The thing to remember about compacting any fill is there is an optimum water content. Fill will compact to its maximum dry density at a specific water content - all fill is different as to what that water content is. Overshoot it, and the fill can settle as it drys, undershoot it, and it can settle when it gets rained on. No amount of compacting is going to pervent that if your water content is not at the optimal point.
Sounds scary, but the good news is that for fill such as degraded limestone, crusher run, dense graded agggregate, quarry process, road base or whatever you call it (it changes across the country) that optimal moisture content is pretty forgiving. If teh optimal content is, say 5%, you could go between maybe 2 to 8 percent and still acheive 95% of the possible maximum dry density. Other soils are a LOT less forgiving. That is way everybody wants to use DGA / QP / road base - it is very easy to work with.
The point is, yes you were correct to tarp it, and you will most likely have to sprinkle it with water when you compact it, but don't use too much. It's pretty easy to tell with DGA when it is compacting really well, and its also easy too tell when you get the water content too high, as it starts weeping.
Sounds scary, but the good news is that for fill such as degraded limestone, crusher run, dense graded agggregate, quarry process, road base or whatever you call it (it changes across the country) that optimal moisture content is pretty forgiving. If teh optimal content is, say 5%, you could go between maybe 2 to 8 percent and still acheive 95% of the possible maximum dry density. Other soils are a LOT less forgiving. That is way everybody wants to use DGA / QP / road base - it is very easy to work with.
The point is, yes you were correct to tarp it, and you will most likely have to sprinkle it with water when you compact it, but don't use too much. It's pretty easy to tell with DGA when it is compacting really well, and its also easy too tell when you get the water content too high, as it starts weeping.