Magnet Cove

Magnet Cove is a ring-dike intrusion of alkaline rocks about 20 km E of Hot Springs, Arkansas. A ring of nepheline-syenite encloses a weathered dark ijolite (which is a relative of nepheline syenite, silica-poor and mafic-rich) and some carbonatites. During the early late Cretaceous (95 mio years ago) the complex intruded into sedimentary rocks.

The locality is known for a unique mineralogy especially rich in titanium minerals. Specimens came mainly from the Diamond Jo Quarry and otherwise from small exploration and mining operations, carbonatite quarrying, construction, road and pipeline building and from occasional specimen digging. There are several types of miarolitic cavities and alteration zones in the adjactent contact rocks yielding the minerals.

Mineral list: (bold = type locality)

Aegirine
Albite
Allophane
Analcime
Anatase
Andesine
Andradite
Anhydrite
Ankerite
Anorthoclase
Aragonite
Arfvedsonite
Astrophyllite
Augite
Baddeleyite
Barite
Barytocalcite
Bastnaesite-(Ce)
Beidellite
Benitoite
Biotite
Britholite-(Ce)
Brookite
Brucite
Cacoxenite
Calcite
Cancrinite
Carbonate-fluorapatite
Catapleiite
Chabazite
Churchite-(Y)
Delindeite
Dolomite
Elpidite
Epidote
Eudialyte
Ferrohornblende
Fluorapatite
Fluorapophyllite
Fluorite
Galena
Goethite
Gonnardite
Gypsum
Hercynite
Heulandite
Hornblende
Ilmenite
Kaolinite
Kassite
Kimzeyite
Kolbeckite
Kupletskite
Labradorite
Labuntsovite
Lenoblite
Lorenzenite
Lourenwalsite
Magnetite
Marcasite
Microcline
Molybdenite
Monazite-(Ce)
Monticellite
Narsarsukite
Natrolite
Nepheline
Nontronite
Oligoclase
Opal
Orthoclase
Paramontroseite
Pectolite
Perovskite
Phlogopite
Pyrite
Pyrophanite
Quartz
Rutile
Schorlomite
Siderite
Siderophyllite
Sodalite
Sphalerite
Spinel
Synchysite-(Ce)
Taeniolite
Thomsonite
Titanite
Tobermorite
Tremolite
Vermiculite
Vesuvianite
Wavellite
Wollastonite
Zircon




&Suggested reading:

Smith, A.E.Jr.: Minerals from the miarolitic cavities at the Diamond Jo Quarry, Magnet Cove, Hot Spring County, Arkansas. Rocks&Minerals, 64(1989), pp.300-307

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