This Post features seven stones from my moderately productive fossick today west of Gemstone Beach. The Te Waewae Bay waves had a bit more power in them today and twice I was too slow to move out of their way, so I arrived back at my car with wet gumboots. During this time in Southland, I take the photos of individual stones back at my accommodation, out on a normally sunny deck. The heavy clouds today made it difficult to take photos without interference from reflections. Ironically, bright sunlight minimises reflections from the likes of nearby windows, walls, the camera and other surfaces.
Today’s outstanding find was a 3.5 cm long red jasper. It appears to be brecciated in a quartz medium. However, the brecciation has given rise to an appearance of threads throughout the stone.
Another three red stones found today – a light coloured jasper (probably) with fine veins, a hematite jasper of darker red, and what is maybe a red-hued spotted argillite.
The first of the final three stones, 3 cm size, looks to have some epidote in it. The next is the biggest stone, 6.5 cm long, is an unusual trace fossil stone, a different colour from most others. The third is probably a kind of banded argillite, 5 cm high.
The next Post in the “Southern Sojourn 2023” Series highlights trace fossil stones. The first Post in the Series is here and the Index to the Series is here.
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