Here soil stops being liquid and enters into a state called plastic state of soil. At water content named as liquid limit soil gains infinitesimal shear strength. When water content of this soil drops it starts gaining shear strength and slowly develops resistance to flow. In liquid state water content of the soil is such that it behaves like liquid and offers no resistance to flow.

Depending upon the water content soil may appear in one of these four states.Ĭonsistency limits are water content at which the soil changes from one of these states to another. It is indicated by terms such as soft, medium and hard. Consistency is a term which is used to describe the degree of firmness of soil.