Author and Artist
Agates, the enigmatic and colorful nodules of microcrystalline quartz found on every continent, have been my area of focus for years. The Lake Superior region, from which I hail, is rife with some of the world's oldest agates, dating back at least 1.1 billion years. But despite their age, having formed during a time in which no life yet existed on land (save for lichen and some simple bacteria, according to some scientists), they are surprisingly abundant in Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Michigan, thanks to the glaciers of past ice ages freeing them from their host rock. My parents have dealt in Lake Superior agates professionally for most of my life, and my dad, in particular, has become well-known in the region as a trusted source of museum-grade agates.
Despite their widespread nature and popularity, no one yet fully understands how they formed. The problems in determining their origins are myriad, and when one question is answered, two more arise in its place. Many authors are content to choose their favorite formation theory and apply it as truth to every agate variety, willfully ignoring the complications that can turn up as a result. I feel this way of thinking and oversimplification of such a complicated topic is a disservice to readers. When I write about agates, however, I am quick to inform the reader that we indeed do not have an answer, and in fact, solving the agate problem may require many answers that all work together in a unique interplay yet undiscovered. Discussing the various extant agate formation theories, their pros and cons, and the ways in which they could work together to explain agates is part of the joy and interest of researching them; in so many ways, agates are thought experiments. But the complexities of agate formation are far too numerous to discuss in brief, which is why I've resorted to large format books to elaborate upon the topic.
All of my books are published by Adventure Publications/AdventureKEEN, 2008-2016.