Named by Frederick Willard Simonds in 1891, Simonds recognized what is now the Fayetteville Shale as three separate formations overlying the now abandoned Wyman Sandstone: the Fayetteville Shale, the Batesville Sandstone, and the Marshall Shale.[6] In 1904, the name "Fayetteville Shale" replaced all three of these names. The Fayetteville Shale that Simonds recognized is now considered as the lower Fayetteville Shale. Simonds' Batesville Sandstone was found to be the same as the Wyman Sandstone, and replaced the name "Wyman Sandstone", while Simonds' Batesville Sandstone became known as the "Wedington Sandstone Member" presumably after Wedington Mountain. The name Marshall Shale was abandoned and is now known as the upper Fayetteville Shale.[8]
The formation holds natural gas in a fine-grained rock matrix which requires hydraulic fracturing to release the gas.[9] This process became cost-effective in some shales such as the Fayetteville after years of experimentation in the Barnett ShaleinNorth Texas, especially when combined with horizontal drilling.
The Fayetteville Shale play began in July 2004 by Southwestern Energy Company in north-central Arkansas with the Thomas #1-9 vertical well in Conway County, Arkansas.[10] In February 2005, Southwestern Energy drilled the first horizontal well, the Seeco-Vaughan #4-22H, also in Conway County.[11]
The US Energy Information Administration estimated that the 5,853 square miles (15,160 km2) shale play held 13,240 billion cubic ft (375 billion cubic meters) of unproved, technically recoverable gas.[7] The average well was estimated to produce 1.3 billion cubic feet of gas.[12] As of 2018, new drilling in the Fayetteville Shale had ceased and almost 1/5 of wells were abandoned.[13]
Because the Fayetteville Formation is a marine unit, most of the plants found in the black shales must have been washed into the Carboniferous sea from a landmass. However one unit within the formation, the Weddington Sandstone Member, is a series of river deposited sand beds. Fossil plants from this unit were probably deposited closer to their source.
^ abcdefM. Gordon Jr. and T. W. Henry. 1993. Late Mississippian Productoid Brachiopods Inflatia, Keokukia, and Adairia, Ozark Region of Oklahoma and Arkansas. Paleontological Society Memoir 30:1-29
^ abFreemen, T. Fossils of Arkansas. Arkansas Geologic Commission.
^ abcdSando, W. 1969. Revision of Some of Girty's Invertebrate Fossils from the Fayetteville Shale (Mississippian) of Arkansas and Oklahoma: Part B- Corals. United States Geologic Survey Professional Paper 606
^Branner, J. (1891). "Introduction". Arkansas Geological Survey Annual Report 1888. 4: xiii.
^ abSimonds, F.W. (1891). "The geology of Washington County". Arkansas Geological Survey Annual Report 1888. 4: 26, 42–49.
^ abReed, Michael (June 2013). "Shale Play Should See Added Capacity Next 2 Years". Pipeline & Gas Journal. 240 (6). Houston, TX: Oildom Publishing Company: 46.
^ abcdefgTaylor, T., Eggard, D.,1967. Petrified Plants from the Upper Mississippian (Chester Series) of Arkansas. Transactions of the American Microscopical Society. 86: 4
^Tomescu, A. 2001. Lyginopteris royalii sp. nov. from the Upper Mississippian of North America. Review of Paleobotany and Palynology. 116: 3-4
^Dunn, M., Rothwell, G., Mapes, G. 2002.Additional observations on Rhynchosperma quinnii (Medullosaceae): a permineralized ovule from the Chesterian (Upper Mississippian) Fayetteville Formation of Arkansas. Journal of Botany. 89:11
^Dunn, M., Rothwell, G., Mapes, G. 2003. On Paleozoic plants from marine strata: Trivena arkansana (Lyginopteridaceae) gen. et sp. nov., a lyginopterid from the Fayetteville Formation (middle Chesterian/Upper Mississippian) of Arkansas, USA. Journal of Botany. 90:8
^Lund, R., Mapes, R. 1984. Carcharopsis wortheni from the Fayetteville Formation (Mississippian) of Arkansas. Journal of Paleontology. 58:3.
^Maisey, J. G. (2007). The braincase in Paleozoic symmoriiform and cladoselachian sharks. Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History, 2007(307), 1-122.
^ abcBurdick, D., Strimple, H. 1973. Flexible Crinoids from the Fayetteville Formation (Chesterian) of Northeastern Oklahoma. Journal of Paleontology. 47:2
^ abcdefgMapes, R. 1966. Late Mississippian Lycopsid Branch from Arkansas. Oklahoma Geology Notes.
^Doughouzhaeva L, Mapes, R., Mutvei, H. 1997. Beaks and radulae of Early Carboniferous goniatites. Lethia. 30:4
^Easton, W. 1945. Kinkaid Corals from Illinois and Amplexoid Corals from the Chester of Illinois and Arkansas. Journal of Paleontology. 19:4
^ abcdefghijklmnopqrPojeta, J. 1969. Revision of Some of Girty's Invertebrate Fossils from the Fayetteville Shale (Mississippian) of Arkansas and Oklahoma: Part C- Pelecypods. United States Geologic Survey Professional Paper 606
^ abHenry, Thomas W.; Gordon Jr., Mackenzie (1985). "Chesterian Davidsoniacean and Orthotetacean brachiopods, Ozark region of Arkansas and Oklahoma". Journal of Paleontology. 59 (1): 32–59.
^ abcdefgYochelson, E 1969. Revision of Some of Girty's Invertebrate Fossils from the Fayetteville Shale (Mississippian) of Arkansas and Oklahoma: Part C- Pelecypods. United States Geologic Survey Professional Paper 606
^ abcdefghijSohn, I. 1969.Revision of Some of Girty's Invertebrate Fossils from the Fayetteville Shale (Mississippian) of Arkansas and Oklahoma: Part F- Ostracodes. United States Geologic Survey Professional Paper 606
^Brezinski, David K. (31 March 2017). "Some New Late Mississippian Trilobites from Oklahoma and Arkansas". Annals of Carnegie Museum. 84 (2): 173–178. doi:10.2992/007.084.0203. S2CID90872931.
^Gordon, M. 1969.Revision of Some of Girty's Invertebrate Fossils from the Fayetteville Shale (Mississippian) of Arkansas and Oklahoma: Part E- Trilobites. United States Geologic Survey Professional Paper 606
^ abcHandford, C. Robertson (1986). "Facies and bedding sequences in shelf-storm-deposited carbonates - Fayetteville Shale and Pitkin Limestone (Mississippian), Arkansas". Journal of Sedimentary Petrology. 56 (1): 123–137. Bibcode:1986JSedR..56..123H. doi:10.1306/212F88A0-2B24-11D7-8648000102C1865D.