Soil consistence includes which aspects?

• A. Color, grain size, texture, and bulk density.
• B. Resistance of soil material to rupture, resistance of penetration, plasticity, toughness, and stickiness of puddled soil material, and the manner in which the soil material behaves when subject to compression.
• C. Only the resistance to rupture.
• D. The mineralogical composition of the soil.

Answer: (B)

Soil consistence is about how a soil behaves as a cohesive material under stress and moisture changes—the way it resists deformation and breakage in real-world conditions. It includes several aspects: how hard it is for the soil to rupture or crack, how resistant it is to being penetrated, its plasticity (how it can be molded without cracking), the toughness and stickiness of wet or puddled soil, and how the soil behaves when a load is applied and compressed. Taken together, this set of properties captures the mechanical behavior of soil, which is what consistence aims to describe.

Color, grain size, texture, and bulk density relate to other soil characteristics like appearance and physical makeup, not how the soil resists deformation under stress. Limiting to just rupture resistance misses important aspects like plasticity and stickiness, and mineralogical composition speaks to what the soil is made of, not how it behaves under pressure.