CVE 104

GEOLOGY AND SOIL ENGINEERING

LECTURER : MS. LAUDINA GLORIA MENDS

CIVIL ENGINEERING DEPARTMENT
HO TECHNICAL UNIVERSITY
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Course Assessment
 Quizzes
 Assignments
 Laboratory Practical Work
 Group Presentations
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Lecture Materials
Students are encouraged to use the NUNYA Library to assess
reading materials. Ground floor to the right. Kindly use e-library for
more assistance.
 Lambe and Whitman(2008). Soil Mechanics. USA. John Wiley
and Sons
 Dr. K.R Arora(2003). Soil Mechanics and Foundation
Engineering. Sixth Edition. Delhi. A.K. Jain
 Jan C. Rasmussen(2012). How to identify rocks and minerals.
 Introduction 4
 Soil engineering deals with the application of principles of
soil mechanics to practical problems. It includes site
investigations, design and construction of foundations, earth
retaining structures and earth structures.

 Some of the important applications of soil engineering is

seen in shallow foundation, pile foundation, stability of
slopes, pavement design, earth dam, underground
structures etc.
 Definition of Soil 5
 The word soil refers to the upper layer of the earth that may
be dug or plowed. This definition is used in the field of
agronomy where the main concern is the use of soil for
growing crops.
 In geology, the upper layer of the mantle which can support
plants is termed as soil but;
 In soil engineering, the term soil is defined as an
unconsolidated material, composed of solid particles which
is produced by the disintegration of rocks.
 The solid particles contains void spaces which may contain
air or water or both. They may also contain organic matter.
Definition of Soil cont’d. 6
 Origin of Soils 7
 Soils are formed by weathering of rocks due to mechanical
disintegration or chemical decomposition.
 The products of weathering are eroded and further degraded.
They are then transported by agents such as wind, water to new
locations causing large scale earth movements and upheavals.
This process results in further exposure of rocks and this cycle
repeats itself.
 This cycle can be termed as a geologic cycle where weathered
material is eroded, transported and deposited at different
locations.
 Origin of soils cont’d. 8

 If the soil stays at its place of formation just above the parent rock,
it is known as residual soil or sedentary soil.
 When soils has been deposited a place further away from its origin,
it is called transported soil.
 Rocks 9
 A rock can be defined as a natural aggregate of mineral particles
bonded by strong and permanent cohesive forces. It is an industrial
material that requires drilling, wedging or blasting for its removal
from the earth’s surface.
 Rocks are made of minerals. Rocks can be a mixture of different
kinds of minerals, a mixture of many grains of the same kind of
mineral, or a mixture of different grains of rocks. When you split a
rock into very small pieces, the pieces are different from each
other. For example, when you break granite apart, you get small
pieces of quartz (clear), feldspar (pink or white), and mica (black).
 The three basic rock types are: igneous, sedimentary, and
metamorphic.
 Types of Rocks 10
 Metamorphic rocks are formed when pre-existing rocks are
changed by heat and pressure.
▪ Pressure from the weight of overlying rocks or from stresses of mountain
building which rearranges the minerals in rocks into bands or rearranges
the atoms of the minerals into new minerals.
▪ Heat from the intrusion of a large igneous mass can metamorphose a
large area.
▪ Heat from the intrusion of a dike or sill or flow can bake the adjoining
rocks in a contact metamorphic zone.
 Sedimentary rocks are derived from pre-existing rocks by
weathering and erosion. The resulting particles settle out of water or
air (clastic rocks such as sandstone and mudstone) or the resulting
chemicals precipitate from concentrated solutions (non-clastic
rocks such as limestone and salt).
 Igneous rocks are formed when molten material inside or outside
the earth cools and becomes solid. When molten material cools, it
crystallizes into a mass of interlocking crystals.
 Types of rocks cont’d.
• A metamorphic rock- generally looks like
Gneiss black and white banding. Other rocks in
this category include schist, phyllite ……

• The sand grains (often quartz) were

transported mechanically by wind,
Sandston water or ice to the place of
e deposition. Other examples are
limestone, shale ……

• The color of granite can be light or dark

brown or reddish depending on the
amount of light colored minerals . Other
Granite examples of igneous rocks are Pumice,
Obsidian and Basalt
 Mineralogy of Rocks 12
 Minerals are naturally occurring chemical compounds. They are
inorganic. They are made of material that has never been a living
plant or animal.
 They are also solid, so they are not in their liquid or gaseous form.
Each mineral has a definite chemical content, which can be
described by a chemical formula or symbol.
 Examples of minerals include quartz, mica (biotite and muscovite),
galena, talc, graphite, diamond, etc
 Several minerals come together to form a rock. A light coloured
rock gives an indication of a high presence of light coloured
minerals and also tells the formation process of the rock.
Formation of Soils from Rocks
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Weathering
As mentioned earlier, soils are formed either
 Mechanical disintegration
▪ Temperature changes
▪ Wedging action of Ice
▪ Plants roots
▪ Abrasion

 Chemical Decomposition
▪ Hydration
▪ Carbonation
▪ Oxidation
▪ Solution
▪ Hydrolysis
Erosion and Transportation of
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Soils
The soils formed at a place may be eroded and transported to other
places by agents such as water, wind, ice and gravity.
 Water transported Soils : swift running water carries a large quantity
of soil either is suspension or by rolling along the bed. Size of soil
particle transported by water depends on velocity of the running
water.
 Transportation of Soils 15
 Wind transported soils: finer particles are carried far away from
the place of formation soils deposited by wind are known as
Aeolian deposits.
 Glacier- Deposited Soils: Glaciers are large masses of ice formed
by the compaction of snow. As the glaciers grow and move,
they carry with them soils of varying sizes.
 Gravity-Deposited Soils: this type is soil is transported over short
distances by gravity. Rock fragments and soil masses collected
at the foot of steep slopes had fallen from a high elevation due
to the action of gravity.
 Soils transported by combined action: sometimes, two or more
transport mechanisms acts together to transport the soil from
one place to the other.
Some Major Soil Deposits in
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Ghana
 Lateritic Soils: This is formed by decomposition of rock, removal of
bases and silica and accumulation of iron oxide and aluminium
oxide. The presence of iron oxide gives it the characteristic red or
pink colour.
 Black Cotton Soil : Adaklu is a town notable for having black
cotton soil. They are clays of high plasticity. They contain the clay
mineral montmorillonite. It is extremely difficult to work with such
soils
 Marine Deposits: thick layers of sand above deep deposits of soft
marine clays. They can be found along the coasts.
Cohesive and Cohesionless
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Soils
 Soils in which the adsorbed water and particle attraction act such
that it deforms plastically at varying water contents are known as
cohesive soils or clays because this cohesive property is due to
the presence of clay minerals in soils.
 Cohesionless soils do not deform plastically at varying water
contents. For example, soils composed of bulky grains, non plastic
silt and coarse grained soils are cohesionless
 Many soils are a mixture of bulky grains and clay minerals and
exhibit some degree of plasticity with varying water content. Such
soils are termed cohesive if the plasticity effect is significant,
otherwise cohesionless.
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QUESTIONS OR SUGGESTIONS?
 Quiz 1 19

 What is weathering?
 How many different types of weathering do we have?
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Group Assignment
 Make a power point presentations on the following
▪ Group A: Physical Disintegration of soils
▪ Group B: Chemical Decomposition of soils
▪ Group C: Transport of soils