Quartz

specimen number:
2262217

location:
Hot Springs area, Arkansas, USA

description:
A colorless glassy gem terminated crystal of quartz from this famous area. In good condition all around.

The Hot Springs district, situated within Garland and Montgomery counties in the Ouachita Mountains of Arkansas, is a globally renowned source of exceptionally clear, well-crystallized rock crystal quartz. Geologically, these deposits formed during the late Paleozoic Ouachita orogeny, a major mountain-building event roughly 280 to 245 million years ago, when tectonic stress forced low-temperature, silica-rich hydrothermal fluids through fractures and faults in the local Ordovician-age Blakely and Crystal Mountain Sandstone formations. As these fluids cooled slowly in the open structural joints, they deposited pristine, colorless quartz crystals in large solution vugs, frequently associated with minor amounts of dickite and adularia. Historically, the native Caddo and Quapaw peoples utilized the stone for tools and trade for centuries before European settlers began small-scale surface extraction in the early 19th century. Commercial mining and quarrying accelerated significantly in the late 19th and early 20th centuries to meet demands for the tourist trade, and later for strategic electronics oscillators during World War II. Large open-pit quarry operations, centered around towns like Mount Ida and Jessieville, saw a massive expansion during the 1970s and 1980s for both industrial and specimen markets. These operations remain highly productive and active through 2026, solidifying the Hot Springs region as the primary benchmark for North American quartz production.

Questions about this specimen?
Send an email or call us: 314-341-1811.