| Barstow Formation | |
|---|---|
| Stratigraphic range: Early to Middle Miocene (Barstovian) ~ | |
 Barstow Formation exposed in Owl Canyon near Barstow, California. | |
| Type | Sedimentary |
| Lithology | |
| Primary | limestone, shale, siltstone, sandstone, tuff |
| Other | conglomerate |
| Location | |
| Region | Mojave Desert, California |
| Country | United States |
| Extent | Northern San Bernardino County, Southeastern California |
| Type section | |
| Named for | Barstow, California |
| Named by | Hershey (1902) |
The Barstow Formation is a series of limestones, conglomerates, sandstones, siltstones and shales exposed in the Mojave Desert near Barstow in San Bernardino County, California.[1][2]
It is of the early to middle Miocene epoch, (19.3 - 13.4 million years ago) in age, in the Neogene Period.[3] It lends its name to the Barstovian North American land mammal age (NALMA).
The sediments are fluvial and lacustrine in origin except for nine layers of rhyolitic tuff.[3] It is well known for its abundant vertebrate fossils including bones, teeth and footprints.[4] The formation is also renowned for the fossiliferous concretions in its upper member, which contain three-dimensionally preserved arthropods.
- ^ Dibblee, T.W., Jr. (1967). Areal Geology of the Western Mojave Desert, California. Geological Survey Professional Paper no. 522. United States Government Printing Office, Washington D.C.
- ^ Dibblee, T.W., Jr. (1968). Geology of the Fremont Peak and Opal Mountain Quadrangles, California. California Division of Mines and Geology, San Francisco.
- ^ a b Woodburne, M.O., Tedford, R.H., Swisher III, C.C. (1990). Lithostratigraphy, biostratigraphy, and geochronology of the Barstow Formation, Mojave Desert, southern California: Geological Society of America Bulletin, Vol. 102, p. 459-477.
- ^ Lindsay, E.H. (1972). Small Mammal Fossils from the Barstow Formation, California. University of California Publications in Geological Sciences, Vol. 93. University of California Press, Berkeley.