Ouachita Geo Float





 For groups of 15 or more, when you provide your own boat, the Corps of Engineers will provide the a ranger to accompany the trip and explain the lake features. There is also a self guided tour that can be taken with a free guidebook that is offered from the Arkansas Geological Commission. Here students will need to be able to identify Folds, Joints, Quartz and fossil graphites. The following is pictures and some narratives that have been complied from the web site Rockhounding Arkansas by Mike and Darcy Howard.

THE SHORELINES of Lake Ouachita show the complex structures of the geological formations of the Ouachita Mountains. This area has been studied intensively by geologists, and also in a more relaxed manner by sightseers from boats taking the Geo Float trip. The photos here are from Project GO (Geology Orientation), a summer field camp of outstanding students, as they toured the lake.

Geologist Charlie Stone explains some of the contacts and bedding features that are found at the different buoy markers along the Geo Float.

Left, folds in the Mazarn unit. Right, the contact of the Mazarn and the Blakely formations.

Left, Whirlpool rock, where a whirlpool churned in the current of the Ouachita river before it was dammed to form Lake Ouachita; right, our geologist guide points out the beauty of the structure, and to quote, he says, "Any dern fool can see the bedding".






Left, graded beds near the submarine slide; right, folds showing how plastic the rock was.

Zebra rock. White quartz veins in the rock show up dramatically. Although crystals can be found on the shoreline of the lake, digging, or destruction of property, will result in a citation from the ranger.
 
 

Checkerboard Point. The cracks in the sandstone formed much in the same way as if you bent metal near its breaking point. When this area was being pushed up into mountains, the harder rock layers were fractured. While these hard sandstone layers were cracking under compression, the other softer layers nearby flowed with the pressure and eventually folded.
 
 

Looking for fossil graptolites, and some examples of what they found.
 
 

Needed Supplies- Day Pack, camera, water, notebook

Information

For group of 15 or more, when you provide the boat, the Corps of Engineers will provide a ranger to accompany the trip and explain the features.

Boat Rental can be arranged with Spillway Resort at (501) 767-2997.

To set up an appointment with the Corps of Engineers, contact Rick Dwyer at (501) 767-2108





When we have finished we will head back to Hot Springs. We will eat lunch and then find out about the special qualities of the waters found in Hot Springs.
 
 

BACK
Ouachita Region
Itinerary
NEXT
Hot Springs