The Patterson Pass Shale was named by Kellogg (1963) for exposures along the south side of Patterson Pass, in the southern Schell Creek Range in Sec. 2 , T. 8 N., R. 64 E.

The Patterson Pass Shale is Middle Cambrian in age and is equivalent to the lower shale member of the Secret Canyon Shale near Eureka, the upper part of the Highland Peak Formation in Lincoln County, and the lower few hundred feet of the Lincoln Peak Formation in the Snake Range (Tschanz and Pampeyan, 1970).

The Patterson Pass Shale is composed of yellowish or gray shale and calcareous mudstone, with interbedded light gray fine-grained limestone that is more abundant in the upper portion of the formation (Kellogg, 1963).

The Patterson Pass Shale is about 2,000 feet thick at its type section and to the south in the Schell Creek Range (Kellogg, 1963; Tschanz and Pampeyan, 1970).

The Patterson Pass Shale is exposed in the southern Schell Creek Range (Kellogg, 1963; Tschanz and Pampeyan, 1970).

The depositional setting is poorly understood for the Patterson Pass Shale. In general, the formation probably represents relatively quiet, basinal depositional environments along the broad Cambrian shelf.