A.

Geotechnical engineering, also known as geotechnics, is the branch of civil engineering

concerned with the engineering behavior of earth materials and involves defining the soil's
strength and deformation properties. It uses the principles and methods of soil mechanics and
rock mechanics for the solution of engineering problems and the design of engineering works.
Soil mechanics is a discipline of civil engineering that predicts the soil performance
characteristics utilizing the engineering techniques of dynamics, fluid mechanics, and other
technologies. It includes the study of soil composition, strength, consolidation, and the use of
hydraulic principles to deal with issues concerning sediments and other deposits. It is a study
about soil formation modes, physical and chemical properties of soil, dynamic loading of soils,
permeability, consolidation, etc.
Foundation Engineering is a branch of civil engineering which involves the study and design of
sub-structure that is the study and design of structure below the plinth level. It is applied soil
mechanics and findings in the design of foundation elements of a structure. It is at the
periphery of Civil, Structural and Geotechnical Engineering disciplines and has distinct focus on
soil-structure interaction.

Origin of Soil
Soil, or the pedosphere is a recycling factory for organic matter. The soil here on our planet is
thought to have formed during the Pleistocene, dating it as ~11,000 years old at the youngest,
and potentially as old as ~250,000 years. Since its formation, our soil has enjoyed the cycle of
life many, many times.
C.SOIL AND ITS CONSTITUENTS
The ROCK CYCLE is a concept used to explain how the three basic rock types are related and
how Earth processes, over geologic time, change a rock from one type into another. Plate
tectonic activity, along with weathering and erosional processes, are responsible for the
continued recycling of rocks.

Rocks are classified into three basic types based on how they are formed.
Igneous - A rock formed by the cooling and crystallization of magma (molten rock) at or below
the Earth's surface.
Sedimentary - A rock formed as a result of the weathering process, either by compaction and
cementation of rock mineral fragments, or the precipitation of dissolved minerals.
Metamorphic - These rocks form as existing rocks are subjected to intense heat and/or
pressure, usually over long periods of time.

The GEOLOGIC CYCLE is a collective term used to describe the complex interactions between
the component sub-cycles of tectonic, hydrologic, rock, and the biological cycling of elements
known as the biogeochemical cycle.
Erosion is the geological process in which earthen materials are worn away and transported by
natural forces such as wind or water. A similar process, weathering, breaks down or dissolves
rock, but does not involve movement. Most erosion is performed by liquid water, wind, or ice
(usually in the form of a glacier). If the wind is dusty, or water or glacial ice is muddy, erosion is
taking place.
Transportation is the movement of material across the Earth's surface by water, wind, ice or
gravity. It includes the physical processes of traction (dragging), suspension (being carried) and
saltation (bouncing) and the chemical process of solution.
Deposition is the laying down of sediment carried by wind, water, or ice. Sediment can be
transported as pebbles, sand & mud, or as salts dissolved in water. Salts may later be deposited
by organic activity (e.g. as sea-shells) or by evaporation.

WEATHERING OF ROCKS describes the breaking down or dissolving of rocks and minerals on
the surface of the Earth. Water, ice, acids, salts, plants, animals, and changes in temperature
are all agents of weathering.
MECHANICAL WEATHERING, also called physical weathering and disaggregation, causes rocks
to crumble. It causes physical disintegration of exposed rock without any change in the
chemical composition of the rock.
Abrasion happens as wind and water rush over rocks. Rocks and sediment grinding against
each other wear away surfaces. The rocks become smoother as rough and jagged edges break
off. It makes rocks with sharp or jagged edges smooth and round.

Frost action / ice wedging (or ice wedging) happens when water seeps into cracks, then
expands upon freezing. The expansion enlarges the cracks. The effectiveness of frost wedging
depends on how often freezing and thawing occur.

Exfoliation contributes to the formation of bornhardts, one of the most dramatic features in
landscapes formed by weathering and erosion. Bornhardts are tall, domed, isolated rocks often
found in tropical areas.

CHEMICAL WEATHERING changes the molecular structure of rocks and soil. Sometimes, it
dissolves large portions of limestone or other rock on the surface of the Earth to form a
landscape called karst. In these areas, the surface rock is pockmarked with holes, sinkholes, and
caves.
Oxidation is the process where rocks that contain iron turn to rust. These rocks turn to rust in a
process called oxidation. Rust is a compound created by the interaction of oxygen and iron in
the presence of water. As rust expands, it weakens rock and helps break it apart.
Hydration is a form of chemical weathering in which the chemical bonds of the mineral are
changed as it interacts with water. One instance of hydration occurs as the mineral anhydrite
reacts with groundwater. The water transforms anhydrite into gypsum, one of the most
common minerals on Earth.
Carbonation is the mixing of water with carbon dioxide to make carbonic acid. This type of
weathering is important in the formation of caves. Dissolved carbon dioxide in rainwater or in
moist air forms carbonic acid, and this acid reacts with minerals in rocks.

RESIDUAL SOIL is the product of the weathering processes for rocks. These are formed from the
weathering of rocks and practically remain at the location of origin with little or no movement
of individual soil particles.

TRANSPORTION OF SOIL
Aeolial Soil is a type of soil that is transported from one place to another by the wind. It pertain
to wind's ability to shape the surface of the Earth (or other planets). Winds may erode,
transport, and deposit materials and are effective agents in regions with sparse vegetation, a
lack of soil moisture and a large supply of unconsolidated sediments.
Glacial soils can vary from deformed basal layers that retain many of the original features of
those layers to unsorted mixtures of gravel, sands, silts and clays to laminated clays. They can
be deposited through a process of pressure and shear beneath a glacier as it advances, or be
deposited when the ice melts.
Colluvium (also colluvial material or colluvial soil) is a general name for loose, unconsolidated
sediments that have been deposited at the base of hillslopes by either rainwash, sheetwash,
slow continuous downslope creep, or a variable combination of these processes. Colluvium is
typically composed of a heterogeneous range of rock types and sediments ranging from silt to
rock fragments of various sizes.
Alluvial soils deposited by the river systems are highly fertile and underlain by extensive
aquifers resulting in the development of an extensive groundwater network for irrigation.

DEPOSITION OF SOIL
Dunes is a hill of sand built by either wind or water flow. It occur in different forms and sizes,
formed by interaction with the flow of air or water. Most kinds of dunes are longer on the
windward side where the sand is pushed up the dune and have a shorter “slip face” in the lee of
the wind. The valley or trough between dunes is called a slack. A “dune field” is an area covered
by extensive sand dunes. Large dune fields are known as ergs.
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 ubiquitous in glacial environments. It has
a very distinctive composition that arises from the fact that glaciers not only grind rocks,
breaking them into small, fine pieces but also they also pluck off large chunks of rock. This
means that glaciers transport everything from large boulders to tiny grains smaller than sand.
Colluvium (also colluvial material or colluvial soil) is a general name for loose, unconsolidated
sediments that have been deposited at the base of hillslopes by either rainwash, sheetwash,
slow continuous downslope creep, or a variable combination of these processes. Colluvium is
typically composed of a heterogeneous range of rock types and sediments ranging from silt to
rock fragments of various sizes.
Alluvium is loose, unconsolidated (not cemented together into a solid rock) soil or sediments,
which has been eroded, reshaped by water in some form, and redeposited in a non-marine
setting. Alluvium is typically made up of a variety of materials, including fine particles of silt and
clay and larger particles of sand and gravel. When this loose alluvial material is deposited or
cemented into a lithological unit, or lithified, it would be called an alluvial deposit.
Lacustrine soils are quaternary soils, dated from Pleistocene to Holocene periods, generated in
low-energy depositional environments and characterized by soil mixture of clays, sands and silts
with alternations of finer and coarser grain size layers. They are often met at shallow depth
filling several tens of meters of tectonic or erosive basins typically placed in internal Appenine
areas.
Loess, an unstratified, geologically recent deposit of silty or loamy material that is usually buff
or yellowish brown in colour and is chiefly deposited by the wind. Loess is a sedimentary
deposit composed largely of silt-size grains that are loosely cemented by calcium carbonate. It
is usually homogeneous and highly porous and is traversed by vertical capillaries that permit
the sediment to fracture and form vertical bluffs.
Marine soil or clay is a soft soil that could be found widely at the coastal and offshore areas.
This type of soil is usually associated with high settlement and instability, poor soil properties
that are not suitable for engineering requirements and low unconfined compressive strength of
less than 20 kPa.
Peat is a naturally existing sedimentary material that is both common and unusual; its origins
are due to botanical and geological processes, and significant contributions to any peat deposit
are attributable to animals, plants, and diverse groups of microbial taxa. Peat deposits develop
where the accumulated remains of biological communities exceed the capacity of the
environment to destroy or recycle those components; otherwise individual peats have little in
common.

D. CAUSES OF SOIL CHANGES

http://www.css.cornell.edu/courses/260/Soil%20Forming%20Processes.pdf

H.
Bentonite is an absorbent swelling clay consisting mostly of montmorillonite. It usually forms
from weathering of volcanic ash in seawater, which converts the volcanic glass present in the
ash to clay minerals. It is applied to a type of claystone composed mostly of montmorillonite.
Black cotton soil is heavy clay soil, varying from clay to loam; it is generally light to dark grey in
colour. Cotton grows in this kind of soil. It is a highly clayey soil. It is so hard that the clods
cannot be easily pulverized for treatment for its use in road construction.
Boulder clay is a geological deposit of clay, often full of boulders, which is formed out of the
ground moraine material of glaciers and icesheets. The clay is scraped from the top layer of
older rock by the movement of a glacier or ice sheet.
Caliche is a sedimentary rock, a hardened natural cement of calcium carbonate that binds other
materials—such as gravel, sand, clay, and silt. It is generally light-colored but can range from
white to light pink to reddish-brown, depending on the impurities present.
Hardpan is a hardened impervious layer, typically of clay, usually found below the uppermost
topsoil layer and impairing drainage and plant growth. Some hardpans are formed by deposits
in the soil that fuse and bind the soil particles. These deposits can range from dissolved silica to
matrices formed from iron oxides and calcium carbonate.
Laterite is both a soil and a rock type rich in iron and aluminum and is commonly considered to
have formed in hot and wet tropical areas. Nearly all laterites are of rusty-red coloration,
because of high iron oxide content. They develop by intensive and prolonged weathering of the
underlying parent rock.
Loam is a paste of clay and water with sand, chopped straw, etc., used in making bricks and
plastering walls. Loam soil is composed of almost equal amounts of sand and silt with a little
less clay and holds plenty of moisture but also drains well so that sufficient air can reach the
roots.
Moorum is used in plinth filling, road pavements, backfilling in trenches, footing pits, etc. and
mostly used for construction purposes. It is a soil of humid tropical or equatorial zones. It is
characterised by the deep weathered layer fom which silica has been leached.
Varved clays is a clayey sedimentary soil, formed in glacier lakes, with visible layering. These
are characterized by fine regular bedding consisting of summer and winter layers which are
composed of coarser (sandy-silty) or finer (clayey) material, respectively.

E. Soil Profile-the soil profile is a natural succession of zones or strata below the ground surface
and represents the alterations in the original soil material which have been brought about by
weathering processes. It may extend to different depths at different places and each stratum

may have varying thickness.

Generally, three distinct strata or horizons occur in a natural soil-profile; this number
may increase to five or more in soils which are very old or in which the weathering processes
have been unusually intense.
From top to bottom these horizons are designated as the A-horizon, the B-horizon and

the C-horizon.
 1. A – Horizon

The A-horizon is rich in humus and organic plant residue. This is usually eluviated and leached; that is, the ultrafine
colloidal material and the soluble mineral salts are washed out of this horizon by percolating water. It is dark in
colour and its thickness may range from a few centimetres to half a metre. This horizon often exhibits many
undesirable engineering characteristics and is of value only to agricultural soil scientists.

2. E – Horizon

3. B – Horizon

The B-horizon is referred to zone of accumulation. The material which has migrated from the A-horizon by leaching
and eluviation gets deposited in this zone. There is a distinct difference of colour between this zone and the dark top
soil of the A-horizon. This soil is very much chemically active at the surface and contains unstable fine-grained
material. Thus, this is important in highway and airfield construction work and light structures such as single storey
residential buildings, in which the foundations are located near the ground surface. The thickness of B-horizon may
range from 0.50 to 0.75 m.

4. C – Horizon

The material in the C-horizon is in the same physical and chemical state as it was first deposited by water, wind or
ice in the geological cycle. The thickness of this horizon may range from a few centimetres to more than 30 m. The
upper region of this horizon is often oxidised to a considerable extent. It is from this horizon that the bulk of the
material is often borrowed for the construction of large soil structures such as earth dams.

5. R  Horizon

F. Clay Minerals- The word 'clay' is generally understood to refer to a material composed of a mass of
small mineral particles which, in association with certain quantities of water, exhibits the property of plasticity.
According to the clay mineral concept, clay materials are essentially composed of extremely small
crystalline particles of one or more members of a small group of minerals that are commonly
known as clay minerals.

Minerals are crystalline materials and make up the solids constituent of a soil. The mineral particles of fi ne-grained
soils are platy. Minerals are classified according to chemical composition and structure.

The main groups of crystalline materials that make up clays are the minerals kaolinite, illite, and
montmorillonite.

1. Kaolinite- This is the most common mineral of the kaolin group. It has a structure that consists of one
silica sheet and one alumina sheet bonded together into a layer about 0.72 nm thick and stacked repeatedly
(Figure 2.7a). The layers are held together by hydrogen bonds. Tightly stacked layers result from numerous
hydrogen bonds. Kaolinite is common in clays in humid tropical regions.

2. Illite - Illite consists of repeated layers of one alumina sheet sandwiched by two silicate sheets (Figure
2.7b). The layers, each of thickness 0.96 nm, are held together by potassium ions. The bonds with the
nonexchangeable K+ ions are weaker than the hydrogen bonds, but stronger than the water bond of
montmorillonite. Illite, therefore, does not swell as much in the presence of water as does montmorillonite.

3. Montmorillonite- Montmorillonite has a structure similar to illite, but the layers are held together by
weak van der Waals forces. Montmorillonite belongs to the smectite clay family. It is an aluminum
smectite with a small amount of Al13 replaced by Mg21. This causes a charge inequity that is balanced by
exchangeable cations Na1 or Ca21 and oriented water (Figure 2.7c).Montmorillonite is often called a
swelling or expansive clay.

G. Structure of Soil - The ‘structure’ of a soil may be defined as the manner of arrangement and state of
aggregation of soil grains.
The orientation of particles in a mass depends on the size and shape of the grains as well as upon the minerals of
which the grains are formed. The structure of soils that is formed by natural deposition can be altered by external
forces.

Single - grained structure

Single-grained structure is characteristic of coarse-grained soils, with a particle size greater than 0.02 mm.
Gravitational forces predominate the surface forces and hence grain to grain contact results. The deposition may
occur in a loose state, with large voids or in a sense state, with less of voids.
 1. Honey - combed structure

This structure can occur only in fine-grained soils, especially in silt and rock flour. Due to the relatively
smaller size of grains, besides gravitational forces, inter-particle surface forces also play an important role
in the process of settling down. Miniature arches are formed, which bridge over relatively large void spaces.
This results in the formation of a honey-comb structure, each cell of a honey-comb being made up of numerous
individual soil grains. The structure has a large void space and may carry high loads without a significant volume
change. The structure can be broken down by external disturbances.
 2. Flocculent structure

This structure is characteristic of fine-grained soils such as clays. Inter-particle forces play a predominant role
in the deposition. Mutual repulsion of the particles may be eliminated by means of an appropriate chemical; this will
result in grains coming closer together to form a ‘floc’. Formation of flocs is ‘flocculation’. But the flocs tend to
settle in a honeycomb structure, in which in place of each grain, a floc occurs.
Thus, grains grouping around void spaces larger than the grain-size are flocs and flocs grouping
around void spaces larger than even the flocs result in the formation of a ‘flocculent’ structure.