# Lake Superior agate

Lake Superior agate is a type of agate found primarily near the shores of Lake Superior. It can also be found in interior regions of the U.S. states of Minnesota, Michigan, Wisconsin, Iowa, Nebraska, Kansas, and Missouri, and in the Canadian province of Ontario. As a gemstone, it is valued by collectors for its vibrant, iron-colored bands in shades of red and orange, but they may also be white, grey, pale yellow, or brown. Believed to be the world's oldest agates, Lake Superior agates formed within the basaltic lava flows left behind from the Midcontinent Rift about 1.1 billion years ago. They are not named after the lake, but rather the Lake Superior Till, a Pleistocene glacial deposit in which they can be found. In 1969, the Lake Superior agate was designated by the Minnesota Legislature as the official state gemstone.

## Geologic history

1.109 billion years ago, during the Late Precambrian, the North American continental plate began to split apart along a 2000 km-long rift that extended from Minnesota southwest to Kansas and southeast to Lower Michigan. Instead of forming a new ocean, this process ended abruptly around 77 million years later for reasons that are not well understood. During this period, magma upwelled into iron-rich lava flows throughout the Midcontinent Rift System, including what are now the Iron Range regions of Minnesota and Michigan's Upper Peninsula. These flows are now exposed along the north and south shores of Lake Superior. The Midcontinent Rift also created the Superior trough, a depressed region that became the basin of Lake Superior.
As the lava solidified into layers of basalt, bubbles of gaseous water and carbon dioxide became trapped within the rock, forming vesicles. Later, hot, silica- and iron-rich groundwater permeated the rock, forming a gel in the vesicles. Gradually, layers of chalcedony and iron oxides were precipitated from the gel, forming solid nodules of agate.
Over the next billion years, some agate nodules were freed from their host rock by running water and chemical disintegration of the lava rock, since agate is much harder than basalt. The vast majority, however, remained embedded in the basalt until the ice ages of the Pleistocene epoch.
Between 1.8 million and 10,000 years ago, during multiple periods of glaciation, glaciers descended from Canada and exposed the basalt, crushing it and freeing the agates. The glaciers transported the agates across the Lake Superior region, leaving behind rough-tumbled gravel deposits called glacial till. These deposits are the primary source of Lake Superior agates, although some can still be found embedded in their host rock.

## Cutting and polishing

A gemstone can be used as a jewel when cut and polished. Only a fraction of the Lake Superior agate is of the quality needed for lapidary. Three lapidary techniques are used on Lake Superior agates:
* Tumbling — Small gemstones are rotated in drums with progressively finer polishing grit for several days until they are smooth and reflective.
* Saw-cut and polish — Stones up to 1/2 kg are cut with diamond saws into thin slabs, which then are cut into various shapes. One side of the shaped slab is polished producing fine jewelry pieces and collectible gems called cabochons. (Note the value of large Lake Superior agates, which weigh a few pounds or more, will lose most of their value if cut into slabs.)
* Face polishing — Polishing a curved surface on a portion of the stone and leaving the major portion in its natural state is called face polishing.

## Distribution

Lake Superior agates originally formed along the Midcontinent Rift in Michigan's Keweenaw Peninsula, Minnesota's North Shore, Ontario's Thunder Bay region, Lake Superior's Isle Royale and Michipicoten Island, and in the area that has since become the bottom of Lake Superior. Subsequent glacial activity spread agates throughout northeastern and central Minnesota, northwestern Wisconsin, the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, central Iowa, eastern Nebraska and Kansas, northern Missouri, and around the northern shore of Lake Superior in Northwestern Ontario. Lake Superior agates have also been found in gravel deposits along the Mississippi River basin, some as far south as Arkansas and Louisiana.
In addition to the entirety of the Lake Superior shoreline, Lake Superior agates can be found on the shores of inland lakes, in gravel pits, along gravel roads, in riverbanks and beds, in farm fields, and in road cuts and embankments.