Expansive clayey soils are highly moisture sensitive with respect to stress, deformation and strength. These soils exhibit extreme variation in deformation such as heaving, loss of shear strength under certain Moisture Content and settlement and shrinkage as the Moisture Content alters. Swelling is the process of increase in volume of soil that occurs during its interaction with water. Expansiv...

Clay-size minerals play important roles in terrestrial biogeochemistry and atmospheric physics, but their data have been only partially compiled at global scale. We present a global dataset of clay-size minerals in the topsoil and subsoil at different spatial resolutions. The data of soil clay and its mineralogical composition were gathered through a literature survey and aggregated by soil ord...

Major and trace element concentrations were measured in bedrock, regolith and stream sediments from a first-order catchment developed entirely on grey shale in central Pennsylvania, USA. These elements can be classified into five major groups based on statistical data analysis. The presence of different elemental groups is due to the mineralogical origin, cycling processes, and geochemical prop...

Eleven onshore mud volcanoes in the southern region of Trinidad have been studied as analog habitats for possible microbial life on Mars. The profiles of the 11 mud volcanoes are presented in terms of their physical, chemical, mineralogical, and soil properties. The mud volcanoes sampled all emitted methane gas consistently at 3% volume. The average pH for the mud volcanic soil was 7.98. The av...

Introduction: Micro-Raman spectroscopy is one of the primary methods of mineralogical analysis in the laboratory, and more recently in the field. Because of its versatility and ability to interrogate rocks in their natural form (Figure 1), it is one of the frontrunners for the next generation of in situ instruments designed to explore adiverse set of solar system bodies (e.g. Mars, Venus, the M...

soil organic matter is an indicator of soil, agriculture and environmental quality, playing important roles in soil strength and sound environmental functions. size and chemical fractionation of soil organic matter are long-standing approaches in clarifying their key role in soil processes. twenty seven surface samples (0-20 cm) and 6 pedons from different landform units were sampled and descri...

Most models used in land surface hydrology, vadose zone hydrology, and hydro-climatology require an accurate representation of soil thermal properties (soil thermal conductivity and volumetric heat capacity). Various empirical relations have been suggested to estimate soil thermal properties. However, they require many input parameters such as soil texture, mineralogical composition, porosity a...