Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Editor's note
- Acknowledgements
- Notes on translations and definitions
- Abstract
- Preface
- Introduction
- I Thermal-physical, physico-chemical and mechanical processes in freezing, frozen and thawing ground and their manifestation in the permafrost regions
- II Composition, cryogenic structure and properties of frozen rocks
- 6 Formation of sedimentary materials in the permafrost regions (cryolithogenesis)
- 7 Composition and structure of frozen earth materials
- 8 Properties of frozen soils
- 9 Characteristics of the basic genetic types of frozen ground
- III Principles of the formation and development of the frozen strata and layers of seasonal freezing and thawing
- IV Regional features and evolution of permafrost
- V Rational use of frozen ground and environmental protection in the course of economic development of the permafrost regions
- References
- Index
8 - Properties of frozen soils
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 03 November 2009
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Editor's note
- Acknowledgements
- Notes on translations and definitions
- Abstract
- Preface
- Introduction
- I Thermal-physical, physico-chemical and mechanical processes in freezing, frozen and thawing ground and their manifestation in the permafrost regions
- II Composition, cryogenic structure and properties of frozen rocks
- 6 Formation of sedimentary materials in the permafrost regions (cryolithogenesis)
- 7 Composition and structure of frozen earth materials
- 8 Properties of frozen soils
- 9 Characteristics of the basic genetic types of frozen ground
- III Principles of the formation and development of the frozen strata and layers of seasonal freezing and thawing
- IV Regional features and evolution of permafrost
- V Rational use of frozen ground and environmental protection in the course of economic development of the permafrost regions
- References
- Index
Summary
Physical properties of the frozen materials
Moisture content, ice content, density and porosity are the main physical indices that characterize the engineering-geological aspects of frozen and thawed soils.
Moisture content of frozen soil is the water content, based on drying at a temperature of 100–105 °C to obtain the constant mass of solid material. There are different indices – total moisture content, integral (natural) moisture content and volumetric moisture content. Total moisture content Wtot of the frozen soil is the ratio of water mass in solid and liquid state contained in the frozen soil to the mass of its skeleton, and in salinized materials, to the mass of the material's skeleton and of the salts present (as a percentage or fraction of a unit). The integral moisture content Wnat is the ratio of all phases of water mass to the mass of the frozen ground: the volumetric moisture content Wvol is the ratio of water volume in solid and liquid phases to the volume of the frozen soil.
The total moisture content of frozen soils, unlike those unfrozen, can much exceed the value of total moisture capacity. The value varies within a wide range in frozen soils – from maximum molecular moisture capacity to values 3–4 times exceeding the upper limit of plasticity. In general total moisture content increases with finer grain size. The total moisture content with schlieren cryogenic textures is always higher than that of the soil with massive cryotexture.
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- Information
- General Geocryology , pp. 276 - 303Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 1998