Mr. Yan took a sip of tea and introduced in detail the types of strange stones in the Alxa Gobi Desert, with a proud smile between his eyebrows.

The first thing he introduced was Datan Agate.

Datan agate is produced in the Gobi Desert with an area of about 300 square kilometers on the north side of the Suhongtu volcanic belt.

This is the earliest variety to be discovered and developed, because the original stone comes from different ancient volcanic craters, so the characteristics of the eastern, central and western members of the Datan Gobi stone are different.

Datan agate is colorful, and the background color is pure white and red is the most typical.

There is very little desert paint on the surface, but it has an old-fashioned and bright stone skin, the texture is delicate and warm, the shape is rich and colorful, and the blockiness is mostly 5-40 cm.

In the past 10 years, the agate excavated in the large beach sand and gravel layer has no slurry, and it is light but not bright. Datan agate is beautiful and bright, with a pure temperament, exuding a timeless and refreshing charm.

The second type is desert lacquer agate.

Desert lacquer agate refers to agate stones covered with yellow desert lacquer, which are only produced in the state of residual slope accumulation in the low hilly areas of the Suhongtu volcanic belt.

From west to east, it is distributed in three places: Engelwusu, Erden Wendur and Urat Onyx Lake.

The stone skin produced in Engel Wusu is bright golden yellow, often with spiral patterns;

the old-fashioned reddish-yellow from Erden Wendur;

The pulp produced in Agate Lake is slightly light, mostly light yellow.

The base of desert lacquer agate is white, opaque-slightly transparent, fine and tough, usually 10-30 cm in size, and can reach about 0.5 meters individually.

The pulp of desert lacquer agate is bright and buttery, and the shape is round and open, whether the shape is abstract or concrete, it shows the quality of wealth and rich treasure.

The third is grape agate.

Alxa is currently the only production area of grape agate in China, which is this proud place, and the price of grape agate is also high.

The primary minerals are mined underground in the basalt cavities on the north, east and south sides of the ancient crater of Erden Wendur in the Alxa Left Banner.

Secondary fragments are scattered in the nearby sand gullies up to 20 km away in the Gobi Desert.

Grape agate is rich in color, often purple, blue, red, white, gray, brown, black and other colors, moist and firm, the shape is mainly rich in irregular blocks, the stone surface is covered with sparse and unequal, different sizes of agate beads, the diameter of the beads is generally 0.1-1.5 cm, occasionally reaching 3-4 cm.

The degree of primary ore is mostly 0.2-1 meter, the small one is less than 5 cm, and the large one is more than 2 meters.

Grape agate is full of jewels and auspicious meanings with bright colors, pure textures, crystal clear, and peculiar shapes.

The fourth is lumpy agate.

It is distributed in the vicinity of the Suhongtu volcanic rock belt, mostly white, gray, yellow and other colors, and the luster varies depending on the length of the wind and sand blowing time.

The quality is hard and fine, or transparent and pure, or coagulated like jade.

The shape is changeable, easy to shape, and the block size is 5-20 cm.

Produced in the east end of the volcanic rock belt near the agate lake, the block yellow agate is the weathering product of the agate vein, often forming a platform type landscape stone.

The lumpy agate excavated in the ground near the ancient crater of Erden Wendur is often blue-purple-gray, called "grimace green" in the early years, and later called "bare plate agate" or "chicken lump" by miners, and the stone skin is slightly withered and the block is larger.

The fifth is kidney-like agate.

It is distributed in the southern part of the western section of the Suhongtu volcanic belt, and is a primary ore mined underground, with only sporadic agate fragments on the surface, with a distribution area of about 10 square kilometers.

Local herders call it "bubble jade".

The kidney-like agate polymorph is huge, clumpy, elongated, generally 0.5-1 m long, and some up to 3-5 m.

The shape is dignified and plump, with a large and flamboyant kidney-like protrusion, which is retracted and undulating on the stone surface, forming a soothing and smooth curvilinear beauty, and on the background of red, various colors of the pattern dance with the shape, flowing with the glow.

Whether its shape is abstract and subtle, or has both form and spirit, it gives people a sense of stability and harmony, and profound beauty.

However, due to the influence of tectonic damage and weathering, the nephrotic agate fissures develop, and intact ones are rare.

The sixth is chrysanthemum agate.

It is distributed in the interior of the Suhongtu volcanic belt and in individual sections of the Gobi Desert on the north side.

This is a kind of slat-like quartz composed of a staggered and interwoven structure, some people call it "chicken bone stone", white, yellow, red, brown, black and other colors.

On the stone surface of the wind and sand polishing, the texture is convex and concave and staggered, clearly recognizable, the shape is like a chrysanthemum, the shape is saga, complex and changeable, often becomes the superior mountain-shaped landscape stone, and its block degree is generally 5-30 cm.

The seventh is fisheye agate.

Fisheye agate is a rare type of agate found near the Sino-Mongolian border on the north side of Yingen in the early years, and it is a weathered remnant slope deposit of agate veins in basalt.

The stone is white or pea-green, and is composed of slightly transparent and translucent circle-like agate balls closely interlocked, and its agate balls are like fish's eyes, and the particle size is generally 2-5 mm.

It is distinguished from grape agate by the almost non-existent free surface of the exposed sphere.

Fisheye agate is often abstract in shape, sometimes there are phenomenon stones, landscape stones, and the stone mass is small, usually 5-20 cm.

The fisheye agate is scarce, the structure is peculiar, and the stone surface presents a closely connected and convex and concave fisheye-like pattern and shape, rendering the wonderful artistic conception of "noisy cutting and miscellaneous, big beads and small beads falling on the jade plate".

The eighth is moire agate.

Moire agate is commonly known as "agate flower", which is mainly distributed in the south side of Erden Wendur in the Suhongtu volcanic rock belt, a small amount is seen on the north side of the silver root, and is mostly formed in the cracks of basalt, and sometimes symbiotic with chrysanthemum agate.

Moire agate is generally white, gray, black, yellow, thin-layer petal-shaped, cloud-like shape, often with a variety of colors and changes of beautiful texture, its quality is crystal clear, its shape is exquisite, wrinkles change, vivid and elegant.

The ninth is horsetooth agate.

Horsetooth-like agate has a special pink color, and people often call it "flesh-colored agate".

It is scattered in the northern margin of the Suhongtu volcanic belt, and occasionally found in the Gobi Desert.

The stone is fine, and the skin is moisturized.

The shape is often plate-like, block-like, and the size is different, the small one is about 10 centimeters, and the large one is nearly 1 meter.

The interior develops breccia-like and horse-tooth-like structures, and there are often cavities with complex shapes in the stone, and the cavity walls are "interlaced with horse teeth", thus forming empty caves, cave doors, steep cliffs, thatched huts and other shapes in the middle.

This is a kind of modeling stone with less output, but the structure is peculiar, elegant, wild and interesting, and evocative.

The tenth is opal agate

This subspecies was found 10 years ago in the basalt of the Shelf Mountain on the south side of Erden Wendur, and is a symbiosis of agate and opal.

The gray, blue and purple block agate outer layer is covered with white, light yellow shell-like and strip-like opal, which constitutes an abstract or concrete peculiar shape, and the block degree is generally 0.2-1 meter.

The perfect combination of agate and opal contributed to this two-stage mineralization often brings people an inexplicable sense of mystery and infinite reverie.