1

COARSE GRAINED SOIL FINE GRAINED SOIL

 Contain minerals:  Behaviour
Quartz and depend on
feldspar Nature and
 Strong and characteristics of
electrically inert mineral present
 Behaviour do not
depend on :
Nature of mineral
present
 Science deals with:
STRUCTURE OF CLAY MINERALS ON:
Microscopic
Molecular
Atomic
- To Study about behaviour of clayey soils
- Study imp on particles of size smaller than 2
micron size
 Geometrical arrangement of soil particles in a
soil mass
 Shape
 Size
 Orientations of particle
 Gravitation force in soil proportional to
volume of soil mass
 Volume indicates particle size
ie, Gravitational force depends on particle size

Particle size increases-

Gravitational force increases
 Surface force- Depend on surface area of
particles
 Surface area – depend on particle size
 As particle size small, surface area increases
 As particle size decreases- SURFACE FORCE
PREDOMINATES
 In coarse grained soil, surface area to volume
ratio small
- Surface force less
- No plasticity & no cohesion
 In fine grained soil, surface force more

 Material in which surface force predominates

are called COLLOIDS
 Ratio of surface area to volume large –
600 to 105 mm2/mm3
Eg: Clayey soil 2 micron size
 Bond together atoms of molecules
A) IONIC BOND:
Atoms- electrons carrying –ve charge and
revolves about nucleus
- Some elements have excess or deficiency of
electrons in outer shell
- One atom join another atom either by
adding or losing electrons
- Eg: Nacl
b) Covalent Bond
- Develops b/w two atoms by sharing
electrons in their outer shell
Eg: Oxygen Molecule

Primary valence bond stronger –do not break

 Bond b/w hydrogen cation and anions of two
atoms of another element
 Eg: Bond b/w hydrogen atoms and oxygen
atoms in a water molecule
 Intermolecular bond which develop b/w
atoms in one molecule to atoms in another
molecule
- Number of tetrahedral units combine to form sheet,
with oxygen atom at the base of all tetrahedra
12
Gibbsite sheet:
Several octahedral
sheets combine to
form sheet
-Electrically neutral 13
 hydroxyl or
oxygen
oxygen

aluminium or
magnesium
silicon

0.29 nm 14
 One atom in basic unit replaced by another
atom
 Eg: One silicon atom in tetrahedral unit may
be substituted by Al atom
 As Al has 3 positive charges whereas silicon
atom have 4 positive charges ,- net unit
charge deficiency of one positive charge
 Increases negative charge on particle
 Slight distortion of crystal lattice occurs
Different combinations of tetrahedral and
octahedral sheets form different clay minerals:

1:1 Clay Mineral (e.g., 2:1 Clay Mineral (e.g.,

kaolinite, halloysite): montmorillonite, illite)
•Basic structural unit consists of
•alumina sheet combined with silica sheet
• Structural
units join together by hydrogen bond that
develops b/w oxygen of silica sheet and hydroxyls of
alumina sheet
•Thickness 7 A0
•Si4Al4O10(OH)8. Platy shape
•Thebonding between layers are van der Waals forces and
hydrogen bonds (strong bonding).
•There is no interlayer swelling
•Electrically neutral
•Eg: China clay
Thickness : 0.005 μ
Specific surface: 15 m2/g
 Similar to koalinite but structural units are
seperated by single molecular layer of water
 Properties depend on layer of water
 If water removed by drying, properties of
mineral changes
 Tubular in shape
 Soils with low mass density
 Basic structural unit consist of an
alumina sheet sandwhiched between
two silica sheets
 Thickness: 10 A0
n·H2O+cations

 Structural unit joined by link b/w

oxygen ions of two silica sheets
( Vander waal forces)
 Negatively charged surfaces of silica
sheet attract water in the space
between two structural units-
expansion of material
 Water removed by heating b/w 200 to
300 oc
 High shrinkage and swelling
characteristics
-Lateral Dimension: 0.1 to 0.5 μ
-Thickness: 0.001 to 0.005 μ
 Similar to montmorillonite
 Large amt of isomorphours substitution of
silica by Al- Large negative charge
 Link b/w structural unit by Pottasium-
Bond stronger
 Space b/w structural unit smaller
 Swells less than montmorillonite but
more than in Kaolinite
 Lattice is stronger- less cleavage
-Lateral Dimension: 0.1 to 0.5 μ
-Thickness: 0.005 to 0.05 μ
-Specific surface 80 m2/g
 Clay carry electric charge
 Electrode dipped in beaker containing clay
mixed with water
 Electrode connected to electrical circuit
containing battery and ammeter- defection in
needle of ammeter
 Flow of current thru medium
 Only negative charges - measured
 Magnitude of electric charge depend on
surface area of particle
 Isomorphous substitution
 Dissociation of hydroxyl ion into hydrogen
ions
 Adsorption of negative ions on clay surface
 Absence of positive ions in lattice of clay
surface
 Presence of organic matter
 Diffused Double Layer
 Clay minerals carry a net negative charge
 Clay deposits due to their sedimentary nature
always exist in the presence of water
 Attraction of water molecules to soil surface
1. Negative charged faces of clay particle attract
positive ends of dipole water molecule
2. Cations attract to clay particles and water
dipoles attracted to these cations thru their
negatively charged ends
3. Attraction b/w water molecule and clay particle
by hydrogen bonding
 Cations attracted to clay particle also tries to
move away due to their thermal energy
 Net effect of force due to these attractive and
repulsive forces –force of attraction decreases
with increase in distance from clay particle
surface
 Layer extending from clay particle surface to
limit of attraction- Diffused Double Layer
 Thickness- 400 A0
Adsorbed Water
 Water held in diffused double layer
 Within zone of influence, properties of
adsorbed water different from normal water
at the same temperature
 Near the surface- water has property of a
solid
 At middle- Resemble viscous liquid
 Beyond the layer- Properties of normal
water
 To remove adsorbed water- heated to
temperature more than 2000c
 In coarse particles ,adsorbed water film are
thin
 In fine grained soil, adsorbed water layer-
more thicker ( exceed size of grain)
- Adsorbed layer influence its physical
properties eg: ability to deform plastically
without cracking when mixed with varying
amount of water
BASE EXCHANGE/CATION EXCHANGE
 Cations attracted to negatively charged
surface are not strong
 Cations can be replaced by other cations
(Exchangeable Cations) – BASE EXCHANGE
Eg: H+ ions can be replaced by other cations
like Na, K, Mg etc
 Quantity of exchangable cations in soil- BASE
EXCHANGE CAPACITY
 Base exchange capacity expressed in terms of
total number of positive charges adsorbed
per 100 gm of soil
 measured in meq/100g (net negative charge
per 100 g of clay
 1meq(milliequivalent)= 6x1020 electronic
charges
 Base exchange capacity of clay depends on
pHvalue
 If water is acidic, base exchnage capacity is
reduced
 Some cations are strongly adsorbed than
others
 The replacement power is greater for higher
valence and larger cations.
Al3+ > Ca2+ > Mg2+ >> NH4+ > K+ > H+ >
Na+ > Li+
 Properties of clay depend on base exchange
Koalinite mineral: 4 meq/100g
Illite mineral: 40 meq/100g
Montmorillonite mineral :70-100meq/100g
 X-ray diffraction
 Differential Thermal Analysis (DTA)
 Electron microscopy
 Specific surface (Ss)
 Cation exchange capacity (cec)
 Plasticity chart
 Thermogravimetric analysis
 Potassium determination
 Crystalline substances (e.g. minerals) consist of
parallel rows of atoms separated by a ‘unique’ distance
 Diffraction occurs when radiation enters a crystalline
substance and is scattered
 Direction and intensity of diffraction depends on
orientation of crystal lattice with radiation
•Xrays of wavelength: 0.01-100A0
•The distance of atomic planes d can be
determined based on the Bragg’s equation.
n = 2d·sin
d = n/2 sin
where n is an integer
 is the wavelength.
•Different clays minerals have various basal
spacing (atomic planes). For example, the basing
spacing of kaolinite is 7.2 Å.
 • Differential thermal analysis
(DTA) consists of
simultaneously heating a test
sample and a thermally inert
substance at constant rate
(usually about 10 ºC/min) to
over 1000 ºC and
continuously measuring
differences in temperature
b/w sample and the inert
For example: material T.
Quartz changes from the  to  form at • Endothermic (take up heat)
573 ºC and an endothermic peak can or exothermic (liberate heat)
be observed. reactions can take place at
different heating
T
temperatures. The mineral
types can be characterized
based on those signatures
Temperature (100 ºC) shown in the left figure. 38
 Scanning electron microscope (SEM) used
 Study of small clay particles
 Electron beam instead of Xrays used
 Magnification rate: 20-150,000
 Electrons emitted from sample surface
appears to be 3D Images
 Electrons scattered from different parts of
specimen appear dark or light depending on
the amount of scattering
4.Potassium determination
 Well-organized 10Å illite layers contain 9% ~ 10 %
K2O.

5.Thermogravimetric analysis
 It is based on changes in weight caused by loss of
water or CO2 or gain in oxygen.

Sometimes, you cannot identify clay minerals only

based on one method.

40
1. Flocculated
- Consists of flocs of
soil instead of
individual soil
particles

2. Dispersed
- Arrangement consists
of particles having
face to face or parallel
construction