AGATES SPECIMENS

Agate is a variety of microcrystalline quartz that displays translucence and, in some cases, banding. Agate primarily forms when silica-rich fluids fill pockets within rocks and/or fossils, depositing the silica along the walls of the pocket. This process can form banding patterns as the composition and impurities of the fluids change over time. These banding patterns can either form as flat layers known as waterlines or as rounded layers, depending on the surfaces available for deposition.