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Encyclopedia of Engineering Geology pp 161–162Cite as

Cohesive Soils

Part of the Encyclopedia of Earth Sciences Series book series (EESS)

Definition

Cohesive soils are fine-grained, low-strength, and easily deformable soils that have a tendency for particles to adhere. The soil is classified as cohesive if the amount of fines (silt and clay-sized material) exceeds 50% by weight (Mitchell and Soga 2005). Examples of cohesive soils include sandy clay, silty clay, clayey silt, and organic clay.

Characteristics

Cohesive soils have significant cohesive strength and exhibit plasticity. Cohesion between soil particles comes from three major sources, cementation, electrostatic and electromagnetic attraction, and primary valence bonding and adhesion (Mitchell and Soga 2005). The structure of clay in cohesive soil has a great influence in the engineering behavior of soils. The structure of soil refers to the geometric arrangement of soil or mineral particles and depends on genetic, chemical, mineralogical characteristic, as well as past stress conditions of the soil. Interparticle force also influences the soil structure. For...

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Cohesive Soils, Fig. 1

References

  • Day RW (2012) Geotechnical engineer’s portable handbook, 2nd edn. McGraw-Hill, New York

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  • Holtz RD, Kovacs WD, Sheahan TC (2011) An introduction to geotechnical engineering, 2nd edn. Pearson, New Jersey

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  • Kimiaghalam N, Clark SP, Ahmari H (2016) An experimental study on the effects of physical, mechanical, and electrochemical properties of natural cohesive soils on critical shear stress and erosion rate. Int J Sediment Res, New Jersey 31:1–15

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  • Mitchell JR, Soga K (2005) Fundamentals of soil behavior, 3rd edn. Wiley, Hoboken, New Jersey

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  • Terzaghi K, Peck RB, Mesri G (1996) Soil mechanics in engineering practice, 3rd edn. Wiley, New York

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Petroleum Engineering and Geology, Marietta College, Marietta, OH, USA

    Tej P. Gautam

Authors
  1. Tej P. Gautam
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Correspondence to Tej P. Gautam .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Sidney, BC, Canada

    Peter T. Bobrowsky

  2. London, UK

    Brian Marker

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Gautam, T.P. (2018). Cohesive Soils. In: Bobrowsky, P.T., Marker, B. (eds) Encyclopedia of Engineering Geology. Encyclopedia of Earth Sciences Series. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-73568-9_60

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