River Rock or Beach Pebbles: Are They the Same?
What is the difference between Arizona river rock and beach pebbles? Are they the same? This is a common question among people looking for smooth, round or oval landscaping pebbles. The answer is both yes and no. Read on to learn why beach pebbles are often called river rock pebbles, and whether or not you should care.
Beach Pebbles and River Rock: Similarities
Both beach pebbles are river rock pebbles are smooth stones people commonly use for landscaping. People use various names for these rocks: beach pebbles, river rock, Arizona river rock, egg rock, river pebbles, Mexican pebbles etc. Regardless of the name, these stones are rounded, with mainly oval and round forms. Many are flat, but not all. Both types of stone come in a variety of colors, and they can be separated by color and size.
Color of River Rock and Pebbles
The color range depends on the location where landscaping pebbles come from: the Pacific Baja beaches in Mexico offer black and grey pebbles, as well as various shades of brown, red, and green. You can find very light pebbles (ivory pebbles), but they are rare. The Ohio river and dry old river beds in Arizona offer a plenitude of sand and brown-colored pebbles.
Uses of River Rock and Beach Pebbles
Landscapers use beach pebbles and river rock for similar purposes. They often use these materials as ground covering, either to cover large areas with uniform color, or to create accent zones around trees, shrubs, and flower beds. People use both types of landscaping pebbles to create dry river beds, walkways, various water features, and mosaic floor designs.
Mexican Beach Pebbles and River Rock: Differences
The main difference between river rock and beach pebbles is the source of stone. River rock is dredged from live or dry river beds, as well as rock queries along the river banks. Mexican beach pebbles are picked up by hand at the beaches in Mexico. Federal regulations in Mexico prohibit the use of any type of machinery on the beaches; therefore, workers pick up pebbles by hand one-by-one. They then sort pebbles at the beach as careful eyes inspect each pebble. Trained workers can quickly sort a variety of shades, including custom colors.
Water is an important part of the process. Running water smoothes both beach pebbles and river rock. In the case of river rock, this process ended thousands of years ago. On the other hand, ocean waves wash over beach pebbles continually until the day people pick them up. As a result, beach pebbles are often smoother, flatter, and more rounded than river rock. This is why many people choose beach pebbles for installation around pools and in other areas where they might frequently walk barefoot.
Summary: River Rock or Beach Pebbles?
In a word, beach pebbles represent the “high end” of the various types of landscaping pebbles commonly called river rock. Choose beach pebbles if you envision an exquisite, elegant landscape that will add a lot of value to your property. And definitely pick beach pebbles if you need very smooth stones to walk on barefoot.
For many other projects, you might be ok wit the more budget-conscious Arizona river rock. In addition, in some areas of the country people just use river rock as a custom. For example, many Houston and Dallas river rock customers are pleasantly surprised that we offer an “upgraded version” of river rock which is called Mexican beach pebbles. For more information, contact us or call us at (760) 579-2871.