Gravel road embankments in low-lying areas. Cellular confinement systems can be used to prevent the washboarding effect. The gravel used consists of varying amount of crushed stone, sand, and "fines". Fines are silt or clay particles smaller than , which can act as a binder. Crushed stone is used because gravel with fractured faces will stay in place better than rounded river pebbles. A good gravel for a gravel road will have a higher percentage of fines than gravel used as a subbase for a paved road. This often causes problems if a gravel road is paved without adding sand and gravel
Natchez silt loam the bluff hills that border the Mississippi Delta floodplains. They formed in silty loess material that ranges from strongly acid to neutral in the upper part and neutral to slightly alkaline in lower parts. Average annual precipitation is 52 inches. Average annual air temperature is 63 °F (17 °C). The soil has developed in the upper Pleistocene age material. Natchez silt loam In 1988, the Professional Soil Classifiers Association of Mississippi selected Natchez silt loam soil to represent the soil resources of the State. These soils exist on 171,559 acres (0.56% of state) of landscape in Mississippi. The Natchez Silt