Agate is the banded variety of chalcedony, which comes in a wide variety of colors. Agates are primarily formed within volcanic and metamorphic rocks. The ornamental use of agate was common in Ancient Greece, in assorted jewelry and in the seal stones of Greek warriors, while bead necklaces with pierced and polished agate date back to the 3rd millennium BCE in the Indus Valley civilisation.
19.6 kg (43 lb) specimen of "Crazy Lace" agate from Chihuahua, Mexico next to a tennis ball; 38.2 cm (15.0 in) wide
Botswana agate
Hollow agate
Agatized coral
Chalcedony ( kal-SED-ə-nee, or KAL-sə-doh-nee) is a cryptocrystalline form of silica, composed of very fine intergrowths of quartz and moganite. These are both silica minerals, but they differ in that quartz has a trigonal crystal structure, while moganite is monoclinic. Chalcedony's standard chemical structure (based on the chemical structure of quartz) is SiO2 (silicon dioxide).
Chalcedony
A rare pseudomorph of a spiral Turritella-like snail shell that has been replaced by chalcedony
Agate
Carnelian