Wavellite
specimen number:
2262343
location:
Dug Hill, Avant, Garland Co., Arkansas, USA
description: The Dug Hill locality, situated near the community of Avant in Garland County, Arkansas, is a historic mineral collecting site located within the Ouachita National Forest. Geologically, the deposit is hosted within the deformed Paleozoic sedimentary sequences of the Ouachita Mountains, specifically featuring fractured strata of the Bigfork Chert formation. The localized mineralization consists of aluminum phosphate minerals, primarily wavellite along with variscite and planerite, which deposited as radial hemispherical aggregates and botryoidal crusts from low-temperature hydrothermal fluids moving through the highly fractured siliceous matrix. Unlike major corporate open-pit mines, operations at Dug Hill consisted almost entirely of small-scale surface quarrying and localized hand-digging by independent collectors and mineral dealers, which began in the mid-twentieth century and peaked between the 1950s and 1980s before environmental regulations and reclamation efforts by the United States Forest Service resulted in the back-filling and closure of the main diggings.
deep green radiating crystallized wavellite across matrix. In good condition. Good example from this old famous locality. This is from the 1950s.
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