Give us feedback!
Tweet
Share via E-mail
See Ward Beach Boulders, New Zealand
Ward Beach is a section of rugged coastline in the Marlborough Region of New Zealand that is known for unusual rock formations. Ward Beach has boulder are large spherical rocks made of dolomite.
The large uplift of the seabed caused by the 2016 KaikÅura earthquake revealed spherical concretions on the raised rock platforms at Ward Beach. The concretions are similar to the Moeraki Boulders south of Oamaru.
The boulders are located about 800 m north of the car park at the Ward Beach road end. These concretions were formed in the ocean floor in marine sediments from the late Cretaceous period (>65 million years ago). They were formed over several million years in mudstone that was subsequently buried by overlying sediment. Concretions become harder and more dense than the mudstone that surrounds them, and this means they can remain even after the material surrounding them has been removed by erosion. The Ward Beach boulders are formed from dolomite – calcium magnesium carbonate.
Show more
Tweet
Share via E-mail
Loading...
Stats for this Dream
Join Now, it's FREE!