Soil Properties

For the soil properties & site materials Gravel, Dark Gravel, Sand, Silt, Clay, Loam, Asphalt, Concrete, Grass, Organic Material.. and the concept of well graded vs poorly graded… please help me understand the different soil properties as they relate to different design strategies for drainage, supporting a building, mitigating the heat island effect/conductivity and sustainability

This question was in a meetup yesterday (transcribed below as per my rough notes):

From a sustainability perspective, which of the following materials would have low and high albedo? Gravel, Dark Gravel, Sand, Silt, Clay, Asphalt, Concrete, Grass

The answer is sand and soil have high conductivity and concrete and gravel have low albedo… I was surprised that grass wasn’t included because it mitigates the heat island effect.

Please help me understand what design strategy key words to look out for when taking the exam and how different key words would relate to different soil properties or parts.

Also what should I note as some key differences between well graded/ poorly graded soil and well compacted soil. I understand well compacted soil is good for supporting a building and poorly graded soil is good for drainage but is there more to this that I'm missing?