material / earth / clay
material / earth / lime
material / earth / phosphor
material / earth / pise
material / earth / property
material / earth / sand
material / earth / sod
material / earth / soil
material / earth / tabia
material / earth / clay
- bole: A fine soft clay, yellow or dark, colored by iron oxide; formerly used as a pigment.
- clunch: A stiff, rigid clay or a chalk, used in early British construction.
- cob: Unburnt clay mixed with straw.
- fire clay: A clay that will withstand intense heat, used in brick for fire chambers.
- hardpan: Firmly compacted clay and sand or gravel.
- plasticine: A modeling clay that retains its plasticity without the addition of moisture.
- unburnt: Not baked, or fired, in a kiln; said of articles of clay such as in most cases are so completed by exposure to heat. Unburnt bricks are very common in Egyptian and Syrian building.
material / earth / lime
- calcium hydroxide: A soft, crystalline powder obtained by the action of water on lime and used in making mortar, plaster, and cement.
- calcium oxide: A material made from limestone or seashells by crushing or heating into a powdery form; used in making mortar, plaster, and whitewash.
- calx: A material made from limestone or seashells by crushing or heating into a powdery form; used in making mortar, plaster, and whitewash.
- caustic lime: A material made from limestone or seashells by crushing or heating into a powdery form; used in making mortar, plaster, and whitewash.
- dealbatus: Covered with a coating of white cement or stucco (albarium opus), which the ancients employed extensively both in the interior and exterior of their buildings as an ornamental facing to conceal the rough stones or brickwork.
- hydrated lime: Carbon hydroxide or slaked lime that has been reduced to dry powder. Adding water and sand will make it into plaster or mortar.
- hydraulic lime: A lime having the property of hardening under water.
- lime: A material made from limestone or seashells by crushing or heating into a powdery form; used in making mortar, plaster, and whitewash.
- quicklime: Calcium oxide; freshly burned lime ready to be slaked; it combines with water to form slaked lime or lime putty.
- shell-lime: Lime made from shells of cockles, oysters, etc. The spandrels of the domes over the aisles in St Paul’s Cathedral, London, were made of brick covered with stucco of cockle -shell lime, which sets as hard as Portland stone.
- slake: As applied to lime, to add water, starting a chemical action resulting in lime putty.
- slaked lime: Calcium hydroxide, a soft white power used in making mortar, cement and paint, among other mixtures.
- stalactite: One of the pendent cones of lime carbonate found attached to the roofs of caves.
- stalagmite: One of the deposits of lime carbonate on the floor of caves, and which may or may not be in the form of upright pillars corresponding to pendent stalactites.
- stone lime: Lime made by calcining limestone or marble in a proper kiln. The quality of the lime varies with the amount of sand, clay, or silicates mixed with the pure calcareous element of the stone.
material / earth / phosphor
- phosphor: Any of a number of substances that emit light when excited by radiation.
material / earth / pise
- cajon: A kind of pise used in Spain and also in France and some parts of England. In France, the wall is formed by ramming the earth into a box; the latter is about 3 meters long, 1 meter high, and 50 to 60 centimeters wide.
- pise: Earth or clay rammed into a form until it becomes firm; used for walls and floors.
material / earth / property
- critical void ratio: The void ratio corresponding to the critical density of a soil mass.
- shrinkage limit: The water content, expressed as a percentage of dry weight, at which a reduction in water content will not cause a further decrease in the volume of a soil mass.
- void ratio: The ratio of the volume of void spaces to the volume of solid particles in a soil mass.
material / earth / sand
- pozzolan: Variety of volcanic sand with burnt granules resembling powdered brick: it is a siliceous or siliceous and aluminous material which, when mixed with hydraulic limes and water, becomes a cement-like compound capable of setting under water…
- pozzolana: Variety of volcanic sand with burnt granules resembling powdered brick: it is a siliceous or siliceous and aluminous material which, when mixed with hydraulic limes and water, becomes a cement-like compound capable of setting under water…
- quicksand: An unstable volume of sand and water, usually in or near the sea, a lake, or a river.
- sand: Small particles of stone formed sometimes by the trituration of stones or rocks when carried by water, sometimes by the decomposition of the cementing substance of crystalline rocks. Sand for building purposes is generally found in the beds of streams or in beds, or pits, in the earth, as well as on the seashore…
- sand clay: A well-graded, naturally occurring sand often used as a base or subbase material, having about 10% clay or just enough to make the mixture bind tightly when compacted.
material / earth / sod
- cogon: A Philippine coarse grass, infrequently used for thatching.
- sod: A piece or layer of ground covered with grass and its roots.
- terron: Sun-baked river bottom sod… generally stronger than adobe because it is reinforced with roots and organic fibers.
- terrones: Blocks made of sunbaked river bottom sod; used as a building material in older homes in some parts of the Southwest. Terron is generally stronger than adobe because it is reinforced with roots and organic fibers.
- turf: Sod.
material / earth / soil
- Atterberg limits: The levels of water content defining the boundaries between the different states of consistency of a plastic or cohesive soil, as determined by standard tests.
- bedrock: The unbroken, solid rock that underlies all unconsolidated material on the earth’s surface, as soil, clay, sand, or rock fragments.
- bentonite: A clay formed by the decomposition of volcanic ash, having the ability to absorb large amounts of water and to expand to several times its natural volume.
- boring: An undisturbed, cylindrical sample of earth or rock obtained by means of a core drill and used for analysis and testing of bearing capacity.
- boulder: A large, loose, or isolated stone, especially one rounded by the action of water or ice. In England, the name is often applied to pebbles or loose flints such as are used in some parts of the British Islands in laying up or facing walls.
- clay: A natural, earthy material that is plastic when moist but hard when fired and is used for making brick, tile, and pottery, composed mainly of fine particles of hydrous aluminum silicates less than 0.002 mm in diameter.
- clay loam: Soil containing 27% to 40% clay and 20% to 45% sand.
- cobble: A naturally rounded, uncut stone usually eight to twelve inches in diameter.
- cohesionless soil: Soil that has little or no strength when unconfined and air-dried, and little or no cohesion when submerged.
- cohesive soil: Soil that has considerable strength when unconfined and air-dried, and significant cohesion when submerged.
- compaction: The consolidation of sediment by the weight of overlying deposits, or a similar compression or soil, aggregate, or cementitious material by rolling, tamping, or soaking.
- critical density: The unit weight of a saturated granular material above which it will gain strength and below which it will lose strength when subjected to rapid deformation.
- crushed gravel: Gravel having one or more fractured faces produced by mechanical crushing.
- crushed rock: Stone having well-defined edges produced by the mechanical crushing of rocks or boulders.
- crushed stone: Stone having well-defined edges produced by the mechanical crushing of rocks or boulders. Also called crushed rock.
- geotechnical: Of or pertaining to the practical applications of geological science in civil engineering.
- gravel: Weather-worn stones or pebbles, usually found mixed with sand.
- impervious soil: Any fine-grained soil, as clay, having pores too small to permit water to pass except by slow capillary action.
- liquid limit: The water content, expressed as a percentage of dry weight, at which a soil passes from a plastic to a liquid state.
- loam: A rich soil containing a relatively equal mixture of sand and silt and a smaller proportion of clay and organic matter.
- loess: An unstratified, cohesive, loamy deposit deposited by wind.
- optimum moisture content: The water content of a soil at which maximum density can be attained through compaction.
- organic soil: Soil containing a large amount of organic matter, usually very compressible and having poor load-sustaining properties.
- pea gravel: A small-diameter, natural gravel, usually 1/4 to 3/8 inch (6.4 to 9.5 mm) in size, screened to specification.
- pebble: A small, rounded stone, especially one worn smooth by the action of water.
- penetration resistance: The unit load required to produce a specified penetration into a soil at a specified rate of penetration.
- penetration test: A test for measuring the density of granular soils and the consistency of some clays at the bottom of a borehole, recording the number of blows required by a hammer to advance a standard soil sampler.
- pergelisol: Perennially frozen subsoil in arctic or subarctic regions. Also called pergelisol.
- permafrost: Perennially frozen subsoil in arctic or subarctic regions. Also called pergelisol.
- permeability: The property of a porous material that allows a gas or liquid to pass through its pore spaces.
- pervious soil: Any permeable soil that allows the relatively free movement of water.
- plastic soil: A soil that can be rolled into 1/8 inch (3.2 mm) diameter threads without crumbling.
- silt: Loose sedimentary material consisting of fine mineral particles between 0.002 mm and 0.05 mm in diameter.
- soft-burned: Fired at a low temperature and having relatively high absorption and low compressive strength.
- soil: The top layer of the earth’s surface, consisting of disintegrated rock and decayed organic matter suitable for the growth of plant life.
- soil analysis: A process for determining the particle-size distribution in an aggregate, soil, or sediment.
- soil binder: A plant that prevents or inhibits erosion by providing a ground cover and forming a dense network of roots that hold the soil.
- soil class: A numerical classification of soil by texture, used by the U.S. Department of Agriculture: 1) gravel, 2) sand, 3) clay, 4) loam, 5) loam with some sand, 6) silt-loam, and 7) clay-loam.
- soil mechanics: The branch of civil engineering that deals with the mechanical behavior of soil when compressed or sheared, or when water flows through it.
- soil stabilizer: A chemical admixture for maintaining or increasing the stability of a soil mass.
- stratum: A single bed or layer of sedimentary earth or rock having the same composition throughout, lying between beds of another kind.
- subsoil: Earth below the layer of fertile topsoil.
- topsoil: The fertile top layer of the earth’s surface.
- whitchet: Variety of chalk marl subsoil found near the Chilterns in Buckinghamshire (especially at Haddenham) which, if mixed with chopped straw, was used for walking.
- wichert: Variety of chalk marl subsoil found near the Chilterns in Buckinghamshire (especially at Haddenham) which, if mixed with chopped straw, was used for walking.
- witchert: Variety of chalk marl subsoil found near the Chilterns in Buckinghamshire (especially at Haddenham) which, if mixed with chopped straw, was used for walking.
material / earth / tabia
- tabia: A rammed earth mixed with lime and pebbles.
- tapia: An adobe-like building material, consisting mainly of earth or clay.
- tobi: Also see tapia.
Also see Architecture index.