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
Soil mechanics may be given the classification symbol "GW" (well-graded gravel), "GP" (poorly graded gravel), "GM" (gravel with a large amount of silt), or "GC" (gravel with a large amount of clay). Likewise sands may be classified as being "SW", "SP", "SM" or "SC". Sands and gravels with a small but non-negligible amount of fines (5–12%) may be given a dual classification such as "SW-SC". Clays and Silts, often called 'fine-grained soils', are classified according to their Atterberg limits; the most commonly used Atterberg limits are the Liquid Limit (denoted by "LL" or formula_39), Plastic Limit (denoted by "PL" or formula_40), and