Gravel

For other uses, see Gravel (disambiguation).

Not to be confused with Grave.

Gravel

Renewable	Yes
Stackable	Yes (64)
Tool
Blast resistance	0.6
Hardness	0.6
Luminous	No
Transparent	No
Flammable	No
Catches fire from lava	No
Map color	11 STONE
Note block instrument	Snare Drum

Gravel is a gravity-affected block found in the Overworld and the Nether. It is a source of flint, which has a chance to drop when gravel is broken.

Obtaining

Breaking

The suitable tool to break gravel is a shovel.

Block	Gravel
Hardness	0.6
Tool
Breaking time (sec)[A]
Default	10.9 (JE) 0.9 (BE)
Wooden	10.45 (JE) 0.45 (BE)
Stone	10.25 (JE) 0.25 (BE)
Copper	10.2 (JE) 0.2 (BE)
Iron	10.15 (JE) 0.15 (BE)
Diamond	10.15 (JE) 0.15 (BE)
Netherite	10.15 (JE) 0.1 (BE)
Golden	10.1 (JE) 0.1 (BE)
Options
Efficiency	000
Haste	001 1JEBE

Legend

• incorrect tool, drops nothing
• correct tool, drops nothing or something other than the block itself
• correct tool, drops the block itself
• italicized can be instant mined

When destroyed using a tool without Silk Touch, gravel has a 10% chance to drop flint if the tool is not enchanted with Fortune; It has a 14.2857…% (¹⁄₇) chance to drop flint if the tool is enchanted with Fortune I, 25% for Fortune II, and 100% for Fortune III. If the flint is not dropped, gravel drops itself instead.^[1][2]

Gravel drops itself when destroyed using a tool with Silk Touch.

Natural generation

Gravel is generated in disks replacing dirt in shallow water, which is possible in any grassy biome except swamps, but most commonly in rivers, flatland biomes, and undeep oceans. One layer of gravel generates in deeper water bodies in almost any biome, most commonly in oceans (regular, cold, and frozen‌^{[JE only]}). In windswept gravelly hills, layers of gravel cover most of the surface, and they generate in the form of strips in stony shores.

Gravel can generate in the Overworld in the form of ore features. Gravel attempts to generate 14 times per chunk in ore features of size 0–160, at all levels and in all biomes. It can replace stone, granite, andesite, diorite, polished granite,‌^{[BE only]} polished andesite,‌^{[BE only]} polished diorite,‌^{[BE only]} tuff,‌^{[JE only]} and deepslate.‌^{[JE only]}

Gravel can also generate as part of cold ocean ruins, some warm ocean ruins, trail ruins, villages and abandoned camps.

In the Nether, gravel generates naturally in layers along the shores of the lava sea, in all biomes except crimson and warped forests. The layers are one block deep in Nether wastes, and 3–5 blocks deep in soul sand valley and basalt deltas.

Ore features of gravel in the Nether attempt to replace netherrack 2 times per chunk in blobs of size 0–160, from levels 5 to 41‌^{[JE only]} or 36,‌^{[BE only]} in all Nether biomes except basalt deltas.

Mob loot

An enderman holding gravel always drops the block upon death.

Bartering

Piglins may barter 8-16 gravel with a chance of ~8.53% (⁴⁰⁄₄₆₉) when given a gold ingot.

Usage

If the supporting block below a block of gravel is removed, it falls until it lands on the next available block. More specifically, the gravel block turns into a "falling block" entity, which is affected by gravity; when the falling block lands on a block with a solid top surface, it becomes a block again. More information about the falling block entity is available in the main article listed above.

When gravel falls on a player or mob, it can result in suffocation inside gravel until the destruction of the block, or moving out of it, or dying. If falling gravel lands in a space occupied by a non-solid block (such as torches, rails, or redstone dust) or non-full block (such as slabs or soul sand^[3]), it breaks, then drops itself and never drops flint.^[4][5]

Gravel can be placed on a non-solid block without falling.

Bamboo

Bamboo can be placed and grown on gravel.

Crafting ingredient

Name	Ingredients	Crafting recipe	Notes
Coarse Dirt	Dirt + Gravel	4
Concrete Powder	Matching Dye + Sand + Gravel	8888888888888888	Red sand cannot be used in place of sand.
White Concrete Powder or  Blue Concrete Powder or  Brown Concrete Powder or  Black Concrete Powder	Bone Meal or  Lapis Lazuli or  Cocoa Beans or  Ink Sac + Sand + Gravel	8888	‌[Bedrock Edition and Minecraft Education only]

Trading

Villager		Probability		Villager wants	Player receives	Trades in stock	Villager experience	Price multiplier
		JE	BE
Fletcher	Novice	67%	50%	10 × Gravel + Emerald	10 × Flint	12	1	0.05

Sounds

Java Edition:

gravel sound type
Sound	Closed captions	Source	Description	Identifier	Translation key	Volume	Pitch	Attenuation distance
	​Block broken	Blocks	Once the block has broken	block.gravel.break	subtitles.block.generic.break​	1.0	0.8	16
	​Block placed​[until: JE 26.4]	Blocks	When the block is placed	block.gravel.place	subtitles.block.generic.place​	1.0	0.8	16
	​Block breaking	Blocks	While the block is in the process of being broken	block.gravel.hit	subtitles.block.generic.hit​	0.25	0.5	16
	​Something falls on a block	Entity-Dependent	Falling on the block with fall damage	block.gravel.fall	subtitles.block.generic.fall​	0.5	0.75	16
	​Footsteps	Entity-Dependent	Walking on the block	block.gravel.step	subtitles.block.generic.footsteps​	0.15	1.0	16

Bedrock Edition:

gravel sound type
Sound	Closed captions	Source	Description	Identifier	Translation key	Volume	Pitch
	​ ?	Blocks	Once the block has broken	dig.gravel	​ ?	1.0	0.8–1.0
	​ ?	Blocks	When the block is placed	dig.gravel	​ ?	1.0	0.8–1.0
	​ ?	Blocks	While the block is in the process of being broken	hit.gravel	​ ?	0.17	0.5
	​ ?	Players	Falling on the block with fall damage	fall.gravel	​ ?	0.4	1.0
	​ ?	Players	Walking on the block	step.gravel	​ ?	0.3	1.0
	​ ?	Blocks	Jumping from the block	jump.gravel	​ ?	0.1	1.0
	​ ?	Blocks	Falling on the block without fall damage	land.gravel	​ ?	0.17	1.0

Data values

ID

Java Edition:

Name	Identifier	Form	Block tags	Translation key
Gravel	gravel	Block & Item	bamboo_plantable_on enderman_holdable lush_ground_replaceable mineable/shovel	block.minecraft.gravel

Bedrock Edition:

Name	Identifier	Numeric ID	Form	Item ID[i 1]	Translation key
Gravel	gravel	13	Block & Giveable Item[i 2]	Identical[i 3]	tile.gravel.name

Falling block entity

Falling Block

Hitbox size	Height: 0.98 blocks Width: 0.98 blocks

History

Development

Java Edition

Java Edition Classic
0.0.14a							Added gravel.
							Gravel behaves similarly to sand, which was also added during this update.
							Rather than falling by turning into a falling block entity, gravel instantly appears at the lowest point it can go when placed above an air block, without any sort of falling animation.
							Map editors can now be used to create floating gravel, although the server crashes if the gravel is affected from its state.
0.0.15a (Multiplayer Test 1)							The texture of gravel has been changed.
0.0.19a							Gravel can now be selected on the hotbar, rather than strictly requiring a number key as placeable blocks did previously.
0.0.23a							A glitch occurring at this time allows players to raise the height of a fluid block by placing gravel over it. The gravel stays suspended in mid-air until it is broken. When broken, a fluid block corresponding to the type below the gravel appears where the block was. The suspended fluid block remains immobile until a block was placed next to it, causing a flood.
Java Edition Indev
0.31			20100124-2119				Gravel now generates in starting house chests.
			20100129-1447				Gravel no longer generates in starting house chests.
			20100201-0025				Gravel can now be smelted into glass.
20100212-1210							Gravel can no longer be smelted into glass.
20100219							Gravel now has a 10% chance of dropping flint.
Java Edition Infdev
20100227-1414							Gravel no longer generates in worlds due to a new terrain generator, making it unobtainable by normal means.[6]
20100413-1951							Gravel now generates in worlds again.
20100617-1531							Gravel now generates as ore features underground, along with dirt, for more varied caves.
20100618							The gravel now turns into an entity while falling, which makes them fall more smoothly and realistically.
Java Edition Alpha
v1.2.0_01							Gravel now generates in the Nether, as some soul sand is now replaced by gravel.
Java Edition Beta
1.2							FallingSand entities now behave better in multiplayer.
1.8			Pre-release				Terrain generation has been changed, removing gravel beaches.
							Gravel now generates as disks near water.
							Gravel now appears in villages as the only part of their generated paths.
Java Edition
1.0.0			Beta 1.9 Prerelease 5				The texture of gravel has been changed.
1.3.1			12w21a				The texture of gravel has been changed again.
			12w22a				Gravel is now able to be used in the trading system: buying flint costs 1 emerald and 10 gravel.
1.4.2			12w38a				Gravel now has new sounds when being walked on.
1.7.2			13w36a				Ocean floors are now made completely of gravel, instead of a mixture of dirt, sand and clay.
							Added extreme hills M, where the surface is covered in several-block-deep layers of gravel.
1.8			14w25a				Gravel can now be used to craft coarse dirt.
1.10			16w20a				Falling dust particles for unsupported gravel have been added.
1.12			17w06a				Gravel is now used to craft concrete powder.
1.13			18w09a				Gravel now generates in ocean ruins.
1.14			18w43a				The texture of gravel has been changed.
			18w50a				Gravel no longer generates as a village path in any type of village.[7]
			19w14a				Soul sand and gravel now generate around lava sea level instead of between y level 60 and 65.[8]
1.16			20w07a				Gravel now has a 5⁄109 (~4.59%) chance of being given by the new piglins when bartering, in a stack size of 4–12, making it renewable.
			20w09a				Gravel now has a 10⁄113 (~8.82%) chance of being given by piglins when bartering, in a stack size of 1–5.
			20w20a				Gravel now has a 40⁄423 (~9.46%) chance of being given by piglins when bartering, in a stack size of 8–16.
1.16.2			20w28a				Gravel now has a 40⁄459 (~8.71%) chance of being given by piglins when bartering, in a stack size of 8–16.
1.17			21w06a				The height limit was expanded down to Y=-64. Gravel blobs are temporary generating from Y=-64 instead of Y=0.
			21w07a				Gravel ore features no longer generate below Y=0, but more common than in pre 21w06a versions.
			21w15a				All the changes to gravel blob generation in the previous 1.17 snapshots have been reverted, but they can be re-enabled with the Caves & Cliffs Prototype Data Pack.
1.18			Experimental Snapshot 1				Gravel blob once again generates the way it did in the 1.17 snapshots without the use of a data pack.
			experimental snapshot 4				Strips of gravel sometimes generate in stone shores and stony peaks.
			21w37a				Strips of Gravel no longer generate in stony peaks.
							Strips of Gravel in stone shores are now larger.
			21w40a				Blobs of gravel are once again able to generate below Y=0.
							Increased the number of gravel blobs.
1.20			23w12a				Gravel can now be created after brushing a suspicious gravel block.
							Gravel now generates in trail ruins.
			23w16a				The amount of gravel in trail ruins has been tweaked.
26.2			snap1				Added sulfur cubes, which have the ability to absorb gravel, giving them the regular archetype.
			snap6				Sulfur cubes can no longer absorb gravel.

Bedrock Edition

Pocket Edition Alpha
Demo							Added gravel. It is currently unobtainable.
v0.1.0							The texture of gravel icon in the inventory has been added.
v0.2.0							The textures of gravel and icon in the inventory have been changed.
							Gravel is now obtainable in both Survival and Creative mode.
v0.4.0							The texture of gravel icon in the inventory has been changed.
v0.5.0							The texture of gravel icon in the inventory has been changed, once again.
v0.6.0							The texture of gravel icon in the inventory has been changed, once again.
							Gravel is now affected by gravity.
v0.8.0			build 1				The texture of gravel has been changed.
							The inventory icon of gravel is now rendered block instead of texture.
			build 8				Falling gravel now drops a resource when landing on a non-solid block.
v0.9.0			build 1				Terrain generation has been changed, removing gravel beaches.
							Gravel now generates as disks in or near water, and also completely comprises ocean floors.
							Gravel no longer falls when generated.
							Gravel now appears in villages.
v0.10.0			build 1				Falling dust particles for unsupported gravel have been added.
v0.11.0			build 1				Gravel no longer generates as a village path.
							Added the gravelly mountains biome (then known as mutated extreme hills), where the surface is covered in several-block-deep layers of gravel.
v0.12.1			build 1				Gravel now generates in the Nether.
Pocket Edition
1.0.4			alpha 1.0.4.0				10 gravel can now be used to trade with fletcher villagers for 6-10 flint.
1.1.0			alpha 1.1.0.0				Gravel is now used to craft concrete powder.
Bedrock Edition
1.2.0			beta 1.2.0.2				Gravel can now be used to craft coarse dirt.
1.4.0			beta 1.2.20.1				Gravel now generates in ocean ruins.
1.10.0			beta 1.10.0.3				The texture of gravel has been changed.
1.11.0			beta 1.11.0.4				Trading has been changed, fletcher villagers now have a 50% chance to buy 10 gravel and one emerald for 10 flint as part of their first tier trade.
1.16.0			beta 1.16.0.57				Gravel now has a 10⁄106 (9.43%) chance of being given by piglins when bartering, in a stack size of 8–16, making it renewable.
							Gravel now generates below lava sea layer in the Nether.
1.18.0			beta 1.18.0.21				Gravel now generates as expected.
							Blobs of gravel are now expected to be once again able to generate below Y=0., but they don't.
							Increased the number of gravel blobs.
			beta 1.18.0.24				Gravel ore features are now able to generate below Y=0.[9]
26.20 Experiment Drop 2 of 2026			Preview 26.20.23				Added sulfur cubes, which have the ability to absorb gravel, providing the football/regular effect to the mob.
26.30			Preview 26.30.20				Implemented all features from the "Drop 2 of 2026" experiment in vanilla gameplay.
			Preview 26.30.27				Gravel can no longer be absorbed by sulfur cubes.

Legacy Console Edition

Legacy Console Edition
Xbox 360	Xbox One	PS3	PS4	PS Vita	Wii U	Switch
TU1	CU1	1.00	1.00	1.00	Patch 1	1.0.1	Added gravel.
TU3							The texture of gravel has been changed.
TU9							The texture of gravel has been changed, again.
TU14		1.04					Gravel is now able to be used in the trading system: buying flint costs 1 emerald and 10 gravel.
TU31	CU19	1.22	1.22	1.22	Patch 3		Gravel can now be used to craft coarse dirt.
TU46	CU36	1.38	1.38	1.38	Patch 15		Falling dust particles for unsupported gravel have been added.
TU53	CU43	1.49	1.50	1.49	Patch 23	1.0.3	Gravel is now used to craft concrete powder.
TU69		1.76	1.76	1.76	Patch 38		Gravel now generates in ocean ruins.
			1.90				The texture of gravel has been changed, once again.
			1.91				Trading has been changed, fletcher villagers now have a chance to buy 10 gravel and one emerald for 10 flint as part of their first tier trade.

New Nintendo 3DS Edition

New Nintendo 3DS Edition
0.1.0							Added gravel.

Data history

Issues

Issues relating to "Gravel" are maintained on the bug tracker. Issues should be reported and viewed there.

Trivia

• Explosions launch falling gravel.
• If a player stands on a stack of sand or gravel and the stack falls onto a non-solid block, the player can fall fast enough to take damage or even die.
• Gravel often falls into caves, making a mock dead end. If a player encounters a gravel dead-end while mining, removing the gravel may reveal additional passageways.

Gallery

Screenshots

• 
  A naturally generated gravel blob as seen in a cave
• 
  A naturally generated gravel floor as seen in an ocean
• 
  A gravel blob as seen in the Nether
• 
  Gravel shown to be not affected by gravity if there is a non-solid block (except fire) underneath it
• 
  Gravel floating in midair in a windswept gravelly hills biome
• 
  Naturally generated gravel blob in a cave
• 
  Gravel hanging above the lava sea, without any support below. Viewed in Spectator mode.
• 
  A disk of gravel by a shoreline that extends partially onto land
• 
  A strip of gravel in a stony shore biome
• 
  A gravel beach prior to Java Edition Beta 1.8
• 
  Gravel being drawn as sand on a map in Java Edition Beta 1.7.3
• 
  Gravel in early versions of Pocket Edition shown to be not affected by gravity

References

External links

• Block of the Week: Gravel – Minecraft.net on March 23, 2018