How to identify Soil in the filed?

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Soil Identification in the field

1. Colour: Colour is not directly related to engineering properties of soils, but is related to soil mineralogy and texture.

2. Moisture: Appearance due to water is described as wet, dry, or moist.

3. Structure

4. Weathering

5. Carbonate: Effervesces with acid. Add a small amount of hydrochloric acid and check if soil effervesces. If it does, it contains carbonate.

6. Smell: Organic soils give off a strong odour that intensifies with heat.

7. Feel: Use feel to distinguish between sand, silts, and clays.

8. Consistency

9. Dilatancy: Place a small amount of the soil in your palm and shake horizontally. Then strike it with the other hand. If the surface is slurry and water appears, the soil probably has a large amount of silt.

10. Packing : Very loose, loose, medium dense, dense, very dense

11. Shape: Angular, Subangular, Subrounded, Rounded and Flaky

GROUNDWATER OBSERVATIONS

The elevation of natural groundwater is called the water table or groundwater level or phreatic surface.
Many construction failures have resulted from the nonidentification or nondisclosure of groundwater conditions at a site.
The water table invariably fluctuates depending on
environmental conditions (i.e. rainfall patterns, monsoon etc)
Human activities (i.e. pumping groundwater from wells and draw-down during construction
Geological Conditions

Groundwater trapped in a permeable soil layer overlaid by an impervious layer.

Artesian Condition
If a borehole penetrates the impervious layer, the trapped groundwater may break out and shoot up above the ground surface.

Sub-Artesian Condition
When water just reaches the ground surface or stays below the ground surface

It is particularly important to identify and disclose these conditions because failure can occur with possible loss of life and properties.
You should identify not only the groundwater level and any special conditions, but also the possible range of groundwater fluctuations.

Groundwater and soil may contain in certain localities constituents which cause corrosion and damage to the foundation and other buried material. In cases, it may be necessary to make a chemical analysis of soil water. Corrosive action may also result from dumped, industrial waste products.

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