Expansive clay

Expansive clay, also called expansive soil, is a clay soil prone to large volume changes (swelling and shrinking) directly related to changes in water content.^[1] Soils with a high content of expansive minerals can form deep cracks in drier seasons or years; such soils are called vertisols. Soils with smectite clay minerals, including montmorillonite, kaolinite, and illite group minerals, such as montmorillonite-containing bentonite, have the most dramatic shrink-swell capacity.

The mineral make-up of this type of soil is responsible for the moisture retaining capabilities. All clays consist of mineral sheets packaged into layers, and can be classified as either 1:1 or 2:1. These ratios refer to the proportion of tetrahedral sheets to octahedral sheets. Octahedral sheets are sandwiched between two tetrahedral sheets in 2:1 clays, while 1:1 clays have sheets in matched pairs. Expansive clays have an expanding crystal lattice in a 2:1 ratio; however, there are 2:1 non-expansive clays.^[2]