Characterization of residual soils

Depending on the degree of alteration, some soils do not keep features of the parent rock, while others are strongly influenced by relict structures inherited from the parent rock (Rocha Filho et al. 1985, CostaFilho et al. 1989). The relict structure of the parent rock can be left within the derived soil materials with evidence of bonding or dissolved bond features, aswell as cracks and fissures from the original fractured rock mass (Mayne and Brown, 2003).