Agate: Mother Nature's Creation |
Agate is chalcedony quartz which cut crosswise has a series of layers in various colors, all thanks to Mother Nature. Individual crystals are arranged in slender shell-like fibers in parallel bands. It is known as striped agate, banded agate or riband agate, and was formed by siliceous matter being deposited in volcanic rocks or lavas. Some of the layers are often crystalline quartz because of variations on the deposits of water containing silica, and vary in size, color, transparency, and shape.
There are some hollow agates if the process did not complete, and the last deposit is usually a quartz and sometimes amethyst or an opal substance.. Agates are found in various colors, including red, yellow, white, brown, blue white, reddish brown, and green, and the surface or skin has a matt-type luster. The first deposit or "priming" in a cavity of volcanic rock or lava is a dark green substance which contains a large amount of iron. These may turn into a brown color resembling rust and the skin is often mottled and rough. Demondritic agates have a fern-like design because of manganese and iron ions.
The best agate forms in basaltic rock as in western United States and Brazil. The Rio Grande du Sol in Brazil produces the best commercial agate, usually of brownish color interlaced with white and gray. A Brazilian agate is also often stained for ornamental purposes. In 1902 an agate of enormous size lined with amethyst and weighing 67 tons was on display at the Dusseldorf Exhibition. It is also found north of Uruguay, Queensland in Australia, Madagasar, Mongolia, Namibia, China, Wymong and Montana.
Types of agates are carnelian, Botswana, Ellensburg blue, blue lace, Graveyard Point, Carey, Sage, St. Johns, Teeter Ranch, fortification, tube, fire, rainbow, and crazy-lace. One from Mexican with the appearance of one eye was called the cyclops agate. White and tan agate found in Sicily in 400 BC was used by the Greeks to make jewelry, and called Greek agate. Today any agate of the same color has the same name. It was known as "aqaq" or "agag" in Persia.
Industry uses agate in a number of ways: as inkstands, mortars and pestles, and knives. It is has a hardness of 6.5 on Mohl's hardness scale and resists acid. Uses of agate hark back to ancient Egyptians and Indians.
As a talisman, It was believed to cure snake and scorpion stings, quiet thuinder and lightning, and promote victory over one's enemies. Shia Muslims wore an agate ring on their right hand engraved with the name of Allah.
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