What treasure does this lake contain that is so highly valued?
The lake has no water.
In the desert northwest of Bayan Gobi, Bayan Nur city, Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, China, people discovered a very special lake. Although it is called a lake, the lake bed is dry , instead of water, this lake is full of colorful rocks . The precious stones that have been found here include: quartz, fossilized wood, opal and most of all, agate.
In many Buddhist scriptures such as "Amitabha Sutra" , "Lotus Sutra" and "Heart Sutra" , agate is one of the seven treasures of Buddhism. That is why people named the lake of Bayan Gobi " Agate Lake " .
Agate Lake is located in the desert northwest of a city in Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, China. (Photo: Sohu)
Agate Lake covers an area of 6 square kilometers , and the lake bed is mostly made of agate stones of various sizes, the smallest one is the size of a bean, the largest is the size of a fist. Under the sunlight, they emit sparkling light and shine like a beautiful gemstone carpet. When the sun sets, from afar, people can see the agate stones in Agate Lake dyeing a corner of the sky red due to the influence of light refraction. This scene is truly fascinating!
The Birth of Agate Lake
According to the legend told by the local people, Agate Lake used to be a very large lake. The water in the lake was extremely clear, the sky and the water seemed to be the same color. The fairies in the sky were attracted by this beautiful lake. They secretly hid here to bathe. Because they were so busy playing, the fairies forgot to return to heaven. It was not until they heard the sound of the heavenly drum that they hurriedly flew away and left behind many treasures here. Later, those treasures turned into agate and many other precious stones.
Agate Lake is full of precious stones, the result of a volcanic eruption more than 100 million years ago. (Photo: Sohu)
However, that is just a folk legend, scientists have analyzed the geological composition here and come to the final conclusion. Accordingly, the stones here are the result of a volcanic eruption more than 100 million years ago . At that time, underground magma erupted due to changes in the Earth's crust. After the lava cooled, steam and other gases formed bubbles. The air bubbles were sealed in the cooled lava, creating many holes.
Over time, these holes are soaked in a silica-containing solution and condense. Over time, they absorb rocks, dirt, and dust, and gradually these impurities will create stones and boulders with beautiful patterns.
Not only agate, Agate Lake also has quartz, opal and many other types of stones. (Photo: Sohu)
Weathering and severe erosion exposed the precious stones to the ground. Then, violent storms washed them down to the lake bed. That's how Agate Lake came to be filled with such a variety of precious stones.
Treasure Hunt at Agate Lake
In the past, the herders around Agate Lake often came and picked up some stones to bring home to display. They had no idea what their value was, and only rumored that there were many beautiful multi-colored stones in Agate Lake. In the 1980s, some people from other places heard the news and quickly came here to buy the stones at cheap prices. Foreigners also came here to mine, and they even hired local people to collect precious stones.
The precious stones in Agate Lake are valued at up to 2 billion USD. (Photo: Sohu).
The crates of agate were packed and shipped to other areas. The locals thought they had hit the jackpot, suddenly finding a job that was both easy and lucrative. By the time the government found out, Agate Lake had been almost completely mined. Due to over-exploitation and years of drought, Agate Lake had dried up.
According to the valuation of local authorities and scientists, the precious stones in Agate Lake are worth up to 2 billion USD.
In the 1980s and 1990s, many people came to Agate Lake to search for gemstones. (Photo: Sohu).
In the 1990s, the trend of collecting stones with special shapes began to take hold in China. Therefore, the hunt for precious stones in Agate Lake continued, some people were lucky enough to find rare precious stones and change their lives, but others lost their lives because of sandstorms.
An old farmer named Zhang Jing spent a lot of effort to go to Agate Lake to search for the most unique stones. After a long time of searching, Zhang Jing found a small agate stone shaped like a chick in an eggshell. This stone weighed 92 grams, had very good color and quality. After being appraised, experts determined the price of this agate stone to be up to 130 million NDT (more than 400 billion VND) , at the same time it also set a record for the highest price for agate stone in China.
The chicken-shaped agate stone in an eggshell in Agate Lake is valued at more than 400 billion VND. (Photo: Sohu).
After this incident, many people flocked here with the hope of changing their lives. Due to the destruction caused by humans, Lake Agate was severely damaged. Scientists have stated that it will take hundreds of millions of years for Lake Agate to regenerate to its former state. The local government had to spend a lot of money to surround Lake Agatae with barbed wire. They also assigned many local police to strictly guard and banned people from entering this place.
