Particle Density of Volcanic Scoria Determined by Water Pycnometry
Tamari, S
Instituto Mexicano de Tecnología del Agua (IMTA), Jiutepec, México

Samaniego-Martínez, D
Consultores y Proyectos del Sur SA de CV (CPSUR), Jiutepec, México

Bonola, I
Instituto Mexicano de Tecnología del Agua (IMTA), Jiutepec, México

Bandala, ER
Instituto Mexicano de Tecnología del Agua (IMTA), Jiutepec, México

Ordaz-Chaparro, V
Instituto de Recursos Naturales (IRN), Colegio de Postgraduados, Montecillo, México

(Received 29 June 2004; accepted 19 November 2004)

Abstract
&emph type="2";Particle density&/emph; is widely used in Soil Science. Several classical textbooks define this concept as the density of the soil solid-matter, whereas most standard test methods define it as the density of a soil sample crushed and passed through a sieve with a 2-mm mesh (for agronomical purposes) or 4.75 mm (for civil engineering purposes). We hypothesize that both definitions are not equivalent for volcanic scoria, because these contain small vesicles apparently isolated from the atmosphere. To test this hypothesis, an experiment was performed with basaltic scoria (known as &emph type="2";tezontle&/emph; in Mexico) with sizes ranging from 2 to 4.75 mm. These scoriae were divided into five samples that were crushed and passed through different sieves. The samples were then carefully saturated with water and their density determined by water pycnometry. Particle density was found to be 2.55 g cm^-3 for the undisturbed scoria (i.e., passing a 4.75-mm sieve), 2.61 g cm^-3 for slightly crushed scoria (i.e., passing a 2-mm sieve), and higher than 2.79 g cm^-3 for finely crushed scoria (i.e., passing a 74-mm sieve). This study shows that the concept of particle-density must be carefully considered for soils with a high content of volcanic scoria.

Keywords:
porous gravel, specific gravity, tezontle, true particle density, vesicular basalt, volcanic scoria, water, water pycnometry

Paper ID: GTJ12675
DOI: 10.1520/GTJ12675

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Author Tamari, S Affiliation Instituto Mexicano de Tecnología del Agua (IMTA), Jiutepec, México Author Samaniego-Martínez, D Affiliation Consultores y Proyectos del Sur SA de CV (CPSUR), Jiutepec, México Author Bonola, I Affiliation Instituto Mexicano de Tecnología del Agua (IMTA), Jiutepec, México Author Bandala, ER Affiliation Instituto Mexicano de Tecnología del Agua (IMTA), Jiutepec, México Author Ordaz-Chaparro, V Affiliation Instituto de Recursos Naturales (IRN), Colegio de Postgraduados, Montecillo, México Author Tamari S, Samaniego-Martínez D, Bonola I, Bandala ER, Ordaz-Chaparro V Title Particle Density of Volcanic Scoria Determined by Water Pycnometry Symposium , Committee on