Which 'Gravel' For Driveway (Granite, Limestone, Basalt)?

[EViS]

We've completed the type1 sub base and edgings for our driveway. All we need now is the gravel dressing. Our wishlist is:

- Our driveway is on a bit of a slope so we want an irregular stone,
- Due to owning some heavy 4x4's we are after something durable which won't turn to dust in a couple of years,
- Something grey and fairly uniform in colour.

Is there much difference between 20mm granite, limestone (derbyshire peakstone / dove grey) and black basalt?

Our favourite of the three is the dove grey limestone, but is this likely to crumble quickly?

 

[Chud]

The hardest should be your granite, followed by basalt - obviously limestone is a lot softer...however most of the wear will be from the gravel rubbing/being pushed against itself so you probably wont see a difference until it spills on to another area that you drive over (drive entrance?). To be honest I'd probably go for a granite but it may be worth seeing if you can get something like a dolomitic limestone which would be harder wearing. Another alternative (raking up igneous petrology lectures from 20 years ago!) if you can get it might be an andesite type gravel (bit like a lighter grey basalt, coarser grained but much finer than granite).