Early 2024 Fossicking Trip – Part 12, Stones and a White Flower on Gemstone Beach, Tuesday 27 February

Today I visited Gemstone Beach a couple of hours after low tide. I made my way down to the Waimeamea River lagoon to see what state it was in. Again, the lower half of the lagoon was dry. I now think this part drains when it’s low tide and fills at high tide, the first time I have seen this phenomenon in about six years visiting this beach. And I think the water mainly seeps back and forth between the sea and the lagoon through the banks of stones.

Climbing up to get the photo of the lagoon, I pass by a bed of low-lying succulents which today had produced a tiny white flower (see photo above). I posted a photo of it, along with some of my stones, on the Facebook Group “New Zealand Lapidary, Rocks, Minerals, Fossils” and a member commented: “Gentianella saxosa, seems to be exclusively found on Southland and Stewart Island beaches!” Also above are photos of a low concrete pillar in front of the Gemstone Beach carpark where people sometimes leave stones they have collected but decided not to take home. Occasionally I will leave trace fossil stones here, along with a few other colourful stones.

Below are four sets of photos relating to the finding of a stone. Each set shows the stone lying on the beach as I come across it, then a more close-up photo of the stone when spotted, followed by a photo taken later of the stone in sunlight, and finally a detailed close-up showing the texture and composition of the stone. The first is a kind of poppy (orbicular) jasper – I wasn’t sure it was a poppy jasper even when looking at it closely on the beach – only later looking at the close-up of its composition was I able to so identify it.

This kind of jasper is usually quite small but it stands out brightly when wet, when the waves wash up and down the beach. I also often specifically look for a flash of red when walking through the shallows of the Taunoa Stream and Waimeamea River lagoon. This one was found on the beach, just past the Taunoa Stream.

The second set of photos is of a banded argillite I spotted in the shallows of the Waimeamea lagoon:

Banded stones often catch my eye – the contrasting colours of the bands stand out.

The third set of photos is of a small light-brown hydrogrossular garnet spotted in a more sandy part of the beach.

This was on a wet patch of beach. The next set of photos illustrates how hydrogrossular garnets often stand out even when the beach is dry:

Among the other stones I found today was this gorgeous small black-and-white hydrogrossular garnet:

Finally, four other stones:

The next Part in this Series features six small stones. The Series Index is here.