I undertook a two hour fossick on Gemstone Beach today. The temperature was 10 degrees, the weather windy with rain showers, quite a contrast to the hot weather a week ago. I needed my waterproof coat and over-trousers again. The large amounts of foam obscuring the stones I noted two days ago has largely gone. However, about 500 metres to the west of the carpark, the Waimeamea River is now flowing across the beach, having broken through high banks of stones due to recent rain boosting its flow. It is too swift and deep to ford safely, so it prevented me from walking further west.
Rain clouds over the Te Waewae Bay coast.
Gemstone Beach this morning.
Some of the remnants of the foam I noted two days ago.
Gemstone Beach stones.
Gemstone Beach stones.
Me as I was coming off the beach today.
The Taunoa Stream, near the carpark.
Waimeamea River flowing across the beach. This has just happened sometime in the past couple of days.
The photos below are of ten of the stones I collected today. The first two:
The 10 stones featured in today’s Post.
The largest of the stones.
Gorgeous small amygdaloidal(??) stone, a volcanic stone with mineral-infilled bubbles?
Other side of stone.
The next four:
Trace fossils.
Small green quartzite.
The needle-like shapes in this small stone caught my eye on the beach.
Probably a breccia, made up of fragments of various rocks.
The final four:
More trace fossils.
A kind of rhyolite.
Small quartzite, probably.
The first Post in the “Southern Sojourn 2023” Series is here. The next Post, featuring some particularly outstanding finds, is here. The Index to the Series is here.
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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