6.5" Polished Turkish Stick Agate Slab - Turkey

Stick Agate, also known as "Needle Agate", is a formation of agate that comes from mines in Ankara, Turkey. This agate often features stick-like formations surrounded by agate. This occurs when agate fills a cavity within a rock that already contains mineral formations throughout. In the case of these stick agates from Turkey, the agate formed as a pseudomorph after aragonite and/or sagenite crystals. In some cases, these aragonite crystals form as hollow tubes that, when polished, contain agate and/or druzy quartz within.

Agate is a variety of microcrystalline quartz (chalcedony) that displays translucence and, in some cases, banding. Agate primarily forms when silica-rich fluids fill pockets within rocks and/or fossils, depositing the silica along the walls of the rock. This process can result in banding patterns, as the compositions and impurities of these depositing fluids change over time. These banding patterns can either form as flat layers, creating linear patterns known as waterline agate, or as rounded layers, forming more common ring-like patterns. These patterns depend on the surfaces available for deposition.