Dwarves' Earth Treasures Museum: Lake Superior Agates of Iowa
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Here's the famous
"Lakers" a short name for Lake Superior Agates well known throughout the
Midwest states especially Minnesota where most Lake Superior agates have
been found. They also can be found in other states like Wisconsin, Michigan,
Iowa, Kansas, and some states along the Mississippi river. They have formed
in a billion years old basaltic lava formations of Lake Superior (all the
way to Kansas), and the actual age of agates themselves are not known since
they could have formed any time after the solidification of basalt lava
beds. If they're that old, I would be quite amazed that they're still intact
despite hundreds of millions years of weathering. Those agates are really
lucky that they escaped the destructive tectonic forces of the active and
everchanging Earth.
Red, brown, gray, orange and
white seem to be most common colors of the Lakers, but they can come in
any colors maybe except green. Alternating bold red and white banding seems
to be most desirable of any Lakers. There are some basalt outcrops where
the agates are found still attached to them amd the agates were scrapped
from the basalt hosts of agates and deposited by the glaciers several thousand
years ago. As a result, the agates are scattered all over the glacial deposits
and along Lake Superior shorelines in the Midwest states and all the way
down the Mississippi river. Even so, good sized agates of good quality
are hard to find or it could be just that they're gobbled up by just few
experienced agate-finders.
Although Minnesota seem to
have produced more better agates, the glaciers have carried some agates
as far as Iowa and Kansas and they're not quite adundant. But local people
do find htem from time to time espeically along the Cedar Rapids River
that is eroding the glacial moraines. I obtained some from an elder lady
who found them at her residence along the Cedar Rapid river. The agates
from the river tend to look more polished (river-tumbled) than those coming
from the gravel pits of Minnesota.
Classic red and white bandings
I polished this one because
it wasn't showing any pattern well.
