Color:  Reed's Springs Chert has two variations

Lower formation chert ranges from a solid dark bluish gray to a mottled dark bluish gray with mottling of brown, tan or gray.

Upper formation chert is a mottled off white to a creamy tan, light gray, or yellowish brown.

Texture:  Very fine grain

Luster: Waxy to glossy

Silica Fabrics / Fossils: Crinoids

Patina: Light gray to a pinkish gray

Heat Treatment: 

Knapping: Lower formation chert is a high quality chert and is considered by some to be the highest quality knapping material in southern Missouri.
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Distribution Comments:

Reed Springs chert is associated with the Reed's Springs Formation of the St. Joes Group of Arkansas and Missouri and Oklahoma.  Primary outcroppings are located around Crystal Lake in Benton County, Arkansas, Spavinaw Lake, Oklahoma, and into northwestern Arkansas, southwestern Missouri, and northeastern Oklahoma.