Month: December 2025

The Perfect Citrine Plume Agate Geode

The Perfect Citrine Plume Agate Geode

Rock #6504 While cutting Carver Agate Field geodes this summer, I saw what to me was the perfect citrine plume agate geode. Some explanation: Natural citrine, which is normally a yellow silica (quartz), is quite rare. This is because much of the citrine seen in jewelry today started out as amethyst which was then heat treated to turn it the yellow citrine color. Natural citrine is quite valuable. So if natural citrine is fairly rare, nearly transparent citrine comprising the entire geode is doubly rare. This citrine geode has added rarity—a perfectly formed golden plume agate. It is also of considerable interest that the nearly transparent citrine allows one to see into the citrine surrounding the geode cavity which glows white from the quartz crystals lining the inside of the cavity. In very bright light, other plumes can be seen deeper in the citrine surrounding the cavity. Lastly, while fractures […]

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Blue Agates Appear Again at The Carver Agate Field

Blue Agates Appear Again at The Carver Agate Field

Blue agates are fairly common and, as these photos show, blue agates from The Carver appear in many beautiful and often times interesting configurations. These photos attempt to show the very interesting blue agates that I discovered during my cutting and polishing of new material from The Carver Agate Field. I hope you appreciate seeing the interesting ways blue agates have appeared this summer. And don’t forget to visit the newest addition to the collection of Galleries here at Texas Amethyst Agate.com: The Summer 2025 Gallery. There you will see many of this summer’s finds and work which I hope you will also enjoy. Rock #6163 Rock #6163 Detail Rock #6164 Rock #6164 Detail Rock #6067 Rock #6069 Rock #5883 Rock #5885 Rock #5917 Rock #5918 Rock #5950 Rock #5953 Rock #5994 Rock #6052 Rock #6082 Rock #6101 Rock #6133 Rock #6300 Rock #6317 Rock #6318 Rock #6412 Rock #6421 […]

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The Parachute: Acicular Black Goethite Crystals

The Parachute: Acicular Black Goethite Crystals

I have previously noted my surprise at finding goethite crystals appearing inside of Carver geodes. As these photos show, they are usually seen appearing within geodes having a quartz crystal central cavity, with only one or sometimes two goethite crystals growing out of a purely quartz matrix. The “parachute’ photo shows the goethite crystal growing through the quartz crystal matrix which was apparently covered by a secondary yellow mineralization through which the goethite crystals grew! So, we have three separate crystallizations occurring in apparent succession. The goethite crystal as it grew lifted up part of the yellow mineralization which in the photo looks like a yellow hot air balloon or “parachute”. That is why I conclude that the goethite was the last crystallization to occur. Why goethite, which is an iron family mineral, forms out of an otherwise pure quartz crystallization is indeed curious. I hope you enjoy seeing this […]

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