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Hermit Formation — Hermit Formation
Hermit Formation — U.S. Department of the Interior National Park Service Natural Resource Stewardship and Science Fort Collins, Colorado, Wikimedia Commons, Public domain (US)

Formation · Permian

Hermit Formation

Cisuralian unit, Arizona

The Hermit Formation (formerly Hermit Shale) forms the red slopes of the Grand Canyon below the Coconino cliffs and preserves Permian conifer and seed-fern foliage (Walchia, Supaia), insect wings and tetrapod trackways. It appears here for reference because collectors ask about it: everything in the park is protected, and there is no legal Hermit material in trade.

CountryUnited States
RegionArizona
AgeArtinskian, Cisuralian
Age range~285–275 Ma
Macrostrat rankFm· Macrostrat
Macrostrat age286–282 Ma· Macrostrat
Lithologysandstone, claystone, siltstone· Macrostrat
Environmentinferred marine· Macrostrat
Macrostrat columns1 column(s) sampled from 1 unit(s)· Macrostrat
PBDB collections36 collections, 418 occurrences· Paleobiology Database

Collecting and legality

The Hermit Formation is exposed almost entirely within Grand Canyon National Park, where all collecting is prohibited; the plant fossils and trackways are observed, not taken. Exposures outside the park on Forest Service land are minor.

Lithology and setting

Red siltstone and mudstone of a Permian floodplain, forming the slope beneath the Coconino Sandstone in the Grand Canyon.

Commonly recorded taxa (PBDB)

Genera most often recorded from this unit in the Paleobiology Database (first 200 occurrences): Supaia (16), Dalmanella (13), Callipteris (10), Rhynchotrema (10), Prasopora (7), Anazyga (6), Ctenodonta (6), Rafinesquina (6), Modiolodon (5), Phragmolites (5), Walchia (5), Zygospira (4), Brachyphyllum (3), Brongniartites (3), Lichenaria (3).

Source: Paleobiology Database

Collecting rules

Age

Collecting rules

Typical taxa

Elsewhere

Cite this article

Stratum Study. "Hermit Formation" (Formation). Stratum Study pack 2026.09, as of 2026-09-19. https://stratum.black/study/formations/hermit-formation. Accessed 2026-09-20.

BibTeX · CSL-JSON

@misc{stratum-hermit-formation,
  title        = {Hermit Formation},
  author       = {{Stratum Study}},
  howpublished = {\url{https://stratum.black/study/formations/hermit-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.