Gravel

Gravel

Transparency	No
Luminance	No
Blast resistance	3
Tool
Renewable	No Yes [Legacy Console Edition only]
Stackable	Yes (64)
Flammable	No
Drops	Gravel (90%) Flint (10%)
Data value	dec: 13 hex: D bin: 1101
Name	gravel

	“	Gravel has been a part of Minecraft since May 2009, when it was added to the game alongside other basics like sand, coal and trees. Unlike those blocks, however, it's always been largely decorative - spawning in pockets underground that really get in the way when you're digging a tunnel, or in small quantities on beaches and near pools of water.	„
		—Duncan Geere

Gravel is a block that is affected by gravity.

Obtaining

Gravel can be broken using any tool, but a shovel is the quickest. When broken, it has a 10% chance of dropping flint instead of the gravel itself. The flint received can be controlled with enchantments. Silk touch removes the chance of dropping flint. Fortune increases the chance to 14% at level I, 25% at level II, and 100% at level III.

If gravel falls onto a non-full block, it will drop as an item, and not drop flint.

Block	Gravel
Hardness	0.6
Tool
Breaking time
Hand	0.9
Wooden	0.45
Stone	0.25
Iron	0.15
Diamond	0.15
Golden	0.1

Natural generation

Gravel is found underground in veins of up to 33 blocks, generated at a rate of approximately 3.29% that of stone between layers 1 and 111.

In the Nether, gravel generates naturally in large veins between Y=63 and Y=65 in one-block-deep layers. It often generates without blocks below it, in which case it falls when updated.

Gravel is also found on beaches, near small pools of water, and underwater covering the ocean bottom.

Gravel is renewable in Console Edition only, due to the fact that you can reset the nether in the world options.

Usage

Gravel, if there is no block below it, will fall until it lands on the next available block. When gravel is being affected by gravity and falling, it exhibits a smooth falling animation.

If gravel lands on a mob or the player and covers their head, it will suffocate them until they destroy the block, move out of the block or die. If falling gravel lands in the space occupied by a non-solid block, (such as torches, slabs, rails, or redstone) or soul sand, it will break and turn into a gravel item. If it falls onto a cobweb it will slowly fall until it has gone through it completely, or until it touches the ground, at which point it will drop and turn into a gravel item.

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

Crafting ingredient

Name	Ingredients	Crafting recipe
Coarse Dirt	Dirt + Gravel	4
Concrete Powder	Matching Dye + Sand + Gravel	8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8

Trading

Fletcher villagers will buy 10 blocks of gravel and an emerald for 6–10 flint.

Data values

falling_block entity

Falling Block

Internal ID	JE: 21 BE: 66
Network ID	JE: 70
Entity ID	falling_block

See also: Chunk format § Dynamic tiles and Tutorials/Falling blocks

• 
  Dynamic block entity data
  • Tags common to all entities see Template:Nbt inherit/entity/template
  • 
     Tile (deprecated): The Block ID. Not limited to only sand, gravel, concrete powder, dragon eggs, or anvils. Although deprecated, this value is always present.
  • 
     TileID: The Block ID, as above, but now supporting the 1-4095 range. Only prior to 1.8.
  • 
     Block: The Block ID using the alphabetical ID format: minecraft:stone. Only in and after 1.8.
  • 
     TileEntityData: Optional. The tags of the block entity for this block.
  • 
     Data: The data value for the block.
  • 
     Time: The number of ticks the entity has existed. If set to 0, the moment it ticks to 1, it will vanish if the block at its location has a different ID than the entity's TileID. If the block at its location has the same ID as its TileID when Time ticks from 0 to 1, the block will instead be deleted, and the entity will continue to fall, having overwritten it. When Time goes above 600, or above 100 while the block is below Y=0, the entity is deleted.
  • 
     DropItem: 1 or 0 (true/false) - true if the block should drop as an item when it breaks. Any block that doesn't have an item form with the same ID as the block won't drop even if this is set.
  • 
     HurtEntities: 1 or 0 (true/false) - true if the block should hurt entities it falls on.
  • 
     FallHurtMax: The maximum number of hitpoints of damage to inflict on entities that intersect this falling_block. For vanilla falling_block, always 40 ( × 20).
  • 
     FallHurtAmount: Multiplied by the FallDistance to calculate the amount of damage to inflict. For vanilla falling_block, always 2.

History

Classic
May 21, 2009					Notch shows interest in adding gravel.
May 23, 2009					Notch says he accomplished adding sand.
0.0.14a					Gravel was added. It behaved similarly to sand.
					Rather than falling by turning into a falling block entity[verify], gravel would instantly appear at the lowest point it could go when placed above an air block, without any sort of falling animation, behavior that lasted until the Seecret Friday 1 update, in Infdev.
					A glitch occurring at this time allowed players to raise the height of a fluid block by placing gravel over it. The gravel would stay suspended in mid-air until it was broken. When broken, a fluid block corresponding to the type below the gravel would appear where the block was. The suspended fluid block would remain immobile until a block was placed next to it, causing a flood.
					Map editors could be used to create floating gravel, although the server would crash if the gravel was affected from its state
0.0.15a (Multiplayer Test 1)					The texture was changed.
Infdev
February 27, 2010					Gravel was removed during map tests.
April 13, 2010					Gravel was re-added.
June 17, 2010					Gravel now generates underground, along with dirt, for more varied caves.
June 18, 2010					FallingSand entities fall more realistically.
Alpha
v1.0.5					FallingSand entities float above snow covered tiles when placed above them, an unintended behavior.[verify]
v1.2.0					Gravel can now be found in the newly-added the Nether.
Beta
1.2					FallingSand entities behave better in SMP.
1.8					Terrain generation was changed, removing gravel beaches.
					Gravel beaches no longer have a two-high block wall upland from the beach.[verify]
Official release
1.0.0			Beta 1.9 Prerelease 5		The texture was changed again.
1.3.1			12w21a		Gravel's texture is 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.
1.8			14w25a		Gravel can be used to craft coarse dirt.
1.10			16w20a		Added falling dust particles for unsupported gravel.
1.12			17w06a		Gravel is now used to craft concrete powder.
Upcoming Java Edition
1.13			18w09a		Gravel now generates in underwater ruins.
Pocket Edition Alpha
0.1.0					Gravel was added.
0.6.0					Gravel is now affected by gravity.
0.8.0			build 2		The texture was changed.
0.9.0			build 1		Gravel no longer falls when generated.
					Gravel now appears in villages.
					Falling gravel now drops a resource when landing on a non-solid block.
0.10.0			build 1		Added falling dust particles for unsupported gravel.
0.11.0			build 1		Gravel no longer generates as village path.
Pocket Edition
1.1			build 1		Gravel is now used to craft concrete powder.
Legacy Console Edition
TU1	CU1	1.0	Patch 1		Gravel was added.
TU9					The texture was changed.

• 

  Gravel beach from Alpha

• 

  A gravel beach from before Beta 1.8

• 

  A shorter gravel beach

Issues

Issues relating to "Gravel" are maintained on the issue tracker. Report issues there.

Trivia

• Explosions will launch falling gravel.
• If gravel falls into a cobweb, it will be slowed down and then converted to an item.
• If a player is standing on a stack of sand or gravel, and the stack falls on a non-solid block, the player will fall fast enough to take damage or even die.
• Gravel will often fall into caves making a mock dead end. Thus, if a player encounters a gravel dead-end while mining, removing the gravel may reveal additional passageways.

Gallery

• 

  Gravel in the Nether

• 

  Gravel will still not fall down if there is a non-solid block (except fire) underneath it

• 

  When a patch of gravel is dug out, it can reveal ores such as coal and iron

• 

  An ocean with a gravel floor to the left

References

Blocks

View at: Template:Blocks/content [edit]

Entities

View at: Template:Entities/content [edit]