Morrison Formation

The Morrison Formation is a distinctive body of rock in the western United States and Canada that has been the most fertile source of dinosaur fossils in North America. It is composed of mudstone, sandstone, siltstone, and limestone; and is light grey, greenish gray, or red. Most of the fossils occur in the green siltstone beds and lower sandstones, relics of the rivers and floodplains of the Jurassic period.

Related Topics:
Dinosaur - Mudstone - Sandstone - Siltstone - Limestone - Fossil - Jurassic

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It is centered in Wyoming and Colorado, and includes parts of Montana, Saskatchewan, Alberta, North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas, the panhandles of Oklahoma and Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, Utah, and Idaho. It covers an area of 1.5 million square km (600,000 square miles), though only a tiny fraction is exposed and accessible to geologists and paleontologists. Over 75% is still buried under the prairie to the east, and much of the rest was destroyed by erosion as the Rocky Mountains rose to the west.

Related Topics:
Wyoming - Colorado - Montana - Saskatchewan - Alberta - North Dakota - South Dakota - Nebraska - Kansas - Oklahoma - Texas - New Mexico - Arizona - Utah - Idaho - Km - Mile - Geologist - Paleontologist - Rocky Mountains

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It was named for Morrison, Colorado, where the first fossils were discovered by Arthur Lakes in 1877. The same year, it became the center of the Bone Wars, a rivalry between early paleontologists Othniel Charles Marsh and Edward Drinker Cope.

Related Topics:
Morrison, Colorado - 1877 - Bone Wars - Othniel Charles Marsh - Edward Drinker Cope

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