Wegner Quartz Crystal Mines
34.5200° N, 93.6522° W · ± 1 km
Quartz, Rock crystal and Smoky quartz from Arkansas, United States, with photos of specimens from this locality.
Minerals found here
Quartz at Wegner Quartz Crystal Mines
Clear crystals grown in open fissures in Crystal Mountain Sandstone, the host of most collectable Arkansas quartz.
- Formula
- SiO₂
- Morphology
- Prismatic, transparent, vitreous crystals; clear rock crystal and smoky quartz are both recorded here
- Color / luster
- Colorless (rock crystal) to smoky; vitreous
- Associated minerals
- Mindat lists no associated species
- History
- The mine started operating around 1980; the wider Arkansas district supplied oscillator-grade quartz in World War II and now supplies fee-dig and museum material.
Rock crystal at Wegner Quartz Crystal Mines
Clear crystals from sandstone-hosted veins, which give a higher share of clear crystals than shale-hosted veins.
- Formula
- SiO₂
- Morphology
- Crystals in cavities of sandstone-hosted veins
- Color / luster
- Clear; clear rock crystal lacks the microscopic bubbles that make Arkansas milky quartz white
- Associated minerals
- For Arkansas quartz veins in general: dickite, nontronite, rectorite, calcite, adularia and chlorite
- Surface features
- Black shale particles can be trapped inside growing crystals (Arkansas quartz in general)
- Availability
- Commonly available
- History
- Mining at these mines began around 1980. Arkansas crystals were described in 1819, and wartime demand for oscillator-grade quartz in the 1940s drove prospecting; Arkansas quartz became the state mineral in 1976.
Smoky quartz at Wegner Quartz Crystal Mines
- Formula
- SiO₂
- Morphology
- Crystals from quartz veins and pockets in sandstone
- Trace elements
- Aluminium-related colour centres produced by natural irradiation (general for the variety, not locality-specific)
- History
- Mining at this group of mines began around 1980.
Geology of the locality
- Setting
- Quartz mine in the Ouachita Mountains belt, in Crystal Mountain Sandstone; quartz-filled fissures formed from hot water late in Ouachita mountain building
- Host rock
- Crystal Mountain Sandstone
- Region
- Arkansas
- Country
- United States
Located about 5 km south of Mount Ida, Montgomery County. Coordinates converted from degrees-minutes-seconds on the Mindat locality page. Permission from the land or mineral-rights holder is required to visit. The Arkansas Geological Survey lists several fee-dig sites around Mount Ida (2005 data).
Sources
- SRC-088 · Database
Wegner Quartz Crystal Mines, Mt Ida, Montgomery County, Arkansas, USAMindat.org - SRC-089 · Article
Arkansas quartz crystalsArkansas Geological Survey · Arkansas Geological Survey
Draft data from the Provenite workbook. Check entries against the cited sources before relying on them. Photos are open-licence images from Wikimedia Commons; the author and licence are given with each photo.