Three new formation names are defined for a hitherto undescribed section of Permian marine sedimentary rocks exposed north of Carlin Canyon, Elko County, northeastern Nevada.

The name of Buckskin Mountain formation is proposed for a 1,200-foot uniform sequence of yellow-tan quartzose calcisiltites and minor gray calcarenite beds of Wolfcampian age conformably overlying the Pennsylvanian-Permian Strathearn formation and conformably overlain by the Permian Beacon Flat formation.

The name of Beacon Flat formation is proposed for a three-member unit 2,800 feet thick. The 550-foot lower member of gray, silty calcarenites and chert beds contains the Wolfcampian-Leonardian boundary. Alluvium covers the undescribed middle member. Cherty, fossiliferous, gray calcarenites make up the 1,150-foot-thick upper member, conformably overlain by the Permian Carlin Canyon formation.

The name of Carlin Canyon formation is proposed for a 1,225-foot sequence of tan quartzose calcisiltites and massive brown cherts of Leonardian and possibly Guadalupian age, unconformably overlain by the Miocene-Pliocene Humboldt formation.

The Buckskin Mountain formation is probably correlative with parts of the Carbon Ridge and Arcturus formations. Carlin Canyon formation sediments reflect orogeny and volcanism taking place in western Nevada, as well as local uplift, during Leonardian and possibly Guadalupian time.