I arrived at Seadown Beach at 3pm, just after high tide. Compared to yesterday, there were fewer stones at the south end of the beach. I decided to walk north to try to find some stone patches and eventually did so, just as I was about to turn around. It was maybe 600 metres from the roadside carpark that four or five large areas of stones appeared. These provided some interesting finds.
It was 19 degrees, partly cloudy, with a light breeze so I didn’t need my hat and scarf. I left the beach two hours after arriving.
I picked up a number of brown stones, looking for those which contain tiny bryozoan fossils. This one turns out to be the most intriguing, looking as if it does have some tiny fossils of some kind:
This one also seems to have some tiny fossils in it:
A small highly brecciated brown stone:
A fourth stone I collected because it is brown – it has quite a different texture:
Four interesting quartzites from this afternoon, all of different character:
A brecciated white quartz:
Finally, I think this stone is an agate (chalcedony) but it’s not like any other agates I have found on this beach. It is opaque and contains inclusions that look like the yellow/orange iron oxide that colours many of the quartzites:
In Part 16, I continue my way north, stopping off at a beach near St Andrew’s in South Canterbury. An Index to this Series is here.
