The Imo Formation, or Imo Shale, is a geologic unit in northern Arkansas that dates to the Chesterian Series of the late Mississippian. The Imo is considered to be a member of the upper Pitkin Formation, and is the most recent Mississippian age rock in Arkansas. The Imo Shale unconformably underlies the Pennsylvanian age Hale Formation

Imo Formation
Stratigraphic range: Carboniferous: Mississippian
TypeFormation
Unit ofPitkin Formation
UnderliesHale Formation
Location
RegionArkansas
CountryUnited States
Type section
Named forImo, Searcy County, Arkansas
Named byMackenzie Gordon Jr.[1]

The stratigraphic placement of this interval has long been debated. It was introduced in 1964 as the "Imo Formation," representing an interval of shale that was presumably of Mississippian and possibly of Pennsylvanian age. However, in a footnote in the first publication to use this designation, the author noted that the shale interval had been mapped into the Pennsylvanian Cane Hill Member of the Hale Formation and revoked use of the name "Imo Formation".

The name was reintroduced in 1973 as the "Imo Shale",[2] and in 2010 was classified as a member of the Mississippian age Pitkin Formation.[3]

Paleontology edit

Cephalopods edit

Flora edit

S. tenuis[5]

Foraminifera edit

E. explicata[5]
E. rugosa[5]
Z. discoidea[5]

Ostracods edit

See also edit

References edit

  1. ^ Gordon, Jr., Mackenzie (1964). "Carboniferous cephalopods of Arkansas". U.S. Geological Survey Professional Paper. 460: 34–38.
  2. ^ Gordon Jr., Mackenzie; Stone, Charles G. (1973). "Correlation of Carboniferous rocks of the Ouachita geosyncline with those of the adjacent shelf (abstract)". Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs. 5: 259.
  3. ^ Hutto, R. S.; Smart, E. (2010). "Reinstatement of Imo as a member of the upper Mississippian Pitkin Limestone after recent mapping in north-central Arkansas (abstract)". Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs. 42 (2): 70.
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Saunders, W. Bruce; Manger, Walter L.; Gordon Jr., Mackenzie (1977). "Upper Mississippian and Lower and Middle Pennsylvanian ammonoid biostratigraphy of northern Arkansas" (PDF). Oklahoma Geological Survey Guidebook. 18: 117–137. Retrieved 1 February 2018.
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Brenckle, Paul (1977). "Foraminifers and other calcareous microfossils from Late Chesterian (Mississippian) strata of northern Arkansas" (PDF). Oklahoma Geological Survey Guidebook. 18: 73–87. Retrieved 3 February 2018.
  6. ^ a b c d e f g h i Sohn, I. G. (1977). "Late Mississippian and Early Pennsylvanian ostracoda from northern Arkansas - a preliminary survey" (PDF). Oklahoma Geological Survey Guidebook. 18: 149–159. Retrieved 31 January 2018.