The Magnet Cove igneous complex is a small alkalic ring complex

Ring dike

A ring dike or ring dyke in geology refers to an intrusive igneous body. Their chemistry, petrology and field appearance precisely match those of dikes or sill, but their concentric or radial geometric distribution around a centre of volcanic activity indicates their subvolcanic origins.-Notable...

 lying to the west of the town of Magnet Cove

Magnet Cove, Arkansas

Magnet Cove is a town in Hot Spring County, Arkansas, United States. It is located in the Ouachita Mountains south of Hot Springs, off of U.S. Highway 270 and Arkansas State Route 51. As of the 2010 census, Magnet Cove had a population of 453....

 in Hot Spring County, Arkansas. It and the adjacent town are so named due to the existence of magnetite

Magnetite

Magnetite is a ferrimagnetic mineral with chemical formula Fe3O4, one of several iron oxides and a member of the spinel group. The chemical IUPAC name is iron oxide and the common chemical name is ferrous-ferric oxide. The formula for magnetite may also be written as FeO·Fe2O3, which is one part...

 and the terrain being a cove

Cove (Appalachian Mountains)

In the central and southern Appalachian Mountains of Eastern North America, a cove is a small valley between two ridge lines that is closed at one or both ends....

, a basin-shaped valley.

The complex is of Mesozoic

Mesozoic

The Mesozoic era is an interval of geological time from about 250 million years ago to about 65 million years ago. It is often referred to as the age of reptiles because reptiles, namely dinosaurs, were the dominant terrestrial and marine vertebrates of the time...

 age, intruded into Paleozoic

Paleozoic

The Paleozoic era is the earliest of three geologic eras of the Phanerozoic eon, spanning from roughly...

 sediments. A classic study and mapping was conducted by the geologists Erickson and Blade in 1963. Units within the complex include carbonatite

Carbonatite

Carbonatites are intrusive or extrusive igneous rocks defined by mineralogic composition consisting of greater than 50 percent carbonate minerals. Carbonatites may be confused with marble, and may require geochemical verification....

, nepheline syenite

Nepheline syenite

Nephelene syenite is a holocrystalline plutonic rock that consists largely of nepheline and alkali feldspar. The rocks are mostly pale colored, grey or pink, and in general appearance they are not unlike granites, but dark green varieties are also known...

, phonolite

Phonolite

Phonolite is a rare igneous, volcanic rock of intermediate composition, with aphanitic to porphyritic texture....

, and ijolite

Ijolite

Ijolite , is an igneous rock consisting essentially of nepheline and augite. Ijolite is a rare rock type of considerable importance from a mineralogical and petrological standpoint...

.

In addition to the magnetite which forms both massive lodestone

Lodestone

A lodestone or loadstone is a naturally magnetized piece of the mineral magnetite. They are naturally occurring magnets, that attract pieces of iron. Ancient people first discovered the property of magnetism in lodestone...

 and crystals, the complex is strewn with odd and rare minerals, and is the type locality

Type locality (geology)

Type locality , also called type area or type locale, is the where a particular rock type, stratigraphic unit, fossil or mineral species is first identified....

 for five mineral species. Over 100 different minerals have been identified from the area.
There are many titanium

Titanium

Titanium is a chemical element with the symbol Ti and atomic number 22. It has a low density and is a strong, lustrous, corrosion-resistant transition metal with a silver color....

 minerals such as rutile

Rutile

Rutile is a mineral composed primarily of titanium dioxide, TiO2.Rutile is the most common natural form of TiO2. Two rarer polymorphs of TiO2 are known:...

, anatase

Anatase

Anatase is one of the three mineral forms of titanium dioxide, the other two being brookite and rutile. It is always found as small, isolated and sharply developed crystals, and like rutile, a more commonly occurring modification of titanium dioxide, it crystallizes in the tetragonal system; but,...

, brookite

Brookite

Brookite is orthorhombic, and one of the four naturally occurring polymorphs of titanium dioxide, TiO2, approved by the International Mineralogical Association . The others are akaogiite , anatase and rutile...

, and perovskite

Perovskite

A perovskite structure is any material with the same type of crystal structure as calcium titanium oxide , known as the perovskite structure, or XIIA2+VIB4+X2−3 with the oxygen in the face centers. Perovskites take their name from this compound, which was first discovered in the Ural mountains of...

, as well as some vanadium

Vanadium

Vanadium is a chemical element with the symbol V and atomic number 23. It is a hard, silvery gray, ductile and malleable transition metal. The formation of an oxide layer stabilizes the metal against oxidation. The element is found only in chemically combined form in nature...

 mineralization. Some rare-earth-bearing minerals have also been identified.

Many companies have mined the area over the last century, including the Diamond Jo Quarry.

Arkansas State Route 51 runs generally east-west through Magnet Cove.