Lake Superior Rocks & Gems - A Whole Small Agate

bitfiend (59)in #rocks • 6 years ago (edited)

Agates come in all shapes and sizes. This particular one is pretty small, but what makes it special is that it looks like it's whole. It's pretty hard to tell, especially without polishing it. There is one corner that looks like it's been cracked off but due to natural tumbling in the lake it's been smoothed out.

Lights Off

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This one produced a slightly different effect depending on what angle I pointed the flashlight at it. This is another thing that I love about agates. Each "band" within the agate is like it's own chamber. If you can concentrate a light small enough, you can get just one chamber to shine more than the others.

When you slowly pass the light between the chambers, the rock appears to flicker like a candle or dancing christmas tree lights. It's very beautiful! I hope to be able to capture this effect better. You need a really good, banded agate with thick vibrant bands to get the best results. While I have a lot of rocks to go through, I know I have plenty of good candidates.

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Lights On

With the lights on it almost looks like a dirty quartz and there might quartz in this rock. Many agates have quartz in the middle, many quartz were once surrounded by an agate, and many quartz aren't quartz at all, but amazing looking agates. At first glance it may not seem like an agate, but once I put it to the sun, it was a sure bet.

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Camera	Samsung S8 Active 12 MP
Location	Superior, WI

Thanks for stopping by and I hope you enjoyed! I spend hours and hours on the beaches of Lake Superior looking for agates in the summer. I've actually recently gone to check out the ice and found a small spot with rocks. I did find one agate but it was small. Still felt good to find an agate in the middle of winter when 90% of the ground is covered in snow or ice.

I share my rock and agate photo's exclusive with the Steemit community! Feel free to share your thoughts!

Thanks for stopping by! God Bless!

@bitfiend