Geotechnical Engineering – I
CEPC16
Regional Soil Deposits in India
Course instructor
Dr. Chandaluri Vinay Kumar
Assistant Professor
Department of Civil Engineering
NIT Tiruchirappalli
Soil Formation and Types
• Soils are classified based on the geological origin of
their constituent sediments in to 3 main groups
3 Main Groups
Physical or Chemical
mechanical weathering of
Organic
weathering of parent rock
parent rock
Transported soils are named according to
name of transportation
• Alluvial soils - running water
• Colluvial soil - gravitational force, as land slides
• Lacustrine soils - quiet lakes
• Marine soils - sea water
• Aeolin soils - wind
• Glacial soils - Glaciers
Regional Soil Deposits in India
Source: Ranjan and Rao (2000)
Alluvial deposits
Covers large parts of northern India lying north of
Vindhya-Satpura range in the Indo-Gangetic and
Bramaputra flood plains.
The thickness of these soil deposits is some times over
100 m.
The deposits have alternative layers of sand, silt and clay.
The alluvial deposits extend from Assam in the east to
Punjab in the west.
https://research.engineering.ucdavis.edu/gpa/site-characterization/alluvial-deposit-2/
Desert soils
Large parts of Rajasthan covering about 5 Lak sq km,
consist of desert soil which are wind blown, have an
average height of about 15m.
They are formed under highly arid conditions
Dune sand is non plastic uniformly graded, fine sand
https://sciencing.com/list-7644820-different-types-landforms.html
Laterites or lateritic soils
These soils cover an area of about 1 Lak sq km
Soils extend over Kerala, Karnataka, Maharastra, Odisha
and West Bengal.
These soils are formed by the decomposition of rock.
https://sciencing.com/list-7644820-different-types-landforms.html
Black cotton soil
This is the Indian name given to the expansive soil
deposits in the central part of the country.
They cover an area of about 3 Lak sq km
Soils extend over Maharastra, Karnataka, Andhra
Pradesh, Tamilnadu and Uttar Pradesh.
These soils are formed from basalt or trap and contain
the clay mineral montmorillonite.
https://civilblog.org/2015/11/15/how-to-avoid-foundation-failure-in-black-cotton-soil/
Marine deposits
These deposits are found all along the coast in narrow
tidal plains
The marine clays are very soft and may contain organic
matter.
It has low shear strength and high compressibility
https://sites.google.com/site/wvugeol616advancedsed/home/patrick?tmpl=%2Fsystem%2Fapp%2Ftemplates%2Fprint%2F&showPrintDialog=1
Boulder deposits
Rivers flowing in highly terrains and near foot-hills carry
large boulders downstream.
These deposits can be found in the sub-himalayan
regions and Uttarakhand
The properties of these deposits depends on the relative
proportions of the boulders and soil matrix
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Boulder_Clay_cliffs_-_geograph.org.uk_-_771942.jpg
Soil-Water-Air Interaction
Soil-Water-Air Relationships
To compute the masses (or weights) and volumes
of the 3 different phases
Va Air Ma=0
Notation
Vv
M = mass or weight
Vw water Mw
V = volume
Vt Mt
s = soil grains
w = water
a = air Vs Soil Ms
v = voids
t = total
Definitions
Water content (w) is a measure of the water present in
the soil
MW
w X 100% Va air Ma=0
MS Vv
Vw water Mw
Expressed as percentage Mt
Vt
Range = 0 – 100 %.
Vs soil Ms
Phase Diagram
Contd..
Void ratio (e) is a measure of the void volume in the soil
VV Va Ma=0
e air
VS Vv w
MW
MS
Vw water Mw
Expressed as fraction or
decimal Vt Mt
Value range can be > 0
Vs soil Ms
Phase Diagram
Contd..
Porosity (n) is a measure of the void volume in the soil
VV
n X 100% Va air Ma=0
VT Vv MW
w
MS
Vw water Mw
VT Mt
Expressed as percentage
Vs soil Ms
Theoretical range: 0 – 100%
Phase Diagram
Contd..
Degree of Saturation (S or Sr) is the percentage of
void volume filled by water
Va air Ma=0
VW
S X 100% Vv w
MW
VV Vw
MS
water Mw
Expressed as percentage VT Mt
Theoretical range: 0 – 100%
Vs soil Ms
Dry
Saturated
Phase Diagram
Contd..
Air content (ac) is the void volume filled by air
Va
ac X 100%
VV Va air Ma=0
Vv MW
ac 1 S Vw
w
MS
water Mw
Mt
VT
Expressed as percentage
Theoretical range: 0 – 100% Vs soil Ms
Phase Diagram
Contd..
Percentage Air voids (na) is the percentage of
volume filled by the air
Va Va Ma=0
na 100 air
VT Vv w
MW
MS
Vw water Mw
Mt
VT
Expressed as percentage
Vs soil Ms
Phase Diagram
Contd..
Bulk density (m) is the density of soil in the current state
MT
m Va air Ma=0
VT Vv w
MW
MS
Vw water Mw
Units: t/m3,
g/ml, VT MT
kg/m3, g/cm3
Vs soil Ms
Phase Diagram
Contd..
Dry density (d) is the density of the soil in dry state
MS Va Ma=0
d air
VT Vv w
MW
MS
Vw water Mw
Units: t/m3, g/ml, kg/m3, VT MT
g/cm3
Vs soil Ms
Phase Diagram
Contd..
Saturated density (sat) is the density of the soil when the
voids are filled with water.
Submerged density (’) is the effective density of the soil
when it is submerged
’ = sat - w
Bulk, saturated, dry and submerged unit weights () are
defined in a similar manner
Here, use weight (kN) instead of mass (kg)
= g
N/m3 kg/m3 m/s2
Contd..
Mass Specific Gravity (Gm): It is defined as the ratio of its
mass in air to the mass of an equal volume of water at reference
temperature, 4o C. The corresponding gravity of a mass of soil
(including air, water and solids) is termed as mass specific gravity
Gm.
t
Gm
w
Specific gravity of solids (Gs): The specific gravity of solids
(excluding air and water) is expressed by
s
Gs
w
Phase relations
Consider a fraction of the soil where Vs = 1
The other volumes can be obtained from the previous
definitions.
The masses can be obtained from Air
Mass = Density x Volume e
Se water Sew
soil
1 G s w
volumes Masses
Phase Diagram
Vw Vv ww s
S e w Gs
Vv Vs ws w
Vw SVv
VS 1 e Vv Vw Se
Relation between e, w, Gs and S
Vv Vv Vw
e
Vs Vw Vs
Vv Ww / w
Vw Ws / s
1
wGs
S
eS wGs
Contd..
From the previous definitions,
M W Se
w
M S GS
VV e
n Air
VT 1 e e
Se water Sew
M T GS Se
m W
VT 1 e
M T GS e
sat W 1 soil G s w
VT 1 e
MS GS
d W
VT 1 e Phase Diagram
