What is "Soil"

I would call any crushes stone road fill an "aggregate", "road base", "engineered fill".

Soil to me is sand, silt, clay and gravel. Now if a gravel/sand is taken from site and used as "engineered fill" I would call it "fill" or "site won fill".

many of these terms are interchangeable.

It would be nice if we had a standard terminology. I have always considered "engineered fill" to be just that, a fill designed to serve a specific purpose on the project. It can be aggregate base for placing beneath pavement, it can be compacted clay for the core of an earth fill dam, it can be a clean "drain rock" for bedding of buried utility lines. However, I have seen many project specifications that define engineered fill as what I consider aggregate base. Then, when I mention the "engineered fill" being placed to grade a pad, everybody thinks I've lost my mind. They think I'm requesting a massive import of aggregate, when the onsite soils are great and should be utilized.

ASTM D698 is titled "Standard Test Methods for Laboratory Compaction Characteristics of Soil Using Standard Effort", but includes a method for material that has up to 30% particles over 19 mm(3/4 inch). By this, I would think it can all be called soil, but it must be clearly defined.

Interesting question - for me soil is not bedrock - it can be crushed stone - it meets requirements of gradation, density, mechanical properties - you would run triaxial tests crushed granular base course - sadly, it could also be palludal deposits although highly organic. This is why specifications and drawings need to use engineering terms - I had to see the word "common fill" - what? Give the requirements even if widely provided. I also hate to see drawings say "earth fill" . . . again - be specific so that it is very clear in what is meant and what is to be provided and accepted.

The following para . is copy and paste from the book Craig's SOIL MECHANICS

SOIL =To the civil engineer, soil is any uncemented or weakly cemented accumulation of mineral particles
formed by the weathering of rocks as part of the rock cycle (Figure 1.1), the void space between the particles
containing water and/or air.

The particles could be Clay , silt , sand , Cobbles ,Boulders

SOIL PIPE = ( Just for info. Copy and paste from web search ) ..soil pipes are designed to carry soiled water (blackwater) from toilets, urinals, or bidets, and waste pipes are designed to carry wastewater (greywater)..







Not to know is bad;
not to wish to know is worse.

NIGERIAN PROVERB

I don't think I would classify cobbles and boulders as "particles".

Particles just means a distinct piece of the soil matrix. Cobbles and boulders really are particles in the soil discussion. They are really big particles, but particles just the same.

I have learned that you want to specify on the drawings or specifications the source of the material as either natural sand and gravel deposit or crushed quarried rock, etc. Otherwise you end up specifying 8 inch minus rock and the contractors shows up saying the river run pebbles were cheapest.