Stainton Beck - Magnetic Basaltic Andesite & Fossil Beds

Main Menu - click above

Heath Barnes is a geology & paleontology field researcher in his spare time. He has discovered and excavated portions of the Stainton gravel beds in Cleveland, UK. His fossil finds are very impressive, and are detailed in his blog "History of a Beck."

photos © H.Barnes

As well as Auroch skulls, worked tools and a human tibia, he also discovered that magnets stick to boulders of basaltic andesite from the nearby Cleveland dyke. Heath asked on Mindat (mineral database & forum) about the magnetic attraction. I became interested and visited him, below is my post on the mineral forum thread "Magnetic rocks again."

Map of locations. By Heath Barnes

View Locations of excavations of the stainton gravel beds in a larger map

Stainton Beck Video

Heath Barnes noticed something I found highly surprising - that you could stick a neodymium magnet to a lump of basaltic andesite. More mineralogical magnetic surprises have been found by Josele from Spain, and he has posted images of magnets sticking to various crystals on the Spanish FMF mineral forum. A fascinating website concerning the use of rare earth magnets as an aid to gemstone identification can be found here.

Heath Barnes' blog  -  "History of a Beck." 

Mindat threads concerning Heath's finds -
Geological deposits
Magnetic rocks
Magnetic rocks again
Highly magnetic dykes -- NOT

Please help beat cancer - DONATE click above

Unrelated to this post, below is an example of

eclectic science esoterica 

A deployed MAD
U.S. Navy AN/ASQ-81 magnetic anomaly detecting gear

Main Menu - click above

WARNING - Many subjects outlined within this site are extremely dangerous and are provided here for information only. Please don`t experiment with high voltages or chemicals unless you are fully conversant with safe laboratory practices. No liability will be accepted for death, injury or damage arising from experimentation using any information or materials supplied.