P is for Pink

This is a slight expansion of my letter “P” contribution to the current weekly Alphabetical Series in the Facebook Group “New Zealand Lapidary, Rocks, Minerals, Fossils”. In the 2021 version of this Series I posted “P is for Planet in a Pebble” , partly a reference to the title of a book published in 2010 by the Polish geologist Jan Zalasiewicz, sub-titled “A Journey into Earth’s Deep History”.

P is for Pink

Pink thulite stone found on Gemstone Beach.

The thulite stones on the Te Waewae Bay coast in Southland often have clouds of intense pink in them, due to the presence of magnesium. I found this small pink thulite on Gemstone Beach on 3 August this year. It also features in the TumbleStone 2026 Calendar, in the month of March which has six pink stones (it is Stone Six). Thulite is the national gemstone of Norway where it was first discovered in 1820. As Wikipedia notes, it is named after the mythical island of Thule in the belief that the island is Scandinavia. See “January 2022, Stone of the Day #5 – A Little Pinky” for a different variety of thulite and some specimens from Te Hikoi Museum in Riverton Aparima.

The next Post in this Series is “Q is for Quartzite”. An Index for this Alphabetical 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. View all posts by tumblestoneblog