This is a slight expansion of my letter “N” contribution to the current Alphabetical Series in the Facebook Group “New Zealand Lapidary, Rocks, Minerals, Fossils”. In the 2021 version of this Series I posted “N is for November in the Calendar” (featuring four Leithfield Beach stones).
N is for North Otago Neutral-Hued Quartzite
I found this quartzite two months ago on a beach at Kakanui just south of Oamaru in North Otago – see “August 2025 Stone Collecting Trip – Part 19, A Surprisingly Productive Fossick at Seadown Beach, Kakanui, Monday 25 August”. I call this beach Seadown Beach as it starts right near where Seadown Road intersects Thousand Acres Road/Beach Road.
On this beach, just two kilometres out of Kakanui, I have found quartzites in a range of hues. These quartzites appear as far north as Birdlings Flat (see this Post) and I have seen a handful as far south as Gemstone Beach (as in this Post). They often turn out to have tiny clear fragments of quartz in them when I zoom in on their photos. The most common colour for them is yellow while some are red and others are brown or even nearly black.
A few of these quartzites are what I consider to be neutral in hue, a kind of pale grey like the stone at the top of this Post – the addition of minerals like iron oxides gives them a much more colourful character. For more examples, see “September 2024 Stone Collecting Trip – Part 4, Multiple Quartzites from Seadown Beach, Kakanui, Friday 6 September”.
The next Post in this Series is “O is for Outstanding Orepuki White Orbicular Jasper”. An Index for this Alphabetical Series is here.
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