1.2.3 Soil Minerals “The response of soils (essentially fine-grained soils, see Section 1.3) to loads, known as the mechanical behavior, depends on the type of predominant minerals present. Minerals are erystalline materials and make up the solids constituent of a soil. The mineral particles of fine-grained soils are platy. Minerals.are classified according to.chemical composition. and structure. Most minerals of interest to geotechnic: engineers are composed of oxygen and silicon—two of the most abundant elements on earth, Silicates are a group of minerals with a structural unit called the silica tetrahedron. ‘The predominant minerals in fine-grained soils are kaolinite, illite, and montmorillonite. Kaolinite 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. 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. Illite consists of repeated layers of one alumina sheet sandwiched by two silicate sheets. The layers, each of thickness 0.96 nm, are held together by potassium ions, Montmorillonite has a similar structure to illite, but the layers are held together by weak van der Waals forces and exchangeable ions. Water can easily enter the bond and separate the layers in montmorillonite, causing swelling. Montmorillonite is often called swelling or expansive clay The key points are: 1. Knowledge of geology is important for the successful practice of geotechnical engineering. 2. Soils are derived from the weathering of rocks. 3. Physical weathering causes reduction in size of the parent rock without change in its composition. 4. Chemical weathering causes reduction of size and chemical composition different from the parent rock. 5. The in-situ structure of a soil depends on the deposition environment and any past mechanical loading. 6. Fine-grained soils (clays) are composed of three main types of minerals: kaolinite, illite, and montmorillonite. 7. The clay minerals consist of silica and alumina sheets that are combined to form layers. The bonds between the layers play a very important role in the mechanical behavior of clays. The bond between the layers in montmorillonite is very weak compared with kaolinite and illite. Water can easily enter between the layers in montmorillonite, causing swelling. 8. The soil fabric (structural arrangement of the soil grains) is the brain; it retains the memory of the birth of the soil and subsequent changes that occur. 1.3. SOILTYPES AND SOIL DESCRIPTION Importance Geotechnical engineers have categorized soils into various types and common descriptive terms have evolved to aid them in getting a quick, qualitative estimate on the soils’ strength and deformation properties and variability. Some of the key soil types and common descriptive terms are reviewed.