 |
 |
 |
|
 |
 |
. |
July 4th Agates Fourth of July Butte ("Chimney Beds") west of Arlington, Maricopa Co., Arizona |
. |  |
|
 |
 |
|
|
 |
The white agates scattered over the area of Fourth of July butte are in form of irregular/geometric nodules (filling in fissures/veins) and rarely amygadoloid forms and "Chimney Beds" is one of such productive locations. The "Chimney Beds" to the chimney ruins on the eastern side of the butte, and the diggings are on the other side where the best agates can be obtained by just patiently digging to find any irregular shaped (and sometimes amygdaloidal) nodules. The agates are almost always white to gray, but some agates came with the hues of lavendar, red, purple and blue colors. The shadowing effect is commonly strong in the well-banded agates, and some agates contain reddish plume structures. The agates are found along the layer of rocky debris just below the surface and above the clay layer (in basin) or heavily weathered greenish basalt bedrock (on the sides of the hills). I did not find anything in the clay layer and there are some agate veins in the weathered basalt bedrock. It will take a great deal of shallow digging to find some. I have heard of grayish agates with "snow spots" from "Chimney Beds" but I did not seem to find any at where I was digging. |
 |
 |
| Ivory-white with bluish-white center
agatized psudeomorph after calcite is also included. December 2006 |
Ivory-white with bluish-white center
agatized psudeomorph after calcite is also included. December 2006 |
 |
|
| Bluish hue
April 2005 |
With reddish plumes looking like a red maple tree (or moral mushroom)
December 2005