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How Arkansas Crystals are Formed
Our crystals form in the oldest rock in Arkansas. They come from the Womble Shale Formation. Here is some information on the Womble Shale:
Age: Middle Ordovician PeriodDistribution: West-central Arkansas, Ouachita Mountains; southern Oklahoma
Geology: The Womble Formation is mostly black shale with thin layers of limestone, silty sandstone, and some chert. Some green shales are interbedded with the black shales, but less so than in the Mazarn Shale. Cleavage, at an angle to bedding, frequently displays ribboned cleavage surfaces. The sandstones are dark-gray, compact, fine-grained, occasionally conglomeratic, and may be phosphatic. These sandstones are generally present in the lower part of the formation. Dense, blue-gray limestones usually occur near the top of the formation in thin to medium beds. Black chert also is present as thin layers at the top of the formation. Large milky quartz veins often fill fractures in the formation. Graptolite and conodont fossils have been noted from the Womble Shale. The formation rests conformably on the underlying Blakely Sandstone and ranges from 500 to 1200 feet in thickness.
Original reference: H. D. Miser, 1917, U. S. Geological Survey Bulletin 600, p. 67
Type locality: Named for the town of Womble (now called Norman) in Montgomery County, Arkansas
Age: Middle Ordovician PeriodDistribution: West-central Arkansas, Ouachita Mountains; southern Oklahoma
Geology: The Womble Formation is mostly black shale with thin layers of limestone, silty sandstone, and some chert. Some green shales are interbedded with the black shales, but less so than in the Mazarn Shale. Cleavage, at an angle to bedding, frequently displays ribboned cleavage surfaces. The sandstones are dark-gray, compact, fine-grained, occasionally conglomeratic, and may be phosphatic. These sandstones are generally present in the lower part of the formation. Dense, blue-gray limestones usually occur near the top of the formation in thin to medium beds. Black chert also is present as thin layers at the top of the formation. Large milky quartz veins often fill fractures in the formation. Graptolite and conodont fossils have been noted from the Womble Shale. The formation rests conformably on the underlying Blakely Sandstone and ranges from 500 to 1200 feet in thickness.
Original reference: H. D. Miser, 1917, U. S. Geological Survey Bulletin 600, p. 67
Type locality: Named for the town of Womble (now called Norman) in Montgomery County, Arkansas
