11.

SOIL SUITABILITY CLASSIFICATION FOR AQUACULTURE

11.0 The problem of soil classification

There are several systems of soil classification which are based generally on particle size or on some
additional soil properties such as plasticity and compressibility. Soil classification based on particle-size
characteristics is widely used, especially for preliminary or general descriptions (see Section 6.4).
However, any system based on particle size alone is likely to be misleading because the physical
properties of the finest soil fractions depend on many factors other than particle size. This has led to the
development of the Unified Soil Classification (USC) which is considered today to be the most useful of the
engineering soil classification systems. The USC permits reliable classification on the basis of relatively
few and inexpensive laboratory tests.

11.1 The Unified Soil Classification

The Unified Soil Classification identifies soils

according to their texture and plasticity. The USC
soil groups are based on:
Percentages of selected ranges of particle sizes
(see below);
Shape of the particle-size frequency curve (see
Section 6.7);
Plasticity-compressibility characteristics (see
Sections 8.5 and 10.3).

For engineering use, four ranges of particle sizes

are recognized. They are:

Cobbles: particles with a diameter larger than 75

mm;
Gravel: particle sizes from 4.75 to 75 mm;
Sand: particle sizes from 0.075 to 4.75 mm;
Fines: particles smaller than 0.075 mm (silt and
clay).

The particle sizes used in the Unified Soil

Classification are somewhat different from the
other classification systems shown earlier in Table
2. The USC particle sizes correspond to US
Standard Sieves, 3 inches (76.2 mm), No. 4 (4.76
mm) and No. 200 (0.075 mm) respectively, as
follows:

Soils in the USC are classified in three basic soil types. They are:

Coarse-grained soils (CGS) which contain 50 percent or less of fines;

Fine-grained soils (FGS) which contain more than 50 percent fines;
Highly organic soils which are peat, muck, humus or swamp soil.

The coarse- and fine-grained soils are subdivided according to either the particle-size frequency (for CGS)
or the plasticity of the soil (for FGS). In the fine-grained soils, plasticity is determined from the liquid limit
and the Plasticity Index (see Section 8.6). These are plotted in a modified plasticity chart (see Table 19) for
each particular soil sample. Soils are then classified into groups according to the zone of the chart where
their representative point (LL, PI) is located (see Tables 20A and 20B).
Each soil group is given a descriptive name and a letter symbol which indicates its principal characteristics
(see Table 21). The letter symbol is made up of two capital letters. The first letter defines the major soil
component and the second letter defines either the plasticity-compressibility (Table 14), or the particle-size
frequency, as follows:

C for clay, M for silt, S for sand, G for gravel, or 0 for organic;
L for low or H for high plasticity-compressibility;
W for well-graded or P for poorly graded materials; in well-graded materials, no particle size is dominant, but in
poorly graded materials, some particle size is dominant;
Borderline cases are given a double symbol such as CL-ML or GW-GM.

Note:examples of soil descriptions using such letter symbols are given in Tables 12 and 13.

TABLE 19
Modified plasticity chart and Unified Soil Classification for fine-grained soils

Note:For Unified Soil Classification designations,see Table 21

11.2 Field classification of fine-grained soils

In the field, fine-grained soils can be separated into the USC groups using simple tests (see Table 22).
They are:

Plasticity: use the test to determine wet soil plasticity (see Section 8.1);
Dry consistency: use the test to determine dry soil consistency (see Section 8.3);
Shaking test: use the shaking test (see end of Section 6.4);
Plastic limit: use the thread method (see end of Section 8.4);
Odour: smell it ...
11.3 Field classification of coarse-grained soils

In the field, coarse-grained soils can be separated into the USC groups as described in Table 23,
remembering that:

Fines are all soil particles which cannot be seen individually by the naked eye;
For plasticity, use the test to determine wet-soil plasticity (see Section 8.1).

11.4 Correspondence between USDA textural classes and the USC system

If your soil samples have been analysed and classified using the USDA textural classes (see Table 4), you
may use this as a basis for defining the USC group to which your soil samples belong, as shown in Table
24.

TABLE 20A
The Unified Soil Classification (definition of major coarse-grained soil groups)

TABLE 20B
The Unified Soil Classification (definition of major fine-grained soil groups)
 TABLE 21
Typical names and group symbols of the Unified Soil Classification System
USC group
Typical names for soils
symbol
Coarse-grained soils
GW Well-graded gravel, gravel and sand mixtures, little or no fines
GP Poorly graded gravel, gravel and sand mixtures, little or no fines
GM Silty gravel; gravel; sand and silt mixtures
GC Clayey gravel; gravel; sand and silt mixtures
SW Well-graded sands, gravelly sands, little or no fines
SP Poorly graded sands, gravelly sands, little or no fines
SM Silty sands, sand and silt mixtures
SC Clayey sands, sand and clay mixtures
Fine-grained soils
Inorganic silts and very fine sands, rock flour, silty or clayey fine
ML
sands, or clayey silts with slight plasticity
Inorganic clays of low to medium plasticity, gravelly clays, sandy
 CL clays, silty clays, lean clays

OL Organic silts and organic silty clays of low plasticity.

Inorganic silts, micaceous or diatomaceous fine sandy or silty soils,
MH
elastic silts
CH Inorganic clays of high plasticity, fat clays
OH Organic clays of medium to high plasticity, organic silts
Highly organic soils
Pt Peat and other highly organic soils

TABLE 22
An example of the field classification of the USC fine-grained soils
USC soil Plasticity Dry Shaking test Plastic limit, Odour
group (wet soil) consistency reaction toughness of thread
Uncharacterized,
ML 0 0-1 Rapid to slow None
often nil
None to very
CL 2 2-4 Medium Slight earth smell
slow
Decomposed
OL 1 1-3 Slow Slight
organic matter
Uncharacterized,
MH 1 1-3 Slow to none Slight to medium
often nil
CH 3 3-5 None High Strong earth smell
None to very Decomposed
OH 2-3 2-4 Slight to medium
slow organic matter

TABLE 23
An example of the field classification of the USC coarse-grained soils

Soil Total sample, except cobbles over 12-cm Part of the sample: particles less than 3-mm
group diameter only
Clean material; not enough clay to
GW Relatively few fines
agglomerate the sand particles
One or several sizes of coarse particles Clean material; not enough clay to
GP
dominant agglomerate the sand particles
Dirty material; good range of sizes for
GM Plasticity nil or very small
coarse particles only; many fines
Dirty material; good range of sizes for
GC Plasticity moderate to high
coarse particles only; many fines
All sizes of coarse particles well Clean material; not enough clay to
SW
represented; relatively few fines agglomerate the sand particles; plasticity nil
One or several sizes of coarse particles Clean material; not enough clay to
SP
dominant agglomerate the sand particles; plasticity nil
Dirty material; good range of sizes for
SM coarse particles only; many fines Plasticity nil or very small
 Dirty material; good range of sizes for
SC Plasticity moderate to high
coarse particles only; many fines

TABLE 24
Soil properties for engineering use corresponding to USDA textural classes and the USC system1
USC
USDA textural class
group Soil properties2

SP Fines less than 10 percent

Fine sand
SP-SM Fines 5-10 percent
(0.25-0.1 mm)
SM Fines more than 10 percent
Very fine sand SM Low plasticity
(0.1-0.05 mm) ML Little or no plasticity
SP or
Fines less than 5 percent
Coarse sand GW
(1-0.5 mm) SP-SM Fines 5-12 percent
SM Fines more than 12 percent
Loamy sand SM Non- to slightly plastic
SM Slightly plastic
Sandy loam
SC Plastic
ML Slightly plastic
Loam, silty loam
CL Plastic
Silt ML Slightly plastic
CL Liquid limit less than 50; plastic
Clay loam, silty clay ML-CL Liquid limit less than 50; slightly plastic
loam CH Liquid limit more than 50; high shrink-swell clays
MH Liquid limit more than 50; mica, iron oxide, kaolinite clays
SC Plastic; fines less than 50 percent
Sandy clay loam
CL Plastic; fines more than 50 percent
LL > 50; high shrink-swell clays (for example, montmorillonite
CH
clays)
Clay, silty clay LL > 50; mica, iron oxide, low shrink-swell clays (for example,
MH
kaolinite clays)
CL Liquid limit less than 50; generally less than 45 percent clay

1
USDA textural classes as defined in Table 4.
2
Fines: silt + clay particles smaller than 0.075 mm; degree of plasticity as in Chapter 8.