Clay

Clay is a type of fine-grained natural soil material containing clay minerals[1] (hydrous aluminium phyllosilicates, e.g. kaolinite, Al
2Si

5(OH)
4). Most pure clay minerals are white or light-coloured, but natural clays show a variety of colours from impurities, such as a reddish or brownish colour from small amounts of iron oxide.[2][3]

Clays develop plasticity when wet but can be hardened through firing.[4][5][6] Clay is the longest-known ceramic material. Prehistoric humans discovered the useful properties of clay and used it for making pottery. Some of the earliest pottery shards have been dated to around 14,000 BCE,[7] and clay tablets were the first known writing medium.[8] Clay is used in many modern industrial processes, such as paper making, cement production, and chemical filtering. Between one-half and two-thirds of the world's population live or work in buildings made with clay, often baked into brick, as an essential part of its load-bearing structure. In agriculture, clay content is a major factor in determining land arability. Clay soils are generally less suitable for crops due to poor natural drainage; however, clay soils are more fertile, due to higher cation-exchange capacity.[9][10]

Clay is a very common substance. Shale, formed largely from clay, is the most common sedimentary rock.[11] Although many naturally occurring deposits include both silts and clay, clays are distinguished from other fine-grained soils by differences in size and mineralogy. Silts, which are fine-grained soils that do not include clay minerals, tend to have larger particle sizes than clays. Mixtures of sand, silt and less than 40% clay are called loam. Soils high in swelling clays (expansive clay), which are clay minerals that readily expand in volume when they absorb water, are a major challenge in civil engineering.[1]

## Contents

* 1 Properties
* 1.1 Agriculture
* 2 Formation
* 3 Varieties
* 4 Uses
* 4.1 Materials
* 4.2 Medicine
* 4.3 Construction
* 5 See also
* 6 Notes
* 7 References
* 8 External links

## Properties

A 23,500 times magnified electron micrograph of smectite clay

The defining mechanical property of clay is its plasticity when wet and its ability to harden when dried or fired. Clays show a broad range of water content within which they are highly plastic, from a minimum water content (called the plastic limit) where the clay is just moist enough to mould, to a maximum water content (called the liquid limit) where the moulded clay is just dry enough to hold its shape.[12] The plastic limit of kaolinite clay ranges from about 36% to 40% and its liquid limit ranges from about 58% to 72%.[13] High-quality clay is also tough, as measured by the amount of mechanical work required to roll a sample of clay flat. Its toughness reflects a high degree of internal cohesion.[12]

Clay has a high content of clay minerals that give it its plasticity. Clay minerals are hydrous aluminium phyllosilicate minerals, composed of aluminium and silicon ions bonded into tiny, thin plates by interconnecting oxygen and hydroxide ions. These plates are tough but flexible, and in moist clay, they adhere to each other. The resulting aggregates give clay the cohesion that makes it plastic.[14] In kaolinite clay, the bonding between plates is provided by a film of water molecules that hydrogen bond the plates together. The bonds are weak enough to allow the plates to slip past each other when the clay is being moulded, but strong enough to hold the plates in place and allow the moulded clay to retain its shape after it is moulded. When the clay is dried, most of the water molecules are removed, and the plates form direct hydrogen bonds with each other, making the dried clay rigid but still fragile. If the clay is moistened again, it will once more become plastic. When the clay is fired to the earthenware stage, a dehydration reaction removes additional water from the clay, causing clay plates to irreversibly adhere to each other via stronger covalent bonding, which strengthens the material. The clay mineral kaolinite is transformed into a non-clay material, metakaolin, which remains rigid and hard if moistened again. Further firing through the stoneware and porcelain stages further recrystallizes the metakaolin into yet stronger minerals such as mullite.[6]

The tiny size and plate form of clay particles gives clay minerals a high surface area. In some clay minerals, the plates carry a negative electrical charge that is balanced by a surrounding layer of positive ions (cations), such as sodium, potassium, or calcium. If the clay is mixed with a solution containing other cations, these can swap places with the cations in the layer around the clay particles, which gives clays a high capacity for ion exchange.[14] The chemistry of clay minerals, including their capacity to retain nutrient cations such as potassium and ammonium, is important to soil fertility.[15]

Clay is a common component of sedimentary rock. Shale is formed largely from clay and is the most common of sedimentary rocks.[11] However, most clay deposits are impure. Many naturally occurring deposits include both silts and clay. Clays are distinguished from other fine-grained soils by differences in size and mineralogy. Silts, which are fine-grained soils that do not include clay minerals, tend to have larger particle sizes than clays. There is, however, some overlap in particle size and other physical properties. The distinction between silt and clay varies by discipline. Geologists and soil scientists usually consider the separation to occur at a particle size of 2 μm (clays being finer than silts), sedimentologists often use 4–5 μm, and colloid chemists use 1 μm.[4] Clay-size particles and clay minerals are not the same, despite a degree of overlap in their respective definitions. Geotechnical engineers distinguish between silts and clays based on the plasticity properties of the soil, as measured by the soils' Atterberg limits. ISO 14688 grades clay particles as being smaller than 2 μm and silt particles as being larger. Mixtures of sand, silt and less than 40% clay are called loam.

Some clay minerals (such as smectite) are described as swelling clay minerals, because they have a great capacity to take up water, and they increase greatly in volume when they do so. When dried, they shrink back to their original volume. This produces distinctive textures, such as mudcracks or "popcorn" texture, in clay deposits. Soils containing swelling clay minerals (such as bentonite) pose a considerable challenge for civil engineering, because swelling clay can break foundations of buildings and ruin road beds.[1]

### Agriculture

Clay is generally considered undesirable for agriculture, although some amount of clay is a necessary component of good soil. Compared to other soils, clay soils are less suitable for crops due to their tendency to retain water, and require artificial drainage and tillage to make suitable for planting. However, clay soils are often more fertile and can hold onto nutrients better due to their higher cation-exchange capacity, allowing more land to remain in production rather than being left fallow. As clay tends to retain nutrients for longer before leaching them, this also means plants may require more fertilizer in clay soils.[9][10]

## Formation

Italian and African-American clay miners in mine shaft, 1910

Clay minerals most commonly form by prolonged chemical weathering of silicate-bearing rocks. They can also form locally from hydrothermal activity.[16] Chemical weathering takes place largely by acid hydrolysis due to low concentrations of carbonic acid, dissolved in rainwater or released by plant roots. The acid breaks bonds between aluminium and oxygen, releasing other metal ions and silica (as a gel of orthosilicic acid).)[17]

The clay minerals formed depend on the composition of the source rock and the climate. Acid weathering of feldspar-rich rock, such as granite, in warm climates tends to produce kaolin. Weathering of the same kind of rock under alkaline conditions produces illite. Smectite forms by weathering of igneous rock under alkaline conditions, while gibbsite forms by intense weathering of other clay minerals.[18]

There are two types of clay deposits: primary and secondary. Primary clays form as residual deposits in soil and remain at the site of formation. Secondary clays are clays that have been transported from their original location by water erosion and deposited in a new sedimentary deposit.[19] Secondary clay deposits are typically associated with very low energy depositional environments such as large lakes and marine basins.[16]

## Varieties

The main groups of clays include kaolinite, montmorillonite-smectite, and illite. Chlorite, vermiculite,[20] talc, and pyrophyllite[21] are sometimes also classified as clay minerals. There are approximately 30 different types of "pure" clays in these categories, but most "natural" clay deposits are mixtures of these different types, along with other weathered minerals.[22] Clay minerals in clays are most easily identified using X-ray diffraction rather than chemical or physical tests.[23]

Varve (or varved clay) is clay with visible annual layers that are formed by seasonal deposition of those layers and are marked by differences in erosion and organic content. This type of deposit is common in former glacial lakes. When fine sediments are delivered into the calm waters of these glacial lake basins away from the shoreline, they settle to the lake bed. The resulting seasonal layering is preserved in an even distribution of clay sediment banding.[16]

Quick clay is a unique type of marine clay indigenous to the glaciated terrains of Norway, North America, Northern Ireland, and Sweden.[24] It is a highly sensitive clay, prone to liquefaction, and has been involved in several deadly landslides.[25]

## Uses

Clay layers in a construction site in Auckland, New Zealand. Dry clay is normally much more stable than sand in excavations. A 14th-century bottle stopper made of fired clay

Modelling clay is used in art and handicraft for sculpting. Clays are used for making pottery, both utilitarian and decorative, and construction products, such as bricks, walls, and floor tiles. Different types of clay, when used with different minerals and firing conditions, are used to produce earthenware, stoneware, and porcelain. Prehistoric humans discovered the useful properties of clay. Some of the earliest pottery shards recovered are from central Honshu, Japan. They are associated with the Jōmon culture, and recovered deposits have been dated to around 14,000 BCE.[7] Cooking pots, art objects, dishware, smoking pipes, and even musical instruments such as the ocarina can all be shaped from clay before being fired.

Ancient peoples in Mesopotamia adopted clay tablets as the first known writing medium.[8] Clay was chosen due to the local material being easy to work with and widely available.[26] Scribes wrote on the tablets by inscribing them with a script known as cuneiform, using a blunt reed called a stylus, which effectively produced the wedge shaped markings of their writing. After being written on, clay tablets could be reworked into fresh tablets and reused if needed, or fired to make them permanent records. Nowadays, clay is added as a filler to graphite, in pencil lead, to change the hardness and blackness of the pencil. Purpose-made clay balls were used as sling ammunition.[27] Clay is used in many industrial processes, such as paper making, cement production, and chemical filtering.[28] Bentonite clay is widely used as a mold binder in the manufacture of sand castings.[29][30]

Mass bathing in liquid clayas a type of relaxation

Video (10 minutes) on YouTube
Clay bath near lake Ahémé in Benin

### Materials

Clay is a common filler used in polymer nanocomposites. It can reduce the cost of the composite, as well as impart modified behavior: increased stiffness, decreased permeability, decreased electrical conductivity, etc.[31]

### Medicine

Traditional uses of clay as medicine go back to prehistoric times. An example is Armenian bole, which is used to soothe an upset stomach. Some animals such as parrots and pigs ingest clay for similar reasons.[32] Kaolin clay and attapulgite have been used as anti-diarrheal medicines.[33]

### Construction

A clay building in South Estonia

Clay as the defining ingredient of loam is one of the oldest building materials on Earth, among other ancient, naturally occurring geologic materials such as stone and organic materials like wood.[34] Between one-half and two-thirds of the world's population, in both traditional societies as well as developed countries, still live or work in buildings made with clay, often baked into brick, as an essential part of their load-bearing structure.[citation needed] Also a primary ingredient in many natural building techniques, clay is used to create adobe, cob, cordwood, and structures and building elements such as wattle and daub, clay plaster, clay render case, clay floors and clay paints and ceramic building material. Clay was used as a mortar in brick chimneys and stone walls where protected from water.

Clay, relatively impermeable to water, is also used where natural seals are needed, such as in pond linings, the cores of dams, or as a barrier in landfills against toxic seepage (lining the landfill, preferably in combination with geotextiles).[35] Studies in the early 21st century have investigated clay's absorption capacities in various applications, such as the removal of heavy metals from waste water and air purification.[36][37]

## See also

* Earth:Argillaceous minerals
* Engineering:Industrial plasticine - Modeling material which is mainly used by automotive design studios
* Clay animation - Stop-motion animation made using malleable clay models
* Chemistry:Clay chemistry
* Biology:Clay panel - Building material made of clay with some additives
* Biology:Geophagia - Practice of eating earth or soil-like substrates such as clay or chalk
* Earth:London Clay
* Chemistry:Paper clay - Clay with cellulose fiber
* Chemistry:Particle size - Notion for comparing dimensions of particles in different states of matter
* Earth:Vertisol - Clay-rich soil, prone to cracking
* Chemistry:Clay–water interaction - Various progressive interactions between clay minerals and water

## Notes

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Olive et al. 1989.
2. ↑ Klein & Hurlbut 1993, pp. 512–514.
3. ↑ Nesse 2000, pp. 252–257.
4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 Guggenheim & Martin 1995, pp. 255–256.
5. ↑ Science Learning Hub 2010.
6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 Breuer 2012.
7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 Scarre 2005, p. 238.
8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 Ebert 2011, p. 64.
9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 "Soil health and management". Lockhart and Wiseman' s Crop Husbandry Including Grassland. Elsevier. 2023. pp. 49–79. doi:10.1016/b978-0-323-85702-4.00023-6. ISBN 978-0-323-85702-4.
10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 "Cation Exchange Capacity and Base Saturation". 2014-02-26. https://extension.uga.edu/publications/detail.html?number=C1040&title=cation-exchange-capacity-and-base-saturation.
11. ↑ 11.0 11.1 Boggs 2006, p. 140.
12. ↑ 12.0 12.1 Moreno-Maroto & Alonso-Azcárate 2018.
13. ↑ White 1949.
14. ↑ 14.0 14.1 Bergaya, Theng & Lagaly 2006, pp. 1–18.
15. ↑ Hodges 2010.
16. ↑ 16.0 16.1 16.2 Foley 1999.
17. ↑ Leeder 2011, pp. 5–11.
18. ↑ Leeder 2011, pp. 10–11.
19. ↑ Murray 2002.
20. ↑ Nesse 2000, p. 253.
21. ↑ Klein & Hurlbut 1993, pp. 514–515.
22. ↑ Klein & Hurlbut 1993, p. 512.
23. ↑ Nesse 2000, p. 256.
24. ↑ Rankka et al. 2004.
25. ↑ Natural Resources Canada 2005.
26. ↑ "British Library". https://www.bl.uk/history-of-writing/articles/a-brief-history-of-writing-materials-and-technologies#:~:text=The earliest material used to,drawn into with a stylus..
27. ↑ Forouzan et al. 2012.
28. ↑ Nesse 2000, p. 257.
29. ↑ Boylu 2011.
30. ↑ Eisenhour & Brown 2009.
31. ↑ Kotal, M.; Bhowmick, A. K. (2015). "Polymer nanocomposites from modified clays: Recent advances and challenges". Progress in Polymer Science 51: 127–187. doi:10.1016/j.progpolymsci.2015.10.001.
32. ↑ Diamond 1999.
33. ↑ Dadu et al. 2015.
34. ↑ Grim 2016.
35. ↑ Koçkar, Akgün & Aktürk 2005.
36. ↑ García-Sanchez, Alvarez-Ayuso & Rodriguez-Martin 2002.
37. ↑ Churchman et al. 2006.

## References

* Clay mineral nomenclature American Mineralogist.
* Bergaya, Faïza; Theng, B. K. G.; Lagaly, Gerhard (2006) (in en). Handbook of Clay Science. Elsevier. ISBN 978-0-08-044183-2. https://books.google.com/books?id=uVbam9Snw5sC.
* Boggs, Sam (2006). Principles of sedimentology and stratigraphy (4th ed.). Upper Saddle River, N.J.: Pearson Prentice Hall. ISBN 0131547283.
* Boylu, Feridun (1 April 2011). "Optimization of foundry sand characteristics of soda-activated calcium bentonite". Applied Clay Science 52 (1): 104–108. doi:10.1016/j.clay.2011.02.005. Bibcode: 2011ApCS...52..104B.
* Breuer, Stephen (July 2012). "The chemistry of pottery". Education in Chemistry: 17–20. https://www.qvevriproject.org/Files/2012.07.00_RSC_Breuer_ChemistryOfPottery.pdf. Retrieved 8 December 2020.
* Churchman, G. J.; Gates, W. P.; Theng, B. K. G.; Yuan, G. (2006). Faïza Bergaya, Benny K. G. Theng and Gerhard Lagaly. ed. "Chapter 11.1 Clays and Clay Minerals for Pollution Control". Developments in Clay Science. Handbook of Clay Science (Elsevier) 1: 625–675. doi:10.1016/S1572-4352(05)01020-2. ISBN 9780080441832.
* Dadu, Ramona; Hu, Mimi I.; Cleeland, Charles; Busaidy, Naifa L.; Habra, Mouhammed; Waguespack, Steven G.; Sherman, Steven I.; Ying, Anita et al. (October 2015). "Efficacy of the Natural Clay, Calcium Aluminosilicate Anti-Diarrheal, in Reducing Medullary Thyroid Cancer–Related Diarrhea and Its Effects on Quality of Life: A Pilot Study". Thyroid 25 (10): 1085–1090. doi:10.1089/thy.2015.0166. PMID 26200040.
* Diamond, Jared M. (1999). "Diamond on Geophagy". ucla.edu. http://cogweb.ucla.edu/Abstracts/Diamond_99.html.
* Ebert, John David (31 August 2011). The New Media Invasion: Digital Technologies and the World They Unmake. McFarland. ISBN 9780786488186. https://books.google.com/books?id=HNHyiDm3__kC&q=Clay+tablets+were+the+first+known+writing+medium&pg=PA64.
* Ehlers, Ernest G. and Blatt, Harvey (1982). 'Petrology, Igneous, Sedimentary, and Metamorphic' San Francisco: W.H. Freeman and Company. ISBN 0-7167-1279-2.
* Eisenhour, D. D.; Brown, R. K. (1 April 2009). "Bentonite and Its Impact on Modern Life". Elements 5 (2): 83–88. doi:10.2113/gselements.5.2.83. Bibcode: 2009Eleme...5...83E.
* Foley, Nora K. (September 1999). "Environmental Characteristics of Clays and Clay Mineral Deposits". usgs.gov. http://pubs.usgs.gov/info/clays/.
* Forouzan, Firoozeh; Glover, Jeffrey B.; Williams, Frank; Deocampo, Daniel (1 December 2012). "Portable XRF analysis of zoomorphic figurines, "tokens," and sling bullets from Chogha Gavaneh, Iran". Journal of Archaeological Science 39 (12): 3534–3541. doi:10.1016/j.jas.2012.04.010. Bibcode: 2012JArSc..39.3534F.
* García-Sanchez, A.; Alvarez-Ayuso, E.; Rodriguez-Martin, F. (1 March 2002). "Sorption of As(V) by some oxyhydroxides and clay minerals. Application to its immobilization in two polluted mining soils". Clay Minerals 37 (1): 187–194. doi:10.1180/0009855023710027. Bibcode: 2002ClMin..37..187G.
* Grim, Ralph (2016). "Clay mineral". https://www.britannica.com/science/clay-mineral.
* Guggenheim, Stephen; Martin, R. T. (1995), "Definition of clay and clay mineral: Journal report of the AIPEA nomenclature and CMS nomenclature committees", Clays and Clay Minerals 43 (2): 255–256, doi:10.1346/CCMN.1995.0430213, Bibcode: 1995CCM....43..255G
* Hillier S. (2003) "Clay Mineralogy." pp 139–142 In Middleton G.V., Church M.J., Coniglio M., Hardie L.A. and Longstaffe F.J. (Editors) Encyclopedia of Sediments and Sedimentary Rocks. Kluwer Academic Publishers, Dordrecht.
* Hodges, S.C. (2010). "Soil fertility basics". Soil Science Extension, North Carolina State University. http://www2.mans.edu.eg/projects/heepf/ilppp/cources/12/pdf course/38/Nutrient Management for CCA.pdf.
* Klein, Cornelis; Hurlbut, Cornelius S. Jr. (1993). Manual of mineralogy : (after James D. Dana) (21st ed.). New York: Wiley. ISBN 047157452X.
* Koçkar, Mustafa K.; Akgün, Haluk; Aktürk, Özgür (November 2005). "Preliminary evaluation of a compacted bentonite / sand mixture as a landfill liner material (Abstract)"]. http://www2.widener.edu/~sxw0004/abstract34.html.
* Leeder, M. R. (2011). Sedimentology and sedimentary basins : from turbulence to tectonics (2nd ed.). Chichester, West Sussex, UK: Wiley-Blackwell. ISBN 978-1-40517783-2.
* Moreno-Maroto, José Manuel; Alonso-Azcárate, Jacinto (September 2018). "What is clay? A new definition of "clay" based on plasticity and its impact on the most widespread soil classification systems". Applied Clay Science 161: 57–63. doi:10.1016/j.clay.2018.04.011. Bibcode: 2018ApCS..161...57M.
* Murray, H. (2002). "Industrial clays case study". Mining, Minerals and Sustainable Development 64: 1–9. http://whitemudresources.com/public/Hayn Murray Clays Case Study.pdf. Retrieved 8 December 2020.
* "Landslides". Geoscape Ottawa-Gatineau. Natural Resources Canada. 7 March 2005. http://geoscape.nrcan.gc.ca/ottawa/landslides_e.php.
* Nesse, William D. (2000). Introduction to mineralogy. New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780195106916.
* Olive, W.W.; Chleborad, A.F.; Frahme, C.W.; Shlocker, Julius; Schneider, R.R.; Schuster, R.L. (1989). "Swelling Clays Map of the Conterminous United States". U.S. Geological Survey Miscellaneous Investigations Series Map I-1940: 5. doi:10.3133/i1940. Bibcode: 1989usgs.rept....5O. https://ngmdb.usgs.gov/Prodesc/proddesc_10014.htm. Retrieved 8 December 2020.
* Rankka, Karin; Andersson-Sköld, Yvonne; Hultén, Carina; Larsson, Rolf; Leroux, Virginie; Dahlin, Torleif (2004). "Quick clay in Sweden". Report No. 65. Swedish Geotechnical Institute. http://www.swedgeo.se/publikationer/Rapporter/pdf/SGI-R65.pdf.
* Scarre, C. (2005). The Human Past. London: Thames and Hudson. ISBN 0500290636.
* "What is clay". University of Waikato. http://sciencelearn.org.nz/Contexts/Ceramics/Science-Ideas-and-Concepts/What-is-clay.
* White, W.A. (1949). "Atterberg plastic limits of clay minerals". American Mineralogist 34 (7–8): 508–512. http://www.minsocam.org/ammin/AM34/AM34_508.pdf. Retrieved 7 December 2020.

## External links

| Wikisource has the text of the 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica article Clay.

|

* The Clay Minerals Group of the Mineralogical Society
* Information about clays used in the UK pottery industry
* The Clay Minerals Society
* Organic Matter in Clays
* usgs.gov (Mineral Commodity Summaries 2025): Clays

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* t
* e

Soil classification

USDA soil taxonomy|

* Alfisols
* Andisols
* Aridisols
* Entisols
* Gelisols
* Histosols
* Inceptisols
* Mollisols
* Oxisols
* Spodosols
* Ultisols
* Vertisols

World Reference Base
for Soil Resources (1998–)|

* Acrisols
* Alisols
* Andosols
* Anthrosols
* Arenosols
* Calcisols
* Cambisols
* Chernozem
* Cryosols
* Durisols
* Ferralsols
* Fluvisols
* Gleysols
* Gypsisols
* Histosol
* Kastanozems
* Leptosols
* Lixisols
* Luvisols
* Nitisols
* Phaeozems
* Planosols
* Plinthosols
* Podzols
* Regosols
* Retisols
* Solonchaks
* Solonetz
* Stagnosol
* Technosols
* Umbrisols
* Vertisols

Other systems|

* FAO soil classification (1974–98)
* Unified Soil Classification System
* AASHTO Soil Classification System
* Référentiel pédologique (French classification system)
* Canadian system of soil classification
* Australian Soil Classification
* Polish Soil Classification
* 1938 USDA soil taxonomy
* List of U.S. state soils
* List of vineyard soil types

Non-systematic soil types|

* Sand
* Silt
* Clay
* Loam
* Topsoil
* Subsoil
* Soil crust
* Claypan
* Hardpan
* Gypcrust
* Caliche
* Parent material
* Pedosphere
* Laimosphere
* Rhizosphere
* Bulk soil
* Alkali soil
* Bay mud
* Blue goo
* Brickearth
* Brown earth
* Calcareous grassland
* Dark earth
* Dry quicksand
* Eluvium
* Expansive clay
* Fill dirt
* Fuller's earth
* Hydrophobic soil
* Loess
* Lunar soil
* Martian soil
* Mud
* Muskeg
* Paleosol
* Peat
* Pedalfer
* Pedocal
* Podzol
* Prime farmland
* Serpentine soil
* Spodic soil
* Subaqueous soil
* Terra preta
* Terra rossa (soil)
* Tropical peat
* Yedoma

Types of soil

* v
* t
* e

Geotechnical engineering

Investigation|

| In situ|

* Cone penetration test
* Standard penetration test
* Groundwater monitoring
* Well
* Piezometer
* Borehole
* Crosshole sonic logging
* Nuclear densometer test
* Static load testing
* Trial pit
* Exploration geophysics

|

Laboratory|

* Atterberg limits
* California bearing ratio
* Direct shear test
* Hydrometer
* Proctor compaction test
* R-value
* Sieve analysis
* Triaxial shear test
* Hydraulic conductivity tests
* Water content tests

Soil|

| Materials|

* Clay
* Silt
* Sand
* Gravel
* Peat
* Permafrost
* Loam
* Loess

|

Properties|

* Soil classification
* Hydraulic conductivity
* Water content
* Void ratio
* Bulk density
* Thixotropy
* Reynolds' dilatancy
* Angle of repose
* Cohesion
* Porosity
* Permeability
* Specific storage

Mechanics|

* Effective stress
* Pore water pressure
* Shear strength
* Overburden pressure
* Consolidation
* Compaction
* Shear wave
* Lateral earth pressure

Foundations|

* Shallow
* Deep
* Bearing capacity
* Dynamic load testing
* Pile integrity test
* Wave equation analysis
* Statnamic load test

Retaining walls|

* Gabion
* Ground freezing
* Mechanically stabilized earth
* Pressure grouting
* Slurry wall
* Soil nailing
* Tieback

Stability|

* Slope
* analysis
* mass wasting
* landslide
* Deformation monitoring
* automated

Earthquakes|

* Soil liquefaction
* Response spectrum
* Seismic hazard
* Ground–structure interaction

Geosynthetics|

* Geotextile
* Geomembrane
* Geosynthetic clay liner
* Cellular confinement

Numerical analysis|

* SEEP2D
* STABL
* SVFlux
* SVSlope
* UTEXAS

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