A gabion consists of a rectangular prismatic box, which is an optical instrument formed by two cylinders inside which lenses are placed that allow distant objects to be seen magnified, filled with stone with a metallic mesh lattice or sometimes sand and earth for the use of civil engineering such as for the construction of roads and military applications for erosion control, which use caged breakwater, which is a work made with stones or cement or concrete blocks thrown to the bottom of the water to form a dam of defense against the waves of the sea.
The most common civil engineering use of gabions is to stabilize shorelines, stream banks or slopes against erosion which is the wear of a surface produced by friction or rubbing, including temporary retaining walls, seepage of sediments by the stream of water that overflows its reservoir or natural or artificial channel, for small, temporary or permanent dams and for the formation of rivers or lined with channels that can be used to direct the force of a stream of water from flooding around a vulnerable structure.
The gabions have some advantages over riprap, which is a construction made of large rocks or cement blocks that are thrown to the bottom of the sea to raise a sort of wall or breakwater which protects against the action of the sea due to its form and capacity applied in various ways.
