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Marfa Agates South of Marfa, Presido Co., Texas |
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The Marfa agates have
been found along the roadcuts south of Marfa, Texas for several decades
and they still can be found today due to erosion. Those agates tend to
be colorless to white with many being "waterline" types and they appear
to have been weathered out of the basalt beds atop the white ash layers.
What are beyond the fences along the roads are private ranches since the
grassy Big Bend of Texas is a prime land for raising cattle. It is without
doubt that there are more good agates beyond the fences, but anyone are
strongly discouraged to cross the fences into the private lands due to
the safety concerns for the cattle (expensive to manage!).
Even the agates from Marfa were known for several decades, the agates with strong blue to black colors have recently emerged from the private lands, and I can't think of any agates outside the Big Bend of Texas coming with such strong color combation of black, white and blue. The only way I can obtain those agates was to trade with the guy who was given a special permission to collect on the private ranches in exchange for producing lapidary jewelry out of them for the ranch owners. What makes those agates even more special is that some agates contain the plume structures coming in quite many different colors. The plumes in the agates are typically black, but the pink, orange, green and yellow plumes have been found. Some plume agates can contain the combo of different colors, earning their nickname: "Marfa Banquet" Agate. |
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| This is a typical "WaterLine" Agate found
along the roadcuts south of Marfa. |
This one is theonly blue agate I have found
along the roadcuts so far. |
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Typical bluish Marfa agate |
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Move on to the Gallery of Marfa Plume Agates
