The final fossick for this trip took place today on a sunny nine degrees afternoon, between 12.50pm and 1.50pm. This was an hour earlier than yesterday’s fossick which turned out to be significant. The sun was a bit higher in the sky and cast fewer shadows on the stones, making them a lot easier to see. These are today’s finds, 13 of which are featured in the Post below:
As a result of the 2016 Kaikōura earthquake, Ward Beach experienced significant uplift of about two and a half metres. The change in ground level forced the Flaxbourne River to abandon its estuary and cut through the former estuary bed and gravel beach deposits, exposing the bedrock beneath (Geotrips). Today I walked along to the river mouth and wandering up the river for a couple of hundred metres. There were patches of stones to search there, and some bird wildlife to observe.
I also spent some time taking photos of the waves – they are very strong at Ward Beach and much caution needs to be exercised when hunting for stones at the waves’ edge.
Now to the 13 featured finds from today. This stone has some very interesting veins, maybe chalcedony?
This second find is likely to have at least some flint in it:
A white brecciated limestone:
Another limestone pebble, this time with a little more colour:
A third limestone find, with subtle but intriguing patterns:
There’s an interesting brown in this next stone – it appears to have quartz in it:
A dark red jasper(?) with a small grey circular feature that draws the eye:
The dark veins in this next stone tend to stand out:
Next are four trace fossil limestone finds, all with a different character. This grey one has an unusual trace fossil pattern – two traces that meet to form a pointer, or a flight of geese:
In a darker grey, these two trace fossils cross over each other:
An assemblage of different kinds of trace fossils:
A set of parallel trace fossils that have been “smeared”along one side:
Finally, a limestone pebble that on one side has holes probably from some small burrowing animal:
Both sides have interesting markings.
The next day I caught a Cook Strait ferry from Picton and arrived home in Whanganui just after dark.
An Index to this Series of Posts is available here.
