[4][7] It is named for the city of Fayetteville, Arkansas, and requires hydraulic fracturing to release the natural gas contained within.

The Fayetteville Shale play began in July 2004 when Southwestern Energy drilled the Thomas #1-9 vertical well in Conway County, Arkansas.

[10] In February 2005, Southwestern Energy drilled the first horizontal well, the Seeco-Vaughan #4-22H, also in Conway County.

[13] Because the Fayetteville Formation is a marine unit, most of the plants found in the black shales must have been washed into the Carboniferous sea from a landmass.

However one unit within the formation, the Weddington Sandstone Member, is a series of river deposited sand beds.