Quartz

specimen number:
8911190

location:
Hot Springs area, Arkansas, USA

description:
Glassy gem quality crystals of quartz to 5.0 cm in height coming off matrix. In good condition. The specimen comes with a previous label from the Alton collection.

The Hot Springs area of Arkansas is situated within the Ouachita Fold and Thrust Belt, a region of intense Paleozoic tectonic compression composed of deformed shale, sandstone, and novaculite formations. Mineralization occurred around 240 to 280 million years ago when silica-rich hydrothermal fluids circulated through deep fractures, slowly depositing quartz in veins and open vugs. Indigenous peoples utilized local rock crystal for thousands of years to craft arrowheads and tools, while commercial mining began in the nineteenth century. Historically sold to spa tourists as Arkansas diamonds, the water-clear quartz gained significant tactical importance during World War II when high-grade crystals were extracted forThe Hot Springs area of Garland and Montgomery counties, Arkansas, is world-famous for producing some of the finest rock crystal quartz specimens on Earth. Geologically, these deposits formed during the late Paleozoic Ouachita Orogeny, when intense tectonic activity fractured the regional Ouachita facies sedimentary rocks, such as the Arkansas Novaculite and Sandstone formations. Hydrothermal fluids rich in silica circulated through these fault networks and fractures, cooling slowly under lower temperature and pressure conditions to allow exceptionally clear, well-formed quartz crystals to precipitate inside open cavities and veins. Native Americans originally quarried quartz in the region for thousands of years to craft sharp projectile points and tools. Commercial mining and specimen collecting expanded rapidly in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries as tourism grew around the local thermal springs, establishing historic mining centers like Mount Ida. Today, both active commercial operations and fee-mining sites continue to yield pristine, water-clear single points, complex clusters, and phantom inclusions prized by museums and private collectors worldwide.

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