Pitkin Formation

Pitkin Formation
Stratigraphic range: Upper Visean-Serpukhovian
TypeFormation
Sub-unitsImo Shale
UnderliesHale Formation
OverliesFayetteville Formation
Thicknessup to and over 400 feet
Lithology
PrimaryLimestone
OtherShale
Location
RegionArkansas
CountryUnited States
Type section
Named forPitkin post office, Washington County, Arkansas
Named byGeorge Irving Adams and Edward Oscar Ulrich

The Pitkin Formation, or Pitkin Limestone, is a fossiliferous geologic formation in northern Arkansas that dates to the Chesterian Series of the late Mississippian. This formation was first named the "Archimedes Limestone" by David Dale Owen in 1858, but was replaced in 1904. The Pitkin conformably overlies the Fayetteville Shale and unconformably underlies the Pennsylvanian-age Hale Formation. Some workers have considered the shales at the top of the Pitkin Formation to be a separate formation called the Imo Formation. More recently, others have considered the Imo to be informal member of the Pitkin Formation.