Pictures of Lake Superior Agates
Minnesota Moose Lake State Park
Geology Interpretative Center

Agate & Geological Center

< < < The entrance to the Geological Center & Visitor Center. Inside, in addition to the agate and geological display, is a nature store/bookstore and the usual state park visitor center facilities.

There are hundreds of agates, gemstones, and rocks on display plus interesting exhibits on the geological history of the region. > > >

< < < The agate collectors "Wall of Fame" shows some amateur collectors and their finds. Although we enjoy combing Lake Superior beaches in hopes of finding an agate, many collectors find scrounging around old (or new) rock quarries more productive. In -innesota, the geological formations that contain Lake Superior agates stretch far from the current shoreline of Big Gitche Gumee.

There is a nice general exhibit of -innesota and Lake Superior rock types as well as information of their origins. Here's a close-up of Gabbro, an igneous rock similar to Granite. > > >

< < < Here's an even better close-up view of that same rock for Rock Hounds who have had trouble distinguishing it from Granite. The large black crystals of biotite are more predominant in Gabbro than they usually are in Granite. The white and white-grey translucent crystals are plagioclase. The clear and more transparent crystals are quartz.

Granite, while also containing some of the same crystals as Gabbro, is generally lighter in overall color and more likely to contain shades of different colors - pinks, reds, yellows.

Pictures of Lake Superior Agates

Here's a pretty ugly rock that has been cut open to reveal it is an agate on the inside!

Here's another agate with a "pretty face" and a "plain face."

The pit marked, and generally unattractive, husk of a Lake Superior beach agate often disguises what may be on the other side or the inside. The husk is usually rougher, with pit mark impressions, than its neighbors.

Several of the Agate Hunting Books we recommend (see bottom of the page) have numerous pictures of agates in the rough . . . which rock pickers and agate hunters need to learn because the polished ones we often see in shops and pictures don't often occur in nature looking like that.

< < < Here's an eyeball agate, a rare and beautiful find. This specimen has been polished to better show its beauty. (the white specs are reflections from the glass of the display case).

Here's a picture of another beautiful, polished agate specimen > > >