A Blog About Stone Gathering, Tumbling and Polishing, and Rocks and Landscapes, from New Zealand – With Musical Interludes (john.tumblestone@gmail.com)
In June, my sister Helen and her grandson Sam came with me on a visit to Gemstone Beach. Sam spent a lot of time climbing the small slumps of mud at the bottom of the beach’s cliffs, but he also played along the stretch of beach and collected a few stones alongside Helen and myself.
Helen and Sam at Gemstone Beach
Helen and Sam watching the waves at Gemstone Beach
Helen and Sam at Gemstone Beach
Helen and Sam moving up the beach at Gemstone Beach
Gemstone Beach
Later, I sorted through Sam’s stones and brought 15 home with me to tumble polish. That process has now been completed. These are Sam’s stones:
The second stone is a particularly colourful sedimentary stone, with light and dark layers. In a drawer in the rock display area of the Riverton Museum is a similar stone identified as banded argillite:
Sam’s Stone 2
Riverton Museum
Sam’s Stone 2
Detail of Sam’s Stone 2
The third stone, a green one, perhaps argillite or some other mudstone, has a lacy network of light green lines over its surface:
Sam’s Stone 3
Sam’s Stone 3
Detail of Sam’s Stone 3
The fifth stone, a kind of breccia (containing smaller sharp-edged stones in a matrix), is mainly light-coloured on one side and dark-coloured on the other:
Sam’s Stone 5
Sam’s Stone 5
Detail of Sam’s Stone 5
“Porphyry” is the term given to the eighth stone. It has a volcanic origin, with crystals within it which have grown as the hot rock cooled:
Sam’s Stone 8
Sam’s Stone 8
Detail of Sam’s Stone 8
The tenth stone is my favourite. Though only a small stone, it has a fascinating texture, with smooth parts of clear silica and iron-stained semi-fibrous sections:
Sam’s Stone 10
Sam’s Stone 10
Detail of Sam’s Stone 10
Detail of Sam’s Stone 10
Detail of Sam’s Stone 10
The fourteenth stone is an interesting one – grey on both sides but a lighter-coloured layer pressed in the middle, exposed around the edges:
Sam’s Stone 14
Sam’s Stone 14
Detail of face of Sam’s Stone 14
The rim of Sam’s Stone 14
And the fifteenth stone is a small conglomerate (containing smaller round-edged stones in a matrix):
Sam’s Stone 15
Sam’s Stone 15
Detail of Sam’s Stone 15
The first half of the rest of Sam’s stones:
Sam’s Stone 1
Sam’s Stone 1
Detail of Sam’s Stone 1
Detail of Sam’s Stone 4
Sam’s Stone 4
Sam’s Stone 4
Sam’s Stone 6
Sam’s Stone 6
Detail of Sam’s Stone 6
Detail of Sam’s Stone 7
Sam’s Stone 7
Sam’s Stone 7
The second half of the rest of Sam’s stones:
Sam’s Stone 9
Sam’s Stone 9
Detail of Sam’s Stone 9
Detail of Sam’s Stone 11
Sam’s Stone 11
Sam’s Stone 11
Sam’s Stone 12
Sam’s Stone 12
Detail of Sam’s Stone 12
Detail of Sam’s Stone 14
Sam’s Stone 14
Sam’s Stone 14
I started to tumble polish these stones in a three pound barrel on 21 June, and the process was completed just over five weeks later on 28 July (the tumblers were inactive for a week during this time when electrical work was being undertaken on another project). Initially, the stones were tumbled in 320 silicon carbide grit for seven days, followed by a two hour tumble in soap. Then a pre-polish tumble in tin oxide took place for just under five days, followed again by a two hour soap tumble. The pro-polish tumble in a finer tin oxide lasted for seven days, with the final step being a five day burnishing tumble in borax. Sam’s stones were tumbled with other stones collected by Helen, in order to make up a full batch.
On Gemstone Beach, spotting a fossil worm cast stone (circled)
Close-up of fossil worm cast stone in previous photo.
Here the fossil worm casts are raised, being of harder material than the rest of the stone
The first stage of polishing fossil worm cast stones, 320 grit. The first two stages are skipped, to help preserve the fossils.
“Fossilised worm casts” are trace fossils, and I have found them in stones deposited on the beaches between Orepuki and Riverton at the bottom of the South Island of New Zealand. In the first Post in this series, I noted how these stones are especially associated with Gemstone Beach, near Orepuki. In the second Post, I introduced the idea of “trace” fossils. This Post looks at the shapes of the traces of the “worm casts” in more detail.
The traces on these fossil worm cast stones exhibit different shapes. A handful of the stones are crowded with different shaped traces:
Fossil worm cast traces on Southland beach stone
Fossil worm cast traces on Southland beach stone
Fossil worm cast traces on Southland beach stone
Other stones have only one trace, or a partial trace, or a very faint trace:
Flat featureless trace
Small partial trace (on right of stone)
Very faint trace (on left of stone)
It appears that a micro-faultline that has split this trace:
Stone with micro-faulted trace fossil.
Faultline circled.
Close-up of micro-fault.
On the occasional stone, the trace is noticeably raised in relation to the rest of the stone:
Raised trace fossil shape.
Raised trace fossil shape.
Raised trace fossil shape. The trace is sitting on a ridge along the side of the stone.
Raised trace fossil shape. In this case, even the stone material between the segments are worn back.
Detail of previous stone.
Raised trace fossil shape. The ridge seems to continue a little way past the shape. This stone was collected by Petra.
However, on the vast majority of the stones, the trace has worn away at the same rate as the rest of the stone.
Let’s look more closely at the shape of the traces. One of the stones I collected has these shapes on it:
Are “A” and “B” essentially the same shape, “B” being a bit more stretched out somehow? There are also a number of much smaller and less complex shapes “C” – are these made by a different animal altogether? Or are they parts of shapes similar to “A” and “B”?
In the next stone (below), “D” seems similar to “B” in the previous stone, but “E” and “F” appear to be different from these. “E” is not segmented, and “F” is not lineal. Unless “E” is in effect a side view of “D”, and “F” is a view of “D” from the top or from below. It is important to be aware that a trace will look different depending on whether it is lying along the surface of a stone or “emerging” from it.
The next trace shape seems to change along its length, being clearly segmented at the bottom but much less so at the top. Is the very top end part of the same trace? Or is it a different one altogether?
On this stone (below), is “G” the same kind of trace as “H”, with “H” being a bit more worn away? Or are they different traces altogether?
And is this next shape different from all the others?
Some of the stones have blank featureless stripes on them, such as “I” on the stone below:
Is such a stripe a worn, or less-worn, version of the segmented trace to the left of it? Or was a different kind of animal or activity involved?
What are we to make of the trace shapes on this stone (below)? Are the traces all different or are they variations of the same shape? Or are they parts of one shape that has been partly worn away? If they are different shapes, might they have still been made by the same animal?
Finally, an example of complexity. The stone below contains a number of trace shapes, many of which we have already seen in the stones above. However, the lineal feature marked “J” is a long complex shape not previously encountered. How would we make sense of it? What kind of animal would have made such marks, and how?
The next Post will present the most common shape of the traces on the fossilised worm cast stones I have collected. The Post after that will try to identify this trace based on the literature that examines in detail the kinds of traces left behind by animals on the floor of the sea.
Often I need to store stones at different stages in the tumble polishing process. This is because of the “sorting” I do between stages. After each stage, I look at each stone to decide whether it is able to proceed to the next stage, needs to repeat the same stage, or maybe even go back a stage. Often, then, I may not have enough for a barrel load for the next stage. A plastic container, like a two-litre ice cream container, is useful to store together stones destined for a particular stage. But if I am trying to keep track of stones from different beaches, or different types of stones, it is more efficient to have a multi-compartment container.
On the beach, I use plastic backs like these when collecting stones. I then consolidate them like this to get them home in my suitcase. From here (on the floor at home), they move to the shed where my tumblers are.
Close-up of some of the stones brought home in May 2019.
In the shed, I often store rough stones (and others) in two litre ice cream containers, writing identification on the side of the container.
For a while now, I have been using a four-compartment “Sistema”-brand plastic tray that I bought from the Warehouse in New Zealand. However, this tray is no longer produced, it also has its limitations, and I needed a replacement. Its limitations involve the number of its compartments and its overall size. Regarding the number of compartments: I dedicated the four compartments to stones to go to 100 grit tumble, to 220 grit tumble, to 320 grit tumble, and to pre-polish tumble. This meant I had no compartment for stones to go to pro-polish tumble, needing to keep them separately. In hindsight, it would have been better to replace the 100 grit compartment with a pro-polish one, keeping the rough stones in a separate container.
Sistema storage/sorting tray. My loupe/magnifying glass is in the bottom middle compartment
Sistema storage/sorting tray
Regarding the overall size of the tray: it is just a bit too big to place on the work bench I use when loading tumblers (it is 47 cms long, 29 cms wide and 8 cms deep). And when over two-thirds full, the tray can be quite heavy to move around, and the weight also puts strain on the centre-placed carry handle. Recently, I have been working with more stones than previously, and I need another way of storing them.
I looked around at different shops for an alternative container, and found a very useful one at the Warehouse – the “Taurus” set. This consists of a large tray, larger than the previous Sistema one, that does not have compartments (it is 57 cms long, 39 cms wide and 10 cms deep). I also bought a number of separate containers (“trays”) that can be placed within it. The medium-sized tray is 22 cms long, 15 cms wide and 5.5 cms deep. The small-sized tray is half that size – 15 cms long, 11 cms wide and 5.5 cms deep. The cost of these is very reasonable.
Larger container with no compartments.
Comparison of container sizes, old (below) with new (top)
The new container
The medium internal container/tray.
The beginning of one arrangement – three medium trays along the top
The small internal container/tray.
Two small trays fit in one medium tray.
This provides much greater flexibility. Trays can be labelled as I wish – I can have a number for one particular stage, if I choose. I use a “permanent” marker to write the next tumbling stage on the trays. Methylated spirits can be used to remove this writing, when desired. And I can carry just the relevant tray of stones over to the work bench when filling a tumbler barrel, no need to bring the whole large container. Compared with the previous container, it is easier to move this one, even when it is heavy with stones, because there is a sturdy handle on each end. The handles allow me to move the container on and off a storage shelf with more confidence. The container also fits nicely on the arms of a “director chair” which can be moved about the shed next to wherever the stones are being worked on.
Three medium trays and three small trays fit neatly into the large container
One configuration of trays
Each individual tray is easy to take out if I want to work with the stones somewhere else
A container fits nicely on the arms of a “director chair”
Looking from the Back Beach southwards across Foveaux Strait, June 2019
On my last stone collecting trip to Riverton, a storm blew up from the south. The wind roared over Foveaux Strait onto the Back Beach, whipping up sand off the beach and creating small tornadoes of sea foam near the rocks.
Sea foam swirled up in a spiral by the strong wind as it comes around the corner. West end of Back Beach, Riverton.
Sea foam swirled up in a spiral by the strong wind as it comes around the corner. West end of Back Beach, Riverton.
Ironically, one of the most enjoyable parts of collecting stones from south coast beaches is being in the midst of the elements, especially when they are rough and wild. As long as I am warm and dry, well wrapped up in coat and hat and maybe gloves, it is good to experience the power of nature in this way. The world is reduced to that time and place, to the “howling of the wind” and the “crashing of the waves”, as the horizon closes in.
Back Beach, Riverton, June 2019.
Back Beach, Riverton, June 2019. Looking eastwards, towards Bluff.
Back Beach, Riverton, June 2019.
The Beach Past the Back Beach, Riverton, June 2019.
At the west end of the Back Beach, Riverton, June 2019.
The Beach Past the Back Beach, Riverton, June 2019.
Back Beach, Riverton, June 2019.
The Beach Past the Back Beach, Riverton, June 2019.
Back Beach, Riverton, June 2019.
And “as I walk along these shores, I am the history within”, having walked these beaches since a child. Though they have barely changed even a whit, I have grown older and older with each year. We came here on our annual holidays, more than 50 years ago, and the very first thing we did on arrival was to drive to the Back Beach. Even today, arriving in Riverton, I feel the tug to drive on to the end of the road, to see the wildness of the waves crashing onto the stones.
“Feel So Near” by Dougie MacLean
You’ll find me sitting at this table With my friend Fin and my friend John My friend Murdaney tells us stories Of things long gone, long gone.
And we may take a glass together The whisky makes it all so clear It fires our dulled imaginations And I feel so near, so near
I feel so near to the howling of the winds I feel so near to the crashing of the waves I feel so near to the flowers in the fields Feel so near
The old man looks out to the islands He says this place is endless thin There’s no real distance here to mention We might all fall in, all fall in
No distance to the spirits of the living No distance to the spirits of the dead And as he turned his eyes were shining And he proudly said, proudly said
I feel so near to the howling of the winds I feel so near to the crashing of the waves I feel so near to the flowers in the fields Feel so near
So we build our tower constructions There to mark our place in time We justify our great destructions As on we climb, on we climb
Now the journey doesn’t seem to matter The destinations faded out And gathering out along the headland I hear the children shout, children shout
I feel so near to the howling of the winds I feel so near to the crashing of the waves I feel so near to the flowers in the fields Feel so near…
“Proterra” by Runrig
As I walk along these shores I am the history within As I climb the mountainside Breaking Eden again
Dark the day, dark the night The warring dust, the morning tribe Crushed by a million suns Here the heart of you lies
Over land and sea I’ll come fighting for you Over land and sea A dawn is breaking before us
Proterra, take this hand The open wound, the promised land Breaking the waves, spread the oars Cast our badge for the shore
Over land and sea I’ll come fighting for you Over land and sea A dawn is breaking before us…
“Fossils are the preserved evidence of past life. They may include organic remains such as wood, shells, bones and teeth that have been buried, mineralised, and turned to stone” (Te Ara Encyclopedia of New Zealand). Fossils are very important to geology because they are used to date sedimentary rock strata, just like pottery and other artifacts are used to date archaeological layers. Fossils don’t survive the forces that produce metamorphic rocks nor the extreme heat associated with volcanic rocks, so they are found only in sedimentary rocks.
There are at least three fossilised worm cast stones in this newly washed batch of stones just collected from Gemstone Beach.
Fossilised worm cast stone found on a Riverton beach.
Fossilised worm cast stone found on a Riverton beach.
Fossil worm cast stones, like those above, introduced in the first Post in this series, are examples of trace fossils (also known as “ichno-fossils“), which are different from most other types of fossils. In the book, “A Photographic Guide to Fossils of New Zealand“, written by Hamish Campbell, Allan Beu, James Crampton, Liz Kennedy and Marianna Terezow (2013), it is pointed out that trace fossils are not the organic remains of dead organisms. “They include marks, traces, tracks, burrows and deposits that relate to animal and plant behaviour, dead or alive” (page 9). The authors go on to state that trace fossils “record an animal’s moving, exploring, escaping, hiding, breathing, hunting feeding, excreting, reproducing, growing, playing fighting, dying, or resting” (page 10).
Take as an example of a trace fossil, the footprints which record the movement of a dinosaur. In Bolivia is a limestone cliff on the face of which can be seen the footprints of at least eight different dinosaur species, left as trace impressions over 68 million years ago. A news article in “The Guardian” in 2011 explains how the footprints were made: “The creatures’ feet sank into the soft shoreline in warm damp weather, leaving marks that were solidified by later periods of drought. Wet weather then returned, sealing the prints below mud and sediment. The wet-dry pattern was repeated seven times, preserving multiple layers of prints. The cherry on the cake was added when tectonic activity pushed the flat ground up to a brilliant viewing angle.” See the photos below.
Dinosaur trace fossil footprints have also been found in New Zealand, in northwest Nelson. In 2009, GNS Geologist Greg Browne came across 70-million year old dinosaur footprints in sandstone around the shores of Westhaven (Whanganui) Inlet. They were the very first dinosaur footprints to be recognised in New Zealand as well as providing the first evidence of dinosaurs in the South Island.
There is an excellent YouTube clip in which Greg Browne shows the dinosaur trace fossil footprints he discovered, discusses how they were made, and points out the information provided by such fossils. According to a 2016 news report, it is thought that the footprints were most likely made by the colossal sauropod dinosaurs, the largest animals to have walked on Earth, growing to about 40 metres in length and weighing more than 100 tonnes (there is a depiction of a sauropod below the next video clip, the photo on the left). But there can often some doubt over exactly what dinosaur makes trace fossil footprints. We don’t have live dinosaurs whose contemporary footprints we can study!
In May this year, a significant trace fossil find in Otago, New Zealand, happened when Michael Johnson found some moa footprints that had been exposed in a streambed. Floods had scoured away the bed to expose the footprints, which had been made in clay.
Those who have studied dinosaur trace fossil footprints have pointed out that different substrates (sand, mud, silt etc.) and environments (land, stream, coast etc.) offer different chances of preserving them. An excellent diagram is in the photo below right.
Similar issues arise with the trace fossils of small marine animals like those whose markings have been left on the stones of the south coast. In “A Photographic Guide to Fossils of New Zealand” are only two trace fossil entries, on page 64, the first of which looks similar to the fossil worm casts found at Gemstone Beach and Riverton (see below). In the second entry, it is noted that the animal responsible for the traces is unknown despite the distinctiveness of the trace.
A Photographic Guide to Fossils of New Zealand, front cover
A Photographic Guide to Fossils of New Zealand, back cover
Top half of page 64 of A Photographic Guide to Fossils of New Zealand
Bottom half of page 64 of A Photographic Guide to Fossils of New Zealand
Another New Zealand example of a trace fossil can be found in Jocelyn Thornton’s (2013) “The Field Guide to New Zealand Geology”. On page 64 she refers to “the feeding traces of a wormlike creature, possibly something like a sea-pen”, these traces being “rows of grey arrowheads” and “swirling patterns” (see photo of text extract below). A sea-pen actually doesn’t look like a worm (see photos below) but it has a “peduncle” to anchor itself in sand or mud. A “peduncle” is a stalk-like part by which the sea-pen is attached to its substrate, by burrowing into it. As a New Zealand guide to sea-pens puts it: “Virtually all sea pens attach to the soft substrata of benthic sediments by an unbranched rootlike and sausage-shaped muscular peduncle enabling them to stand erect” (page 3 of “Pennatulacea (Sea Pens) Descriptions for the New Zealand Region“, 2014, by Gary Williams, Di Tracey and Erika Mackay). I guess it is the peduncle that will leave burrow-like traces behind, but it’s difficult to see them as having much length or going in a curving direction.
From page 129 of Joyce Thornton’s “The Field Guide to New Zealand Geology”
Nevertheless, this example from Thornton’s book raises again that important point about the kind of trace fossils I am interested in (the kind of traces left by marine worm-like animals). The point is that there is a distinction between the trace itself and the animal that makes the trace. What we have available to us are the traces – we then have to work out what animals made the traces (just as the dinosaur researchers have to do). And it may be that more than one kind of marine animal can make the same kind of trace. And can different traces be made by the same animal?
Furthermore, other things than animals can make “traces” on the sea floor or on rocks. Three different kinds of “pseudofossils”, commonly mistaken for trace fossils, are referred to in “A Photographic Guide to Fossils of New Zealand”. These are: sedimentary features such as ripples, caused by sea currents acting on sand, silt and mud (see photo below left); mineral growths, such as iron and manganese hydroxide minerals growing on the surface of a crack in a rock (see photo below middle); and structural features, such as clay minerals having a preferred orientation leading to regular patterns in a rock (see photo below right).
Patterns generated by sea-floor currents. Source: “A Photographic Guide to Fossils of NZ”, page 128.
Patterns generated by mineral growth in the crack of a rock. Source: “A Photographic Guide to Fossils of NZ”, page 128.
Patterns generated by inorganic geological forces. Source: “A Photographic Guide to Fossils of NZ”, page 129.
In the next Post in this series, I will examine the shapes of the traces found in the fossilised worm cast stones of Gemstone Beach and Riverton. Later Posts will then try to make sense of these shapes.
This is the 13th Post in this series on the tumble-polishing of 40 Riverton stones, which starts with stone collection and goes right through six different tumbling stages. The first Post can be found here.
The previous Post examined how Stones six to ten came through the tumble-polishing process. This Post looks at Stones 11 to 15, discussing how many of them experienced some damage but still polished well enough to come out looking very interesting:
Stones 11 to 15, rough, as collectedStones 11 to 15, after polishing
STONE 11
Stone 11 is probably a sandstone. In general, it has polished very well, and details of the sand grains that make it up have become clearer to see. This, along with the thin red band and darker base, makes it an interesting stone.
Stone 11, polished.
Other side of Stone 11, polished.
Top of Stone 11, polished.
Detail of Stone 11, polished
There are some problems with it, however. When I inspected it after tumbling in 100 grit, I noted that it had a very minor superficial crack on one side, near its base. After the 220 grit tumble, this had been reduced. This crack remains, though in a reduced state, and can barely be felt when I rub my thumb over it. There are three other similar superficial cracks on the base of the stone, in the dark area. I had seen them at the inspection of the stone after Stage Two but did not think them to be significant. They were not noticeable after the 320 grit tumble. However, they have reappeared, including a long one along the base, and a smaller one on the side can be felt more distinctly than the others.
Stone 11 after 100 grit tumble – crack on side at base
Same crack after polishing and burnishing – reduced.
Long crack along base of polished Stone 11
Most noticeable crack on polished Stone 11
There are no “imperfections” in the rest of the stone, which is lighter in colour – maybe the darker section is just a little more brittle. The fact that these superficial cracks are still there after the various tumbling stages suggest that further tumbling in, say, 320 grit may not remove them. Maybe it would take a 220 tumble to achieve this, at the expense of making the stone a little smaller.
STONE 12
Throughout the tumbling process, Stone 12 exhibited some fragility. Small chips were lost from it now and again, caused by bumping into other stones in the barrel. Even in the pre-polish barrel, it lost two or three small pieces. This is a pity because it is a gorgeous stone with a very interesting make-up. It has an obvious crystalline character which means it is probably quartz, stained with shades of cream. And apart from where it was chipped, the stone has polished very well.
Stone 12, polished
Other side of Stone 12, polished
Detail of Stone 12, polished
Chip out of the end of Stone 12, polished
Small pieces missing from the side of Stone 12, polished
More damage on Stone 12, polished
I put Stone 12 through to the final polishing stages though normally I would have discarded it or returned it to a 320 tumble once or twice. As a result, there are distinct imperfections with the final polished stone.
STONE 13
Stone 13 has polished very well. There are no scratches or holes obvious to the eye to when I rub my thumb over it. Polishing has brought out a complex pattern of colour, grayish purple patches drifting on a green background, with white quartz veins slashed across it.
Stone 13, polished
Other side of Stone 13, polished
Detail of Stone 13, polished
Detail of Stone 13, polished
Detail of Stone 13, polished
When a dry stone, straight off the beach, Stone 13 had a weathered dull look, though when wet it revealed some of its promise (as can be seen in the photos of Stone 13 in The Seven Stages in Tumble Polishing Stones: The Selected 40 Stones). My guess is that Stone 13 is some kind of metamorphic stone but I struggle to identify it further than that.
STONE 14
Stone 14 is pink granite, though at the darker shade end. This identification is made partly on the basis of information provided by Te Hikoi The Riverton Museum. It has developed an outstanding chidren’s rockhounding kit which includes pink granite as one of the kinds of stones that can easily be found along the south coast of Southland. The museum has a display supporting the kit, and has a set of drawers with rock samples in them.
Riverton Museum, in a drawer, part of rock display
Riverton Museum, in a drawer, part of rock display
Riverton Museum, poster on different kinds of rocks
The granite rock displayed in the Riverton Museum poster
One of the problems with granite, for the tumble polisher, is that it consists of grains of feldspar, quartz and mica. Depending on how tightly these grains are packed together, the tumbling process may dislodge some as the granite stone bumps against other stones. Furthermore, some of the grains may not polish, or may not polish as well as other grains, preventing the achievement of a consistently polished surface. In the case of Stone 14, the surface feels smooth to my thumb but a close visual inspection shows tiny parts are unpolished. Small chips have also been dislodged from both ends of the stone.
Stone 14, polished
Detail of Stone 14, polished
Detail of Stone 14, polished
Other side of Stone 14, polished
Small chips out of one end of Stone 14
Small chips out of other end of Stone 14
Tumble polishing has made the character of Stone 14 shine out clearly but it is not a perfect polish. Granite often poses this challenge for tumble polishing.
STONE 15
I observed from the outset that Stone 15 had a small gouge in the side. This gouge got progressively shallower and more smooth as the stone with through the three grit stages but remained larger than I would normally have liked when it went to the polish tumbles. However, the gouge was an indicator of the brittleness of the stone – a close inspection reveals a number of other very small cracks and chips in the stone. They were not as apparent earlier on. It is hard to know whether further tumbling with 320 grit would remove them.
Stone 15, polished. Some cracks apparent, bottom right.
Detail of Stone 15, polished.
Detail of Stone 15, polished.
Other side of Stone 15, polished.
Gouge in side of Stone 15, not yet completely smoothed out.
Cracks in Stone 15, polished.
The polish on Stone 15, which is probably some kind of mudstone, is not of the highest quality but again has revealed its patterns in detail.
Large fossil worm cast stone, near McCracken’s Rest, Orepuki. It was too large to tumble polish so I did not take it home with me.
Other side of large fossil worm cast stone, near McCracken’s Rest, Orepuki
Fossil worm cast stone on Gemstone Beach
Fossil worm cast stones found on Gemstone Beach, May 2019
The tourist information on Gemstone Beach near Orepuki, 29 kilometres west of Riverton, sometimes mentions that fossil worm cast stones can be found there. For example: “A few hours beachcombing could easily yield gems such as hydrogrossular, jasper, fossil worm casts and the elusive sapphire” (Heritage Trail website). The Heritage Trail sign that used to stand at Gemstone Beach also mentions fossil worm casts.
Over the past couple of years, I have believed that the sort of stones being referred to here would have within them, or on them, the fossilised remains left by worms at the bottom of the sea, these remains being the castings excreted by them as they fed. This series of Posts reports on the research I have done to check out this belief.
The photos below show what I have come to think of as fossil worm cast stones. They have all been collected by myself mostly from Gemstone Beach but some also from Riverton beaches:
Polished fossil worm cast stones from Gemstone Beach.
Fossil worm cast stone 1
Fossil worm cast stone 2
Fossil worm cast stone 3
Fossil worm cast stone 4
Fossil worm cast stone 5
Fossil worm cast stone 6
Fossil worm cast stone 7
Fossil worm cast stone 8
Fossil worm cast stone 9
In a small entry on types of fossils written by Hamish Campbell in 2006 in Te Ara The Encyclopedia of New Zealand, the example of a fossilised worm burrow is very similar to the stone in the photo centre right above. Campbell writes: “The worm-like impression is called a trace fossil, as it shows traces left by a worm burrowing through mud.”
Note that Campbell mentions “burrows”, not “casts”. Maybe the distinction is important – we will return to this in a later Post.
Furthermore, theRiverton Museum Te Hikoi includes two “worm trace fossil” stones in one of it rock drawers (see photo below). They look similar to some of the ones I have collected on Gemstone Beach and Riverton.
Riverton Museum Te Hikoi display. Photo taken with permission.
Jocelyn Thornton’s (1985) book, “Gemstones”, has a page on “Orepuki Beach Pebbles” (page 36). She refers to a group of stones (number “5” in her diagram) as follows: “Those at the top of this group clearly show layers of mud, worm trails and wave ripples…” (see photos below). She uses the term “trail” and not “cast”. None of these stones really look like the fossil worm cast stones I have found.
The next Post in this series will look more closely at what a “trace” fossil is. Part Three (July 2019) looks in detail at the trace shapes found in the stones. After writing Part Three, I conducted research into the origin and age of these trace fossils. Part Four, written in September 2019, reports on information from someone in the Department of Geology at the University of Otago who knows something about trace fossils. Part Five was not published until July 2024 and describes my research on a number of topics, mainly the role of the Brook Street Terrane in the formation of the trace fossils along the south coast.
Slapton “Sands” is, ironically, a pebble beach, in Devon. I first visited it in 2016 and noticed the large tank situated at the south end of Slapton Ley. This led me to undertake some research into the history of the beach during World War Two. On 28 April 1944, a large number of US servicemen were killed off Slapton Sands during preparations for the D-Day landings. I have set out the details of this in a previous Post. The 75th Anniversary of this tragedy took place recently. The four photos at the top of this Post were taken by the US Embassy in London during the Anniversary Ceremony.
The following are reports of the Anniversary which include material on the beach, the Exercise in 1944, and the ceremonies that took place in 2019.
A BBC news report (1 minute 41 seconds long):
Another BBC Report (4 minutes 50 seconds long), with a cross-over to a live reporter on the scene:
CBS News Report (2 minutes 47 seconds long):
Video clip of the Ceremony on Slapton Sands, from Devon Live (31 minutes 19 seconds), along with an article – click here.
Shorter video clip (42 seconds) of the Ceremony, from Devon Live, with a more detailed historical article – click here.
One of the moving speeches from the Anniversary Ceremony can be found here (7 minutes 48 seconds), made by US Rear Admiral David Manero (Defense Attache, US Embassy, London), along with other video clips related to Exercise Tiger.
Previous Posts with notes about the music on TumbleStone dealt with the first five, the next five, and numbers 11 to 20. What follows are the next five.
21) “Love By Satellite” (19 October 2016) – An old friend who I have not seen for many years, David Parker is a musician and I stumbled across this video of a song of his on YouTube and just had to Post it. “Love By Satellite” has been described as “a sweet, country-tinged song”. David has been a key figure behind the Titirangi Music Festival, which is in its 13th year in 2019. Currently, David is part of The Nukes, a ukelele trio.
22) “‘The Wild Places’ – Where I feel blessed” (22 October 2016) – I first paid some attention to Dan Fogelberg because he had done a cover of one of Bruce Cockburn’s songs, “Lovers in a Dangerous Time”. It appears on his 1990 Album “Wild Places”, which is my favourite Album of his. This TumbleStone Post uses the opening two pieces on the Album, the instrumental “Aurora Nova” followed by the song “The Wild Places”. The Post includes photos of a number of the great wild places I visit to collect stones or experience geological landscapes. Dan Fogelberg was from Illinois in the USA, and made his first music recordings in the early 1970s. He is perhaps best known for his 1980s songs, such as “Longer” (1979), “Same Old Lang Syne” (1980), and “Leader of the Band” (1982). He died in 2007 of prostate cancer.
24) “Great Wall” (7 December 2016) – One of the impacts of the 2016 Kaikoura earthquake was a great rupture of the landscape, creating a “wall” across it. Runrig’s “Wall of China”, from their 2001 Album “The Stamplng Ground”, seemed fitting. On Runrig, see #7 in the Post The Second Five Musical Pieces on TumbleStone.
25) “15 March 2019 – Shock and Grief in New Zealand” – This is one of my very few Posts not about stones in some way. The events of 15 March 2019, the “mosque shootings”, were so shocking, and the national response so heartening, that I felt it important to do this. I finished the Post with the “haka version” of the national anthem.
The next ten musical pieces used in TumbleStone Posts can be found here.
Notes on the first ten TumbleStone Posts which included music in them can be found in two previous Posts (1-5 and 6-10). These are the next ten, all posted between June and October 2016.
11) “And the thought becomes the memory…” – This line from “Maybe Tomorrow” by the New Zealand pop group Goldenhorse shares this Post with simply one photo of a small polished translucent agate pebble from Birdlings Flat. Whose thought (of what) becomes this stone which becomes a memory (of itself, or of the original thought)? I don’t know, I just love the song and its melody and tunefulness, just like I love the agates from Birdlings Flat. “Maybe Tomorrow” is from the 2002 Album “Riverhead” and was the most played local song on NZ radio in 2003. The group produced its last song in 2007. Goldenhorse’s lead vocalist Kirsten Morrell initially trained to sing classical music and this is often reflected in her vocals.
12) “Soul of Southland…” – A Southland stone, a Southland song. John Grenell is New Zealand’s best known country singer. He grew up in Central Otago and Dunedin, and recorded his first album in 1963. He originally sang as John Hore, using his stepfather’s surname, but later changed to his original family surname of Grenell. “Soul of Southland” comes from his 2013 Album “Welcome to My World”. John lived at Whitecliffs, on a Canterbury foothills farm, and bred Appaloosa horses. He is interested in the outdoor environment, particularly high country tussock and watershed areas. The Whitecliffs Family Music Festival was hosted by John and his wife Deirdre for many years on the farm. In 2021, he was in a Christchurch rest home. My mother’s favourite New Zealand singer was John Hore. He is also the only songwriter I know to include Waikaka (my tiny hometown) in the lyrics of a song. He wrote the New Zealand version of “I’ve Been Everywhere” with local place names in 1966 and although he sometimes changes the place-names, at least one version includes Waikaka:
…I’ve been everywhere man, I’ve been everywhere man I’ve crossed the desert bare man, I’ve breathed the mountain air man Of travel I’ve had my share man I’ve been everywhere
I’ve been to Kaharoa Whangaroa Akaroa Motueka Taramoa Benmore Pongaroa Horoeka Rimutaka Te Karaka Whangarei Nuhaka Waimahaka Motuhura Waikaka…
13) “A Stepping Stone…” – “Windstar Aotearoa” is a song that has within it a reference to a stone. I’m always on the lookout for them. The song was written and sung by the New Zealand country singer John Grenell (see # 12 above), featured on his 1991 Album “Windstar-Aotearoa”and also on his 2013 Album “Welcome to My World”. In the CD liner notes, Grenell notes that he wrote the song with New Zealand’s celebration of its sesquicentennial in 1990 in mind, 150 years since the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi. He goes on to write: “I dedicate [this song] to the WINDSTAR FOUNDATION folks, which is a movement of people and friends whose purpose is to educate and demonstrate appropriate technologies in food production, harmonious lifestyles, enabling people to operate at their highest potential in an environmentally conscious manner.”
14) “You run from the river, when it long ran over you…” – Dave Dobbyn is one of New Zealand’s most prolific and successful recording musicians. As he grew older, his music became less about drinking and more about thinking. His songs reflect many aspects of New Zealand identity and landscape, and a number of them have been used to represent the country in many different contexts. As Nick Bollinger has put it: “His songs are sung at weddings and funerals – not just those of everyday citizens but also civic leaders. They are performed for visiting dignitaries, hollered spontaneously at boozy sing-alongs, adopted as campaign songs for major sporting events. At different times, in different situations, he seems to speak – or at least sing – for the whole country.” This song, “Beside You”, was first recorded in 1999 on Dobbyn’s Album “The Islander”. It was recorded again in 2000 in the Album “Together In Concert – Live”, from a concert tour Dobbyn undertook with Tim Finn and Bic Runga. This TumbleStone Post links the reference to a river in the lyrics to the river that ran through the farm on which I grew up at Waikaka.
15) “When the stars go blue…” – I first heard this song performed by the Corrs with U2’s Bono. Then I learned that it had been written by Ryan Adams, a US alternative country singer-songwriter, and I enjoyed his version when he sang it. It was then natural to link it to a blue stone. “When the stars go blue” was first released on the 2001 album “Gold”.
16) “Step outside, take a look at the stars…” – Central to this Post is the idea that stones are in stars and stars are in stones, taken from the book “The Planet in a Pebble: A Journey into Earth’s Deep History” (2010) by British geologist Jan Zalasiewicz. The song used in the Post is “Making Contact” by the Canadian musician, Bruce Cockburn. This song appeared on his 1984 Album “Stealing Fire”. Cockburn is my long-time favourite, having discovered him when I was studying in Vancouver, Canada, in the mid-1980s. I used his songs in my lectures from time to time. One in particular called “Call It Democracy” I used in a course on development issues in Latin America. I even presented an academic conference paper on Cockburn in 1992, “Waiting for a Miracle: Geography and Bruce Cockburn’s Political Pop” (see photos below). In recognition of his lifelong contributions to Canada music, culture and social activism, Cockburn has been awarded (among many other things) seven honorary doctorates, received the Order of Canada in 1983, and was inducted into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame in 2001 and the Canadian Broadcast Hall of Fame in 2002. In 2011, the Canadian Postal Service issued a Bruce Cockburn stamp (photo below), stating “Singer-songwriter Bruce Cockburn is best-known for using his music to bring attention to important issues, such as politics, poverty and the environment, believing that songs can be a catalyst for social change.”
17) “Yellow” – A song called “Yellow” naturally links to a stone with yellow in it. “Yellow” appeared on Coldplay‘s debut Album “Parachutes” (2000).
18) “Nothing but the sun…” – There is a particular kind of quartzite stone that I found on Birdlings Flat that looks like it has gold foil flowing through it. It is as if the sun shines within it. The song “Nothing But the Sun” is by Runrig (see # 7 in The Second Five Musical Pieces on TumbleStone) from their 1995 Album “Mara”.
19) “Isn’t that what friends are for?” – This is perhaps my most favourite Bruce Cockburn song (see #18 above). It is from his 1999 Album “Breakfast in New Orleans, Dinner in Timbuktu”. Cockburn made the following comments about the origins of the song: “The ‘you’… is my friend Jonatha Brooke who’s formally of a group called The Story… Jonatha and I had been going through similar things at a distance from each other, sort of upheavals in our respective lives, and comparing notes over the phone for a while and we finally actually got a chance after many months [to meet]. One of the weird things about being a touring musician is that you make friends with other people who do what you do but you only see them when you sort of flash past each other waving on the bus, or at the occasional festival. Once in a while you get lucky enough that you actually end up in the same place at the same time, with time to spend. Eventually this happened with me and Jonatha. While I was waiting for her to show up at the designated rendezvous point, I ended up writing that song based on our phone conversations and a few other bits and pieces from my notebook.”
20)“‘It Dawned on Me’ – I’ll light a beacon” – What do you do with stones once you have polished them? One of the things you can do is put a candle in a glass container and surround it with stones. I used a Dave Dobbyn (see #14 above) song with a line about lighting a beacon. “It Dawned on Me” came from Dobbyn’s 1994 Album “Twist”.
The next five musical pieces used in TumbleStone Posts can be found here.
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