The lower left agate has an amethyst center. The upper left and bottom right specimens are fortification agates. I am glad I do not have to make the decision whether to cut or face polish the specimen. This specimen is clearly an agate, but only a small window with great banding peaks through the husk on the bottom end of the specimen. The largest of the four agates, shown below in the upper right, is four pounds. During the glaciation time, huge walls of ice scraped Minnesota clean and deposited glacial till (including agates) in Iowa. In June, Dan McGraw, from Manchester, Iowa, came into the museum to show me some Lakers he found in his home state. Because it was not found on a beach, it suffered less erosion and still has a partial husk. She found this almost pound and a half Lake Superior agate in a farmer’s field. I did receive an email from Jacqueline Schmidt, who is a Michigan transplant now living in Minnesota. So far this season there have not been many great agates brought into the museum. All three kids (Edgar, Nina, and Hattie) found an agate!Ĭongratulations to everyone who found agates in the Grand Marais area this past summer! In late September, the Dintemann family from River Falls, WI made an appointment to visit the museum. It is a very complex agate with hurricane-like banding as well as possible tubes and other structures. This past summer, Kristin Howard, found this intricate Lake Superior agate in the western Upper Peninsula. Information about these specimens is included in one of the Mineral of the Month posts on this webpage. In the fall, Debbie Drovdahl found this nice water-washed, skip-an-atom agate in the Grand Marais, MI area. This is clearly a mixed silica rock that most likely is a type of cold-water agate. Erven found this 10.2-pound specimen in Grand Rapids, MN. The two photos below are cold-water agates found by Annemarie Hams in her yard in northern Wisconsin. Other cold-water agates may be chert-covered stromatolite fossils wherein drusy quartz and/or chalcedony agate replaced some of the fossil remains. It is called a “cold water agate” because water from the ancient seas originated from the Earth’s surface making it “cold water.” This water source differs from the hot, silica-enriched water that formed traditional Lake Superior agates. Some cold-water agates formed in limestone rock cavities when ancient seawater with a high concentration of silica was absorbed into the sedimentary rock. There may be at least two different categories. This may be because the term is loosely used to identify agate-like rocks that are not as definitive as traditional Lake Superior agates.
What are cold water agates, you ask? Well, there seem to be different opinions on the subject. I had two people send me photos of what appears to be cold-water agates. One side of the specimen appears to be mostly quartz and amethyst – the other side is clearly agate. The Lloyd family sent me some more images including a picture taken of Auden right after he found the agate. I had photos on my IPad, which decided to not work anymore. Let’s begin with a repeat agate finder, Auden Lloyd, from Northville, MI found a couple of other nice agates in the Grand Marais, MI area the first week of August. However, there are many great agates included with this webpage update. In July, Lugina Roberts from Swartz Creek, MI, visited the Grand Marais area. Because of their time commitment and patience, they were able to walk to beaches that other people do not go to. They spent between eight and ten hours a day for a whole week at the end of August, which is significantly more time than most agate hunters spend. I took a couple of photos of their agates, but they did not want to be identified.
One couple who has visited the museum in the past came in with their agate treasures. It became clear this year that there is still a large gap in skill between those who exert the effort to get up the learning curve, spend considerable time agate hunting, and maximize their patience. The 2021 agate hunting season was a little better than the 2020 season.
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