### substance | earth | dirt:

Clay
* All clays are fine-grained materials and most have a phylosillicate or sheet structure.
* Most clay has particles
  - shapes
  - surface areas
  - varied colors in from impurities - white, red, yellow, tan and blue
  - reflects sunlight
* Most clays are crystalline, but some are amorphous
  - plastic when naturally wet or mixed with water
  - sticky and mouldable
* Some clay absorbs energy
  - consists of particles
* Some clay has low permeability
  - increases water capacity
* Some clay is made of feldspars
  - reddish in color, some gray or blue-tinted, and some is even white
  - wood fired, and some is gas fired
  - provides essential nutrients
* Some clay provides many essential nutrients
  - plant nutrients
* Some clays hold water and nutrients between fine layers
  - stay fresh longer than others
* are also the reason that there are little trapped lakes left after winter rains
  - electrochemically active and excellent geomaterial for hydraulic barrier
  - made up of very small particles
  - mostly illite, together with chlorite at depth
  - perhaps the oldest materials from which humans have manufactured various artifacts
  - silica minerals with a two dimensional sheet structure
* are the most common hydrophobic colloids in natural waters
  - smallest soil particles
  - ultra fine-grained deposits generally composed of complex silicates
  - used to make cement, bricks, and tile
* attract and bind only the left-handed form which happens to be the type found in living cells.
* bind simple molecules and have ions that can be catalysts.
* can reveal key details of weathering and diagenesis.
* contain mostly silica and alumina
  - silica, iron, magnesium, calcium, sodium, and zinc
* cover rather than sand reduced infiltration and leachate generation.
* form an easy to recognize layer dissected by erosion in some segments of Clark Creek.
* give off minerals and absorb acids.
* hardens in the sun, while wax grows soft.
* has areas
  - characteristics
  - matter
  - patches
* have a high wilting point
  - high water and nutrient holding capacity, but drain very slowly
  - the potential to bind vitamins and nutrients
  - very high surface area, small pore spaces, water adheres to soils
* is art supplies
  - ground
* mixes with water.
* particles in a clay coating parallel to the wall of a void.
* preserves wood.
* require fairly long term exposure to water to form.
* shrinks and cracks when it is dry, but becomes heavy and waterlogged when saturated.
* soils with low levels of organic matter can be difficult to work.
* tend to be cohesive soils.
* tends to hold a lot of moisture
  - moisture too long and can kill the tree
* typically are phyllosilicate minerals with a sheet-like structure.

### substance | earth | dirt | clay:

Bentonite
* are clays composed of very fine particles derived usually from volcanic ash
  - difficult to add to water
  - used for decolorizing various mineral, vegetable, and animal oils
* is clay.
* tie up iodine and selenium which cause iodine-deficient animals.

Fire clay
* contains a large proportion of kaolin.
* is rich silica, but contains only small amounts of lime, iron, and alkali.

Fireclay
* are yellow or gray in color but fire to an off-white to burnt tan color.
* usually produce the lighter colours such as buff and grey.

Heavy clay
* drains slowly, meaning it stays saturated longer after rain or irrigation
  - which means that stays saturated longer after rain or irrigation
* is difficult to work with, compacts easily when it is wet and holds a lot of water
  - preferable to lightweight plastic