Monthly Archives: June 2014

GeoPic of the Week: Large Quartz Vug

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This large quartz vug, or cavity, (approximately 3 ft wide x 3 ft high) was extracted from one of the Coleman Quartz Mines and brought to the Arkansas Geological Survey Learning Center in the 1980s. This vug was found in the Crystal Mountain Sandstone (Early Ordovician, 485-470 mya), a massive, coarse-grained, well rounded, light gray sandstone from Montgomery and western Garland Counties, Ouachita Mountains. These quartz crystals formed secondarily from silica-rich fluids that resided within this large cavity.