Nebraska Lithic Material
Name | Natural | Non-heat treated points | Heat treated points | Color details | Primary found in: | Associated Formation / Member |
Agate Jasper | Ranges from yellow to brown or green. Part if the material will be banded and be translucent while the remaining material will be mottled and opaque. | Western Nebraska | ||||
Argentine Chert | Ranges in color from a light tan to a pale to medium gray. Light mottling or streaking may be present. | Eastern Nebraska | Argentine Member of the Wyandotte Limestone Formation | |||
Bethany Falls Chert | Ranges from light to dark gray | Northeastern Nebraska | Swope Formation | |||
Bijou Hills
Quartzite AKA: Ogallala Orthoquartzite |
Range from a dull gray white to a drab olive greenish color. It typically has various minerals that can give a salt and pepper appearance | North central Nebraska | Ogallala Formation | |||
Blue River Agate | Southeastern Nebraska | Eskridge Formation | ||||
Blue Springs Chert | Southeastern Nebraska | |||||
Chadron Chert | Mottled and ranges from tan or yellowish brown to red or gray. Vugs filled with chalcedony or drusy quartz may be present. | Northern Nebraska | Chadron Formation | |||
Cottonwood Chert AKA: Manhattan Chert |
Grayish brown with patches of shades of white. | Southeastern Nebraska | Cottonwood Limestone Formation | |||
Curzon Chert | Mottled and primary medium to light gray, but may range to a light yellow brown to a light olive brown or brownish gray. | Southeastern Nebraska | Curzon Limestone of the Topeka formation | |||
Dakota Quartzite AKA: Dakota Orthoquartzite |
Ranges in color from reds to browns | Western Nebraska | Dakota Formation | |||
Dawson Petrified Wood AKA: Elizabethan, Parker, Cherry Creek Petrified Wood |
Ranges from a yellowish tan with clear or white linear inclusions to a reddish tan with dark tan inclusions | Southwestern Nebraska | Dawson Formation | |||
Deuel County Petrified Wood | Southwestern Nebraska | Oligocene Chadron Formation | ||||
Ervine Creek Chert | Ranges from a light medium gray to a dark gray. Larger white specks are formed by fossils | Southeastern Nebraska | Ervine Creek Limestone Member, Deer Creek Limestone Formation | |||
Fairburn Agate AKA: Tee Pee Canyon Agate, Guernsey Lake Agate |
Alternating circular bands of fibrous chalcedony alternating between yellowish brown with a narrower whitish band | Northwestern Nebraska | Chadron Formation, White River Group | |||
Flattop Butte
Chalcedony AKA: Flattop Mesa Chalcedony |
Ranges from opaque white to translucent lavender with specks of blue and pink. | Southwestern Nebraska | Chadron capstone | |||
Hartville Chert AKA:Hartville Uplift Chert, Hartville Uplift Jasper |
Ranges from most commonly colors and hues of yellow, orange, red, brown, and purple with black mottling and dendrites common | Western Nebraska | Hartville Formation | |||
Hartville Quartzite AKA: Hartville Uplift Quartzite |
Ranges from white to a light to medium gray, tan or red, white streaking may be present. | Western Nebraska | Hartville Formation | |||
Kimball Chert | Ranges from tannish off white to tan or light brownish gray. Commonly has dendritic inclusions. | Southwestern Nebraska | Ogallala Formation | |||
Knife River Flint Knife River Chert, Knife River Chalcedony |
Ranges in color from a root beer, tea, coffee, or caramel brown | Northeastern Nebraska | Eocene Golden Valley Formation | |||
Minnekahta Chert | Medium brown with a red mesh of hematite and limonite and round quartz inclusions. | Northwestern Nebraska | Minnekahta Limestone Formation | |||
Nehawka Chert Rice Grain Chert, Protozoa Agate, Weeping Water Chert |
Ranges from grayish blue to blue with oolitic white specks | Southeastern Nebraska | Pennsylvanian Limestone Formation | |||
Neva Chert | White | Southeastern Nebraska | Neva Limestone Member of the Grenola Formation | |||
Ogallala
Orthoquartzite AKA: Bijou Hills Silicified Sediment and Sugar Rock |
Colors can vary, but most common colors are light to dark gray, tan, white, pink, maroon, or golden | Western Nebraska | Ogallala Formation | |||
Ogallala Palm Wood AKA: Petrified Palmwood |
Ranges from white to a dark gray with specks. | Western Nebraska | Ogallala Formation | |||
Ogallala Silicified
Sediment AKA: Ogallala Chert |
Ranges from a buff to a reddish color or gray. Quartz inclusions form speckles in the material. | Western Nebraska | Ogallala Formation | |||
Opeche Chert AKA: Opeche Siltstone |
Reddish color | Northwestern Nebraska | Opeche Formation | |||
Pawnee Creek Gravel | East central Nebraska | |||||
Pawnee Grassland Quartzite | Ranges in color from a pinkish to a yellowish tan. | Southwestern Nebraska | Pawnee Creek Bed Formation | |||
Petrified Wood AKA: Agatized Wood, Opalized Wood |
Vary in color based on the minerals present during the process | Nebraska | Varies | |||
Plattsburg Chert | Light brown color. | Southeastern Nebraska | Plattsburg Limestone Formation | |||
Plattsmouth Fossiliferous Chert Rice Agate |
Ranges from a medium to medium dark gray or brownish gray to black. Light brownish fossils form specks. | Eastern Nebraska | Plattsmouth Member of the Oread Formation, Virgilian series, Shawnee Group | |||
Prairie Agate | Concentric banding and is a marbled mixture of chalcedony and different colors of jasper | Northwestern Nebraska | Chadron Formation | |||
Republican River Jasper AKA for Smoky Hills Jasper |
Vary in color from a mustard brown or caramel brown to a chalky or creamy white, less commonly red, green, or black does occur, Inclusions and dendrites may be present | Central Nebraska | Smoky Hills Member of the Niobrara Chalk Formation | |||
Rhyolite | Gray to grayish black, flow banding may be present alternating from light to darker gray | North America | Volcanic Activity | |||
Schroyer Chert AKA: Wreford Type B |
Ranges from bluish gray to a gray and may be mottled or splotched with darker gray with speckles of small white fossils | South central Nebraska | Schroyer Member, Wrenford Limestone Formation | |||
Sheldon Chert | Translucent to opaque chert ranging from a light to dark gray or yellowish brown and pinkish brown. Densely filled with fossil fragments | Southeastern Nebraska | Sheldon Member of the Topeka Formation, Shawnee Group | |||
Sioux Jasper \AKA: Sioux Falls Jasper |
Ranges in color from a brownish yellow to red | Eastern Nebraska | Sioux Formation | |||
Sioux Quartzite AKA: Redstone Quartzite |
Ranges from a light grayish tan to a medium grayish brown. | Eastern Nebraska | Sioux Formation | |||
Smoky Hills Jasper AKA: Alma, Graham, Niobrara, Republican River Jasper |
Vary in color from a mustard brown or caramel brown to a chalky or creamy white, less commonly red, green, or black does occur, Inclusions and dendrites may be present | Central Nebraska | Smoky Hills Member of the Niobrara Chalk Formation | |||
South Bend Chert | Ranges from a light gray to a light bluish gray, concretions are commonly present. | Southeastern Nebraska | South Bend Member of the Stanton Limestone Formation | |||
Spanish
Diggings Quartzite AKA: Fall River Quartzite and Lamoka Quartzite |
Range from a medium to very light shades of brown, gray, and purple or purplish gray, may be homogenous to variegated or banded | Northwestern Nebraska | Fall River and Lamoka Formation of the Inyan Kara Group | |||
Spearfish Chert | Ranges from a grayish red to purple | Northwestern Nebraska | Spearfish Limestone Formation | |||
Spring Branch Chert | Primarily a medium gray chert with darker fossil inclusions. Bluish gray chalcedony vugs may be present. | East central Nebraska | Spring Branch Limestone of the Lecompton Formation | |||
Spring Hill Chert | Strongly mottled and ranges from light to dark gray with dark speckles being present. | Southeastern Nebraska | Spring Hill Member, Plattsburg Limestone Formation | |||
Stoner Chert Type A and B |
Ranges from light to medium gray or a grayish tan with white veins. | Southeastern Nebraska | Stoner Member of the Stanton Formation, Lansing Group | |||
Tongue River
Silicified Sediment AKA: Tongue River Silica |
Grayish brown sediment, pseudoquartzite, or arenaceous chert | Northeastern Nebraska | Slope / Bullion Creek formation | |||
Toronto Chert | Homogenous ranging from a white to a pale brown or yellowish brown. | Southeastern Nebraska | Toronto Limestone Member, Oread Formation of the Shawnee Group | |||
Tuff AKA: Solidified Volcanic Ash |
Contains greater than 75 volcanic ash and ranges from white to tan, gray or pink. | North America | Volcanic activity | |||
White River Group
Silicate Generic type |
Ranges from light to medium gray, to a light brown, pink, blue or lavender with inclusions, splotches, mottling. | Western Nebraska. | White River Group | |||
White River
Group Plate Chalcedony AKA: Badlands Plate Chalcedony |
Quarter inch thick ranging from clear to milky white with a rough milky white cortex | Northwestern Nebraska | White River Group | |||
Winterset Chert AKA: Fusulinid Chert, Zebra Chert |
Primarily homogenous, ranging to mottled or layered, ranging from a light to dark gray or brownish gray, opaque may have a "zebra" appearance | Eastern Nebraska | Winterset Limestone Member of the Dennis Limestone Formation, Kansas City Group | |||
Youngsite Agate AKA: Hartsville Uplift Agate |
Ranges in color from a yellowish tan to a rosy pink or a grayish
silver. Gray undertones may be present. |
Western Nebraska | Guernsey Limestone Formation |