| Beartooth Butte Formation | |
| Type: | Formation |
| Age: | Lochkovian-Emsian ~ |
| Period: | Pragian |
| Prilithology: | Mudstone, sandstone |
| Otherlithology: | Shale, limestone |
| Namedfor: | Beartooth Butte |
| Region: | Wyoming |
| Coordinates: | 44.95°N -146°W |
| Paleocoordinates: | -28.2°N -47.1°W |
| Subunits: | Cottonwood Canyon Member |
The Beartooth Butte Formation is a geologic formation in Wyoming. It preserves fossils dating back to the Devonian period.[1]
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 2500feet wide and 250feet 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.
The following fossils have been reported from the formation:[1]