The Coyote Butte Formation was first defined by Merriam and Berthiaume in 1943. The formation
crops out in isolated
buttes (Coyote & Tuckers) south and north (Triangulation Hill) of the Grindstone and Twelvemile Creeks in
Crook County, central Oregon. The formation comprises an uncommonly unaltered and well-exposed set of
Permian shallow marine and reefal
limestones in the
tectonically complex
Permian present-day
Pacific margin of western North America. The Coyote Butte Formation is represented by isolated limestone hills ( in area), of which most appear to have the same stratigraphic and biostratigraphic sequence and appear to be right-side-up. The resistant limestone blocks stand above the surrounding rocks of the "melange." The Coyote Butte Formation represents shallow-water carbonate-platform deposition and contains a varied faunal assemblage of
corals,
bryozoans,
algae,
fusulinids,
brachiopods,
crinoids, and
conodonts. File:Uralian orogeny 280Ma.jpg|Paleogeography of the Early Permian, 280 Ma File:Hercynides EN.svg|Location of the Alleghanian mountain chains in the Carboniferous period, just before the Permian File:Clearwater Lakes 2013180 labels.jpg|Clearwater Lakes in Quebec, the larger West crater dated to 286.2 ± 2.6 Ma == Paleontological significance ==