Carters Limestone Explained

Carters Limestone
Type:Formation
Age:Middle Ordovician
Period:Middle Ordovician
Prilithology:Thin-bedded to massive limestone
Otherlithology:Thin shale and bentonite beds
Namedby:J. M. Stafford
Region:Central Basin, Tennessee
Unitof:Lower and Upper Members
Underlies:Hermitage Formation
Overlies:Lebanon Limestone
Thickness:9-
Extent:Central Tennessee

The Carters Limestone is a geologic formation in Tennessee. It preserves fossils dating back to the Ordovician period. The Carters contains abundant invertebrate fossils, including corals, stromatoporoids, brachiopods and bryozoans, mollusk (gastropods, bivalves and orthoconic cephalopods) and trilobites. Trace fossils also occur. The unit has several volcanic ash (bentonite) beds and is known to have isolated reef development.

See also