(1) braided stream deposit – wide range of
grain size from gravel to silt. Clay size
particles are not found.
(2) Meandering belt of stream – consist of
sand, silt sized and clay.
Alluvial soil
 SOIL TYPE

Residual soils are found in areas where the

rate of weathering is more than the rate of
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 rock such as granite and gneiss,

undergo weathering, most of the materials are
generally have a top layer of clayey or silty clay
material, below which are silty or sandy soil
layers.

Residual soil
 SOIL TYPE

Generally found in low-lying areas where the water table is near or above the
ground surface.

The presence of a high water table helps in growth of aquatic plants that
when decomposed, form organic soil.

The natural moisture content may range from 200 to 300%.

They are highly compressible.
A large amount of settlement is derived from secondary consolidation under
loads.
 1.4 Soil Classification
 Classification systems provide a systematic method of
categorizing their engineering behaviour.

 The grain size distribution and plasticity of soils

are commonly used to classify the soil

 Common soil classification systems used in civil

engineering practice are:-
1. The Unified Soil Classification System (USCS)
2. British soil classification system (BS)
3. American Association of state Highway and
Transportation Officials (AASHTO)
 THE UNIFIED SOIL
CLASSIFICATION SYSTEM (USCS)
 Soil Classification (USCS)

(0.075 mm)
FOR GRAVELLY AND SANDY SOIL
FOR INORGANIC SILTY AND CLAYEY SOIL
FOR ORGANIC SILTY AND CLAYEY SOIL
AASHTO System

No. 10 = 2.0 mm
No. 40 = 0.425 mm
No. 200 = 0.075 mm

How to classify?
1. Determine the
percentage passing
sieve no.200

2.Start from left to right

AASHTO System
AASHTO FLOW CHART (CODUTO ET AL. , 2011)
GROUP INDEX (GI)
 To evaluate the quality of a soil as a highway
subgrade material.
 The smaller the value of the GI, the better the soil as
a highway material
 GI=(F-35)[0.2+0.005(LL-40)] + 0.01(F -15)(PI – 10),
where F is percent passing 0.075 mm
 GI = 0.01(F -15)(PI – 10) for A-2-6 and A-2-7

Rules
1. If GI is negative, taken as 0
2. Rounded the GI to the nearest number
EXAMPLE 1
EXAMPLE 2
THE BRITISH STANDARD CLASSIFICATION SYSTEM
(BSCS)
THE BRITISH STANDARD CLASSIFICATION SYSTEM
(BSCS)
PROBLEMS