<html><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html charset=us-ascii"></head><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; "><br><div><div>On Mar 15, 2014, at 12:50 PM, Fernando Trebien <<a href="mailto:fernando.trebien@gmail.com">fernando.trebien@gmail.com</a>> wrote:</div><br class="Apple-interchange-newline"><blockquote type="cite">How surprisingly similar the landscape in this area is to the place<br>where I live in Brazil. <br></blockquote><div><br></div>That's really pretty!</div><div><br><blockquote type="cite">Anyway, back to your place. I believe you'd call this a dirt road<br>leading into a private property:<br><a href="https://www.google.com/maps/@32.704426,-116.720207,3a,75y,160.59h,81.43t/data=!3m4!1e1!3m2!1sH5Ez46TUHWIetR4uLSCy0Q!2e0">https://www.google.com/maps/@32.704426,-116.720207,3a,75y,160.59h,81.43t/data=!3m4!1e1!3m2!1sH5Ez46TUHWIetR4uLSCy0Q!2e0</a><br></blockquote><div><br></div><div>Honestly, I would say this is more of a gravel surface, or at least it has a strong amount of gravel in it. </div><div><br></div><div>But you are exactly right - I would colloquially describe it as a dirt road. </div><div><br></div><div><br></div><div><br></div><div><a href="https://www.google.com/maps/@32.754457,-116.675043,3a,75y,244.08h,66.68t/data=!3m4!1e1!3m2!1sJhyTrxQnSp12qvq6uDJ_QA!2e0">https://www.google.com/maps/@32.754457,-116.675043,3a,75y,244.08h,66.68t/data=!3m4!1e1!3m2!1sJhyTrxQnSp12qvq6uDJ_QA!2e0</a></div><div><br></div><div>is what I would say is dirt, grade 2 </div><div><br></div><div>And here is a dirt grade 4 or 5. </div><div><br></div><div><a href="https://www.google.com/maps/@32.704654,-116.725304,3a,69.4y,194.94h,67.89t/data=!3m4!1e1!3m2!1shSHA3wkceuNcBDfUVBL9CQ!2e0">https://www.google.com/maps/@32.704654,-116.725304,3a,69.4y,194.94h,67.89t/data=!3m4!1e1!3m2!1shSHA3wkceuNcBDfUVBL9CQ!2e0</a></div><div><br></div><br><blockquote type="cite"><br>Would you describe this surface as "earth"? Or maybe "compacted"?<br><br>I think "sand" would usually mean fluffy sand, such as in beach sand,<br>like here: <a href="https://www.google.com/maps?ll=-29.347317,-49.729185&spn=0.014065,0.047979&t=m&z=15&layer=c&cbll=-29.347303,-49.729198&panoid=nxCzohwftvM2H6wO89EJng&cbp=11,182.99,,0,3.15">https://www.google.com/maps?ll=-29.347317,-49.729185&spn=0.014065,0.047979&t=m&z=15&layer=c&cbll=-29.347303,-49.729198&panoid=nxCzohwftvM2H6wO89EJng&cbp=11,182.99,,0,3.15</a><br></blockquote><div><br></div><div>That road looks really old!</div><br><div><br></div><div>Sand is hard, because a truly sand road is usually just river bottom, like in a wadi (wash) or beach, because the road is usually defined by the natural borders (the wadi's banks, shoreline, etc). I don't think there could be many marked "dune" roads, they'd disappear before they were mapped. but maybe my experience is limited. </div><div><br></div><div><a href="https://www.google.com/maps/@32.915195,-116.240605,3a,33.3y,14.3h,79.76t/data=!3m4!1e1!3m2!1s6SYOIDZphiH9EfbnOULxfw!2e0">https://www.google.com/maps/@32.915195,-116.240605,3a,33.3y,14.3h,79.76t/data=!3m4!1e1!3m2!1s6SYOIDZphiH9EfbnOULxfw!2e0</a></div><div><br></div><div>you can see the white sand where the road starts from the turnout. you can easily get stuck in it. </div><br><blockquote type="cite"><br>Here's a road in Brazil that probably fits the American definition of<br>"dirt":<br></blockquote><br><div>Exactly.</div><div><br></div><blockquote type="cite"><br>However, the surface here is "compacted" according to official<br>sources. It's hard to tell visually, but it's possible that the<br>mixture has been compressed.<br></blockquote><div><br></div><span style="font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 19px; background-color: rgb(249, 249, 249); ">Compacted "what" is the question. Tephra? Decomposed Granite? gravel? A mixture of clay, sand, gravel, and organic bits called "dirt" ?</span></div><div><font face="sans-serif"><span style="font-size: 12px; line-height: 19px;"><br></span></font><div>I assume almost any grade 1or 2 track is compacted - isn't that part of the definition or grade 1 & 2?</div><div><br></div><div>but a whole lot of grade 3/4/5 maybe was once compacted, now it's just falling apart/grass growing in the center.</div><div><br></div><div>Grade 3 from the wiki:</div><div><br></div><div>"</div><div> <span style="background-color: rgb(249, 249, 249); font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 19px; ">Unpaved track; an even mixture of hard and soft materials.</span></div><div>"</div><div><br></div><br><blockquote type="cite">This is what I believe would be described as "earth" but not<br>"compacted" (also from official sources):<br></blockquote><div><br></div><div><br></div><blockquote type="cite">I wonder if you'd call this "dirt" too. '</blockquote><div><br></div><div>yea, that's a dirt road alight - not sand and not little stones. I'm not sure, but that looks a lot like like DG - decomposed granite - similar to the red around my aunt's area in Jamul. </div><div><br></div><br><blockquote type="cite">The distinction is quite<br>relevant for calculation of routes: you can't travel as fast on earth<br>as can on compacted, and earth is much more likely to turn into sticky<br>mud that may get you bogged.<br></blockquote><div><br></div><br><blockquote type="cite"><br>Finding a gravel road here was harder than I thought it would be. I<br>could only get this photo:<br><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_8dyZBqNo6TI/TUv3KhRjRiI/AAAAAAAAAXs/jOA_pfv_IH0/s1600/tainhas+-+brita.jpg">http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_8dyZBqNo6TI/TUv3KhRjRiI/AAAAAAAAAXs/jOA_pfv_IH0/s1600/tainhas+-+brita.jpg</a><br></blockquote><div><br></div>That is some coarse gravel, like for a quarry road for big trucks or something. </div><div><br></div><div>Most of the road gravel here in Japan is about 1cm. it slowly sinks into the volcanic tephra clay, and then they add more. and more and more and more. </div><div><br><blockquote type="cite"><br>It turns out that most preparations that include "some gravel" but<br>mostly "soil" here fit the definition of "compacted" quite closely.<br><br>I think that "earth" and "soil" are similar enough to stay only with<br>"earth" - but I'm not a native speaker.<br><br>I also wonder which names the British would give to each of these surfaces.<br></blockquote><div><br></div><div><br></div><div>A few of the British people I've heard responded have said that they don't have "dirt" roads there, so they are having trouble naming these. But that isn't true. </div><div><br></div><div><br></div><div>This looks a lot like a grade 3 dirt track in sheffield. A little gravel at the intersection, but the track sure is dirt (look at that mud!). </div><div><br></div><div><a href="https://www.google.com/maps/@53.48623,-1.646717,3a,77y,292.61h,92.29t/data=!3m4!1e1!3m2!1sIeza8rGd6eybG9tBBgRMwg!2e0">https://www.google.com/maps/@53.48623,-1.646717,3a,77y,292.61h,92.29t/data=!3m4!1e1!3m2!1sIeza8rGd6eybG9tBBgRMwg!2e0</a></div><div><br></div><div><br></div><div>Grade 3 farming track. <a href="https://www.google.com/maps/@53.480851,-1.621276,3a,75y,222.14h,71.75t/data=!3m4!1e1!3m2!1sOCVq7UW1AdoLCbgIloHlhA!2e0">https://www.google.com/maps/@53.480851,-1.621276,3a,75y,222.14h,71.75t/data=!3m4!1e1!3m2!1sOCVq7UW1AdoLCbgIloHlhA!2e0</a></div><div><br></div><div>Grade 3-4 track <a href="https://www.google.com/maps/@51.064536,0.093548,3a,41.3y,350.72h,76.84t/data=!3m4!1e1!3m2!1sbJDev6_uegah7WelCu1fkA!2e0">https://www.google.com/maps/@51.064536,0.093548,3a,41.3y,350.72h,76.84t/data=!3m4!1e1!3m2!1sbJDev6_uegah7WelCu1fkA!2e0</a></div><div><br></div><div>Grade 3 dirt track <a href="https://www.google.com/maps/@50.872787,0.514791,3a,75y,30.01h,68.59t/data=!3m4!1e1!3m2!1sIQaQzUZI-E1t7_2dIBzAvg!2e0">https://www.google.com/maps/@50.872787,0.514791,3a,75y,30.01h,68.59t/data=!3m4!1e1!3m2!1sIQaQzUZI-E1t7_2dIBzAvg!2e0</a></div><div><br></div><div>What do british people call this surface? </div><div><br></div><div> I hope it can go somewhere this time =D. </div><div><br></div><div><br></div><div>Javbw</div></div><br><div><br></div></body></html>