Agate : What is it?
| Agates are stone aggregates of some forms of silica, primarily chalcedony. They are named after the Achates River in Sicily where they were discovered. Today, they can be found in the Ural Mountains of Russia, Egypt, Brazil, India, Italy, Germany, Mexico, Madagascar, Uruguay, and some parts of the USA.
Agates have excellent hardness and acid resistance, making them ideal for making jewelry pieces like brooches and pins, and items like seals, inkstands, and paper knives. In industrial applications, they are used to manufacture mortars and pestles. |
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Kinds of Agates include the following: |
Mexican Agates
- Mexican Agates are also called Cyclops agates because they show only one eye.
- They have a chalcedony embedded with different colors such as orange, red, gold, black, green, and other colors.
- They are usually disposed in filaments and some other forms of vegetative growth.
Dendritic Agates
- Dendritic Agates, also known as moss agates, have attractive fern-like patterns formed due to the presence of iron and manganese ions.
- They usually have radial mineral crystals, mud, ashes, and sand material deposits.
- Some stones have voids filled with decomposed vegetative materials such as roots and tree branches. Because of their appearance, they are sometimes called limb cast agates.
Turritella Agates
- Turritella Agates are formed from fossils.
- They have shells silicified in chalcedony bases.
- They look like spiral marine gastropods because of their long, spiral shells with many whorls.
Rainbow Agates
- Rainbow Agates feature delicate, successive bands displaying a diffraction spectrum when examined by light.
- They usually coexist with masses or layers of jasper, opal, or crystalline quartz created during the formation process.
Other agates
- Petoskey agates are made up of agatized corals, petrified woods, organic remains, and porous rocks.
- Carnelian agates exhibit reddish hues.
- Tube agates have visible flow channels.
- Fortification agates exhibit very little or no layered structures.
- Fire agates have seemingly glowing interiors just like opals.
- Mexican crazy-lace agates have brightly-colored, banded patterns.
- Other agates include Botswana agates, plume agates, and blue lace agates.
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Color: If you want a more vivid combination of colors, choose an artificially stained agate. |
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