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The Ouachita Mountains consist of a range of east-west ridges between the Arkansas and Red rivers. Magazine Mountain (c.2,800 ft high) is the tallest peak. Although quartz crystal is the state mineral of Arkansas, milky quartz is the most common kind of quartz in the Ouachita Mountains of Arkansas where large milky quartz veins often fill fractures in other geological formations.
Some Native American traditions use milky quartz to represent the North Wind - the time of Grandmother Moon. |
milky veins
Significant deposits of milk quartz can be found in the Ouichita (pronounced "Washi'-ta") Mountains of Arkansas. Most of the quartz veins in the Ouachitas are restricted to a belt about 30-40 miles wide that extends a distance of about 170 miles west southwest from Little Rock, Arkansas, to eastern Oklahoma -- an area corresponding to the core region of the Ouachitas.
Milky quartz crystals and associated vein minerals of the Ouachita Mountains were deposited from hot waters during the closing stages of mountain building, ranging from the Late Pennsylvanian (300-286 million years ago into the Permian (286-245 million years ago).
The veins attain a maximum width of 60 feet in Arkansas and nearly 100 feet in Oklahoma. They are most numerous along the central core of the Ouachita Mountain region, where they are present in shale, slate, sandstone, and other rock types.
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- abalone
- almandine garnet
- amber
- amethyst
- ametrine
- apatite
- aquamarine
- boulder opal
- calcite
- carnelian
- chalcedony
- chrysoprase
- cinnabar
- citrine
- coral
- druse
- fire opal
- fluorite
- fossilized shell
- garnet
- green garnet
- hematite
- hessonite
- iolite
- jasper
- labradorite
- lapis lazuli
- malachite
- milky quartz
- moldavite
- moonstone
- mother-of-pearl
- obsidian
- onyx
- opal-common
- paua
- peridot
- peruvian opal
- prehnite
- pyrite
- quartz
- rose quartz
- rutilated quartz
- serpentine
- shells
- smoky quartz
- tanzanite
- tourmalinated quartz





The Ouachita Mountains consist of a range of east-west ridges between the Arkansas and Red rivers. Magazine Mountain (c.2,800 ft high) is the tallest peak.