A Blog About Stone Gathering, Tumbling and Polishing, and Rocks and Landscapes, from New Zealand – With Musical Interludes (john.tumblestone@gmail.com)
50 Riverton/Aparima Tumblestones for Te Hikoi Museum Shop: Part Two
50 tumblestones from the beaches of Riverton/Aparima.
The Back Beach, Howell’s Point, on a stormy day.
Part One of this Series of Posts provided an introduction to Riverton/Aparima and 12 of these 50 polished tumblestones. This Post considers a futher 15 stones.
Three of the stones are banded ignimbrite, a kind of volcanic stone with distinctive flow bands and small gaseous pockets filled with silica. Again, like fossil worm cast stones, these can be found on beaches between Riverton and Orepuki. See here for more information.
Many stones on the beaches in this area are dark-coloured, gray or black-and-white. However, closer examination often reveals subtle variations in even the darkest. The following six are good examples of these types.
At first sight, a uniform gray-brown stone but closer viewing reveals details.
Bands of gray make up this stone.
Volcanic stone, the white specks being crystals that form as the rock cooled.
Complex of tiny black and white constituents.
Schist or gneiss, with tiny mica specks.
Breccia, made up of small angular stone fragments set in fine-grained matrix.
But there are also a diversity of white stones, including these six.
Two quartz stones, one slightly iron-stained.
At first sight a uniform white with dark specks – but a closer viewing reveals a more complex composition.
A quartzite.
A light-coloured stone with a complex structure.
Maybe more green than white, this stone has tiny sparking crystals within it.
The third and final Post in this Series looks at the remaining 23 of these 50 stones.
Retired Academic, male, living in the New Zealand countryside near Whanganui with his wife as well as Jasper the dog, Fluffy the cat, Dancer and Penny, the horses, and a shed half-full of stones. Email john.tumblestone@gmail.com.
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2 thoughts on “50 Riverton/Aparima Tumblestones for Te Hikoi Museum Shop: Part Two”
2 thoughts on “50 Riverton/Aparima Tumblestones for Te Hikoi Museum Shop: Part Two”