Personnel Arkansas Geology Resources Mineral Producers Links Asphalt Asphalt is a brown to black high viscosity liquid or bitumen, having a low melting temperature, that consists almost entirely of carbon and hydrogen.
Natural asphalts form in oil-bearing rocks by evaporation of the volatiles.
Asphalt has a low specific gravity and burns with a bright, hot flame. Most deposits are very small, but may range up to 12 feet in thickness. Between 1900 and 1906, asphaltic sands were mined from open pits about 2.5 miles south of Pike in Pike County. Essentially all asphalt now used in Arkansas consists of crude oil residues left over from the production of other petroleum products at refineries. None of the asphalt deposits in the state are presently being mined.