1. In the building and construction industry, a mixture of mineral substances (bulk minerals), e.g. sand, gravel, crushed rock, stone, slag, and other materials (e.g. colliery spoil, pulverized fuel ash) which, when cemented, forms concrete, mastic, mortar, plaster, etc. Uncemented, it can be used as road-making material, railway ballasts, filter beds, and in some manufacturing processes as flux. In road-making, aggregate mixed with bitumen is called ‘coated stone’, and different physical characteristics are required for the different layers comprising the road pavement. Fine aggregate is less than 6.35 mm in diameter, coarse aggregate greater than 6.35 mm. See aggregate tests; pavement.
2. Group of soil particles adhering together in a cluster; the smallest structural unit, or ped, of soil. Aggregates join together to make up the major structural soil units.