SECTION A

Rocks and Soils

In normal practice, the civil engineer will be concerned far more with soils than with
bedrock.
Despite this, however, all civil engineers must be familiar with the principal rock
types and with the elements of geological structure and stratigraphy.

Rock and Engineering Material

MINERALS
 basic building blocks of the earth's crust, and aggregations of minerals.
comprise rocks and soils.
 classified mainly by their chemical composition
 MOST IMPORTANT ROCK-FORMING MINERAL
GROUPS: Silicates, Oxides, and Carbonates

EXAMPLE: QUARTZ
 Specific Gravity: 2.65
 Hardness: 7
 Crystal Form: Hexagonal
 Cleavage or Fracture: Curved like glass Color: Clear, milky, gray
EXAMPLE: MICA
 Specific Gravity: 2.9-3.1
 Hardness: 2.5-3
 Crystal Form: Hexagonal
 Cleavage or Fracture: One plane Color: Brown, black, gray

IGNEOUS ROCKS
Igneous rocks form from the cooling and hardening of molten magma. These rocks
can form by slowly cooling beneath the surface or more quickly at the surface.
EXTRUSIVE ROCKS
• Formed on the surface of the Earth from lava.
• They are generally distinguished by their usual fine-grained texture

INTRUSIVE ROCKS
• Large rock masses which have not cooled in contact with the atmosphere and are
usually crystalline
• Although originally formed deep underground, intrusive rocks are now widely
exposed because of earth movement and erosion processes

HYPABYSSAL ROCKS
• Intermediate in position between extrusive and major intrusive rocks.
DIKE - large wall-like fillings cutting across normal bedding planes in earth crust.
SILL - large conformable sheets intruded into other formations parallel to their
structure.

9 ELEMENTS COMPOSING IGNEOUS ROCKS

• SILICON
• SODIUM
• ALUMINIUM
• IRON
• POTASSIUM
• HYDROGEN
• OXYGEN
• CALCIUM
• MAGNESIUM
SEDIMENTARY ROCKS
• May properly be regarded as secondary rocks because they generally result from
weathering and disintegration of existing rock masses or pieces of once-living
organisms.
They are formed on or near the Earth's surface from the compression of ocean
sediments or other processes.
THREE GENERAL GROUPS:
MECHANICALLY FORMED
Formed when rock layers are formed due to the mechanical weathering of different
rock types.
CHEMICALLY FORMED
Created when minerals that are present in rock forms undergo a chemical reaction
that causes them to cool as precipitates over time before changing back to rock form.
ORGANICALLY FORMED
This rock type mainly comprises coal and limestones, which are formed due to the
accumulation and deposition of dead plants and animals in rock layers.

METAMORPHIC ROCKS
• Started out as some other type of rock, but have been substantially changed from
their original igneous, sedimentary, or earlier metamorphic form.
• Display features varying from complete and distinct foliation of a crystalline
structure to a fine, fragmentary, partially crystalline state caused by direct
compressive stress

SCHISTS
• Each layer is lenticular and composed of one or more minerals, but the various
layers are not always readily separated from one another.
GNEISS
• Term that is generally used to distinguish a group of rocks similar to
the schists but coarsely grained and with alternate bands of minerals of different
composition.
DISTINGUISHING ROCK TYPES
For all the practical purposes of the civil engineer, field tests and simple microscopic
examinations will suffice for identification of most of the common rock types.
More detailed investigation will be necessary for projects involving rock excavation,
underground construction, or selection of riprap.

EQUIPMENT
 Geologist's Hammer
 Magnifying Lens
 Steel Pocket Knife
 Hydrochloric Acid
 Magnet

IN INVESTIGATING ROCKS...
• There must be a close examination of the specimen
• A clean, fresh rock surface must be used for all examinations

NONCRYSTALLINE ROCKS
SHALES
A fine-grained sedimentary rock that forms from the compaction of silt and clay-size
mineral particles and is easily broken into thin, parallel layers.
 ARGILLACEOUS - If it breaks into irregular laminae
 ARENACEOUS - If gritty
 BITUMINOUS - If black
 CALCAREOUS - If it effervesces on the application of acid
SLATE
  fine-grained, foliated metamorphic rock that is created by the alteration of
shale
 Its color may vary from black to purple or even green
LIMESTONES
It can often be distinguished by the presence of fossils, but a surer mark of distinction
is that it effervesces briskly when dilute hydrochloric acid is applied to it
 MARBLE - A crystalline (metamorphic) form of limestone,
 DOLOMITIC LIMESTONE - Generally dark in color.

CONGLOMERATES - Masses of waterborne gravel and sand

SANDSTONE - Formed when grains of sand are compacted and cemented together
QUARTZITE - Sandstone that has been converted into a solid quartz rock.
GRIT - Used to denote a coarse- grained sandstone

METAMORPHIC ROCKS
SERPENTINE - Generally green to black, fairly soft, and greasy or tactlike to the touch.
GNEISS - May be recognized by its cleavage and rough typical bonded structure
SCHIST - Has essentially fissile structure

IGNEOUS ROCKS
GRANITE
Composed of quartz, orthoclase feldspar, some mica, and possibly hornblende.
- Texture of igneous rocks varies from a coarse, equigranularity structure to an
aphanitic (without visible crystals) structure
- In a porphyritic structure, the constituent minerals occur as much larger crystals
than the remainder (Large crystals- Phencrysts)
- Other minerals may appear as a crystalline groundmass, or alternatively,
aphanitic

DIORITE - Has no quartz

GABBRO - Dark and has a high
DIABASE - With a smaller grain
BASALT - Corresponding aphanitic rock
GRANITE PORPHYRY - Similar to granite and diorite but they have porphyritic
structure
DIORITE PORPHYRY - Similar to granite and diorite but they have porphyritic
structure
RHYOLITE - An extrusive rock
GRIT - Has no quartz
FELSITE - Light-colored aphanitic rocks
OBSIDIAN - Dark and lustrous glasslike rocks
PUMICE - A frothed type of glassy rock

Geologic Structure
Structural Features encountered in geology are regularly met within normal civil
engineering work.
2 terms
STRIKE
The compass direction of line considered to be drawn along exposed bedding plane
of the rock so that it is horizontal; obviously, there will be only one such direction for
any particular rock layer.
DIP
the angle between a horizontal plane and the plane of the bedding, measured at the
right angles to the strike; it is thus a measure of the inclination of the bed to the
horizontal plane.

DISCONTINUITY
Most uses of rock for engineering purposes require careful recognition of
discontinuous surfaces (discontinuities).
A collective term for all structural breaks in
geologic materials which usually have zero or low tensile strength.
VARIETY OF TYPES:
1. BEDDING PLANES
• They represent interruptions in the course of deposition of the rock mass
• When found in metasedimentary rocks, their metamorphic equivalents are foliation
planes.
2. JOINTS
Breaks of geological origin along which there has been no visible relative
displacement.
3. SHEAR PLANES
Those joints that have undergone limited shear displacement
4. FAULT
Those with more than just few centimeters of displacement
SHEAR/FAULT ZONES
Bands of parallel and semi parallel fractures where both shear-displacements are
found.

ROCK MASS CHARACTERIZATION TECHNIQUE

Have been developed to account for spacing, orientation, lengths, and surface
characteristics of discontinuities in assessing particular sites for rock excavation and
underground construction.
ROCK MECHANICS
Takes discontinuities fully into consideration by its use of clastic mechanics

TWO GUIDES:
1 GEOLOGICAL HISTORY
The basic character of the rock will be the starting point
2 KNOWLEDGE OF TECTONIC HISTORY SINCE THE ROCK WAS FORMED
 No significant earth movements: explore jointing as a result of temperature
change
 There is significant orogenic disturbances: conduct careful geological survey

BEDDING PLANES
• A distinct variation in the physical qualities of a sedimentary bed at different level,
as well as changes in the thickness of a bed
• Sedimentary strata often thin out completely, which can cause confusion in
geological mapping
JOINTS
Fractures can also occur in other planes roughly at right angles to bedding planes
These fractures that give rise to a block like structure, though the blocks may not be
separated from each other.
FOLDING
• Perhaps the simplest structural feature.
• A wave-like geologic structure that forms when rocks deform by bending
instead of breaking under compressional stress.
ANTICLINES
Are arch-shaped folds in which rock layers are upwardly
convex.
SYNCLINES
Have downwardly convex layers with young rocks in the core.

Dome
Reverse
Overturned
Recumbent
FAULTS
A fracture or crack where two rock blocks slide past one to another.

TYPES OF FAULT
NORMAL FAULT
A normal fault is one in which the rocks above the fault plane, or hanging wall, move
down relative to the rocks below the fault plane, or footwall.
REVERSE FAULT
One in which the hanging wall moves up relative to the footwall.
STEP FAULT
When a set of parallel normal faults occur at a regular interval.
TROUGH FAULT
When normal faults with mutually diverging and converging fault plane occurs, then
a few wedge-shaped blocks called "horst" are displaced upwards and a few other
called "grabens" are displaced downwards.

DENUDATION
It is the long-term sum of processes that cause the wearing away of the Earth's
surface by moving water, ice, wind and waves, leading to a reduction in elevation
and relief of landforms and landscapes.

UNCONFORMITY
It is the contact between two rock units. Unconformities are typically buried
erosional surfaces that can represent a break in the geologic record of hundreds of
millions of years or more.
DISCONFORMITY
the surface indicates only a period of erosion without tilting
ROCK CHARACTERISTICS
ROCK CHARACTERISTICS ARE OF TWO TYPES:
1. INTACT ROCK
• Intact rock is rock material with no joints or discontinuities.
2. ROCK MASS
An aggregate consisting of rock material and rock discontinuities.

GROUNDWATER
Problems associated with the presence of water and its movement through rock
masses relate to weakening of the rock mass, alteration of its properties, and with
removal of water as a nuisance to construction.
When groundwater is going to play a significant role in rock stability, it will be
necessary as a permanent precaution to install measuring devices (piezometers) to
record its position and pressure.

IN SITU STRESSES
It is defined as the stress confined in a rock formation before it is disturbed through
excavation or other outside influences.

FIELD TESTS AND FIELD OBSERVATIONS

ROCK QUALITY DESIGNATION

It is a measure of quality of rock core taken from a borehole.
RQD signifies the degree of jointing or fracture in a rock mass measured in
percentage.

Drilling is used to obtain very detailed information about rock types, mineral content,
rock fabric and the relationships between rock layers close to the surface and at
depth.
WIDELY USED DRILLING METHODS
• Air-Rotary
 • Air-Percussion
• Mud-rotary Drilling
• Diamond Core Drilling

FIELD OBSERVATIONS
Joints are of such importance in rock- stability must be given to them and every
effort be made to gain accurate assessment.
DEERE HAS SUGGESTED A CONVENIENT SUBDIVISION OF JOINT FREQUENCY:
• very close: less than 5cm apart 5-30cm apart
• close: 5-30cm apart
• moderately close: 30cm-Im apart
• wide: 1-3m apart
• very wide: more than 3m apart

SOIL AS AN ENGINEERING MATERIAL

Soils represent a special category of engineering materials. Unlike most other
engineering materials, soils that originate from geologic processes are deposited and
changed considerably through time by geologic processes.
Nearly all engineered works come in close proximity to soils. Problems and difficulties
encountered in design and construction are many times more frequent when
structures are to be founded on soil rather than on bedrock.

ROCK GATHERING
Weathering is the breaking down or dissolving of rocks and minerals on Earth’s
surface.

RESIDUAL SOILS
Residual soils are the sharp-edged fragments of original rock,
Residual soils are ones that have not been considerably moved.
TRANSPORTED SOILS
It is weathered soil deposits that are transported from one place to another by
natural agents like wind, water, and glaciers.

CLASSIFICATION OF TRANSPORTED SOILS

aeolian (wind-blown)
fluvial (river-borne)
colluvial (gravitational)

Glacial soils are typically heterogeneous and contain a mix of particles of different
sizes and shapes, ranging from small particles like silt and clay to large boulders.
The mix of particles can also vary widely depending on the location and path of the
glacier.
Glacial erosion is the process by which glaciers reshape the land surface by
removing and transporting rock, soil, and other geological materials.
As glaciers move downhill under the influence of gravity, they can carve out valleys,
create deep grooves in bedrock, and move large boulders and other debris.

3 BASIC TYPES OF GLACIAL DEPOSITS

TILLS
Glacial till is the sediment deposited by a glacier. It blankets glacier forefields, can be
mounded to form moraines and other glacier landforms, and is Present everywhere
in glacial environments.
GLACIOFLUVIAL
They are transported, sorted and deposited by streams of water.
The deposits are formed beside, below or downstream from the ice.
GLACIOLACUSTRINE
Glaciolacustrine deposits are the result when suspended and bed-load materials of
meltwater are reduced to clay and silt fractions.

ERRATICS
 • take their name from the Latin word errare ("to wander")
• are rocks that have been transported by ice and deposited elsewhere
MARINE DEPOSITS
• shore zone
• shelf or shallow-water zone
• deep-sea zone

SOIL CHARATERISTICS
There is a common meeting ground between a geologist and engineer, and that is
the mutual need to consider the particular soil being dealt with.
GRAVELS
Accumulations of naturally fragmented, unconsolidated rock fragments at least
2mm in diameter are considered gravels.
• pebbles in the range of 4 to 64 mm
• cobbles at 64 to 250 mm( about 10 in)
• boulders at a greater diameter.
SANDS
Sands are fine granular materials derived from natural weathering or from the
artificial crushing of rock; sand ranges from 0.053 to 2.0 mm in diameter.
• fine sand
• coarse sand
Sand particle shape depends principally on the parent rock type and on the geologic
history of transport
SILTS
Particles in the range of 0.053 and 0.002 mm displaying characteristic wet plasticity
Silts are often mistaken for clays on the basis of their typically gray color and
apparent consistency when wet.

CLAYS
Deposits of particles smaller than .002 mm displaying a characteristic wet plasticity
are known as clays.
Clays are susceptible to various geologic pressures and are found in conditions
ranging from quite soft to extremely hard as their pore water is drained.
CLAY MINERALS
• The main clay minerals can be grouped together as:
• kaolinite
• halloysite
• illite
• montmorillonite
• chlorite

ORGANIC SOILS
Although such soil is not usually encountered in the course of normal civil
engineering projects, organic soils can cause real problems.
PERMAFROST
Permafrost terrain is a condition of permanently frozen soil.

SOIL MECHANICS AND GEOLOGY

SOIL MECHANICS TODAY
In any modern soil laboratory, one will find:
• Consolidometers - rather simple devices for determining the consolidation
characteristics of small soil samples under increasing increments of load
• Permeameters, for the determination of soil permeability
• Shear-testing machines.

SOIL TESTING
Soil testing requires much skill and delicacy of operation. Just as the accuracy of
theoretical calculations depends on the racy of the soil tests themselves depend
upon the accuracy of the soil properties assumed or determined.
• Indicator test - those which determine generally the type of soil.
 • Mechanical analysis of soil - determine the distribution of soil particles in
different sizes.
• Plasticity test - to determine their Atterberg limits.
LINKS WITH GEOLOGY
Soil and rock mechanics have become vital parts of the scientific core of civil
engineering. Soil mechanics gradually merges into geology at this one extreme and
into structural engineering at the other. The term geotechnical engineering indicates
the steadily developing liaison between the scientific approach to the geology of
rock and soils and the engineering investigation of their properties. It is inevitable
that this interrelation should progress to the mutual benefit of both geology and
engineering.

CONCLUSION:
DEALING WITH ROCK AND SOIL

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SECTION C
ROCKS AND SOILS
Earth was the English word used to translate the one Greek word used by Aristotle to
describe all the material making up the crust of the earth.
• solid-petra (rock)
• solum (soil or ground)
The word rock is used to denote all bedrock. The study of rock masses (solid rocks)
dominates geological studies. Only a relatively few geologists are interested in
detailed soil studied.
Rocks and soils are used in a wide number of construction and engineering projects.

ROCK AS AN ENGINEERING MATERIAL

MINERALS
Minerals are the basic building blocks of the earth’s crust, and aggregations of
materials comprise rocks and soils.

ROCK TYPES
Igneous Rocks
• Latin word “ ignis” which means fire.
• form when hot, molten rock crystallizes and solidifies.
• Igneous rocks are of two main classes: extrusive and intrusive.
• Intrusive- forms beneath the earth’s surface.
• Extrusive- formed on the earth’s surface.
Hypabyssal rocks are intermediate in position between extrusive and major intrusive
rocks.
Sedimentary Rocks
• Formed when sediments are transformed into solid rock.
• It makes 73% of earth’s surface.
• It may be formed by compaction and cementation.
Clasification:
- Mechanically Formed
- Chemicaly Formed
- Organically Formed
Metamorphic Rocks
Methamorphic rocks started out as some other type of rock but have been
substantially changed from their igneous, sedimentary or earlier metamorphic form.
Foliation is a characteristic of the main group of metamorphic rocks; the word means
that the minerals of which the rock is formed are arranged in felted fashion.

DISTINGUISHING ROCK TYPES

The engineer should therefore be able to distinguish at least the main rock types
seen in the field.
Simple equipment that is needed for the field investigation of rocks:
- A geologist’s Hammer
- A pocket magnifying lens
- A steel pocketknife
- A small dropper bottle of hydrochloric acid
- A small magnet

Noncrystaline Rocks
Shales
 Consolidated fine sediments are usually hardened clay or mud and have specific
fracture.
 Dull in appearance
 Can be scratched with fingernail
 Argillaceous – Breaks into a regular laminae.
 Arenaceous- gritty or sandy
 Bituminous- Black
 Calcareous- Effervesces on the application of acids.

Limestone
• Can be distinguished by the presence of fossils
Marble
• It is distinguished by its crystalline texture but always effervescent when treated
with dilute acid
Doloacmitic Limestone
• dark in color. It effervesces slowly when treated with cold hydrochloric acid, but
more
quickly when the acid is warm.
Flint and Chert
compact siliceous rocks of uncertain chemical or organic sedimentary origin, occur
often as nodules in limestone beds.
Conglomerates
masses of waterborne gravel and sand, cemented together in one several ways into
a hard and compact mass.
Sandstone
describe such sedimentary cementation of sand alone.
Quartzite
grains of rock have been cemented together with silica so strongly.
Grit
used to denote a coarse-grained hard sandstone containing angular fragments.
REMAINING METAMORPHIC ROCKS
Serpentine
Serpentine- composed wholly of the mineral of the same name
 Green to black
 Fairly soft
 Greasy or talc like to the touch
 Color may not be uniform
 Important to the civil engineer.
Gneiss
rough cleavage and typical banded structure, which shows quartz, feldspar, and
mica with a coarse structure.
Schists
may be distinguished from Gneiss by their essentially fissile character.
Granite
a typical example of an igneous rock, It is widely distributed and constitutes an
important igneous rock type.
GEOLOGIC STRUCTURE
Two widely used terms, strike and dip are used to describe the present position of
strata of rock with reference to the existing ground surface.
DISCONTINUITIES
Geological history is more impotant when the continuity of rock strata is considered.
Only rarely will one encountered bedrock which exhbitis no discontinuities.
FAULTS
Movement will take place along the plane of failure until the unbalanced forces are
equalized and a fault will be the results.
FOLDS
Folding is a perhaps the simplest structural feature.
BEDDING PLANES
The method of formation of sedimentary rocks leads in many cases to as uneven
disposition of material and to an uneven distribution of pressure on deposits.

JOINTS IN A TYPICAL ROCK MASS

These fractures give rise to a blocklike structure, though the blocks may not be
separated from each other. Such fractures are generally known as joints, or joint
planes, and result from internal stresses either during the cooling of the rock or
during tectonic displacement.
DENUDATIONS
Erosion of rock and soil masses by wind, water and ice is known collectively as
denudation.
UNCONFORMITY
The surface of unconformity juxtaposes two distinct bedding attitudes and
represents a time interval (hiatus) during which the upper surface of the older rocks
was eroded and the landscape was tilted so that only the younger surface was then
horizontal. Where the surface indicates only a period of erosion without tilting, the
appropriate term is disconformity.

ROCK CHARACTERISTICS
INTACT ROCK
Smallest element of rock block not cut by any fracture. There are always some micro-
fractures in rock material but, not treated as fractures.
ROCK MASS
Refers to in-situ rock together with its discontinuous & weathering profile.

IN SITU STRESSES
Field measurements of stresses in rock, and other factors involved in the behavior of
rock masses, might be thought to be a subject of limited interest.
In April 1977, in Zurich Switzerland a full-scale international symposium devoted
entirely to the subject of field measurements on rock mechanics
Hast- One of the pioneers in this field

FIELD TESTS AND OBSERVATIONS

FIELD TESTS AND OBSERVATION

The discipline of rock mechanics today embraces a sound of theoretical knowledge
and laboratory testing and analysis.
- Drilling is common to all site investigations as it gives much valuable
information.
- Photographing the sites of drill holes can give useful images for immediate
examination at the surface.
- A more detailed geological map will be necessary, a map based upon
intensive survey work.
SOIL AS AN ENGINEERING MATERIAL
Soil as an Engineering Material
Nearly all engineered works come in close proximity to soils.
Soils is viewed as being the peripheral importance to engineers, and of little
economic significance.
Soil is mainly used to make building materials, such as cement and brick, as well as
indirectly used to grow the plants used to make building materials such as wood
boards and insulation fibers.

SOIL MECHANICS
Soil mechanics is the universally accepted geotechnical term for the engineering
study of soil

ROCK WEATHERING
Rock Weathering is always complex. It naturally varies by locale, by elevation, with
the seasons, by the time of geologic exposure, and with different rock types.
Civil engineers should be concerned with identifying the agencies of weathering and
of learning to separate there from the erosion processes that transport the
weathering products from origin to deposition.

AGENCIES OF WEATHERING
Atmospheric gases are the catalyst of weathering, it is wholly dependent on the
presence of water and on variations of temperature.
Carbon dioxide is released into the air by volcanoes, and this gas may then dissolve
into rainwater and react with silicon-rich continental rocks, causing chemical
weathering of the rocks
Impurities in water lead to oxidation of rock minerals, notably the brown staining of
rock in the presence of hydrated iron oxides, carbonates, and sulfates.

PRODUCTS OF WEATHERING
Minerals respond differentially to weathering processes, meaning that each instance
of rock weathering is a case of individual mineral breakdown; some minerals
respond faster than others.
Chemical disintegration of rock minerals becomes less active as depth increases.
Therefore, all soils are the products of rock weathering.

RESIDUAL SOILS
Soils formed by the direct in situ weathering of bedrock are common in many areas
in the warmer parts of the world where bedrock is far below the surface.

TRANSPORTED SOILS
Transported soil is a type of soil which is formed by the deposition of the weathered
soil which is transported from one place to another place with the help of natural
agents like water, wind and glaciers and some human activities
They are classified as colluvial(gravitational), aeolian (win-blown) fluvial(river-bone)
and marine(related to the seas)

Erosion
Is the beginning mechanism of transport.
Erosion is the geological process in which earthen materials are worn away and
transported by natural forces such as wind or water.

Aeolian Deposits
Not only does wind as an agent of weathering erode rock, it further transports
individual mineral fragment over appreciable distances
sedimentary deposits of grains transported by wind
Sand dunes and loess are the most familiar aeolian deposits.
2 types of Aeolian Deposits:
 Loess- wind transported rock flour. Found in the wide range of fine-grained
composition and with a particularly irksome solid structure.
 Sand dunes- piles of sand deposited by wind. It is made of poorly stratified,
 low-density deposits of fresh, well-grounded uniformly sized grains.

Fluvial Soils
Alluvial soils are soils deposited by surface water.
You’ll find them along rivers, in floodplains and deltas, stream terraces, and areas
called alluvial fans.
Fluvial sedimentation begins first in stream-gradient changes at the mouths of
mountain canyons, resulting in alluvial fan deposition.

Gravitational Deposits
“Gravitational mass movement” is a geologic term that encompasses the rapid
downhill movement of rocks and fine particles due to the force of gravity.
The forces of gravitation act right at the site of weathering.

Glacial Soils
Are about 1/3 of the land area of the world was once covered with ice. Most of
northern Europe, some parts of asia, and part of south America.

Glacial Erosion

Glacial erosion happens in situations where the ice is not frozen to its base and can
therefore slide over the bedrock or other sediment. The ice masses or the glaciers
crushed into smaller pieces that we called rock flour.
Continental glaciers- A continuous sheet of land ice that covers a very large area
and moves outward in many direction.
Intermontane glacier- A glacier that is formed by the confluence of several valley
glaciers and occupies a trough between separate ranges of mountains.

TYPES OF GLACIAL DEPOSITS

Glacial deposits are all considered soil. These soil are found in an amazing variety of
rock and mineral content, heterogeneity, and density.
Tills is the basic product of continental glaciation.
Glaciofluvial soils result from the meltwater discharge of retreating glaciers.
Glaciolacustrine deposits are the result of the increasing distance from the melt front,
suspended and bed-load materials of meltwater that are reduced to the clay and silt
fractions.

SOIL CHARACTERISTICS
Geologists and civil engineers generally maintain different levels of appreciation of
soils: The geologist has an ingrained interest in origins, and the civil engineer is
preoccupied with solid types and their particular engineering properties. Those who
must use soils as an engineering material, however, soon learn that there is a
universal need to classify soils correctly, as engineering geologic units, each unit
having a reasonably predictable set of physical characteristics and geologic history.

GRAVELS
Accumulation of naturally fragmented unconsolidated rock fragments at least 2 mm
is diameter are considered as gravels.
SANDS
It is the fine granular materials derived from natural weathering or from artificial
crushing of rock.
SILTS
Particles in the range of 0.053 and 0..902 mm are known as silts.
CLAYS
Deposits of particle smaller than 0.002 mm displaying a characterics was plasticity
known as clays.
CLAYS MINERALS
Possible the most important basic characteristics soils is the dominant type of
mineral present. Clay soils consist primarily of clay minerals., have made possible
detailed analyses of individual clays and the study.

ORGANIC SOILS
These are masses of dead vegetation, often supporting a surface layer of living
vegetal matter and able to hold up to 1,000% by weight of groundwater.
PERMAFROST
Permafrost is any ground that remains completely frozen—32°F (0°C) or colder—for
at least two years straight.
Permafrost terrane, a condition of permanently frozen soil, covers about one-half of
Canada, most of Alaska, and about one-third of the USSR.

SOIL MECHANICS AND GEOLOGY

The unconsolidated materials, described as soil found in the earth’s crust constitute
so large a part of the actual surface of the earth that few civil engineering
operations apart from rock tunnelling can be conducted without an encounter with
soil of some type.

SOIL MECHANICS TODAY

One of the main features of modern soil mechanics is the impressive body of theory
that has been developed dealing with all aspects of the state of stress in soil and
with the deformation resulting from such stress conditions.

SOIL TESTING
Suffice it to say that soil sampling methods have been developed, even for
cohesionless soils such as sands, that will give the laboratory worker a specimen of
soil as close to the natural condition of the soil in the ground as it humanly possible
to obtain.

LINKS WITH GEOLOGY

Soil and rock mechanics have become vital parts of the scientific core of civil
engineering. At the same time, the scientific study of rock and soils must have
contact with geology: this, also, is natural and logical. Soil mechanics closely
approaches a geological study when field investigations are involved. Soil mechanics
gradually merges into geology at this one extreme and into structural engineering at
the other.

CONCLUSION
Today’s civil Engineer faces siting, design, and construction of projects in a
bewildering array of earth material types which are greater than the usual number
of manufactured materials used to frame and support the structure.
Once the geology of a rock construction site has been defined, the rocks mechanic
can be used as a powerful analytic tool in determining tock strength.
In the case of soil, one can hardly presume that the outstanding advances in soil
mechanics of the past 50 years have solved.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
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++

SECTION D

Rocks and Soils

ROCK AS AN ENGINEERING MATERIAL!

minerals
•basic building blocks of the earth's crust, and aggregations of minerals comprise
rocks and soils
•classified mainly by their chemical composition
•important rock-forming mineral groups are the silicates, oxides, and carbonates

3 Types of Rocks
igneous rocks
 dark color and heavy
 interlocking texture of grains
sedimentary rocks
  light colored and light weight
 grains cemented together
metamorphic rocks
 banded with light and dark colors
 foliation(layering)
 texture of large grains

Igneous Rocks
• two main classes: extrusive and intrusive which classes were molten magma
extrusive
 those poured out at the earth's surface
 distinguished by their usual fine-grained texture
intrusive
 large rock masses which have not cooled in contact with the atmosphere
 crystalline in texture
 cool and solidify under pressure and at great depths

Hypabyssal rocks are intermediate in position between extrusive and major intrusive
rocks
•Dikes are large wall-like fillings cutting across normal bedding planes in the earth's
crust.
•Sills are large conformable sheets intruded into other formations parallel to their
structure.
•Chemical analyses of igneous rocks show that they are essentially composed of
nine elements: silicon, aluminum, iron, calcium, magnesium, sodium, potassium,
hydrogen, and oxygen.

Sedimentary Rocks
•regarded as secondary rocks
•Fossils are found almost exclusively in sedimentary rocks
•being formed today by mud being washed down rivers into lakes and seas and by
such marine organisms as coral in tropical seas
•three general groups; (1) mechanically formed, (2) chemically formed (evaporites),
and (3) organically formed
•mechanical processes-rock formation are the action of wind, frost, rain, snow, and
daily temperature changes
•Water is the most effective agent for eroding, transporting, and depositing
sediments
•Limestone is perhaps the best known of the organically formed rocks

Metamorphic Rocks
•metamorphosed rocks so produced may display features varying from complete
and distinct foliation of a crystalline structure to a fine, fragmentary, partially
crystalline state caused by direct compressive stress, including also the cementation
of sediment particles by siliceous matter
•Foliation is characteristic of the main group of metamorphic rocks; the word means
that the minerals of which the rock is formed are arranged in felted fashion
•Schist is the name commonly applied to such a foliated rock, and the various types
of schistose rock are among the best-known metamorphic rocks
•The nature of the original rocks from which metamorphic rocks were formed has
been and still is a matter of keen discussion.
•The presence of fossil remains in certain crystalline metamorphic rocks is proof
enough of their sedimentary origin
•On the other hand, uninterrupted gradation from granite and other igneous rock
masses to well-defined schistose rocks is equal proof of the igneous origin of some
metamorphic rock types

•Quartzite can often be seen to have been formed from sand grains, and the great
variety of slates are all obviously of clay or mudstone origin
•Mica schist is a crvstalline aggregate of mica and quartz and occasionally other
minor minerals
•Gneiss is a term somewhat loosely applied. It is generally used to distinguish a
group of rocks similar to the schists but coarsely grained and with alternate bands of
minerals of different composition

Distinguishing Rock Types

•Simple equipment is all that is needed for the field investigation of rocks-a
geologist's hammer, a pocket magnifying lens, a steel pocketknife for hardness tests,
and a small dropper bottle of hydrochloric acid for the determination of mineral
carbonates
• A clean, fresh rock surface must be used for all examinations
• noncrystalline rocks, shales, which are consolidated fine sediments, are usually
hardened clay or mud and have a characteristic fracture
• If it breaks into irregular laminae, the shale is argillaceous; if gritty, arenaceous; if
black, it may be bituminous; and if it effervesces on the application of acids, it is
calcareous
• Slate can easily be recognized by its characteristic fracture or cleavage and its fine,
uniform grain; in color it may vary from black to purple or even green
• Marble is a crystalline (metamorphic) form of limestone, generally distinguished by
its crystalline texture but always effervescent when treated with dilute acid
• Dolomitic limestone is generally dark in color.
• Conglomerates are, as their name implies, masses of waterborne gravel and sand,
as denoted by rounded shapes, cemented together in one of several ways into a
hard and compact mass
• Sandstone is the general term used to describe such sedimentary cementation of
sand alone
• Quartzite is a metamorphosed type of sandstone in which the grains of rock have
been cemented together with silica so strongly that fracture takes place through the
grains and not merely around them
• Serpentine is important to the civil engineer, since it is often a cause of instability in
rock excavation
• Gneiss may be recognized by its rough cleavage and typical banded structure,
which shows quartz, feldspar, and mica with a coarse structure
• Granite is composed of quartz (clear), orthoclase feldspar (white or pink), some
mica, and possibly horn-blende
• acid igneous rocks tend to be lighter in color than the basic rocks; granite, therefore,
is pale because of the predominance of feldspar, a light-colored mineral
• Glasslike rocks are found only in the vicinity of cooled lava flows; obsidian, a
lustrous, dark rock, is the most common variety.

GEOLOGIC STRUCTURE

• The strike of a rock layer is the compass direction of a line considered to be drawn
along an exposed bedding plane of the rock so that it is horizontal; obviously, there
will be only one such direction for any particular rock layer
• The dip of the bed is the angle between a horizontal plane and the plane of the
bedding, measured at right angles to the strike
• It is necessary to have at least a general geological survey made of the area in
which the works are to be situated, even when the nature of the rock or rocks to be
considered is known
• Structural geology has become a specialty in itself and the civil engineer should be
familiar with the main approaches taken to describe complex geologic structure

BEDDING PLANES
The method of formation of sedimentary rocks leads in many cases to an uneven
disposition of material and to an uneven distribution of pressure on deposits. Thus, a
distinct variation in the physical qualities of a sedimentary bed at different levels, as
well as changes in the thickness of a bed, may result.
It is also caused by a special process of deposition

JOINTS IN A TYPICAL ROCK MASS

Fractures can also occur in other planes roughly at right angles to bedding planes.
These fractures give rise to a blocklike structure, though the blocks may not be
separated from each other. Such fractures are generally known as joints, or joint
planes, and result from internal stresses either during the cooling of the rock or
during tectonic displacement. Joints are sometimes filled with mineral that has
crystallized out from solution, e.g., quartz and calcite.
FOLDING
 The simplest structural feature
 When earth’s crust bends, folds occur
 Occurs under compression when forces act towards each other, such as when
plates collide.
 Anticlines and synclines
 Anticlines are upfolds; synclines are downfolds, convex and concave upward
respectively.
FAULTS
When subjected to great pressure, the earth's crust may have to withstand shear
forces in addition to direct compression. If the shear stresses so induced become
excessive, failure will result. Movement will take place along the plane of failure until
the unbalanced forces are equalized, and a fault will be the result.

Normal Faults: This is the most common type of fault. It forms when rock above an
inclined fracture plane moves downward, sliding along the rock on the other side of
the fracture. Normal faults are often found along divergent plate boundaries, such as
under the ocean where new crust is forming. Long, deep valleys can also be the
result of normal faulting.
Reverse or Thrust Faults: The opposite of a normal fault, a reverse fault forms when
the rocks on the “uphill” side of an inclined fault plane rise above the rocks on the
other side. Reverse faults often form along convergent plate boundaries.
Trough fault : is usually defined as a rock mass lying between more or less parallel
faults or fault zones and depressed relative to the masses on each side.
A series of parallel faults that, all inclined in the same direction, gives rise to a
gigantic staircase; hence these are called Step faults. Each step is a fault block and
its top may be horizontal or tilted.

DENUDATION
Erosion of rock and soil masses by wind, water, and ice is known collectively as
DENUDATION
UNCONFORMITY
Occasionally a sequence of sedimentary beds will be encountered where, beyond a
particular surface (UNCONFORMITY), the strike and dip of bedding changes, more or
less notably. The surface of unconformity juxtaposes two distinct bedding attitudes
and represents a time interval (HIATUS) during which the upper surface of the older
rocks was eroded and the landscape was tilted so that only the younger surface was
then horizontal.

ROCK CHARACTERISTICS
Rock characteristics are of two types, those of the intact rock (such as in unfractured
laboratory specimens) and of the rock mass.
ROCK PROPERTIES
The term intact rock is sometimes used to indicate rock which is free from joints,
bedding planes, breaks, or shear planes.
Rock physical and mechanical properties are very important parameters for
geological engineering design and construction.

GROUNDWATER
Discontinuities affect not only the application of rock mechanics theory but they will,
in most cases, lead to problems with water.
When groundwater is going to play a significant role in rock stability, it will be
necessary as a permanent precaution to install measuring devices (piezo- meters) to
record its position or pressure.

IN SITU STRESSES
In April 1977, however, there was held in Zurich, Switzerland, a full-scale
international symposium devoted entirely to the subject of field measurements in
rock mechanics, which became the title the valuable two-volume proceedings that
resulted from the meeting.
Good instruments are available today for measuring the stresses in rock in place.
One of the pioneers in this field (one of the "lone workers" mentioned earlier) was
Hast in Sweden. Hast observed that there were significant in situ stresses in the
Precambrian rocks of his country.
SOIL AS AN ENGINEERING MATERIAL
Unlike most other engineering materials, soils originate from geologic processes, are
deposited through geologic processes, and are changed considerably through time
by geologic processes.
Soil mechanics is the universally accepted geotechnical term for the engineering
study of soil.

ROCK WEATHERING
Rock weathering is always complex. It naturally varies by locale, by elevation, with
the seasons, by the time of geologic exposure, and with different rock types.
There are three types of weathering, physical, chemical and biological.

AGENCIES OF WEATHERING
Atmospheric gases are the catalyst of weathering, which itself is wholly dependent
on the presence of water and on variations of temperature.
The breaking of rocks into fragments is known as weathering.
 Human – contribute to the weathering of rock. Subdivision developers use a
bulldozer to flatten mountains or hills to build houses
 Water – strong waves hitting the rocks can make it break
 Wind – as the wind blow, it carries sand or small rock particles that scratch the
rocks surface.
 Temperature – when rocks are exposed to varying temperature, it expand. If
rock are exposed to a low temperature, it contracts. The repeated expansion
and contrast of due to changes in temperature result in weathering.
 Plants – some plants, like lichens, ferns, and mosses, can also trigger
weathering. It can grow on rocks and cause it to break into pieces.
 Animals – animals that live underground also contribute to weathering. As
burrowing animals dig deeper, they cause rocks to break into pieces.

Products of Weathering
The degree to which rock weathers is controlled primarily by the weathering
resistance of individual rock-forming minerals.
The products of weathering and erosion are the unconsolidated materials that we
find around us on slopes, beneath, beside and on top of glaciers, in stream valleys,
on beaches, and in deserts.

RESIDUAL SOILS
 Soils formed by the direct in situ weathering of bedrock are common in many
areas in the warmer parts of the world where bedrock is far below the surface.
 Residual soils are products of chemical weathering whose characteristics
depend upon environmental factors of climate, parent material, topography
and drainage, and age.

 Soil is formed when rock are weathered and broken down into smaller pieces
 Parent rock- the rock from which the soil is form
 Residual soil- if the soil formed remain on the top of the parent rock
 Transported soil – when the soil is moved to a new location
 Soil horizon – after some time, different layer of soil are formed to make up.

2. Soil Types
a. Residual - Soils formed from the weathering of the local bedrock and have the
same mineral composition.
b. Transported - Soil that has been moved & the sediments are not of the same
composition as the local rock
Soil Horizons
A. Top layer rich in organics & minerals from biologic activity.
B. Sediments with minerals dissolved from above are found here.
C. Mostly un-weathered bedrock.

EROSION
As surely as soil is usually found transported from its original site of weathering,
erosion is the beginning mechanism of transport. Forces of erosion them in the
motion of the transport.
Erosion is the process by which the surface of the earth is worn away mainly by the
action of wind, water, and glacier.
Winds - by picking up and carrying loose particles away and breaking off more
particles
Glaciers - erode the soil by slowly craving out valley and shaping the mountains

AEOLIAN DEPOSITS
Not only does wind as an agent of weathering erode rock, it further transports
individual mineral fragments over appreciable distances, forming aeolian deposits.
Sand dunes and loess are the most familiar of aeolian deposits.

FLUVIAL (ALLUVIAL) SOILS

Alluvial soils, transported down rivers and streams, are usually readily recognizable
in present watercourses, but they may also be found on the banks of ancient rivers.
Surface water deposits soils known as alluvial soils. They are present near rivers,
stream terraces, floodplains, and deltas. The soil spreads out in the form of a triangle
fan as a result of greater floods. Some soils are created through the extensive
process of rock transformation. But these alluvial soils are developed differently.
Alluvial soil is one of the most effective types of soil for use in agriculture. It removes
nutrients and other sediments from the flowing water through a filter. It can enhance
the quality of the water out of the downstream.

GRAVITATIONAL DEPOSITS
The forces of gravitation act right at the site of weathering. Individual particles of
weathered rock fragments travel down the hill slopes by gravity, accumulating at
the foots of slopes as talus or colluvium .
Talus is the weathered rock or soil deposit formed at the base of cliffs, when rock
weathering causes the face of the cliff to loosen and fall away producing a pile of
rock fragments at the cliff base. These fragments are likely to be rather loose and
porous. They may require removal, where a dam is to abut against the cliff.

GLACIAL SOILS
About one-third of the land area of the world was once covered by ice-nearly all of
Canada, most of northern Europe, some parts of Asia, and part of South America.
Glacial soils are also a valuable source of construction materials: deposits of sands
and gravels, clays for bricks, clay for landfill liners and suitable materials for
embankments. This is especially important when considering linear infrastructure
projects where cut and fill techniques and excavations are routine.

TYPES OF GLACIAL DEPOSITS

Glacial deposits are all considered as soil. These soils are found in an amazing variety
of rock and mineral content, heterogeneity, and density.

Types of Glacial Deposits

◆ As a glacier melts, it drops all the material it is carrying. Glacial drift is the general
term used to describe all material carried and deposited by glaciers.
Glacial drift is divided into two main types, till and stratified drift.

Types of Glacial Deposits, continued

 Stratified drift is a glacial deposit that has been sorted and layered by the
action of streams or meltwater.
 Streams carry sorted material and deposit it in front of the glacier in a broad
area called an outwash plain.
 Sometimes, a block of ice is left in an outwash plain when a glacier retreats. As
the ice melts, sediment builds up around the block of ice, forming a depression
called a kettle.

Types of Glacial Deposits,

continued 2
 Till Deposits Unsorted rock material that is deposited directly by the ice when
it melts is called till. Unsorted means that the till is made up of rock material of
different sizes.
 The most common till deposits are moraines. Moraines generally form ridges
along the edges of glaciers.
Erratics
in excess of 1,000 tons have been found at elevations above, and at great distances
beyond, their parent outcrops.
erratic, glacier-transported rock fragment that differs from the local bedrock. Erratics
may be embedded in till or occur on the ground surface and may range in size from
pebbles to huge boulders weighing thousands of tons.

Marine Deposits
Due to the gradually sloping nature of most coastal shorelines, marine deposits are
generally found as (1) shore zone; (2) shelf, or shallow-water zone; and (3) deep-sea
zone.
The term ‘marine deposits’ refers to all the materials that are being deposited on the
bottom of the sea or ocean.
Marine sediment, or ocean sediment, or seafloor sediment, are deposits of insoluble
particles that have accumulated on the seafloor. These particles have their origins in
soil and rocks and have been transported from the land to the sea, mainly by rivers
but also by dust carried by wind and by the flow of glaciers into the sea.

SOIL CHARACTERISTICS

Geologists and civil engineers generally maintain different levels of appreciation of

soils: The geologist has an ingrained interest in origins, and the civil engineer is
preoccupied with solid types and their particular engineering properties.
Soil Characteristics
The four major components are interlinked and determine the value of soil to
agriculture--- they determine
1.Texture
2. Colour
3. Structure
4. Moisture / water retention
5. Humus / Organic matter 6. PH Value
SOIL PROFILE
During its formation, the soil is arranged in different layers. Each of these layers is
called a soil horizon, and when these layers are arranged sequentially one above the
other, it forms the soil profile. In other words, the soil profile is the vertical section of
the soil exposed by a soil pit.
There is the significant importance of soil horizon in soil science. It allows one to
understand the several processes that play a role in soil development and determine
the different soil types. It also forms the basis for soil classification.

In a geotechnical sense, this classification can be made on the basis of soil particle
size and mode of deposition. Of the two groups of characteristics, particle size is the
more important.
UNIFIED SOIL CLASSIFICACTION SYSTEM (USCS)- developed by Dr. Arthur
Casagrande in 1932 for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. It is the most widely used
means of classification engineering of soils wherein it relies on particle size as an
entry point.
Each of the main groups of soil classification- gravel, sand, silt and clay-is based on
the size of its individual particles, without regard to the nature of the mineralogical
content.

GRAVELS
Accumulations of naturally fragmented, unconsolidated rock fragments at least
2mm in diameter. They are characteristic of shallow-water or river deposits. They
may also be beach-formed and some gravels are found concentrated in certain
resource-valuable glacial landforms.
The rock fragments become known as pebbles in the range of 4-64 m; as cobbles at
64-250 mm; and as boulders at a greater diameter.
SANDS
Are the fine granular materials derived from natural weathering or from artificial
crushing of rock; sand ranges from 0.053 to 2.0 mm in diameter.
Sand may contain up to 20 percent silt and clay, in which case it would be classified
as a silty, sandy clay or a sandy, silty clay, depending on which percentage of the
secondary constituent is greater.
Sands are often formed from disintegration of gravel; it follows that they will
generally be composed of the harder and more stable minerals. Glacial sands, in
particular, due to their young age may contain minerals that are especially prone to
weathering on exposure.
Sand particle shape varies from completely rounded grains to angular fragments.
River sands are more angular than those found in lacustrine and marine deposits.

SILTS
Particles in the range of 0.053 and .002 mm are known as silts. Silts are found in both
inorganic (mineral fragment) and organic (decaying plant matter) varieties.
Silts are often mistaken for clays on the basis of their typically gray color and
apparent consistency when wet.
Experienced observers can spot the difference by simple hand tests, such as shaking
moist pat of the soil; silt will lose water a demonstrate a glossy surface.

CLAYS
Deposits of particles smaller than .002mm displaying a characteristic wet plasticity.
Clays are made up of combined clay and silt content of at least 50 percent.
Clay soils are formed by many processes of rock weathering. They may be residual
or transported. Transported varieties may be found on floodplains, and are of
variable thickness and silt/sand content.

CLAY MINERALS
Clay soils consist primarily of clay minerals. Modern mineralogical methods, including
differential thermal analysis, the electron microscope, and X-ray diffraction
techniques, have made possible detailed analyses of individual clays and the study
of different types of clay minerals.
Prior to the introduction of X-ray diffraction in 1923, it was known that clays
consisted of aluminum, silicon, water, and often iron.
Clay minerals are silicates made up of very thin sheets of aluminum and/or iron and
magnesium. Some contain alkaline materials as essential components. Some
argillaceous material may be amorphous, but this is not a significant component of
normal clays.
The formation of clay minerals is the direct result of weathering. Weathering is an
extremely complex process and is still not fully understood. Climate plays an
important role. If a given kind of climate persists in one area for a very long time, the
same products of weathering may result despite differences in the parent, or fresh,
material.
The electric charges on individual particles tend to increase with decreasing size.
Under certain suitable conditions, some of the ions in clay will exchange; the most
common exchangeable ions are calcium, magnesium, potassium, and sodium. As the
ions exchange, properties may also change.

ORGANIC MINERALS
These are masses of dead vegetation, often supporting a surface layer of living
vegetal matter, but deteriorated to such a degree as to be able to hold up to 1,000
percent by weight of groundwater.
Organic soils are mainly Pleistocene in age, the modern successors to coal. They are
seldom found in thicknesses of more than about 10 m (33 ft). Once found in a
particular site region, their existence can be related to geologic history.
Carbon-14 age determination is helpful in working out the pattern of distribution,
since many of the deposits are less than the current age limit of that technique
(50,000 years).
Organic soils occur primarily in the temperate and subarctic zones. Tropical organic
disintegration is so intense as to remove the possibility of accumulation of organic
soil deposits.

PERMAFROST
Permafrost terrane, a condition of permanently frozen soil, covers about one-half of
Canada, most of Alaska, and about one-third of the USSR.
It is the balance of water contained as ice in solid soil, that even the slightest
variations from ambient ground temperature can induce sufficient thawing and
subsequent differential or total settlement of buildings, as well as portions of roads
and airfields.
The culprit soils are silts and clays which, upon slight increases in soil temperature,
will see conversion of ice to water (and then drainage) with corresponding
consolidation.
A proper solution for design on permafrost is to recognize the importance of the
frozen ground condition, to utilize geologic principles to search for better-drained
sands and gravels in the site area, and to minimize temperature fluctuations
associated with construction and operation of each facility.
SOIL MECHANICS AND GEOLOGY
The unconsolidated materials, described as soil, found in the earth's crust constitute
so large a part of the actual surface of the earth that few civil engineering
operations apart from rock tunneling can be conducted without an encounter with
soil of some type.
Since foundations cannot always be carried to solid rock, the founding of structures
on unconsolidated material is probably the most important part of foundation
engineering.
Despite their significance in all phases of civil engineering work, soils were not
studied and investigated by civil engineers in any general way until relatively recent
years. The contrast between this neglect and the past century and a half of progress
in the study and investigation of practically all other materials used by civil engineers
is so marked as to be indeed a paradox.

SOIL MECHANICS TODAY

One of the main features of modern soil mechanics is the impressive body of theory
that has been developed dealing with all aspects of the states of stress in soils and
with the deformation resulting from such stress conditions.
There are many theoretical approaches now available for solving structural
problems involving the use of soil. The investigation of soils in the laboratory and the
values required for calculations have led to the development of special equipment
for soil testing in the last three decades.
In any modern soils laboratory one will find consolidometers, rather simple devices
for determining the consolidation characteristics of small soil samples under
increasing increments of load; permeameters, for the determination of soil
permeability; and, of greatest importance, two types of shear-testing machines.
For simple tests and for shear determinations upon certain special types of soil,
direct shear boxes are used. These are relatively simple machines in which the soil
sample is placed in a split box so that it can be loaded vertically. While under load,
the sample can be sheared along the break in the box by a horizontal force that can
be measured. Of far more importance, however, are the triaxial compression
machines that are now widely used. In these a cylindrical soil sample, sealed in a
flexible membrane, is fitted into a larger transparent cylinder and held between top
and bottom supports. The large cylinder is filled with an appropriate liquid to which
pressure can be applied. With the restraining liquid under pressure and with loads
applied vertically to the specimen through the top and bottom supports, the cylinder
of soil can be subjected to a combination of three-dimensional stress, and loading
can continue until the sample fails, usually on a definite shear plane.

SOIL TESTING
The first tests will usually be so-called "indicator tests"-those which determine
generally the type of soil. These are used as a basis for consideration of the more
elaborate mechanical tests and for purposes of accurate description. Usually the first
such test made will be to determine the natural moisture content. This is done by
drying a small sample in an oven under controlled and standard conditions. Moisture
content is always expressed as the ratio of the weight of the water contained to the
weight of dry solid-soil matter, expressed as a percentage.
Another introductory test will be made to determine the distribution of soil particles
of difference sizes, the mechanical analysis of the soil. This test is performed by
sieving down as low as the standard no. 200 mesh, and determining smaller particles
(with some degree of overlap) by means of a sedimentation method, standardized,
an application of Stokes' law.
Soil samples will next be subjected to so-called "plasticity tests" to determine their
Atterberg limits. These are limits of consistency named after the Swedish soil
scientist who first suggested them. These limits are expressed as percentages of the
weight of water at specific behavior points, compared with the weight of dry, solid
soil in the sample. If water is slowly added to a perfectly dry sample of fine-grained
soil and uniformly mixed with it, the soil will gradually assume some cohesion,
probably first forming lumps. It will eventually reach a plastic stage at which it can
be rolled out in a long, unbroken thread upon a solid surface.
A simple test has been standardized to indicate the limit of water content at which
this plastic stage is reached; this limit is called the plastic limit. If more water is added
and the mixing continued, the soil will gradually achieve the state of a viscous liquid.
While the liquid and plastic limits are simple in concept and relatively easy to
determine, they are valuable indicators of soil characteristics. The liquidity index is
obtained by dividing the difference between the natural moisture content and the
plastic limit by the plasticity index. These terms appear almost universally in
engineering reports as indicators of the general characteristics of a soil. When
considered in combination with the appearance of a soil and its mechanical analysis,
they assist in the determination of an accurate description of fine-grained soils such
as "silty clay," "sandy silt," or "highly plastic clay."
Most of the subsurface problems that have to be faced by civil engineers in the
conduct of their construction operations are caused by water and not by solid
material as such, whether the material be soil or rock.
LINKS WITH GEOLOGY

Soil and rock mechanics have become vital parts of the scientific core of civil
engineering. At the same time, the scientific study of rock and soils must have
contact with geology; this, also, is natural and logical.
However, soil studies have been conducted in the field without benefit from contact
with geology in any form, recognized or unrecognized. Sometimes no harm has
resulted, but this has been through good luck rather than through good
management. Poor results have often been obtained through patent neglect of
geological features. It can therefore be stated without qualification that soil studies
in the field, no matter how carefully conducted, are incomplete without some
consideration of the appropriate local geology. Herein lies perhaps the chief contact
between geology and soil mechanics.
The term geotechnical engineering indicates the steadily developing liaison between
the scientific approach to the geology of rock and soils and the engineering
investigation of their properties. It is inevitable that this interrelation should progress
to the mutual benefit of both geology and engineering and to the continued
advance of human understanding of the most common of all solid materials.

CONCLUSION: DEALING WITH ROCK AND SOIL

Today's civil engineer faces siting, design, and construction of projects in a
bewildering array of earth material types which are far greater than the usual
number of manufactured materials used to frame and support the structures
themselves.
Although a considerable fund of knowledge has been built up in explanation of
general soil properties, these properties vary infinitely as a function of the formative
processes of weathering, erosion, and deposition. Even the massive sandstones and
shales may be seen as evidence of the same processes being present on earth,
certainly as long as the planet has had the benefit of free water in the form of rain,
snow, fog, and dew, in oceans, lakes, rivers, and streams, and as groundwater.
Metamorphic rocks such as slates and some schists and gneisses were
unquestionably once sedimentary rocks, originating from soil-forming processes.
Truly, so much of the earth's sedimentary and metamorphic rocks are only recycled
soils composed of the debris of weathering, alteration, and erosion.
For engineering purposes in North America, however, it is the vast bulk of Pleistocene
geologic materials that is of such great importance to civil engineers. Soil scientists
and geomorphologists also deal exclusively with modern landforms and their so
veneer. These scientists are producing an ever-growing body of literature much of it
directed toward actual geographic locations of interest to civil engineers.

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SECTION E

Romans
Petra (rock) – solid part of the crust…
Solum (soil or ground) – fragmented part…

Aristotle
Earth
… the material making up the crust of the earth.

John Evelyn (1675)

… the distinction between rocks and soil.

ROCK AS AN ENGINEERING MATERIAL

MINERALS
 Basic building blocks of the earth’s crust
 Classified mainly by their chemical composition
 The most important rock-forming mineral groups are the silicates, oxides and
carbonates.
 Has physical and chemical characteristics which allow identification

Minerals
Minerals are naturally occurring, inorganic solids. They have a clearly defined
chemical composition and crystal structure. Minerals occur in many different colours.
Their specific colour and hardness help to identify them. Rocks are created from one
or more of the many different minerals found on Earth.
Mohs scale of mineral hardness
The Mohs scale allows comparison of the hardness of various minerals. Diamond is
the hardest.
1 Talc
2 Gypsum

3 Calcite
4 Fluorite
5 Apatite
6 Feldspar
7 Quartz
8 Topaz
9 Corundum
10 Diamond

 
SOME COMMON MINERALS
SPECIFIC HARDNESS CRYSTAL CLEAVAGE OR COLOR
MINERAL GRAVITY FRACTURE
 Curved like  Clear,
 QUARTZ  2.65  7  Hexagonal glass milky gray
 White,
 FELDSPAR  2.5-2.8  6  Tabular  2-planar at 90° gray, pink
 Black,
brown,
 MICA  2.9-3.1  2.5-3  Hexagonal One plane gray
 HORNBLENDE 3.1-3.5  5-6  Tabular  2-planar at 60°  Black 
 Dark
 PYROXENE  3.2-3.7  5-6  Tabular  2-planar at 90° green
 White,
 CALCITE *  2.7  3  Rhombic  3-planar at 60° pink, gray
  White,
gray,
 DOLOMITE †  2.9  3.5-4  Rhombic  3-planar at 60° brown
* Reacts strongly with acid
† Reacts weakly with acid
“Any rock can become any kind of rock”

IGNEOUS ROCKS

EXTRUSIVE
-those poured out at the earth’s surface.

INTRUSIVE
-large rock masses which have not cooled in contact with the atmosphere.

BASALT
ANDESITE
PUMICE

DIORITE
GRANITE
PEGMATITE

HYPABYSSAL ROCKS
-they are igneous intrusive rocks that crystallized at intermediate depths resulting in
medium grain sizes and textures.
-are intermediate in position between extrusive and major intrusive rocks.
DOLERITE
MICROGRANITE
MICRODIORITE

SEDIMENTARY ROCKS

Sedimentary rocks are formed from pre-existing rocks or pieces of once-living

organisms.
They form from deposits that accumulate on the Earth's surface.
Sedimentary rocks often have distinctive layering or bedding.
Sedimentary Rock
Sedimentary rock is formed from sediments deposited on a sea or lake bed.
Sediments can be particles of rock released by weathering, dissolved materials or
plant or animal debris.
Weathering ►sediments ►transport► deposition ► compaction cementation
recrystallization

Compaction
Rock fragments settle in layers on lake and sea beds. The weight of these layers
squeezes
the sediment to eventually form hard rock.
Cementation
Minerals like calcite and silica fill the spaces around sediment and slowly cement
them together.
Recrystallization
Minerals dissolved in water form crystals that are much harder than the original
minerals.

Types of Sedimentary Rock

Clastic
Clastic sedimentary rock is formed from weathered particles. They are cemented
together by dissolved minerals.
Chemical
Chemical sedimentary rocks form when precipitation (crystallization) of minerals in
water occurs.
Organic
Organic sedimentary rock is formed by the accumulation of animal or plant debris.

CLASSIFICATION:

1. Mechanically formed
The so-called “mechanical processes” leading to rock formation are the action of
wind, frost, rain, snow, and daily temperature changes.
2. Chemically formed (evaporites)
Evaporite deposits are rocks composed mostly of minerals produced by evaporation
of saline solution.
3. Organically formed
Organic detrital rocks form when parts of plants and animals decay in the ground,
leaving behind biological material that is compressed and become rock.

SANDSTONE
LIMESTONE
SHALE

METAMORPHIC ROCKS
Metamorphic rocks started out as some other type of rock, but have been
substantially changed from their original igneous, sedimentary, or earlier
metamorphic form.
Metamorphic rocks form when rocks are subjected to high heat, high pressure, hot
mineral-rich fluids or, more commonly, some combination of these factors.

Metamorphic Rock
Metamorphic rock is formed from existing rocks through a combination of high heat,
high pressure and hot mineral-rich fluids.
high heat► high pressure► minerals► metamorphic rock

MARBLE
QUARTZITE
SOFTSTONE

 
SOME EQUIVALENT FORMS OF SEDIMENTARY AND METAMORPHIC
ROCKS 
SEDIMENT CONSOLIDATED ROCK METAMORPHIC PRODUCT

 Till  Tillite  Metatillite

 Gravel  Conglomerate  Metaconglomerate
 Sand  Sandstone  Quartzite
 Silt  Siltstone  Argillite or slate
 Clay  Shale or mudstone  Argillite or phyllite
 Lime Mud  Limestone  Marble
 Peat  Bituminous coal  Anthracite coal
 

DISTINGUISHING ROCK TYPES

DISTINGUISHING ROCK TYPES
Simple equipment is all that is needed for the field investigation of rocks.

A geologist’s hammer, a pocket magnifying lens, a steel pocket knife for hardness
tests, and a small dropper bottle of hydrochloric acid for the determination of
mineral carbonates.

A small magnet is often useful, since the mineral magnetite can be separated from
other associated minerals by running a magnet through the mixture.

 
RELATIVE HARDNESS OF MINERALS
HARDNESS MINERAL TEST CHARACTERISTICS
*
1  Talc  Can be scratched with a fingernail.
2  Gypsum
3  Calcite  Can be cut very easily with a penknife.
4  Fluorspar  Can be scratched easily with a penknife.
5  Apatite
6  Feldspar  Can be scratched with a penknife but with difficulty.
7  Quartz
8  Topaz  Cannot be scratched with any ordinary implement. Quartz
9  Corundum will scratch glass; topaz will scratch quartz; corundum to
10  Diamond topaz; and a diamond to corundum.
     * The numbers given are used as relative hardness numbers, relative only since
the actual hardness  value of talc is about 0.02, whereas that of a diamond runs into
the thousands.

Shales are usually hardened clay and mud and have a characteristic fracture.
Generally dull in appearance, chale can be scrathed with a fingernail.
Argillaceous, arenaceous; bituminous; calcareous.
Slate can easily be recognized by its characteristic fracture or cleavage and its fine
uniform grain; in color it may vary from black to purple or ever green.
Limestone, can often be distinguished by the presence of fossils, but a surer mark of
distinction is that it effervesces briskly when dilute hydrochloric is applied to it.

Marble is a crystalline form of limestone, generally distinguished by its crystalline

texture but always effervescent when treated with dilute acid.
Conglomerates are, as their name implies, masses of waterborne gravel and sand, as
denoted by rounded shapes, cemented together in one of several ways into a hard
and compact mass.
Sandstone is the general term used to describe such sedimentary cementation of
sand alone.

A ) Quartzite is a metamorphosed type of sandstone in which the grains of rock have

been cemented together with silica so strongly that fracture takes place through
grains and not merely around them.
Serpentine, a rock composed wholly of the mineral of the same name, is generally
green to black, fairly soft, and greasy or talclike to the touch; the color may not be
uniform.
Granite is a typical example of an igneous rock; it is widely distributed constitutes an
important igneous rock type. Granite is composed of quartz, orthoclase feldspar,
some miccs, and possibly hornblende.

GEOLOGIC STRUCTURE
STRIKE
The strike of a rock layer is the compass directionof a line considered to be drawn
along an exposed bedding plane of the rock so that it is horizontal; obviously, there
will be onlyu one such direction for any particular rock layer.

DIP
The dip of the bed is the angle between a horizontal plane and the plane of the
bedding, measured at right angles to the strike; it is thus a measure of the inclination
of the bed to the horizontal plane.
DISCONTINUITIES
The term "discontinuities" is often used as a collective term for all structural breaks in
geologic materials which usually have zero or low tensile strength. The term "joint" is
also used as a generic term by rock engineers to include such structural breaks.

BEDDING PLANES
A bedding plane is defined as a surface representing a contact between a deposit
and the depositing medium during a time of change. They are primary features of
sedimentary rocks formed usually by the depositing media water, and atmosphere.
JOINTS IN A TYPICAL ROCK MASS
A joint is a break (fracture) of natural origin in a layer or body of rock that lacks
visible or measurable movement parallel to the surface (plane) of the fracture.
It results from internal stresses either during the cooling of the rock or during tectonic
displacement.
Joints are sometimes filled with mineral that has crystallized out from solution, e.g.,
quartz and calcite.

FOLDING
Folding occurs when tectonic processes put stress on a rock, and the rock bends,
instead of breaking. This can create a variety of landforms as the surfaces of the
folded rocks are eroded.
Simple regular folds are termed anticlines and synclines respectively, according to
the type of bend.
Anticlines are upfolds; synclines are downfolds, convex and concave upward
respectively.

FAULTS
A fault is a fracture or zone of fractures between two blocks of rock.
Faults allow the blocks to move relative to each other. This movement may occur
rapidly, in the form of an earthquake - or may occur slowly, in the form of creep.
Faults may range in length from a few millimeters to thousands of kilometers.

DENUDATION
Erosion of rock and soil masses by wind, water, and ice is known collectively as
denudation.
The effects of erosion are most pronounced in inclined sedimentary strata, which
may be worn down unevenly, according to the overall hardness of the strata
encountered.
Agents of denudation: Air, water, ice, wave action, chemical reactions and gravity.

UNCONFORMITY
The surface of unconformity juxtaposes two distinct bedding attitudes and
represents a time interval (hiatus) during which the upper surface of the older rocks
was eroded and the landscape was tilted so that only the younger surface was then
horizontal.
Put simply, an unconformity is a break in time in an otherwise continuous rock record.
Unconformities are a type of geologic contact—a boundary between rocks—caused
by a period of erosion or a pause in sediment accumulation, followed by the
deposition of sediments anew.

Angular Unconformities are those where an older package of sediments has been
tilted, truncated by erosion, and then a younger package of sediments was
deposited on this erosion surface.
Where the surface indicates only a period of erosion without tilting, the appropriate
term is disconformity, a special case of unconformity.
Nonconformities are unconformities that separate igneous or metamorphic rocks
from overlying sedimentary rocks. They usually indicate that a long period of erosion
occurred prior to deposition of the sediments (several km of erosion necessary).

Slide 45