Alibates Flint Quarries National Monument, Potter County, Texas, USAi

Regional Level Types
Alibates Flint Quarries National Monument	National Monument
Potter County	County
Texas	State
USA	Country

Alibates is a multicolored, fine-grained microcrystalline material, occurring as large lenses and nodules, as a result of silicification of the dolomite. The agatized dolomite exhibits a range of colors with a similarly broad range of textures. This material is usually banded, but mottled red and blue, purple, brown, cream, and white are common colors. The commonly held mental image of Alibates is that it is grayish-blue with light-colored banding or veins of grays, blues, reds, purples, and white. Red and white banding is more common. The texture is dense and lacks flaws, with a dull opaque surface. The cortex on Alibates is usually white and chalky, and it is roughly one to two mm thick.
The Alibates Flint Quarries National Monument contains minimally 731 prehistoric quarry pits in four to five clusters along a ca. 1,300 m long irregular shaped area of one primary ridge. The hundreds of quarry pits testify to the extensive extraction of the tool stone from subsurface deposits by prehistoric peoples. Outcrops of Alibates and many more quarry pits are known on private lands on the northern side of the Canadian River. is that it is grayish-blue with light-colored banding or veins of grays, blues, reds, purples, and white. Red and white banding is more common. The texture is dense and lacks flaws, with a dull opaque surface. The cortex on Alibates is usually white and chalky, and it is roughly one to two mm thick.

Fossils

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References