作为建筑骨料的砂砾石资源传统上来自陆地山体的开采、风化的碎石、废弃的矿渣、古河道和现代河道底床沉积砂砾以及海岸带的沙体。由于全球人口增长，特别是经济发展引发的高速工业化和城市化进程，极大地刺激了对建筑用料的需求膨胀；另一方面，人均土地资源的锐减引起土地价格上升，陆地建筑用料资源的持续开采和不断减少以及环境保护的压力都导致陆地来源的砂砾石开采成本大幅度提高，８０年代以来，以英国和日本为代表的发达国家各自发展了自己的海上采砂产业和相关技术，近年来，许多发展中国家也开始重视滨、浅海砂砾石资源的开发和利用。 Gravel resources, as building aggregates, have traditionally originated from the exploitation of mountainous terrains, weathered gravel, abandoned slag, sediments of ancient rivers and sediments from modern riverbed beds, and sandy bodies of coastal waters. As the global population growth, especially the high-speed industrialization and urbanization triggered by economic development, has greatly stimulated the demand expansion of construction materials; on the other hand, the sharp decline in per capita land resources has caused land prices to rise. The resources for land-based construction materials The sustained mining and continuous reduction and the pressure of environmental protection have led to the drastic increase of the cost of land-derived sand and gravel mining. Since the 1980s, the developed countries represented by Britain and Japan have respectively developed their own offshore sand mining industry and related technologies, In recent years, many developing countries have also begun to attach importance to the development and utilization of coastal and gravel resources.