Gravel

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

Natural generation
Gravel is generated in disks on beaches, near rivers and small pools of water; in windswept gravelly hills biomes covering most of the surface; underwater covering the bottom of normal, cold, and frozen ocean biomes, as well as their deep variants; and in form of stripes in stony shores.

Gravel can generate in the Overworld in the form of blobs. Gravel attempts to generate 8 times per chunk in blobs of size 0-160, at all levels and in all biomes. It can replace stone, granite, andesite, diorite, tuff, and deepslate.

Gravel can also generate as part of cold ocean ruins.

In the Nether, gravel generates naturally in multiple-block-deep layers, along the shores of the lava ocean. It often generates without blocks below it, in which case it falls when updated.

Blobs of gravel attempt to replace netherrack 2 times per chunk in blobs of size 0-160, from levels 5 to 41, in all Nether biomes except basalt deltas.

Breaking
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 the level I, 25% at level II, and nearly 100% at level III.

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

Bartering
Piglins may barter 8-16 gravel 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 are available in the main article listed above.

When gravel falls on a player or mob, it can engulf the head, resulting in suffocation inside gravel until destroying the block, moving out of it, or dying. If falling gravel lands in a space occupied by a non-solid block (such as torches, slabs, rails, or redstone dust) or soul sand, it breaks and turns into a gravel item. Gravel falls slowly through a cobweb until it passes completely through, or until it touches any block, at which point it drops and becomes a gravel item.

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

Bamboo can be placed and grown on gravel.

Trading
Novice-level fletcher villagers have a 50% or $2/3$ chance to buy 10 gravel and one emerald for 10 flint as part of their trade.

Note blocks
Gravel can be placed under note blocks to produce snare drum sounds.

ID




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 falls 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.