How do you find agates

When looking for agates keep your eye out for any rock that appears a bit more colorful or radiant than surrounding rocks. The entire rock may not present the distinctive banding — it depends on how it has eroded over time. Their translucence tends to catch the light and almost make them appear to glow, especially when compared to the more ordinary rocks around them.

Look for rocks that have a roughly round or oval shape that are at least slightly more colorful than the majority of rocks in the area. Some faces of the rock will probably still display some luster that almost appears greasy. Unpolished agates commonly have pitted-looking surfaces because they conformed to the rough surface of the lava vesicle they formed in.

Some people describe it as looking like a potato skin — generally fairly round and smooth, but with some rough spots and pits on the surface. Here are the most useful tools to take agate hunting:. A spray bottle is one of the most useful tools for agate hunters. The water will remove any dust from the surface of the rocks and help the colors pop. In a similar vein, a flashlight can help you to distinguish agates from other rocks, especially jasper.

Flashlights can also be really helpful when searching in the early morning or at dusk. This makes it really easy to pick out a bunch of agates from an area very quickly. This is a pretty specialized tool that can greatly improve your quality of life if you plan to spend any significant amount of time hunting agates. That may sound trivial, but it will save your back from a world of hurt! I would highly recommend this tool to anyone wanting to hunt for agates on a beach. It also collapses down for easy transportation and storage, and seems pretty durable.

Hopefully, you find a bunch of agates on your rockhounding trip. But where are you going to put them all? I like to bring a satchel, or sometimes even my favorite backpack for rockhounding. Other people like to bring a 5-gallon bucket along with them which works just fine, although I find that to be a lot more cumbersome and uncomfortable.

The geological process by which they form is actually pretty cool! Agates form as secondary mineral deposits inside of cavities called vesicles in host rock, most commonly in the remnants of ancient gas pockets in volcanic rock.

As mineral-laden water precipitates through the rock over time, it leaves behind concentric circles of microcrystalline quartz. The different varieties of agate stem from the myriad impurities and accessory minerals that accompany the quartz during the formation of the agate. Agates take their form from the vesicle in which they originated. Since most agates form in the pockets left by gas bubbles in solidified lava flows, they tend to be roughly spherical or oblong in shape.

As I discussed earlier, their surface is usually rough and pockmarked because that is where they were in contact with the host rock.

Since agate is made up primarily of chalcedony a form of microcrystalline quartz it is very hard and resistant to weathering. When the host rock around the agate is eroded away, the agates remain intact and remain for us rockhounds to find. Experience it like a pro with the hottest deals in the state. Check out our hot deals today. When you book 3 nights with us this Wave Season you will receive the 4th night free.

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Book 7-nights by April 15 to get the best deal of the year! Study the stone for conchoidal fractures, which are irregular fractures that occur in fine-grained materials such as glass and obsidian. These fractures are often curved, with a wavelike pattern, and they impart an irregular profile to the rock itself.

Agates are prone to conchoidal fractures. Use a flashlight to back-light the stone. This will help you find out whether there are any translucent edges that you might have missed. There are many stones out there that look like agates, but aren't. Flint, chert and jasper are all closely related to agate and can have similar banding, but remember that they are opaque, whereas agate is translucent.

Measure the stone. The average agate is less than 3 inches in diameter. How to Find Agates. How to Identify Rough Gem Stones. How to Identify Basalt. How to Identify Obsidian.