Formation · Carboniferous
Bird Spring Formation
Pennsylvanian unit, Nevada · California
The Bird Spring Formation of southern Nevada is a Pennsylvanian–Early Permian shelf limestone that Las Vegas collectors know for brachiopods (Composita, Neospirifer), fusulinid foraminifera, the tube coral Syringopora and crinoid debris in road cuts and canyons around the Spring Mountains. It is a personal-collecting formation rather than a commercial one; most specimens are silicified or weathered in relief on limestone.
| Country | United States |
|---|---|
| Region | Nevada, California |
| Age | Pennsylvanian |
| Age range | ~323–270 Ma |
| Macrostrat rank | Fm· Macrostrat |
| Macrostrat age | 326–280 Ma· Macrostrat |
| Lithology | limestone, dolomite, sandstone, siltstone, shale· Macrostrat |
| Environment | inferred marine, marine· Macrostrat |
| Macrostrat columns | 3 column(s) sampled from 3 unit(s)· Macrostrat |
| PBDB collections | 223 collections, 911 occurrences· Paleobiology Database |
Collecting and legality
Bird Spring outcrops in the Spring Mountains and Arrow Canyon Range are mostly BLM and Forest Service land: casual invertebrate collecting for personal use is allowed with hand tools, but there is no sale and no collecting in the Red Rock Canyon NCA or wilderness areas.
Lithology and setting
Thick cyclic marine limestones, dolostones and cherts deposited on a Pennsylvanian–Permian carbonate shelf in southern Nevada.
Commonly recorded taxa (PBDB)
Genera most often recorded from this unit in the Paleobiology Database (first 200 occurrences): Hustedia (9), Composita (8), Neosyringopora (5), Calliprotonia (4), Crurithyris (3), Fomichevella (3), Neospirifer (3), Pontisia (3), Protowentzelella (3), Schwagerina (3), Amaurotoma (2), Anomphalus (2), Astartella (2), Auloporida (2), Bryozoa (2).
Source: Paleobiology Database
Elsewhere
- Macrostrat: 172
- macrostratConcept: 4757
- PBDB: strata:Bird Spring
- Wikidata: Q17510005
- Macrostrat stratigraphic name
- PBDB occurrences for this unit
- Wikipedia: Bird Spring Formation
- Mindat: Bird Spring Formation
Cite this article
Stratum Study. "Bird Spring Formation" (Formation). Stratum Study pack 2026.09, as of 2026-09-19. https://stratum.black/study/formations/bird-spring-formation. Accessed 2026-09-20.
@misc{stratum-bird-spring-formation,
title = {Bird Spring Formation},
author = {{Stratum Study}},
howpublished = {\url{https://stratum.black/study/formations/bird-spring-formation}},
year = {2026},
note = {Formation article, Stratum Study pack 2026.09, as of 2026-09-19; sources: stratum, macrostrat, pbdb, wikidata, commons. Accessed 2026-09-20.}
} Citations carry the pack version and the article's as-of date so they resolve to the same text later. The facts themselves belong to the sources listed below; cite those for the science.