Silt is granular material of a size between sand and clay, whose mineral origin is quartz and feldspar. Silt may occur as a soil or as sediment mixed in suspension with water and soil in a body of water such as a river. It may also exist as soil deposited at the bottom of a water body, like mudflows from landslides. Silt has a moderate specific area with a typically non-sticky, plastic feel. Silt usually has a floury feel when dry, and a slippery feel when wet. Silt can be visually observed with a hand lens, exhibiting a sparkly appearance. It also can be felt by the tongue as granular when placed on the front teeth.
In the Udden–Wentworth scale, silt particles range between 0.0039 and 0.0625 mm, larger than clay but smaller than sand particles. ISO 14688 grades silts between 0.002 mm and 0.063 mm. In actuality, silt is chemically distinct from clay, and unlike clay, grains of silt are approximately the same size in all dimensions; furthermore, their size ranges overlap. Clays are formed from thin plate-shaped particles held together by electrostatic forces, so present a cohesion. Pure silts are not cohesive. According to the U.S. Department of AgricultureSoil Texture Classification system, the sand–silt distinction is made at the 0.05 mm particle size. The USDA system has been adopted by the Food and Agriculture Organization. In the Unified Soil Classification System and the AASHTO Soil Classification system, the sand–silt distinction is made at the 0.075 mm particle size. Silts and clays are distinguished mechanically by their plasticity.
Environmental impacts
Silt is easily transported in water or other liquid and is fine enough to be carried long distances by air in the form of dust. Thick deposits of silty material resulting from deposition by aeolian processes are often called loess. Silt and clay contribute to turbidity in water. Silt is transported by streams or by water currents in the ocean. When silt appears as a pollutant in water the phenomenon is known as siltation. Silt, deposited by annual floods along the Nile River, created the rich, fertile soil that sustained the Ancient Egyptian civilization. Silt deposited by the Mississippi River throughout the 20th century has decreased due to a system of levees, contributing to the disappearance of protective wetlands and barrier islands in the delta region surrounding New Orleans. In southeast Bangladesh, in the Noakhali district, cross dams were built in the 1960s whereby silt gradually started forming new land called "chars". The district of Noakhali has gained more than of land in the past 50 years. With Dutch funding, the Bangladeshi government began to help develop older chars in the late 1970s, and the effort has since become a multi-agency operation building roads, culverts, embankments, cyclone shelters, toilets and ponds, as well as distributing land to settlers. By fall 2010, the program will have allotted some to 21,000 families. A main source of silt in urban rivers is disturbance of soil by construction activity. A main source in rural rivers is erosion from plowing of farm fields, clearcutting or slash and burn treatment of forests.
Culture
The fertile black silt of the Nile river's banks is a symbol of rebirth, associated with the Egyptian godAnubis.
