Field Trip: Glenafric 28th July 2019
Trip Leader: Caro C
Trip Report: Robyn O
Glenafric at the eastern end of Mt Cass Rd is the last access to the northern beaches of Pegasus Bay before Motunau Beach. From the end of the road, a short walk across two paddocks leads you to a zig zag track that descends to the beach. This spot is a good example of mudstone cliffs that are being constantly eroded by storms, exposing fossils and concretions like mini Moeraki boulders. If you fossick around on the beach you will see rounded stones (concretions) filled with shell fragments, stones with hollows or worm burrows (paramoudras) or popcorn looking stones. In geological terms the mudstone is called young cover strata aged between 25 to 5 million years old (ref geotrips.org.nz) As the morning sea fog partially cleared, we were able to see Banks Peninsular sweeping around towards the north, way out to sea. I know that I will make a return trip on a clear day. Our visit was timed to ensure that we were off the beach by high tide and as we climbed back up the track, we were pleasantly warmed by an atypical winter Nor-west breeze. Many thanks to Caro for running this trip and challenging the sixteen fellow fossicking photographers to a find a fossil. (non human !) Bob Wright’s fossil photo has been identified by Paul Scofield from Canterbury Museum. It is a Flabellum coral. A very pleasant day trip to a more unusual, but interesting corner of North Canterbury.
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