Kentucky Agate (SiO2 ) became Kentucky's "Official State Rock" in (2000).  This might be confusing, because scientifically agate is considered a variety of the mineral quartz.  Minerals are the building blocks of rocks.  Although rocks are generally thought of as sedimentary, metamorphic, and igneous types, collectors and hobbyists call varieties of some minerals rocks as well.  Quartz has many varieties.  Naturally occurring chemical impurities in the quartz can cause it to be colored.   When different impurities occur in bands within the quartz, it is then called agate.    Beautiful specimens of red, black, yellow, and gray banded agate have been discovered in Estill, Powell, Jackson, Madison, Lee, and Rockcastle Counties.  These Kentucky agates are derived from the Renfro-Borden Formation of Early Mississippian age and can be collected along some river and creek drainages where the Borden is exposed to weathering.

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Kentucky's State Rock - Kentucky Agate

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