3" Polished Cruentus Agate Cabochon - Kerrouchen, Morocco

Cruentus agate is the trade name for an agate formation that features vibrant red coloration and occurs in small cavities/veins/seams in rock. Cruentus is Latin for blood-stained or bloody, which is fitting considering the red coloration strongly resembles the color of blood. These seams often occur in areas where the rock has naturally shifted or fractured, resulting in a cavity that fills in with minerals. Seam agates collected from Morocco come out of the Atlas Mountain region near Kerrouchen (also spelled Karouchen or Kerrouchene).

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