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Fayetteville Formation

Fayetteville Shale Sandstone
Stratigraphic range: Carboniferous: Mississippian (Serpukhovian)
LowerFayettevilleShale.jpeg
Outcrop of the lower Fayetteville shale in northern Arkansas.
Type Geological formation
Sub-units Weddington Sandstone
Underlies Pitkin Limestone,Hale Sandstone (Morrow Group)
Overlies Rudell Shale, Batesville Sandstone Moorefield Shale
Area Arkansas and Oklahoma
Thickness 50 to 500 feet (15 to 152 m)
Lithology
Primary Shale
Other Sandstone, Limesone
Location
Region Arkansas
Country United States
Extent 50 miles (80 km)
Type section
Named for Fayetteville, Arkansas
Map of USA AR.svg
The Fayetteville formation runs widespread across Arkansas

The Fayetteville Shale is a geologic formation of Mississippian age (354–323 million years ago) composed of tight shale within the Arkoma basin of Arkansas and Oklahoma. It is named for the city of Fayetteville, Arkansas, and requires hydraulic fracturing to release the natural gas contained within.

The formation holds natural gas in a fine-grained rock matrix which requires hydraulic fracturing to release the gas. This process became cost-effective in some shales such as the Fayetteville after years of experimentation in the Barnett Shale in North Texas, especially when combined with horizontal drilling.

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. The average well was estimated to produce 1.3 billion cubic feet of gas.


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