Moeraki Boulders: The giant marbles of New Zealand

Tasman Walker (Australia) Scattered over Koekohe Beach on the South Island of New Zealand, dozens of huge spherical boulders look like the remains of a monster game of marbles. These were recently featured on the cover of Issue 22 of Deposits. The grey, stone balls are a fascinating tourist attraction, about 70km north of Dunedin, near Moeraki, a small town on the Otago Coast. Some boulders stand alone, but most sit in clusters, with the waves splashing over them at high tide. Many lie broken into segments on the sand. Fig. 1. Large, small and broken boulders. The boulders are spectacular examples of concretions, which form when a mineral precipitates and cements the loose grains of sediment into solid rock. As you walk down the steep bluff to the beach, you can see other enormous boulders still embedded in the uncemented mudstone, but being exposed as the ocean waves erode the loose embankment. They eventually fall onto the beach. Fig. 2. Popular with tourists. The boulders come in two distinct sizes: the diameters of the smaller ones range from 46cm to 92mm, but the larger ones are 137cm to 200cm in size. The largest ones weigh almost 20 tons. Most are spherical, but a few are slightly squashed in a direction parallel to the bedding of the mudstone in which they formed. Although fascinating, the boulders are by no means unique. In New Zealand, you can find similar ones on a beach just 12km south, and others on the North … Read More