Decomposed granite, also known as DG, is granitic rock

Rock (geology)

In geology, rock or stone is a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals and/or mineraloids.The Earth's outer solid layer, the lithosphere, is made of rock. In general rocks are of three types, namely, igneous, sedimentary, and metamorphic...

 that has weathered

Weathered

Weathered is the third album by Creed, released on November 20, 2001. Some versions are enhanced CDs and include videos. It has been certified 6× platinum by the RIAA...

 to the point that it readily fractures into smaller pieces or chunks of weak rock. Further weathering produces rock that easily crumbles into mixtures of gravel

Gravel

Gravel is composed of unconsolidated rock fragments that have a general particle size range and include size classes from granule- to boulder-sized fragments. Gravel can be sub-categorized into granule and cobble...

, sand

Sand

Sand is a naturally occurring granular material composed of finely divided rock and mineral particles.The composition of sand is highly variable, depending on the local rock sources and conditions, but the most common constituent of sand in inland continental settings and non-tropical coastal...

, and silt

Silt

Silt is granular material of a size somewhere between sand and clay whose mineral origin is quartz and feldspar. Silt may occur as a soil or as suspended sediment in a surface water body...

-sized particles with some clay

Clay

Clay is a general term including many combinations of one or more clay minerals with traces of metal oxides and organic matter. Geologic clay deposits are mostly composed of phyllosilicate minerals containing variable amounts of water trapped in the mineral structure.- Formation :Clay minerals...

. Eventually, the gravel-sized particles may break down to produce a mixture of silica sand or silt particles and clay.

Composition

Granite

Granite

Granite is a common and widely occurring type of intrusive, felsic, igneous rock. Granite usually has a medium- to coarse-grained texture. Occasionally some individual crystals are larger than the groundmass, in which case the texture is known as porphyritic. A granitic rock with a porphyritic...

 is composed of plagioclase feldspar, orthoclase feldspar, quartz

Quartz

Quartz is the second-most-abundant mineral in the Earth's continental crust, after feldspar. It is made up of a continuous framework of SiO4 silicon–oxygen tetrahedra, with each oxygen being shared between two tetrahedra, giving an overall formula SiO2. There are many different varieties of quartz,...

, mica

Mica

The mica group of sheet silicate minerals includes several closely related materials having highly perfect basal cleavage. All are monoclinic, with a tendency towards pseudohexagonal crystals, and are similar in chemical composition...

 and possibly other minerals. The chemical transformation of Feldspar

Feldspar

Feldspars are a group of rock-forming tectosilicate minerals which make up as much as 60% of the Earth's crust....

, one of the primary constituents of granite

Granite

Granite is a common and widely occurring type of intrusive, felsic, igneous rock. Granite usually has a medium- to coarse-grained texture. Occasionally some individual crystals are larger than the groundmass, in which case the texture is known as porphyritic. A granitic rock with a porphyritic...

, into the clay mineral kaolin is one of the important weathering processes. The presence of clay allows water to seep in and further weaken the parent rock allowing it to fracture or crumble into smaller particles. Grains of silica in the granite are relatively resistant to weathering and may remain almost unaltered.

Pavement

Decomposed granite, in a crushed stone

Crushed stone

Crushed stone or angular rock is a form of construction aggregate, typically produced by mining a suitable rock deposit and breaking the removed rock down to the desired size using crushers...

 form, is used as a pavement building material. It is used on driveway

Driveway

A driveway is a type of private road for local access to one or a small group of structures, and is owned and maintained by an individual or group....

s, garden

Garden

A garden is a planned space, usually outdoors, set aside for the display, cultivation, and enjoyment of plants and other forms of nature. The garden can incorporate both natural and man-made materials. The most common form today is known as a residential garden, but the term garden has...

 walkway

Walkway

In US English, a walkway is a composite or umbrella term for all engineered surfaces or structures which support the use of trails. These include sidewalks, footbridges, stiles, stairs, ramps, paseos or tunnels...

s, and municipal urban park

Urban park

An urban park, is also known as a municipal park or a public park, public open space or municipal gardens , is a park in cities and other incorporated places to offer recreation and green space to residents of, and visitors to, the municipality...

 and natural regional

Regional park

Regional park is a term used for an area of land preserved on account of its natural beauty, historic interest, recreational use or other reason, and under the administration of a form of local government.-Definition:...

 and national park

National park

A national park is a reserve of natural, semi-natural, or developed land that a sovereign state declares or owns. Although individual nations designate their own national parks differently A national park is a reserve of natural, semi-natural, or developed land that a sovereign state declares or...

 'sidewalks' and heavy-use path

Path

Path, pathway or PATH may refer to:-Path:* Course , the intended path of a vehicle over the surface of the Earth* Trail, hiking trail, footpath, or bridle path...

s. It can be installed and compacted to meet handicapped accessibility specifications and criteria, such as the ADA standards in the U.S. Different colors, in natural ranges depending on quarry source, and polymeric stabilizer add-mixtures are available.