On Gemstone Beach this morning, I found a few more interesting stones than on previous days. Many of them were small, which is fine for a tumble polisher like me. Maybe the sea had been turning the stones over more than usual. As a result I came back with a few more finds today. The Waimeamea River has gone right down and was easy to cross at a narrow point. When I got there, a quad bike came along. I spoke with Rich and his son, local people who were checking out the state of the beach. Rich told me that a younger son had recently been doing some tumble polishing, so we discussed some of the technical aspects of tumbling for a while.
I turned around at the far end of the Waimeamea Lagoon. When I arrived back at the carpark, there were quite a few people on the beach as well as seven dogs, and two horses nervously came through carrying their riders.
Eleven of my finds from today are featured below. The first two have some pink in them. I think the first is thulite but the darker material at the top might mean it is rhodonite. The second is a small jasper with some quartz in it.
Three more small red jaspers: the first has a lot of tiny detail, the second has a kind of fuzzy character, and the third is a type of poppy jasper:
Two trace fossil stones, one red, the other green, the latter having maybe the tiniest traces I have seen:
Two green brecciated stones:
The first of the two final stones is likely to be a rhyolite – the cross-cutting strands caught my eye. The last one has tiny intriguing white squiggles.
Part 20 reports on a field trip to Gemstone Beach with the Southland Geological and Lapidary Club. An Index to this Series is here.
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