Fill dirt (also called cleanfill, or just fill) is earthy material which is used to ''fill in'' a depression or hole in the ground or create mounds or otherwise artificially change the grade or elevation of real property.
"Fill dirt" Industry Terms and Definitions, EMG
, retrieved on 2008-11-12.
Fill dirt is usually subsoil
Subsoil is the layer of soil under the topsoil on the surface of the ground. Like topsoil, it is composed of a variable mixture of small particles such as sand, silt and clay, but with a much lower percentage of organic matter and humus, and ...
(soil from beneath topsoil
Topsoil is the upper layer of soil. It has the highest concentration of organic matter and microorganisms and is where most of the Earth's biological soil activity occurs.
Description
Topsoil is composed of mineral particles and organic matt ...
) and underlying soil parent material which has little soil organic matter Soil organic matter (SOM) is the organic matter component of soil, consisting of plant and animal detritus at various stages of decomposition, cells and tissues of soil microbes, and substances that soil microbes synthesize. SOM provides numerous b ...
or biological activity
In pharmacology, biological activity or pharmacological activity describes the beneficial or adverse effects of a drug on living matter. When a drug is a complex chemical mixture, this activity is exerted by the substance's active ingredient or ...
. Fill dirt is taken from a location where soil is being removed as a part of leveling an area for construction; it may also contain sand, rocks, and stones, as well as earth. Fill dirt should be as free of organic matter as possible since organic matter will decompose
Decomposition or rot is the process by which dead organic substances are broken down into simpler organic or inorganic matter such as carbon dioxide, water, simple sugars and mineral salts. The process is a part of the nutrient cycle and is ...
creating pockets of empty space within the fill which could result in settling. Uneven or excessive settling of the fill can result in damage to any structures built on the fill.
A common use of fill dirt is in highway maintenance
A road is a linear way for the conveyance of traffic that mostly has an improved surface for use by vehicles (motorized and non-motorized) and pedestrians. Unlike streets, the main function of roads is transportation.
There are many types of ...
to build up the shoulders of highway
A highway is any public or private road or other public way on land. It is used for major roads, but also includes other public roads and public tracks. In some areas of the United States, it is used as an equivalent term to controlled-access ...
s so that the ground on either side of the pavement is at the same level as the pavement itself and that the highway shoulders are sufficiently wide as to allow vehicles room to pull off of the highway if needed.
A second common use of fill dirt is to fill in a low-lying construction site to raise the level of the building foundation in order to reduce the chances of flooding. Several massive uses of fill dirt are with improvements to the Port of Seattle
The Port of Seattle is a government agency overseeing the Northwest Seaport Alliance, seaport and Seattle–Tacoma International Airport, airport of Seattle, Washington, United States. With a portfolio of properties ranging from parks and wa ...
Sea-Tac Airport, the addition of a new runway to the Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport in Atlanta, Georgia
Atlanta ( ) is the capital city, capital and List of municipalities in Georgia (U.S. state), most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. It is the county seat, seat of Fulton County, Georgia, Fulton County, the mos ...
, and the Kansai International Airport
Kansai International Airport ( ja, 関西国際空港, Kansai Kokusai Kūkō) commonly known as is the primary international airport in the Greater Osaka Area of Japan and the closest international airport to the cities of Osaka, Kyoto, and ...
off the coast of Osaka
is a designated city in the Kansai region of Honshu in Japan. It is the capital of and most populous city in Osaka Prefecture, and the third most populous city in Japan, following Special wards of Tokyo and Yokohama. With a population of ...
, Japan
Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the n ...
, a project involving the creation of a new man-made island of some five square kilometers.
Fill dirt is most often mined from commercial sand and gravel mines then imported to the project site, and must meet specifications for gradation outlined by the Project's Geotechnical Engineer. The logistics and availability of fill dirt material has become a growing concern for the commercial sand and gravel industry in recent years as the need for fill material has surged and the available resources in mines are depleted. This directly impacts the public and end-user as the cost of construction increases due to the logistical challenges of importing material from greater distances as materials grow more scarce.
In an effort to combat the costs and increasing logistical challenges related to dwindling sand and gravel stockpiles, some services are offering contractors and the public a way to exchange fill dirt materials in addition to locating operating sand and gravel mines. Internet based services allow consumers and contractors a way to locate free fill dirt by connecting them with another contractor or consumer in need of a dump site on a nearby project.
Fill dirt is also used for landscaping projects which involve the creation of ridges and earth structures for pools, waterfall
A waterfall is a point in a river or stream where water flows over a vertical drop or a series of steep drops. Waterfalls also occur where meltwater drops over the edge of a tabular iceberg or ice shelf.
Waterfalls can be formed in several ...
s, and other water features as well as to break up a level area in order to provide more interesting textures to the landscape.
See also
* Cut (earthmoving)
In civil engineering, a cut or cutting is where soil or rock from a relative rise along a route is removed. The term is also used in river management to speed a waterway's flow by short-cutting a meander.
Cuts are typically used in road, rail ...
* Cut and fill
In earthmoving, cut and fill is the process of constructing a railway, road or canal whereby the amount of material from cuts roughly matches the amount of fill needed to make nearby embankments to minimize the amount of construction labor.
...
* Embankment (transportation)
A road, railway line, or canal is normally raised onto an embankment made of compacted soil (typically clay or rock-based) to avoid a change in level required by the terrain, the alternatives being either to have an unacceptable change in lev ...
References
External links
Controversies over Redefining “Fill Material” Under the Clean Water Act
Congressional Research Service
The Congressional Research Service (CRS) is a public policy research institute of the United States Congress. Operating within the Library of Congress, it works primarily and directly for members of Congress and their committees and staff on a ...
"Advisory Legal opinion: Definition and disposal of dirt" Attorney General of Florida, March 19, 1982
"Free Clean Fill dirt listing site. Connecting people with dirt.
Seattle Times
{{Authority control
Fills (earthworks)
Types of soil
Building materials
Soil improvers