A gravel pit is a quarry or open pit of gravel, used in open-pit mining and other excavation applications. Gravel, a round stone deposited from rivers, is extracted from an open-cast hole in a series of operations involving many different types of machines. Typically, topsoil, which is blanketed atop gravel, is stripped from the surface using stripping shovels and other types of equipment specializing in the removal of overburden. During the extraction phase, machines such as front loaders are used to dig and load gravel, depositing the load into load haul dump trucks. Gravel pits are also the site of some processing and screening of the gravel. Gravel can be crushed, screened, and washed in or near the pit, but often the materials are transported to a different site to facilitate these steps. Once the gravel is weighed, it is transported from the site of the pit for further processing.^[1]

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1. ↑ Gravel Pit Operations. J.C. Duff, 2008-09-30.