Aggregate & Asphalt Tonnage
Gravel, sand, crushed stone, or asphalt from area and depth: cubic yards or metres, then tons and tonnes from the density your supplier quotes.
The volume and the tonnage to order, in short tons and metric tonnes side by side, from a density you can point to — yours or a cited reference.
Example: 50 m² of base 100 mm deep is 5 m³; at 2.375 t/m³ compacted that is 11.9 tonnes — 13.1 short tons.
Volume is geometry;
weight is the supplier's.
Why the density is an input, which ton is which, and what the two references are for.
Volume, density, tonnage
Volume = area × depth (converted to cubic metres; 1 yd³ = 0.764555 m³). Mass = volume × bulk density. The result is shown in short tons (2,000 lb = 907.185 kg) and metric tonnes (1,000 kg) at the same time because suppliers use either word and the difference is 10 %. The allowance is yours: compaction, moisture, spillage, and over-excavation vary by job.
Where the density comes from
Bulk density depends on the material, its grading, and its moisture — the same gravel can differ by 20 % between quarries and seasons. So the density is an input: use the figure on your supplier's ticket or product page. Two cited references are offered for compacted, in-place material only: crushed stone or gravel base at 4,000 lb/yd³ (2,375 kg/m³) from the Ohio DOT 2005 Construction and Material Specifications, item 304.07, and hot-mix asphalt at 148 lb/ft³ from the Asphalt Institute's engineering FAQ (“142 to 148 PCF in-place; use 148”). Loose material in a truck occupies more volume for the same weight, so those figures are not used for deliveries.
What the number does not settle
Layer thickness, base design, drainage, and compaction requirements come from the design or local specification, not from here. Prices are whatever you enter. Inputs stay in your browser; the same four anonymous usage counts as the rest of the site apply.