Beartooth Butte Formation

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Beartooth Butte Formation
Stratigraphic range: Lochkovian-Emsian
~419–394  Ma
Cosmaspis transversa (Beartooth Butte Formation, Lower Devonian; Cottonwood Canyon, east of Lovell, Wyoming, USA) 4 (33446628334).jpg
Fossil fish from the Beartooth Butte Formation
Type Formation
Sub-unitsCottonwood Canyon Member
Lithology
Primary Mudstone, sandstone
Other Shale, limestone
Location
Coordinates 44°57′N109°37′W / 44.950°N 109.617°W / 44.950; -109.617 Coordinates: 44°57′N109°37′W / 44.950°N 109.617°W / 44.950; -109.617
Approximate paleocoordinates 28°12′S47°06′W / 28.2°S 47.1°W / -28.2; -47.1
Region Wyoming
CountryFlag of the United States.svg  United States
Type section
Named for Beartooth Butte
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Beartooth Butte Formation (the United States)
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Beartooth Butte Formation (Wyoming)

The Beartooth Butte Formation is a geologic formation in Wyoming. It preserves fossils dating back to the Devonian period. [1]

Contents

Description

The formation contains a basal limestone conglomerate overlain by evenly bedded red or gray limestones (more accurately, limy mudstones) and calcareous shales. It is a lenticular, channel-fill deposit which is some 2,500 feet (760 m) wide and 250 feet (76 m) thick at maximum. Most collections are from the talus slope. Stable oxygen and isotope data (Poulson in Fiorillo, 2000) indicate that the Beartooth Butte Formation was deposited in an estuarine environment, with the Cottonwood Canyon section being slightly less saline than the type section.

Fossil content

The following fossils have been reported from the formation: [1]

Fish
Insects
Flora
Invertebrates

See also

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Beartooth Butte is in the Beartooth Mountains in the U.S. state of Wyoming. The peak is located in the Absaroka–Beartooth Wilderness of Shoshone National Forest. Rising more than 1,500 feet (460 m) to the northwest above Beartooth Lake, the butte is easily seen from the Beartooth Highway. Unlike the granitic rocks that comprise the vast majority of rocks to be found in the Beartooth Mountains, Beartooth Butte consists mostly of sedimentary rocks. It has the most easily accessible rocks of the Beartooth Butte Formation a geologic formation that preserves fossils dating back to the Devonian period.

References

  1. 1 2 Beartooth Butte Formation at Fossilworks.org

Bibliography