25 Most Recently Added Comments By MarkMRocks
"Whole Union Road Agates are most desirable, but the partials and fragments are great just as found. Sometimes they require cleaning with iron out and bleach, and can be selectively polished to bring out their beauty."
Added on: Feb 5, 2022 (by MarkMRocks)
| About: LOCATION - Union Road Agates |
"Yes, there are many Union Road Agates still out there. I started finding them in 2018, long after hearing that they were gone. By now, most of the areas have indeed been developed, built over, and paved. The local creek tributaries are great places to collect fragments and whole nodules, plus 345 million year old fossil coral and sea urchin spines, often in association with these sedimentary agates. The agates are the hardest remnants of long eroded St. Louis Limestone layers (few exposures still exist where they’re In-Situ). The creeks cut into an ancient stream bed, which contains glacial material and rounded yellowish quartzite pebbles that tumble well, too. Avoid parking on the Interstates or walking on the railroad tracks. I’ve gotten permission to collect rocks from new home sites too. MANY chert nodules from this St. Louis Formation, but only a small percentage are agates or geodes. Best to cut/saw. Cracking open can destroy otherwise beautiful specimens!"
Added on: Feb 5, 2022 (by MarkMRocks)
| About: LOCATION - Union Road Agates |