Wavellite

specimen number:
2072119

location:
County Pit, Mauldin Mt., Montgomery Co., Arkansas, USA

description:
Attractive green lustrous botryoidal crystallized wavellite across the front of matrix. Slight damage present, still quite nice.

Mauldin Mountain is located near the town of Mount Ida in Montgomery County, Arkansas, and is situated within the Ouachita Mountains geological province. Geologically, this site is characterized by the Bigfork Chert and Polk Creek Shale formations, which were intensely folded and fractured during the Ouachita Orogeny approximately 245 to 280 million years ago. Wavellite, a secondary aluminum phosphate mineral, formed as a result of groundwater circulating through these phosphorus-rich sedimentary layers, depositing the mineral within open fractures and breccia zones. Historically, Mauldin Mountain has been known to mineralogists since the 19th century and remains one of the most prolific sources of phosphate minerals in North America. Unlike many industrial mines, this locality has primarily been operated for specimen recovery, attracting generations of collectors to its steep, chert-covered slopes.

For mineral collectors, Mauldin Mountain is the world's premier locality for wavellite, famous for its iconic "cat-eye" or "wheel-like" radial clusters. The wavellite typically occurs as spherical, botryoidal crusts that, when broken or translucent, reveal a spectacular internal structure of radiating acicular crystals. These specimens are highly prized for their vibrant color palette, ranging from lime green and forest green to a rare "robin's egg" blue or colorless variety. They are often found on a dark, manganese-stained chert matrix, which provides a dramatic visual contrast to the bright green mineral globes. While other sites in the Ouachita Mountains produce similar material, the Mauldin Mountain specimens are considered the gold standard due to their large lusterous spheres and the high density of crystals found within the rock cavities.

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