The Origins Of The Humble Pebble.

Just lately, I have developed a bit of a ‘soft spot’ for an inanimate object, the humble pebble.

If you think about it, not many people take much notice of this small, round stone and yet, it has somehow become an integral part of the makeup of our homes.

Walk around any landscaped garden and take careful note of the pathways and borders; in most cases, these will have been created by the use of pebbles in a variant of colours. Homes around the world have used this small stone to create stunning installations such as a beautifully laid out shower tray, a feature wall in a kitchen or bathroom or even the floor of a swimming pool.

Yet, how often does one stop to think where these innocuous stone pieces originated or indeed, how they are formed?

Not many of us really I am interested in that I have tons of time on my hands! But, having said that, these humble pebbles have a wonderful story to tell.

While walking along a beach on one of the remote islands of Raja Ampat, off the coast of West Papua, I noticed that only on the windward side of the island could I find pebbles, while on the leeward side, the beaches were covered in fine white sand the colour of snow.

Picking one up, I examined it carefully and noticed that most of the pebbles, whatever their size, tend to have an ellipsoidal shape, often egg-shaped with small axes of similar length and most of the time, flat.

When one thinks about it, for a pebble to acquire its shape it would have had to be tossed and tumbled by the ocean for perhaps thousands of years for its rough edges to be worn away and to eventually be rendered flat and elliptical.

The mechanism that causes this is essentially a single force; the sea or a river, pushing pebbles over the top of more pebbles. Eventually, the sheer force of the water will render the stone into a smooth, flat and often colourful shape.

The Pretty pebbles of Flores.

Further west from Papua on Indonesia’s most southern archipelago is the exquisite island of Flores, whose sister island, Komodo is home to the mighty Komodo Dragons. This 350 km long, skinny island is peppered with 17 perfectly conical volcanoes, some as high as 11,000ft. and many are still active.

Myriads of small bays make up the shoreline and it was the ones to the east that intrigued me, especially Pengajawa Beach. Here one can see groups of women collecting pebbles which they sort and place in various bags according to size.

What makes the Flores pebble so unique is that when they lie on the beach baking in the hot, tropical sun they are snow white. However, when a wave rolls up and covers them the pebble reacts with the water and turns a beautiful shade of azure blue.! Perfect for a shower tray!!

Who would have thought?

The Geological Make Up Of The Average Pebble.

Pebbles come in various colours and textures and can have streaks, known as veins of quartz or other minerals. They are found in only two locations – on the beaches of various oceans and seas, and inland where ancient seas used to cover the land. When then the seas retreated, the rocks became landlocked.

Beach pebbles and river pebbles (also known as river rock) are distinct in their geological formation and appearance.

Pebble beaches are found all along the coast of the Pacific Ocean, beginning in the United States and extending down to the tip of South America in Argentina. Pebble beaches are prolific in northern Europe (particularly on the beaches of the Norwegian Sea) along the coast of the U.K. and Ireland, on the shores of Australia, and around the islands of Indonesia and Japan.

On Cape Cod, pebbles are abundant, but these differ in that they are composed of quartz. The interesting thing about the Cape Cod pebble is that if you bang two pebbles together in a dark space the pebbles will glow at the point of impact. The glow is called luminescence or, more specifically, triboluminescence. Geologists don’t fully understand this phenomenon and to this day the Cape Cod pebble remains a mystery.

Pebbles on Mars?

The humble pebble could answer the question; ‘Was, or is there life on Mars”

On the Red Planet, slabs of pebbly conglomerate rock have been found and have been interpreted by scientists as having formed in an ancient streambed. The gravels, which were discovered by N.A.S.A.’s Mar’s rover, Curiosity range from the size of sand particles to the size of golf balls. Analysis has shown that the pebbles were deposited by a stream that flowed at walking pace and was ankle- to hip-deep.

There is now even more evidence that Mars was once covered in oceans, lakes and rivers. A group of small rounded pebbles found in the Gale Crater are shaped in such a way that suggests they once hopped, slid and rolled along a river bed on the red planet.

Those little stones could be the clue to Life On Mars!!

Pebbles are an innocuous object and yet they are everywhere one looks and are somehow part of our daily existence. Who doesn’t remember that ridiculous craze in the eighties when marketers encouraged us to buy pebbles to be used as ‘pet rocks’ for our children.

So, the pebble is often a great source of inspiration and indeed, it was the lowly pebble that inspired the formation of Island Stone that spawned a worldwide industry, proving that there’s money in practically everything.

Adapted from an article produced for Island Stone 2017

Paul v Walters is the best selling author of several novels. When he is not cocooned in sloth and procrastination in his house in Bali he sometimes rises to produce articles for several international and vox pop journals.