Dwarves' Earth Treasures:
Formation of Agates and "Thundereggs"

    Of all of the minerals and gemstones we have seen so far, the agates appear to be most interesting, most marvelous and strangest of all. How can quartz, a simple silica mineral, be able to form such beauties considering the fact that quartz is very difficult to be dissolved in water let alone re-crystallizing into agates out of solutions? Why is that some agates contain crystalline quartz cores, some contain empty cores, and some interbedding with quartz, calcite,zeolites or even geothite? How did the agates have the "channels" in them?
    Most colorful and beautiful of all agates would be the amygdaloid agates such as Laguna Agate, Lake Superior Agates, Botswana Agates, Agate Creek Agates, and plenty more. What made them be so colorful, and why do they tend to be found only in volcanic basalt rocks?
    The agate, opal or quartz filled "thundereggs" (name given by the Native Americans) are even stranger because of the fact that many of them have star shaped cavities. The origin of the thundereggs has been puzzling (and frustrating) geologists and petrologists for a very long time. Paul "GeodeKid" Calburn, working with thundereggs for several decades developed a theory with the help of geologists and chemistst from local universities such as Mining Insitution of Sorocco, New Mexico to explain the formation of thundereggs. Also, why are agates in the thundereggs tend to be far less colorful than amygdaloid agates? Why are rhyolite, obsidian and perlite, the only igneous rocks where the thundereggs can be found, and what were some thundereggs doing in the clay deposits?
    There are also mineralized concretions such as Utah Septarians, Dryhead Agates, Union Street Agates, Keokok Geodes and Indiana Geodes. I have started studying them and I found Union Road Agates in chert nodules and Indiana Geodes (enlarged fossils) to be best models to give me some ideas of how agate filled concretions such as Fairburns, Tee Pee Canyon, Dryhead Agates, Kentucky Agates, and few others may have formed.
    There are several theories on how the agates formed as according to Johann Zehn's Agates (and other books)book, but I will go with what SEEMS most most universal and plausible theory to me which I seem to be able to apply to any banded/fortificated agates regardless of their igneous or sedmentary rock hosts. What I present is only clues that seem to support the theory I am going with, and anyone have to keep in mind is that Any  theories including one I'm covering are not free of any problems/issues especially since we haven't been able to artificially grow an agate.