January 2022, Stone of the Day #15 – Dark Red & Green Brecciated Stone from Gemstone Beach

Another brecciated stone from Gemstone Beach, this one initially caught my eye because of the two colours in it. Picking it up and looking at it more closely, its intricated and sometimes tiny brecciated character confirmed it as worth putting in the bag to take home:

Some small fragments of a green stone, perhaps the colour coming from epidote, have been cemented together in a fine-grained dark red matrix (some information on brecciation can be found in the Post on Stone #2). It might be that it was afterwards that some white quartz has been incorporated into the stone (my speculation).

Stone #15 has polished quite well, but there are a couple of small rough patches and some tiny yet deep cracks especially around the edges of the green fragments. These cracks are a “problem” with some brecciated stones when trying to obtain a completely smooth polish.

Stone #15 feels very smooth when your finger runs over its surface and it is only when looking very carefully (and in the close-up photos) that the cracks are seen. The stone was polished in the same batch as Stone #14, finishing the process on 1 December 2021. It is 4 cms long and just under 3cms at its widest.

Stone of the Day #16 is here. The beginning of this January 2022 Stone of the Day Series is here.

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Author: tumblestoneblog

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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