Agate

Agate Rock Professor Image

AGATE is a form of quartz having submicroscopic grains of cryptocrystalline quartz, called chalcedony, in a massive form, often filling voids as veins or geodes. Agate is often found with color bands due to impurities in the fluids from which the agate is deposited. Agate is usually translucent, sometimes transparent, and has a hardness of 7, but has no crystal structure (amorphous).

There are many types of agates, some of which have become very popular with jewelers.
These include: Blue lace agate, Botswana agate, Brecciated (poppy) agate, Crazy lace agate, Dendritic agate, Fairburn agate, Laguna agate, Moss agate, Onyx, and Sardonyx.

Chemistry: Silica, SiO2 ♦ Variety: quartz ♦ Transparency: transparent to translucent ♦ Luster: waxy ♦ Crystal system: Amorphous ♦ Moh's hardness: 7 ♦ Color: White to grey, light blue, orange to red, black ♦ Localities: Worldwide. Our agates come mostly from Brazil, Mexico and the U.S.