This lecture provides a brief overview of the course. We discuss the origin of rocks and soil, including the mechanisms of weathering and erosion. Clay mineralogy is briefly discussed, including the importance of the double layer in governing the engineering properties and apparent behavior of the clay.

Learning Objectives:

1) Describe the different classifications of rocks and how they are formed.

2) Describe the various types of weathering and transportation of soils.

3) Describe the differences between residual soils and transported soils.

4) Describe the differences between coarse-grained soils and fine-grained soils, as well as the differences between cohesive soils and cohesionless soils.

5) Describe the two basic building blocks of clay minerals.

6) Describe the differences between dispersive clay soil and flocculated clay soil.

7) Explain the double layer, why it governs the behavior of clay soil, and why it is important for engineers to understand it. Why would an engineer potentially want to alter the double layer of a particular clay?