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Author Topic: Rockhounding at Coal Cliff beach NSW  (Read 655 times)

Rock gal

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Rockhounding at Coal Cliff beach NSW
« on: December 17, 2024, 11:32:43 PM »
Hi everyone  :)

I was recently down Sydney ways visiting family and went to Coalcliff beach as I read that petrified wood can be found around that area and*, down toward Wollongong.

I was super excited to see what I could find. What I have found here are nice looking naturally tumbled pebbles. I am not confident however, that what I am looking at is petrified wood.

I came across a few Facebook posts and threads with mention that North Wollongong Beach and surrounding areas have petrified wood and I have seen some photos people have of their finds which looks like what I found, but now I have seen it with my own eyes I have doubts that is actually petrified wood.

I have found lots of petrified wood at Chinchilla QLD which is a known locality to find this and it's quite different in appearance.

My suspicion is that what people are finding on Coalcliff and perhaps other beaches in the area, are banded chert or some sedimentary rock... Another interesting thing I found was small pieces of chalcedony.

I am just seeking opinions and maybe some information that can ascertain that any of what I have found is petrified wood and not something else as I am unable to find any official geological info on the internet suggesting that it can be found in that area.

Welcome any thoughts and debates.

See pic below of a few samples of what I collected from this beach, a long with a photo of a slab of rock which has similar patterning to some of the pebbles which may point to this being some other type of rock and just a general photo showing where the rocks are found.







« Last Edit: December 19, 2024, 12:37:51 AM by Rock gal »

Bucket

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Re: Rockhounding at Coalcliff beach NSW
« Reply #1 on: December 18, 2024, 07:27:11 AM »
Beachcombing can produce a large variety of stones, we have several member in our club that love doing this. You're correct in guessing that the majority of banded stones on beaches are sedimentary and not petrified wood. Some cherts are also found but can still tumble well. We're lucky here, we have many quartzes, conglomerates and jaspers that are hard and polish beautifully, with the occasional agate and petrified wood thrown in. Keep looking and you'll be able to sort the wheat from the chaff!
Common sense isn't exactly common

Rock gal

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Re: Rockhounding at Coal cliff beach NSW
« Reply #2 on: December 19, 2024, 12:32:05 AM »
Thanks for your reply Bucket! Yes the stones there are so unique and there are so many different patterns and colours. Some are even blue!  How a rock is blue I don't know but it's very cool.

Didn't get time to check out North Wollongong Beach but that's for another visit in the future.  I will def be tumbling a lot of these to see how they turn out. Down the track I'll update this post with some pics 🙂

Rusted

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Re: Rockhounding at Coal Cliff beach NSW
« Reply #3 on: December 19, 2024, 03:56:03 PM »
I think you have at least one in your collection. 5 squares up and 4 squares in (from left) on a white square, the beige one two to the left of it looks likely as well.

 

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