Named as the
State Gem of Nebraska, the agates are generally narrow
nodules dug out of soft limestone/mudstones. Their colors
are gray, colorless, white, blue, black and sometimes with
bit of red color. Some agates found in the same area have
strange structures sometimes in geometric patterns. It
was said that they filled in the gaps left by sponge
fossils, but personally, I'm not sure about that. Their
structures remind me more of evaporate mineral nodules seen
in West Virginia and Michigan so it's likely that there may
be once evaporate minerals like gypsum, anhyrdate or
aragonite in the soft limestone/mudstone that had been
dissolved and then replaced by agate. The only hints
of pseudomorphs are the thin yellowish structures within
some agates. It's not known if the agates can be still be
found/dug up from time to time and smaller and similar agate
nodules are found in South Datokta.
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