Silt Soil Class

This soil contains a very high amount of fine silt particles, being smooth and silky to touch and is especially powdery when dry as the particles do not hold together well like a clay soil does. An example of a silt soil is one that contains the following: 10% sand, 85% silt, 5% clay. A silt soil can retain nutrients and water and is often present in river valleys, being more noticeable on flood plains and areas that are temporarily flooded from overflowing rivers. There is not a stand-alone silt textural class in the UK Soil Textural Triangle as this is all enclosed within the silt loam class.