​Mineralogy and pore fluid determine the chemical-electrical characteristics on mineral surfaces, the ensuing interparticle electrical forces, fabric formation and its potential alteration during pore fluid changes. The region in the particle size vs. stress space where chemical-mechanical coupling may take place reflects the relevance of double layer phenomena and the relative balance between local contact-level electrical forces and boundary-skeletal forces resulting from Terzaghi’s effective stress. Analytical results show that significant chemical-mechanical coupling can be expected in fine-grained soils (e.g., clays) at low confinement. Fabric formation/alteration in clay minerals is complex; in its simplest form, it can be captured in the pH-concentration space. Chemical-mechanical coupling may lead to unforeseen results because of the complexity of clay fabric formation and the interaction between multiple internal scales. While heuristically modified effective stress principles can be used to model some observed results in chemical-mechanical coupling, they are physically ill-posed, and fail to predict important aspects of the observed response.