Twenty Thesis Milestones for Lynley, Part Two

I recently sent 20 milestones to Lynley. She is getting close to submitting her doctoral thesis on the experiences of a small group of Māori families coping with lives shaped by poverty, stress, insecurity and uncertainty. More about the background to this, and on the first eight milestones, can be found in Part One.

These 20 milestones are polished beach stones from Kakanui in North Otago. This Post continues the consideration of each stone, starting with Stones 9 and 10:

Stone 9 is grey with white flashes and hints of rust-orange. It has a complex composition. By contrast, Stone 10 is more uniform, though its basic grey colour varies subtly across its surface, and there is a small flash of white on one side. It also has tiny veins within it. Both stones demonstrate subtlety and complexity, though in different ways. I am unsure of the identification of Stone 9 though Stone 10 could be a quartzite (of a different variety than Stones 1, 4 and 8).

Stones 11 and 12:

Stone 11, green and white in colour, is one of the larger stones, partly due to having some depth (it’s not a flat stone). The drifts of white amongst the green caught my attention when I spotted it on the beach. I don’t know what type of stone it is. Stone 12 is probably petrified wood. The organic wood material has been replaced and replicated with a mineral precipitating out of solution as water moves through it over a long period of time. During this replacement, the wood’s cell walls act as a “template” for the mineralisation. An important pre-condition is the wood has been buried in water-saturated sediment or volcanic ash. The presence of water reduces the availability of oxygen which inhibits aerobic decomposition by bacteria and fungi. Other plant fossils are usually impressions or compressions of a plant but petrified wood is a three-dimensional representation of the original organic material.

Stones 13 and 14:

Stone 13 could be another jasper, different in appearance from the other two jaspers, Stones 3 and 7 (discussed in Part One). There’s a tracery of fine light-coloured lines across it which provide interest and character. Stone 14 could be another quartzite. Its clouds of mineral colour and clear silica veins give a significant sense of depth.

Stones 15 and 16:

These two stones are predominantly creamy yellow but Stone 15 has some white in it (along with some dark brown lines) while Stones 16 has a little black, resulting in quite different appearances.

Stones 17 and 18:

Stone 17 is in the shape of a shield, and is likely to be a kind of iron stained quartz. The iron provides patches of an interesting and unusual brown colour, with nearly clear quartz crystals showing through to the surface as well. Stone 18 is of more subdued pastel hues, with a whitish flash along the side, and along the top, which made it stand out on the beach.

Stones 19 and 20:

Stone 19 is probably a type of quartz, having a multi-linear appearance from the way iron has been incorporated into it. It sparkles in the light, either from tiny pieces of mica or, more likely, tiny quartz crystals. Stone 20 is another quartzite, very dark in colour, of a pleasing oval shape. Its drifting clouds are crossed by very fine veins of silica not easily discernable to the naked eye.

These 20 milestones share some things in common with a research thesis. From a distance, the stones have broad sweeps of colour and obvious patterns and lines, just as a thesis has its broad research questions and themes. But up close, the stones contain extraordinary complexity and tiny veins and crystals and points of colour. So too a thesis has been built up, from minutes and hours of research activity and consultation and reading and thinking and writing. The stones are stable and concrete expressions of natural processes, the cementing together of minerals and crystals in extraordinarily complicated ways; the final and completed thesis will represent thereafter the many long and complex processes and contributions that constructed it. A stone is hard; a thesis is hard work. A thesis and a stone can both be very difficult to read. But a thesis and a stone can also both be amazing and brilliant and precious.