Landscaping stones may pose risks to the environment

From San Francisco, at a meeting of the American Geophysical Union

In many arid regions, environmentally conscious gardeners who want to conserve water eschew lush lawns and instead grow indigenous drought-tolerant plants amid arrangements of ornamental rocks. Now, chemical analyses suggest that some such landscaping choices aren’t doing the environment any favors.

Landscaping with crushed rock is popular in Las Vegas and many other cities in the southwestern United States.