Although Taff originally applied the term "Caney shale" to strata of late Mississippian and early Pennsylvanian Pennsylvanian age, most writers now restrict the term to Mississippian shale above the Sycamore limestone. Tomlinson applied the term "Springer formation" to that part of Taff's Caney shale in the Ardmore basin, above the base of the lowermost prominent sandstone, the Rod Club member. This left a maximum of approximately 3,000 feet of sediments unnamed between what was thought to be the top of the Mississippian and the base of the Springer formation.

The name Goddard formation for pre-Springer (pre-Rod Club) "Pennsylvanian" was proposed several years ago by the writer, and has been subsequently used by some geologists. The type locality is in the Goddard Ranch, Sections 18 and 19, T. 3 S, R. 4 E., Johnston County, Oklahoma. The section starts on the west side of Oil Creek, where the Caney-Goddard contact is well exposed, and extends southwesterly to the base of the Rod Club sandstone.

Recently discovered fossils from the middle and upper parts of the Goddard were studied by Elias (1955) and found to be of definite Mississippian (Chester) age. On this basis, most, if not all, the Goddard is removed from the Springer group, and from the Pennsylvanian system.

The Caney shale is typically black, thinly bedded, calcareous (Elias says siliceous), tough and brittle, and contains numerous phosphatic concretions and several large concretions of dense limestone. The overlying Goddard shale is dark gray, soft, clayey, and non-calcareous. It contains numerous bands of reddish-brown to orange-brown ironstone. The contact is easily discernible in electric logs.

About 730 feet above the base of the Goddard in the type locality, is a series of thin, lenticular sandstones and interbedded shale aggregating a thickness of about 160 feet, which may be correlative with the Redoak Hollow sandstone of the Milo area, named by Elias. Goddard sandstones constitute an important producing zone in the North Ardmore field on the Caddo anticline, where the zone is 100-500 feet above the top of the Mississippian Caney. It is reasonably well established that the Goodwin sandstone, and possibly the Sims sandstone, belong in the Goddard formation.