Direct Shear Test A Direct Shear Test is a geotechnical engineering laboratory procedure that measures the shear strength value of a soil sample.

Oblique-Slip Fault Oblique-Slip Fault: In geology, an oblique-slip fault is a fault that moves parallel to the strike or dip of the fault plane.

Diagenesis Diagenesis: In geology, diagenesis refers to the physical and chemical changes of a sedimentary formation when compaction and lithification occur over time.

Liquefaction Liquefaction: Liquefaction is the process by which there is: (1) a sudden and significant decrease of shear resistance in a soil sample (cohesion-less); (2) a sudden (but temporary) increase of the pore-water pressure of a substance; and (3) a solid mass of soil that is transformed into a fluid state mass. In the event…

Cation Cation: In the fields of chemistry and geochemistry, a cation is a positively charged ion. The oppositely charged ion is an anion.

Effective Size (D10) “Effective Size” (D10) is an engineering geology term. Effective Size represents a diameter that directly corresponds to the percentage, by weight, of grains that equal to 10% on the grain-size diagram. To illustrate, 10% of the soil sample particles are finer-grained, and 90% of the sample particles are coarser than the “effective…