Soil Classification
Geotechnical engineers classify the soil particle types by performing tests on disturbed (dried, passed through sieves, and remolded) samples of the soil. This provides information about the characteristics of the soil grains themselves. It should be noted that classification of the types of grains present in a soil does not account for important effects of the structure or fabric of the soil, terms that describe compactness of the particles and patterns in the arrangement of particles in a load carrying framework as well as the pore size and pore fluid distributions. Engineering geologists also classify soils based on their genesis and depositional history.
Read more about this topic: Soil Mechanics
Famous quotes containing the word soil:
“But men labor under a mistake. The better part of the man is soon ploughed into the soil for compost. By a seeming fate, commonly called necessity, they are employed, as it says in an old book, laying up treasures which moth and rust will corrupt and thieves break through and steal. It is a fool’s life, as they will find when they get to the end of it, if not before.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)