Day 11 Mount Cook to Moeraki Boulders! to Home April 15, 2012

Our last day we headed from Mount cook through central Otago down to Dunedin, on the way we stopped at the Moeraki Boulders. 

We stopped for 20 minutes at the Moeraki Boulders- a mysterious geological formation of rounded spherical boulders on a otherwise boring beach.  

The Moeraki Boulders (A) are just a little North of Dunedin 

They are quite beautiful- ranging in size from 1 to almost 8 feet in diameter, spherical, but the geologist in me says "Why? Why are these boulders here and how did they form? What is that strange mineral in the cracks, and why is it there"

 tourist center is pitiful- they are large concretions formed long ago and buried by the beach. (A concretion is formed like a pearl, material accumulates in laters around one central peice.)
 This answer was unsatisfying, so I did some deep scientific research (wikipedia) to discover the true nature of these peculiar stones.

A mysterious mineral occurs in veins within the rock.

Note- this portion may be extremely fascinating and engrossing, so engrossing in fact that it might put you un-geologically inclined individuals to sleep- in order to maintain consciousness -proceed with caution- or just look at the photos.

interesting weathering 

My thorough research indicates that these formations are indeed concretions. They are not unique to New Zealand, in fact these type of formations occur across the globe. even in North Dakota- I could have stayed home and looked at them! The boulders are made of mud that is cemented by calcite- the same stuff in marble and shells. The mineral filling those cracks is also calcite, which was deposited in two stages . It remains a mystery at the what formed the cracks in the first place.

We also enjoyed pictures with the boulders, because- why not?

As we can clearly see here- Christina is secretly a mermaid.