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Hidden Gems — Dazzling Displays at The Westin

Did you know there are hidden gems inside The Westin Hotel in The Woodlands? Literally…gems. Just look in the lobby’s elevator alcove. In it, you’ll see a beautiful wood display wall filled with a colorful collection of geodes, rock pieces whose cavities are filled with crystals or mineral matter

How does a geode form? After a rock hardens, dissolved silicates and/or carbonates make their way into the inside surface of the rock. Over time, this slow drip of groundwater minerals or hydrothermal solutions allows crystals to form inside the rock’s hollow part. As more time passes, the earth’s bedrock containing various geodes eventually weathers and decomposes, bringing these rocks up to the surface. Once found and cut in half, visible bands corresponding to varied stages of fluids show patterns that reveal the entry points into the rock’s cavity and/or varied colors corresponding to changes in the chemistry.

Geodes are one of nature’s great surprises: unremarkable on the outside yet remarkably mesmerizing on the inside.