RELATIVE DESIRABILITY OF SOILS AS COMPACTED FILL






Group
Symbol

 

*  if gravelly
**  erosion critical
***  volume change critical
-  not appropriate for this type of use 

Soil Type

Relative Desirability for Various Uses
(1=best; 14=least desirability)

Rolled Earth Fill Dams

Canal Sections

Foundations

Roadways
GW Well-graded gravels, gravel/ sand mixes, little or no fines

-

-

1

1

-

-

1

1

1

3
GP
sand		 Poorly-graded gravels, gravel/ mixtures, little or no fines

-

-

2

2

-

-

3

3

3

-
GM Silty gravels, poorly-graded gravel/sand/silt mixtures

2

4

-

4

4

1

4

4

9

5
GC Clay-like gravels, poorly graded gravel/sand/clay mixtures

1

1

-

3

1

2

6

5

5

1
SW Well-graded sands, gravelly
sands, little or no fines

-

-

3*

6

-

-

2

2

2

4
SP Poorly-graded sands, gravelly sands, little or no fines

-

-

4*

7*

-

-

5

6

4

-
SM Silty sands, poorly-graded sand/ silt mixtures

4

5

-

8*

5**

3

7

6

10

6
SC Clay-like sands, poorly-graded sand/clay mixtures

3

2

-

5

2

4

8

7

6

2
ML Inorganic silts and very fine sands, rock flour, silty or clay-like fine sands with slight plasticity

6

6

-

-

6**

6

9

10

11

-
CL Inorganic clays of low to medium
plasticity, gravelly clays, sandy
clays, silty clays, lean clays

5

3

-

9

3

5

10

9

7

7
OL Organic silts and organic silt-clays of low plasticity

8

8

-

-

7**

7

11

11

12

-
MN Organic silts, micaceous or diatomaceous fine sandy or silty soils, elastic silts

9

9

-

-

-

8

12

12

13

-
CH Inorganic clays of high plasticity, fat clays

7

7

-

10

8**

9

13

13

8

-
OH Organic clays of medium high plasticity

10

10

-

-

-

10

14

14

14

-