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Loduwijk
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I read the question more as "Does what I want exist here?" rather than "Is the stuff here going to be good enough quality?" So my answer was initially in that light. OP shows in comment that what was really wanted was the latter, "Is the stuff here going to be good enough quality?" Scroll down below the horizontal line for the original answer, which I left because I think it is still very useful here.

I have a common answer to questions of this type, and that is that you can do almost anything with lots of different materials. The materials might not be perfect for what you want, but that just means you have to try harder.

In your comment you write

"if I find clay in the Adirondacks (southern central), is it safe to say it's suitable for cob or daub? Same with sand? I can identify what areas have sand and clay in the soils but am not sure if all sands and clays are usable in this way."

I would say yes, as you don't technically even need the clay and sand. My daughter once made a wall out of just dirt. She got it very wet, molded it into the shape she wanted, and let it sun dry. She layered it up over time so that she was building on a somewhat hard surface as opposed to having a sloppy muddy mixture from top to bottom all at once.

Given that, I would say that whatever clay and/or sand you find should work since it is not strictly necessary but merely makes the end product better. A simple mud-on-stick structure will require maintenance much more often. A nicer mud + aggregate + binder mixture on a stick base will just be stronger, less susceptible to water damage (though it will probably still happen), last longer, and therefore require less maintenance.

The question then becomes what kind of trade off do you want between initial complexity and effort to future maintenance requirement. Personally, I would gather the best resources I could for the bottom of the wall so make a better foundation but would then switch to simpler mud above that, and I would put more effort into the roof to guarantee the water sheds well to keep the indoor dry and the higher mud-only portion of the wall dry. If the mud gets wet, it can weaken drastically.

Also, you can include rocks to improve structural integrity even more, either as a foundation, and/or within the wall itself.

The simple answer to this is "Yes, it will work since it's not even necessary in the first place."

If you want to go the extra mile and make sure your clay is better quality for holding together better and shedding water better, you can process it. I won't go into deep detail, as that would be a matter for a different question, but you can use water to separate the larger particles from the smaller ones, and keep the smaller particles to make better quality clay. Doing this, you can even create pottery-grade clay out of very clay-poor soil. There are articles and videos online of this if you search for making clay from dirt.


Original answer, to "Does what I want exist here?"...

Yes and no.

Yes and no.

I read the question more as "Does what I want exist here?" rather than "Is the stuff here going to be good enough quality?" So my answer was initially in that light. OP shows in comment that what was really wanted was the latter, "Is the stuff here going to be good enough quality?" Scroll down below the horizontal line for the original answer, which I left because I think it is still very useful here.

I have a common answer to questions of this type, and that is that you can do almost anything with lots of different materials. The materials might not be perfect for what you want, but that just means you have to try harder.

In your comment you write

"if I find clay in the Adirondacks (southern central), is it safe to say it's suitable for cob or daub? Same with sand? I can identify what areas have sand and clay in the soils but am not sure if all sands and clays are usable in this way."

I would say yes, as you don't technically even need the clay and sand. My daughter once made a wall out of just dirt. She got it very wet, molded it into the shape she wanted, and let it sun dry. She layered it up over time so that she was building on a somewhat hard surface as opposed to having a sloppy muddy mixture from top to bottom all at once.

Given that, I would say that whatever clay and/or sand you find should work since it is not strictly necessary but merely makes the end product better. A simple mud-on-stick structure will require maintenance much more often. A nicer mud + aggregate + binder mixture on a stick base will just be stronger, less susceptible to water damage (though it will probably still happen), last longer, and therefore require less maintenance.

The question then becomes what kind of trade off do you want between initial complexity and effort to future maintenance requirement. Personally, I would gather the best resources I could for the bottom of the wall so make a better foundation but would then switch to simpler mud above that, and I would put more effort into the roof to guarantee the water sheds well to keep the indoor dry and the higher mud-only portion of the wall dry. If the mud gets wet, it can weaken drastically.

Also, you can include rocks to improve structural integrity even more, either as a foundation, and/or within the wall itself.

The simple answer to this is "Yes, it will work since it's not even necessary in the first place."

If you want to go the extra mile and make sure your clay is better quality for holding together better and shedding water better, you can process it. I won't go into deep detail, as that would be a matter for a different question, but you can use water to separate the larger particles from the smaller ones, and keep the smaller particles to make better quality clay. Doing this, you can even create pottery-grade clay out of very clay-poor soil. There are articles and videos online of this if you search for making clay from dirt.


Original answer, to "Does what I want exist here?"...

Yes and no.

added name of paper to citation
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Loduwijk
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Directly within the Adirondacks (as opposed to nearby but outside of it, where I have dug), we have from the paper this paperSoils and Soil Acidification in the Adirondack Mountains:

Directly within the Adirondacks (as opposed to nearby but outside of it, where I have dug), we have from this paper:

Directly within the Adirondacks (as opposed to nearby but outside of it, where I have dug), we have from the paper Soils and Soil Acidification in the Adirondack Mountains:

added citation
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Loduwijk
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The simple answer is "Yes"

WhenFrom personal experience, when I have engaged in activities similar to what you describe, I had to do it on private land. That is how I know there is very (very) clay-rich soil to the westto the west of the Adirondacks, on the private land I was on. In some places, I could go down less than a foot and hit large deposits of clay almost everywhere I dug, high enough quality that it would only need a small amount of processing to be pottery-capable.

I found a scholarly pdf about this which I think agrees that there is clay in Adirondack soil, butDirectly within the pdf seemsAdirondacks (as opposed to nearby but outside of it, where I have problems. I'll providedug), we have from this paper:

The E-horizon is usually sandy, wavy, sometimes discontinuous, and consists mostly of resistant, uncoated quartz grains and little else. In the Adirondacks, however, clay minerals are also found here as they form from the intense weathering of silicate minerals that were once present in this horizon (April et al. 1986a).

And a snippet from the graphic under that citation here as well if I can getparagraph in the pdf to open properly.paper:

So evenenter image description here

...but still no.

Even if there is clay in the area you are in, there is likely no clay for you.

When I have engaged in activities similar to what you describe, I had to do it on private land. That is how I know there is very (very) clay-rich soil to the west of the Adirondacks, on the private land I was on. In some places, I could go down less than a foot and hit large deposits of clay almost everywhere I dug, high enough quality that it would only need a small amount of processing to be pottery-capable.

I found a scholarly pdf about this which I think agrees that there is clay in Adirondack soil, but the pdf seems to have problems. I'll provide that citation here as well if I can get the pdf to open properly.

So even if there is clay in the area you are in, there is likely no clay for you.

The simple answer is "Yes"

From personal experience, when I have engaged in activities similar to what you describe, I had to do it on private land. That is how I know there is very (very) clay-rich soil to the west of the Adirondacks, on the private land I was on. In some places, I could go down less than a foot and hit large deposits of clay almost everywhere I dug, high enough quality that it would only need a small amount of processing to be pottery-capable.

Directly within the Adirondacks (as opposed to nearby but outside of it, where I have dug), we have from this paper:

The E-horizon is usually sandy, wavy, sometimes discontinuous, and consists mostly of resistant, uncoated quartz grains and little else. In the Adirondacks, however, clay minerals are also found here as they form from the intense weathering of silicate minerals that were once present in this horizon (April et al. 1986a).

And a snippet from the graphic under that paragraph in the paper:

enter image description here

...but still no.

Even if there is clay in the area you are in, there is likely no clay for you.

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Loduwijk
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