Novaculite
Novaculite is a form of
chert or
flint found in the
Ouachita Mountains of
Arkansas and
Oklahoma and in the
Marathon Uplift of
Texas. Novaculite is considered to be
geosynclinal highly siliceous sediments and may be a product of the low-grade
metamorphism of chert beds. The
strata were deposited in the
Devonian Period and subjected to uplift and folding during the
Ouachita orogeny of the
Pennsylvanian/
Permian Periods. Novaculite is very resistant to
erosion and the layers of novaculite stand out as ridges in the Ouachita Mountains.
Novaculite is a form of microcrystalline or cryptocrystalline
quartz. The color varies from white to grey-black and the
specific gravity shows an increase from 2.2 to 2.5. The very hard dense rock is used as a
whetstone. It has been mined since prehistoric times both as material for use as arrow and spear points and as sharpening stones.
The word novaculite is derived from the
Latin word
novacula, for razor stone.
* Folk, R.L., and E.F. McBride, 1976,
The Caballos Novaculite revisited Part I: "origin of novaculite members . Journal of Sedimentary Petrology. 46:659-669
* Folk, R.L., and E.F. McBride, 1978,
Origin of the Caballos Novaculite. in S.J. Mazzullo, ed., Tectonics and Paleozoic facies of the Marathon Geosyncline, West Texas: Permian Basin Section, Society for Sedimentray Geology, SEPM, Publication no. 78-17:101-130.
* Frondel, C., 1962,
The System of Mineralogy of J. D. and E. S. Dana, v. 3, Silica Minerals: 7th ed., John Wiley and Sons, New York, 334p.
* Lowe, D.R., 1975,
Regional Controls on Silica Sedimentation in the Ouachita System. Geological Society of America Bulletin. 86:1123-1127
* Lowe, D.R., 1976,
Nonglacial varves in lower member of Arkansas Novaculite (Devonian), Arkansas and Oklahoma. Amercian Association of Petroleum Geologists Bulletin. 60:2103-2116.
* Lowe, D.R., 1977,
The Arkansas novaculite: some aspects of its physical sedimentation. in C.G. Stone, and others, eds., Symposium on the geology of the Ouachita Mountains. Arkansas Geological Commission Miscellaneous Publication 13:132-138.
* Lowe, D.R., 1989,
Stratigraphy, sedimentology, and depositional setting of pre-orogenic rocks of the Ouachita Mountains, Arkansas and Oklahoma, in R.D. Hatcher, Jr., W.A. Thomas, and G.W. Viele, eds., The Appalachian-Ouachita orogen in the United States. The Geology of North America. F-2:575-590, Geological Society of America, Boulder.
* McBride, E.F., 1989,
Stratigraphy and sedimentary history of Pre-Permian Paleozoic rocks of the Marathon uplift, in R.D. Hatcher, Jr., W.A. Thomas, and G.W. Viele, eds., The Appalachian-Ouachita orogen in the United States. The Geology of North America. F-2:603-620, Geological Society of America, Boulder.
* King, P.B., 1937,
Geology of the Marathon Region, Texas, United States Geological Survey Professional Paper 187
* Krumbein, W.C. and Sloss, L.L., 1963,
Stratigraphy and Sedimentation: 2nd ed., W. H. Freeman and Company, San Francisco, 660p.
* Arkansas Geological Commission:
Novaculite http://www.state.ar.us/agc/novaculi.htm
* Babcock, L.L.,
Novaculite - The Arkansas Sharpening Stone http://knifeart.com/knifeart/novarsharsto.html
* Meeks Etchieson,
Prehistoric Novaculite Quarries in the Ouachita Mountains, http://www.fs.fed.us/oonf/history/nova/novaculite.htm
* Olympus,
Polarized Light Microscopy Digital Image Gallery: Novaculite http://www.olympusmicro.com/galleries/polarizedlight/pages/novaculitesmall.html
