Ventifact rock.

Shared by
Western Bay Museum

A ventifact (also known as a wind-faceted stone) is a rock that has been abraded, pitted, etched, grooved, or polished by wind-driven sand or ice crystals. These geomorphic features are most typically found in arid environments where there is little vegetation to interfere with aeolian particle transport, where there are frequently strong winds and where there is a steady but not overwhelming supply of sand. Thus, ventifact rocks get their interesting shapes from being sculpted and polished over thousands of years by exposure to wind-driven sand. The word “Ventifact” is derived from the Latin word “Ventus” meaning ‘wind’. Source: Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ventifact, January 2025. NZ Herald·6 Dec, 2020 06:10 AM This particular ventifact rock was gathered sometime in the 1970s from somewhere in the 203 hectares of coastal fields around Waitotara River. This area is approximately 33 kilometres north of Whanganui, North Island, New Zealand. It was collected during a field trip organised by the Whanganui Museum with a geologist as a guide. Authority had been granted for the field trip to proceed and specimens were allowed to be collected and kept. This rock is one of fourteen collected by a participant at this time and it has been cared for and valued by its finder until generously donated to Western Bay Museum. This donation included 14 rocks ranging in size, composition and colour. Unfortunately, rocks such as these were extensively plundered in the 1970s with trailer loads of them taken from the mouth of the Waitotara River. Upset by this, The Geological Society of New Zealand applied to have some ventifacts formally protected with the result that several scientific reserves now exist along the Taranaki-Whanganui Coastline and the removal of rocks in these areas is now illegal. Source: New Zealand Geographic, Mark Walround