Compositional Suitability Assessment and New Classification of Lateritic Soils for Road Construction: Case of Materials from the Thies Region in Senegal
Lateritic soils are found over large areas in tropical countries where their suitability for road engineering is a real concern, both compositionally and mechanically. Mineralogical and geochemical characterization, and profile description were carried out on Pliocene gravel lateritic soils from the Thies region to assess their suitability for road construction. These soils were sampled in Lam-Lam, Mont Rolland, Pout, Ngoundiane and Sindia borrow pits in that region. Minerals that make up these studied materials are quartz, kaolinite, hematite and goethite, identified by X-Ray Diffraction and confirmed with Infrared spectroscopy. This mineralogy is characteristic of lateritic soils which are concretionary structure and are formed in well-drained tropical regions like that of Thies. According to the chemical results, these gravel lateritic soils are poor in organic matter, OM < 3wt%. They also belong to the true laterites class, SiO2/(Al2O3 + Fe2O3) < 1.33. As part of this project, Gbaguidi and Diop have defined an oxide ratio and proposed the new Diop ternary diagram for classifying lateritic soils. Therefore, Thies materials are ferruginous lateritic soils, Al2O3/Fe2O3 < 1, containing non-swelling clay (kaolinite) and rich in gravelly nodules, S/CEC < 50wt%. As a result, these soils are compositionally suitable for road construction. These appreciated mineralogical, geochemical and pedological properties can now help overcome compositional challenges well before determining the bearing capacity of lateritic materials. This mechanical strength, which largely depends on their composition, is decisive in defining the optimal conditions for using lateritic materials in road geotechnics.
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