View source for Fort Payne Formation

{{Short description|Carboniferous period geologic formation in Appalachia and Southeastern United States}}
{{Infobox rockunit
| name           = Fort Payne Chert
| image          = Chertified fossiliferous limestone (Ft. Payne Limestone, Lower Mississippian; Lake Cumberland, Kentucky, USA) 2 (30748692874).jpg
| caption        = Chertified fossiliferous limestone from the Fort Payne Formation (Kentucky)
| type           = [[Formation (stratigraphy)|Formation]]
| age            = [[Viséan]]
| period         = Visean
| prilithology   = [[limestone]]
| otherlithology =
| namedfor       =
| namedby        =
| region         = [[Appalachia]] and [[Southeastern United States]]
| country        = [[United States]]
| coordinates    =
| unitof         =
| subunits       =
| underlies      = [[Tuscumbia Limestone]] and [[Ullin Formation]]
| overlies       = [[Maccrady Formation]] and [[Springville Formation]]
| thickness      =
| extent         = [[Illinois]], [[Kentucky]], [[Mississippi]], [[Missouri]], [[Tennessee]], and [[Virginia]]
| area           =
| map            =
| map_caption    =
}}
{{Commons category|Fort Payne Formation}}
The '''Fort Payne Formation''', or '''Fort Payne Chert''', is a [[geologic formation]] found in the [[southeastern United States|southeastern region]] of the [[United States]].<ref name=usgs>[http://mrdata.usgs.gov/geology/state/sgmc-unit.php?unit=TNMfp%3B10 USGS.gov: Fort Payne Formation]</ref> It is a [[Mississippian (geologic period)|Mississippian Period]] [[chert]]y [[limestone]], that overlies the [[Chattanooga Shale]] (or locally the [[Maury Formation]]), and underlies the [[St. Louis Limestone]] (lower [[Tuscumbia Limestone]] in Alabama).  To the north, it grades into the [[siltstone]] [[Borden Formation]].<ref name=usgs/> It preserves [[fossils]] dating back to the [[Carboniferous]] [[Period (geology)|period]].<ref>{{cite web|title= Fossilworks: Gateway to the Paleobiology Database|author= ((Various Contributors to the Paleobiology Database))|url= https://www.fossilworks.org|access-date= 17 December 2021|archive-date= 25 March 2022|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20220325060448/http://www.fossilworks.org/cgi-bin/bridge.pl?action=home|url-status= live}}</ref>

[[Eugene Allen Smith]] named the Fort Payne Formation for outcrops at [[Fort Payne, Alabama]].

== See also ==
* {{C|Carboniferous United States}}
* {{C|Carboniferous stratigraphic units of North America}}
* [[Mississippian (geologic period)]]
* [[List of fossiliferous stratigraphic units in Kentucky]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

{{Chronostratigraphy of Alabama}}
{{Chronostratigraphy of Illinois}}
{{Chronostratigraphy of Virginia}}

[[Category:Geologic formations of Alabama]]
[[Category:Mississippian United States]]
[[Category:Carboniferous Alabama]]
[[Category:Carboniferous Kentucky]]
[[Category:Carboniferous Tennessee]]
[[Category:Viséan]]
[[Category:Limestone formations of the United States]]
[[Category:Chert formations]]
[[Category:Carboniferous southern paleotemperate deposits]]
[[Category:Carboniferous southern paleotropical deposits]]
[[Category:Geologic formations of Kentucky]]
[[Category:Geologic formations of Tennessee]]


{{US-geologic-formation-stub}}