Cohesive soil does not crumble, can be excavated with vertical side slopes, and is plastic when moist. Cohesive soil is hard to break up when dry, and exhibits significant cohesion when submerged. Cohesive soils include clayey silt, sandy clay, silty clay, clay and organic clay. Soil that does not exhibit visible signs of moisture content. A soil material that has a tendency to break along definite planes of fracture with little resistance, or a material that exhibits open cracks, such as tension cracks, in an exposed surface.
Granular soil has no cohesive strength.
Some moist granular soils exhibit apparent cohesion. Granular soil cannot be molded when moist and crumbles easily when dry. Two or more distinctly different soil or rock types arranged in layers. Micaceous seams or weakened planes in rock or shale are considered layered. A condition in which a soil looks and feels damp.