| Vale Formation | |
|---|---|
| Stratigraphic range: Early Permian, Leonardian (Kungurian?) | |
| Type | Formation |
| Unit of | Clear Fork Group |
| Sub-units | Standpipe Limestone, Brushy Creek Sandstone, Cedar Top Sandstone |
| Underlies | Choza Formation |
| Overlies | Arroyo Formation |
| Thickness | 160 metres (520 ft) |
| Lithology | |
| Primary | mudstone, claystone, siltstone |
| Other | shale, sandstone, conglomerate |
| Location | |
| Region |  Texas |
| Country |  United States |
| Type section | |
| Named for | Vale Post Office (Runnels County) |
| Named by | Beede & Waite, 1918 |
The Vale Formation is a geological formation in north-central Texas, a component of the Texas red beds preserving sediments and fossils from the Early Permian Leonardian series. It occupies the middle part of the Clear Fork Group, above the Arroyo Formation and below the Choza Formation.[1] Some sources consider the Vale Formation to be merely an informal subunit of the Clear Fork Formation, thus renaming it to the Middle Clear Fork Formation.[2]
- ^ Olson, Everett C.; Mead, James G. (March 1982). "The Vale Formation (Lower Permian) Its Vertebrates and Paleoecology". Texas Memorial Museum Bulletin. 29: 1–46.
- ^ Nelson, W. John; Hook, Robert W.; Chaney, Dan S. (2013). "Lithostratigraphy of the Lower Permian (Leonardian) Clear Fork Formation of north-central Texas". New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science Bulletin. 60: 286–311.