Materials Identification Guide

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