Wavellite

specimen number:
2212156

location:
Dug Hill, Avant, Garland Co., Arkansas, USA

description:
Green to yellowish green radiating crystals of wavellite across the top of a novaculite matrix. In good condition. Classic material for this old locality.

The Dug Hill locality, situated near the town of Avant in Garland County, Arkansas, is widely considered the premier North American source for world-class specimens of wavellite. Geologically, the deposit is hosted within the Mississippian-age Arkansas Novaculite formation, a dense, silica-rich sedimentary rock that underwent intense folding and fracturing during the Ouachita orogeny. Low-temperature hydrothermal fluids circulated through these fractures, depositing wavellite, a hydrated aluminum phosphate mineral, as vibrant green, yellow, or white radiating spherical aggregates, botryoidal crusts, and classic "cat's-eye" pinwheel structures. Historically, the mineral potential of the area was recognized in the late 19th century, with initial small-scale surface quarrying and mining beginning around the 1880s to collect specimens and investigate phosphate potential. While the site never supported a major industrial mining operation for metallic ore or bulk commodities, it has been actively and intermittently quarried by commercial specimen miners and private collectors from the early 1900s through 2026.

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