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Soil types by clay, silt and sand composition as used by the United States Department of Agriculture. Loam (in geology and soil science) is soil composed mostly of sand (particle size > 63 micrometres (0.0025 in)), silt (particle size > 2 micrometres (7.9 × 10 −5 in)), and a smaller amount of clay (particle size < 2 micrometres (7.9 × 10 −5 in)).
The Unified Soil Classification System ( USCS) is a soil classification system used in engineering and geology to describe the texture and grain size of a soil. The classification system can be applied to most unconsolidated materials, and is represented by a two-letter symbol. Each letter is described below (with the exception of Pt ): If the ...
Soil texture. Soil texture is a classification instrument used both in the field and laboratory to determine soil classes based on their physical texture. Soil texture can be determined using qualitative methods such as texture by feel, and quantitative methods such as the hydrometer method based on Stokes' law.
Soil gradation is a classification of the particle size distribution of a soil. Coarse-grained soils, mainly gravels or sands, are graded as either well graded or poorly graded. Poorly graded soils are further divided into uniformly-graded or gap-graded soils. Fine-grained soils, mainly silts and clays, are classified according to their ...
The most common engineering classification system for soils in North America is the Unified Soil Classification System (USCS). The USCS has three major classification groups: (1) coarse-grained soils (e.g. sands and gravels ); (2) fine-grained soils (e.g. silts and clays ); and (3) highly organic soils (referred to as "peat").
Hydraulic conductivity. In science and engineering, hydraulic conductivity ( K, in SI units of meters per second), is a property of porous materials, soils and rocks, that describes the ease with which a fluid (usually water) can move through the pore space, or fracture network. [ 1]
The median grain size, , is the size for which 50% of the particle mass consists of finer particles. Soil behavior, especially the hydraulic conductivity , tends to be dominated by the smaller particles, hence, the term "effective size", denoted by D 10 {\displaystyle D_{10}} , is defined as the size for which 10% of the particle mass consists ...
Soil structure describes the arrangement of the solid parts of the soil and of the pore spaces located between them (Marshall & Holmes, 1979). [ 1] Aggregation is the result of the interaction of soil particles through rearrangement, flocculation and cementation. It is enhanced by: [ 1][ 2] the precipitation of oxides, hydroxides, carbonates ...