A PRELIMINARY FRAMEWORK OF STANDARD SEQUENCE CLASSIFICATION OF ROCK & SOIL STRATA

In the current classification of rock and soil, there is a fragmentation problem to cause lots of fuzzy zones among various rock or soil types. The general classification of rock and soil should be based on the basic material compositions, ie, soild, liquid and gas. Generally, the combination scheme of special components, grain diameter, porosity and degree of saturation can be adopted. In this paper, special components include orgnic matter and special minerals including layered minerals represented by montmorillonite, soluble salts and carbonate minerals. The general classification index has to be applicable to various kinds of rock and soil. But some parameters only suitable for a special rock or soil can be used as the secondary classification index. Grain sizes and special components are adopted to classify particles of rock & soil, porosity to measure the absolute compactness among particles and degree of saturation to measure moisture content. A rock or soil stratum is defined as the one with the same geological age, the same genetic type and the same special components, grain sizes, compactness and degree of saturation. The standard sequence of rock & soil strata is defined as the complete sequence of rock and soil strata for a special geological age and a genetic type in a region. It is an important foundation of large database of rock and soil strata to establish the standard sequence of rock & soil strata for all the geological ages and genetic types in a region, nation or the whole world.