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Fragipan Horizons in New York Soils: III. The Basis of Rigidity
Author(s) -
Knox Ellis G.
Publication year - 1957
Publication title -
soil science society of america journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.836
H-Index - 168
eISSN - 1435-0661
pISSN - 0361-5995
DOI - 10.2136/sssaj1957.03615995002100030020x
Subject(s) - illite , silt , soil water , mineralogy , mechanical strength , geology , clay minerals , geotechnical engineering , soil science , materials science , composite material , geomorphology
Four fragipan horizons from Orange County, New York soils were studied to determine what materials or mechanisms are responsible for the strength of fragipans. Very fine‐grained material apparently holding the sand and silt particles together was identified as illite by optical and X‐ray diffraction methods. Experiments based on selective removal and destruction of possible bonding materials indicate that illite is responsible for a major part of the strength of the more typical fragipans studied, and that both illite and colloidal silica are involved in the strength of an extreme pan. Comparison of the strength of artificial briquets and natural clods further indicated that an important part of the strength of the pans studied is due to illite. It was shown that fragipans typically have high bulk density. The effectiveness of illite as a binding material in fragipans may be due to high bulk density, lack of effective structure, and special distribution of the clay.