Digital Commons Network^™

A Geochemical And Mineralogical Evaluation Of The Mona Lisa Turquoise Mine, Polk County, Arkansas, Alexander Arai Goodsuhm

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The presence of turquoise in Arkansas has long been disputed by geologists and gem collectors. Despite the prevalence of other phosphate minerals in Arkansas, such as planerite, wavellite, and variscite, the absence of an obvious copper (Cu) source required for turquoise formation was considered too great of an obstacle for turquoise mineralization. In this study, geologic, mineralogical, and geochemical techniques provide overwhelming evidence that the novaculite-hosted Mona Lisa Mine in Arkansas does produce turquoise. X-ray diffraction and Raman spectroscopy have confirmed the structural nature of the material and identified other phosphate minerals, such as crandallite, often found in assemblage with …