novaculite

The upper member is chiefly a massive, highly calcareous light gray to black novaculite.

The word novaculite is derived from the Latin word novacula, for razor stone.

The sedimentary rocks in the vicinity of the thermal springs consist of shale, chert, novaculite, sandstone, and conglomerate.

Novaculite is very resistant to erosion and the layers of novaculite stand out as ridges in the Ouachita Mountains.

The Ouachitas are noted for quartz crystal deposits around the Mount Ida area and for renowned Arkansas novaculite whetstones.

Rock types in the area include shale units which generally impede ground-water movement, while fractured chert, novaculite, and sandstone units generally support ground-water movement.

These thickly bedded cherts include the novaculite of the Ouachita Mountains of Arkansas, Oklahoma, and similar occurrences in Texas in the United States.

Some of the exotic materials included: cryptocrystalline quartz, blue-green nodular chert, Dover chert, novaculite, quartz, vein quartz, chalcedony, Horse Mountain agate, sandstone, hematite, steatite, slate, green slate, banded slate and igneous rock.