Morrison Formation
Encyclopedia
The Morrison Formation is a distinctive sequence of Late Jurassic
sedimentary rock
that is found in the western United States, which 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 fossil
s occur in the green siltstone beds and lower sandstones, relics of the rivers and floodplains of the Jurassic
period.
It is centered in Wyoming
and Colorado
, with outcrops in Montana
, North Dakota
, South Dakota
, Nebraska
, Kansas
, the panhandles of Oklahoma
and Texas
, New Mexico
, Arizona
, Utah
, and Idaho
. Equivalent rocks under different names are found in Canada. It covers an area of 1.5 million square km (600,000 square miles), although only a tiny fraction is exposed and accessible to geologist
s 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.
It was named after Morrison, Colorado
, where the first fossils were discovered by Arthur Lakes
in 1877. That same year, it became the center of the Bone Wars
, a fossil-collecting rivalry between early paleontologists Othniel Charles Marsh
and Edward Drinker Cope
.
In Colorado
, New Mexico
, and Utah
, the Morrison Formation was a major source of uranium
ore. (See Uranium mining in the United States
.)
, the Morrison Formation dates from 156.3 ± 2 million years old (Ma) at its base, to 146.8 ± 1 million years old at the top, which places it in the latest Oxfordian
, Kimmeridgian
, and early Tithonian
stages of the late Jurassic. This is similar in age to the Solnhofen Limestone
Formation in Germany
and the Tendaguru Formation
in Tanzania
. Throughout the western USA, it variously overlies the Middle Jurassic Summerville, Sundance
, Bell Ranch, Wanakah, and Stump Formations.
At the time, the supercontinent of Laurasia
had recently split into the continents of North America
and Eurasia
, although they were still connected by land bridges. North America moved north and was passing through the subtropical regions
.
The Morrison Basin, which stretched from New Mexico in the south to Alberta and Saskatchewan in the north, was formed when the precursors to the Front Range
of the Rocky Mountains started pushing up to the west. The deposits from their east-facing drainage basin
s, carried by streams and river
s from the Elko Highlands (along the borders of present-day Nevada and Utah) and deposited in swamp
y lowlands, lakes, river channels and floodplain
s, became the Morrison Formation.
In the north, the Sundance Sea
, an extension of the Arctic Ocean
, stretched through Canada
down to the United States
. Coal
is found in the Morrison Formation of Montana, which means that the northern part of the formation, along the shores of the sea, was wet and swampy, with more vegetation. Aeolian, or wind-deposited sandstones are found in the southwestern part, which indicates it was much more arid — a desert
, with sand dune
s.
In the Colorado Plateau
region, the Morrison Formation is further broken into four sub-divisions, or members. From the oldest to the most recent, they are:
Deposition in the Morrison Formation ended about 147 Ma. The latest Morrison strata are followed by a thirty-million year gap in the geologic record. The overlying units are the Lower Cretaceous
Cedar Mountain
, Burro Canyon, Lytle, and Cloverly Formation
s.
but, since there were no angiosperms (grass
es, flower
s, and some trees), the flora was quite different. Conifers, the dominant plants of the time, were to be found with ginkgo
s, cycad
s, tree ferns, and horsetail rushes
. Much of the fossilized vegetation was riparian, living along the river flood plains. Insect
s were very similar to modern species
, with termite
s building 30 m (100 ft.) tall nests. Along the rivers, there were fish
, frog
s, salamander
s, lizard
s, crocodile
s, turtle
s, pterosaur
s, crayfish
, clam
s, and monotreme
s (prototheria
n mammal
s, the largest of which was about the size of a rat
).
The dinosaur
s were most likely riparian, as well. Hundreds of dinosaur fossils have been discovered, such as Allosaurus
, Camptosaurus
, Ornitholestes
, several stegosaurs
comprising at least two species of Stegosaurus
and the slightly older Hesperosaurus
, and the early ankylosaurs
, Mymoorapelta
and Gargoyleosaurus
, most notably a very broad range of sauropods (the giants of the Mesozoic
era). Since at least some of species are known to have nested in the area (Camptosaurus embryo
es have been discovered), there are indications that it was a good environment
for dinosaurs and not just home to migratory, seasonal populations.
Sauropods that have been discovered include the Diplodocus
(most famously, the first nearly-complete specimen of D. carnegiei, which is now exhibited at the Carnegie Museum of Natural History
, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania), Camarasaurus
(the most commonly found sauropod), Brachiosaurus
, Apatosaurus
(also wrongly known as Brontosaurus
), Barosaurus
, the uncommon Haplocanthosaurus
and the Seismosaurus. The very diversity of the sauropods has raised some questions about how they could all co-exist. While their body shapes are very similar (long neck, long tail, huge elephant-like body), they are assumed to have had very different feeding strategies, in order for all to have existed in the same time frame and similar environment.
beds in Tanzania and Lourinhã Formation
in Portugal. In age it is also comparable with the Solnhofen Limestone
in Germany.
Jurassic
The Jurassic is a geologic period and system that extends from about Mya to Mya, that is, from the end of the Triassic to the beginning of the Cretaceous. The Jurassic constitutes the middle period of the Mesozoic era, also known as the age of reptiles. The start of the period is marked by...
sedimentary rock
Sedimentary rock
Sedimentary rock are types of rock that are formed by the deposition of material at the Earth's surface and within bodies of water. Sedimentation is the collective name for processes that cause mineral and/or organic particles to settle and accumulate or minerals to precipitate from a solution....
that is found in the western United States, which has been the most fertile source of dinosaur
Dinosaur
Dinosaurs are a diverse group of animals of the clade and superorder Dinosauria. They were the dominant terrestrial vertebrates for over 160 million years, from the late Triassic period until the end of the Cretaceous , when the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event led to the extinction of...
fossils in North America
North America
North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...
. It is composed of mudstone
Mudstone
Mudstone is a fine grained sedimentary rock whose original constituents were clays or muds. Grain size is up to 0.0625 mm with individual grains too small to be distinguished without a microscope. With increased pressure over time the platey clay minerals may become aligned, with the...
, sandstone
Sandstone
Sandstone is a sedimentary rock composed mainly of sand-sized minerals or rock grains.Most sandstone is composed of quartz and/or feldspar because these are the most common minerals in the Earth's crust. Like sand, sandstone may be any colour, but the most common colours are tan, brown, yellow,...
, siltstone
Siltstone
Siltstone is a sedimentary rock which has a grain size in the silt range, finer than sandstone and coarser than claystones.- Description :As its name implies, it is primarily composed of silt sized particles, defined as grains 1/16 - 1/256 mm or 4 to 8 on the Krumbein phi scale...
and limestone
Limestone
Limestone is a sedimentary rock composed largely of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of calcium carbonate . Many limestones are composed from skeletal fragments of marine organisms such as coral or foraminifera....
and is light grey, greenish gray, or red. Most of the fossil
Fossil
Fossils are the preserved remains or traces of animals , plants, and other organisms from the remote past...
s occur in the green siltstone beds and lower sandstones, relics of the rivers and floodplains of the Jurassic
Jurassic
The Jurassic is a geologic period and system that extends from about Mya to Mya, that is, from the end of the Triassic to the beginning of the Cretaceous. The Jurassic constitutes the middle period of the Mesozoic era, also known as the age of reptiles. The start of the period is marked by...
period.
It is centered in Wyoming
Wyoming
Wyoming is a state in the mountain region of the Western United States. The western two thirds of the state is covered mostly with the mountain ranges and rangelands in the foothills of the Eastern Rocky Mountains, while the eastern third of the state is high elevation prairie known as the High...
and Colorado
Colorado
Colorado is a U.S. state that encompasses much of the Rocky Mountains as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of the Great Plains...
, with outcrops in Montana
Montana
Montana is a state in the Western United States. The western third of Montana contains numerous mountain ranges. Smaller, "island ranges" are found in the central third of the state, for a total of 77 named ranges of the Rocky Mountains. This geographical fact is reflected in the state's name,...
, North Dakota
North Dakota
North Dakota is a state located in the Midwestern region of the United States of America, along the Canadian border. The state is bordered by Canada to the north, Minnesota to the east, South Dakota to the south and Montana to the west. North Dakota is the 19th-largest state by area in the U.S....
, South Dakota
South Dakota
South Dakota is a state located in the Midwestern region of the United States. It is named after the Lakota and Dakota Sioux American Indian tribes. Once a part of Dakota Territory, South Dakota became a state on November 2, 1889. The state has an area of and an estimated population of just over...
, Nebraska
Nebraska
Nebraska is a state on the Great Plains of the Midwestern United States. The state's capital is Lincoln and its largest city is Omaha, on the Missouri River....
, Kansas
Kansas
Kansas is a US state located in the Midwestern United States. It is named after the Kansas River which flows through it, which in turn was named after the Kansa Native American tribe, which inhabited the area. The tribe's name is often said to mean "people of the wind" or "people of the south...
, the panhandles of Oklahoma
Oklahoma
Oklahoma is a state located in the South Central region of the United States of America. With an estimated 3,751,351 residents as of the 2010 census and a land area of 68,667 square miles , Oklahoma is the 28th most populous and 20th-largest state...
and Texas
Texas
Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...
, New Mexico
New Mexico
New Mexico is a state located in the southwest and western regions of the United States. New Mexico is also usually considered one of the Mountain States. With a population density of 16 per square mile, New Mexico is the sixth-most sparsely inhabited U.S...
, Arizona
Arizona
Arizona ; is a state located in the southwestern region of the United States. It is also part of the western United States and the mountain west. The capital and largest city is Phoenix...
, Utah
Utah
Utah is a state in the Western United States. It was the 45th state to join the Union, on January 4, 1896. Approximately 80% of Utah's 2,763,885 people live along the Wasatch Front, centering on Salt Lake City. This leaves vast expanses of the state nearly uninhabited, making the population the...
, and Idaho
Idaho
Idaho is a state in the Rocky Mountain area of the United States. The state's largest city and capital is Boise. Residents are called "Idahoans". Idaho was admitted to the Union on July 3, 1890, as the 43rd state....
. Equivalent rocks under different names are found in Canada. It covers an area of 1.5 million square km (600,000 square miles), although only a tiny fraction is exposed and accessible to geologist
Geologist
A geologist is a scientist who studies the solid and liquid matter that constitutes the Earth as well as the processes and history that has shaped it. Geologists usually engage in studying geology. Geologists, studying more of an applied science than a theoretical one, must approach Geology using...
s 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
Rocky Mountains
The Rocky Mountains are a major mountain range in western North America. The Rocky Mountains stretch more than from the northernmost part of British Columbia, in western Canada, to New Mexico, in the southwestern United States...
rose to the west.
It was named after Morrison, Colorado
Morrison, Colorado
The historic Town of Morrison is a Home Rule Municipality in Jefferson County, Colorado, United States. The population was 430 at the 2000 census...
, where the first fossils were discovered by Arthur Lakes
Arthur Lakes
Arthur Lakes was a notable geologist, artist, writer, teacher and minister. He captured much of his geological and palaeontological field work in sketches and watercolours...
in 1877. That same year, it became the center of the Bone Wars
Bone Wars
The Bone Wars, also known as the "Great Dinosaur Rush", refers to a period of intense fossil speculation and discovery during the Gilded Age of American history, marked by a heated rivalry between Edward Drinker Cope and Othniel Charles Marsh...
, a fossil-collecting rivalry between early paleontologists Othniel Charles Marsh
Othniel Charles Marsh
Othniel Charles Marsh was an American paleontologist. Marsh was one of the preeminent scientists in the field; the discovery or description of dozens of news species and theories on the origins of birds are among his legacies.Born into a modest family, Marsh was able to afford higher education...
and Edward Drinker Cope
Edward Drinker Cope
Edward Drinker Cope was an American paleontologist and comparative anatomist, as well as a noted herpetologist and ichthyologist. Born to a wealthy Quaker family, Cope distinguished himself as a child prodigy interested in science; he published his first scientific paper at the age of nineteen...
.
Colorado
Colorado is a U.S. state that encompasses much of the Rocky Mountains as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of the Great Plains...
, New Mexico
New Mexico
New Mexico is a state located in the southwest and western regions of the United States. New Mexico is also usually considered one of the Mountain States. With a population density of 16 per square mile, New Mexico is the sixth-most sparsely inhabited U.S...
, and Utah
Utah
Utah is a state in the Western United States. It was the 45th state to join the Union, on January 4, 1896. Approximately 80% of Utah's 2,763,885 people live along the Wasatch Front, centering on Salt Lake City. This leaves vast expanses of the state nearly uninhabited, making the population the...
, the Morrison Formation was a major source of uranium
Uranium
Uranium is a silvery-white metallic chemical element in the actinide series of the periodic table, with atomic number 92. It is assigned the chemical symbol U. A uranium atom has 92 protons and 92 electrons, of which 6 are valence electrons...
ore. (See Uranium mining in the United States
Uranium mining in the United States
Uranium mining in the United States is the extraction of uranium-bearing ore from the earth. While uranium is used primarily for nuclear power, uranium mining had its roots in the production of uranium-bearing ore in 1898 with the mining of carnotite-bearing sandstones of the Colorado Plateau in...
.)
Geologic History
According to radiometric datingRadiometric dating
Radiometric dating is a technique used to date materials such as rocks, usually based on a comparison between the observed abundance of a naturally occurring radioactive isotope and its decay products, using known decay rates...
, the Morrison Formation dates from 156.3 ± 2 million years old (Ma) at its base, to 146.8 ± 1 million years old at the top, which places it in the latest Oxfordian
Oxfordian stage
The Oxfordian is, in the ICS' geologic timescale, the earliest age of the Late Jurassic epoch, or the lowest stage of the Upper Jurassic series. It spans the time between 161.2 ± 4 Ma and 155.7 ± 4 Ma...
, Kimmeridgian
Kimmeridgian
In the geologic timescale, the Kimmeridgian is an age or stage in the Late or Upper Jurassic epoch or series. It spans the time between 155.7 ± 4 Ma and 150.8 ± 4 Ma . The Kimmeridgian follows the Oxfordian and precedes the Tithonian....
, and early Tithonian
Tithonian
In the geologic timescale the Tithonian is the latest age of the Late Jurassic epoch or the uppermost stage of the Upper Jurassic series. It spans the time between 150.8 ± 4 Ma and 145.5 ± 4 Ma...
stages of the late Jurassic. This is similar in age to the Solnhofen Limestone
Solnhofen limestone
The Solnhofen Plattenkalk is a Jurassic Konservat-Lagerstätte that preserves a rare assemblage of fossilized organisms, including highly detailed imprints of soft bodied organisms such as sea jellies...
Formation in Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
and the Tendaguru Formation
Tendaguru
The Tendaguru Beds are a fossil-rich formation in Tanzania. It has been considered the richest of Late Jurassic strata in Africa. Continental reconstructions show Tendaguru to have been in the southern hemisphere during the Late Jurassic. Tendaguru is similar to the Morrison Formation except in...
in Tanzania
Tanzania
The United Republic of Tanzania is a country in East Africa bordered by Kenya and Uganda to the north, Rwanda, Burundi, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo to the west, and Zambia, Malawi, and Mozambique to the south. The country's eastern borders lie on the Indian Ocean.Tanzania is a state...
. Throughout the western USA, it variously overlies the Middle Jurassic Summerville, Sundance
Sundance Formation
The Sundance Formation is a western North American sequence of Upper Jurassic age marine shales, sandy shales, and sandstones.The Sundance Formation underlies the western North American Morrison Formation, the most fertile source of dinosaur fossils in the Americas, and is separated by a...
, Bell Ranch, Wanakah, and Stump Formations.
At the time, the supercontinent of Laurasia
Laurasia
In paleogeography, Laurasia was the northernmost of two supercontinents that formed part of the Pangaea supercontinent from approximately...
had recently split into the continents of North America
North America
North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...
and Eurasia
Eurasia
Eurasia is a continent or supercontinent comprising the traditional continents of Europe and Asia ; covering about 52,990,000 km2 or about 10.6% of the Earth's surface located primarily in the eastern and northern hemispheres...
, although they were still connected by land bridges. North America moved north and was passing through the subtropical regions
Subtropics
The subtropics are the geographical and climatical zone of the Earth immediately north and south of the tropical zone, which is bounded by the Tropic of Cancer and the Tropic of Capricorn, at latitudes 23.5°N and 23.5°S...
.
The Morrison Basin, which stretched from New Mexico in the south to Alberta and Saskatchewan in the north, was formed when the precursors to the Front Range
Front Range
The Front Range is a mountain range of the Southern Rocky Mountains of North America located in the north-central portion of the U.S. State of Colorado and southeastern portion of the U.S. State of Wyoming. It is the first mountain range encountered moving west along the 40th parallel north across...
of the Rocky Mountains started pushing up to the west. The deposits from their east-facing drainage basin
Drainage basin
A drainage basin is an extent or an area of land where surface water from rain and melting snow or ice converges to a single point, usually the exit of the basin, where the waters join another waterbody, such as a river, lake, reservoir, estuary, wetland, sea, or ocean...
s, carried by streams and river
River
A river is a natural watercourse, usually freshwater, flowing towards an ocean, a lake, a sea, or another river. In a few cases, a river simply flows into the ground or dries up completely before reaching another body of water. Small rivers may also be called by several other names, including...
s from the Elko Highlands (along the borders of present-day Nevada and Utah) and deposited in swamp
Swamp
A swamp is a wetland with some flooding of large areas of land by shallow bodies of water. A swamp generally has a large number of hammocks, or dry-land protrusions, covered by aquatic vegetation, or vegetation that tolerates periodical inundation. The two main types of swamp are "true" or swamp...
y lowlands, lakes, river channels and floodplain
Floodplain
A floodplain, or flood plain, is a flat or nearly flat land adjacent a stream or river that stretches from the banks of its channel to the base of the enclosing valley walls and experiences flooding during periods of high discharge...
s, became the Morrison Formation.
In the north, the Sundance Sea
Sundance Sea
The Sundance Sea was an epeiric sea that existed in North America during the mid to late Jurassic Period of the Mesozoic Era. It was an arm of what is now the Arctic Ocean, and extended through what is now western Canada into the central western United States...
, an extension of the Arctic Ocean
Arctic Ocean
The Arctic Ocean, located in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Arctic north polar region, is the smallest and shallowest of the world's five major oceanic divisions...
, stretched through Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
down to the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. Coal
Coal
Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock usually occurring in rock strata in layers or veins called coal beds or coal seams. The harder forms, such as anthracite coal, can be regarded as metamorphic rock because of later exposure to elevated temperature and pressure...
is found in the Morrison Formation of Montana, which means that the northern part of the formation, along the shores of the sea, was wet and swampy, with more vegetation. Aeolian, or wind-deposited sandstones are found in the southwestern part, which indicates it was much more arid — a desert
Desert
A desert is a landscape or region that receives an extremely low amount of precipitation, less than enough to support growth of most plants. Most deserts have an average annual precipitation of less than...
, with sand dune
Dune
In physical geography, a dune is a hill of sand built by wind. Dunes occur in different forms and sizes, formed by interaction with the wind. Most kinds of dunes are longer on the windward side where the sand is pushed up the dune and have a shorter "slip face" in the lee of the wind...
s.
In the Colorado Plateau
Colorado Plateau
The Colorado Plateau, also called the Colorado Plateau Province, is a physiographic region of the Intermontane Plateaus, roughly centered on the Four Corners region of the southwestern United States. The province covers an area of 337,000 km2 within western Colorado, northwestern New Mexico,...
region, the Morrison Formation is further broken into four sub-divisions, or members. From the oldest to the most recent, they are:
- Windy Hill Member: The oldest member. At the time, the Morrison basin was characterized by shallow marine and tidal flat deposition along the southern shore of the Sundance SeaSundance SeaThe Sundance Sea was an epeiric sea that existed in North America during the mid to late Jurassic Period of the Mesozoic Era. It was an arm of what is now the Arctic Ocean, and extended through what is now western Canada into the central western United States...
. - Tidwell Member: The Sundance SeaSundance SeaThe Sundance Sea was an epeiric sea that existed in North America during the mid to late Jurassic Period of the Mesozoic Era. It was an arm of what is now the Arctic Ocean, and extended through what is now western Canada into the central western United States...
receded to Wyoming during this member and was replaced by lakes and mudflatMudflatMudflats or mud flats, also known as tidal flats, are coastal wetlands that form when mud is deposited by tides or rivers. They are found in sheltered areas such as bays, bayous, lagoons, and estuaries. Mudflats may be viewed geologically as exposed layers of bay mud, resulting from deposition of...
s. - Salt Wash Member: The first purely terrestrial member. The basin was a semi-arid alluvial plainAlluvial plainAn alluvial plain is a relatively flat landform created by the deposition of sediment over a long period of time by one or more rivers coming from highland regions, from which alluvial soil forms...
, with seasonal mudflats. - Brushy Basin Member: Much finer-grained than the Salt Wash Member, the Brushy Basin Member is dominated by mudstone rich in volcanic ash. Rivers flowed from the west into a basin that contained a giant, saline alkaline lake called Lake T'oo'dichi' and extensive wetlands that were located just west of the modern Uncompahgre PlateauUncompahgre PlateauThe Uncompahgre Plateau in western Colorado is a distinctive large uplift part of the Colorado Plateau. Uncompahgre is a Ute Indian word that describes the water: "Dirty Water" or "Rocks that make Water Red"....
.
Deposition in the Morrison Formation ended about 147 Ma. The latest Morrison strata are followed by a thirty-million year gap in the geologic record. The overlying units are the Lower Cretaceous
Cretaceous
The Cretaceous , derived from the Latin "creta" , usually abbreviated K for its German translation Kreide , is a geologic period and system from circa to million years ago. In the geologic timescale, the Cretaceous follows the Jurassic period and is followed by the Paleogene period of the...
Cedar Mountain
Cedar Mountain Formation
The Cedar Mountain Formation is the name given to distinctive sedimentary rocks in eastern Utah that occur between the underlying Morrison Formation and overlying Naturita Formation . It is composed of non-marine sediments, that is, sediments deposited in rivers, lakes and on flood plains...
, Burro Canyon, Lytle, and Cloverly Formation
Cloverly Formation
The Cloverly Formation are Lower Cretaceous strata located in Montana and Wyoming, in the western United States. The term now includes strata that had formerly been called the Dakota Formation in central and southern Wyoming.-Members:...
s.
Fossil finds
Though many of the Morrison Formation fossils are fragmentary, they are sufficient to provide a good picture of the flora and fauna in the Morrison Basin during the Kimmeridgian. Overall, the climate was dry, similar to a savannaSavanna
A savanna, or savannah, is a grassland ecosystem characterized by the trees being sufficiently small or widely spaced so that the canopy does not close. The open canopy allows sufficient light to reach the ground to support an unbroken herbaceous layer consisting primarily of C4 grasses.Some...
but, since there were no angiosperms (grass
Grass
Grasses, or more technically graminoids, are monocotyledonous, usually herbaceous plants with narrow leaves growing from the base. They include the "true grasses", of the Poaceae family, as well as the sedges and the rushes . The true grasses include cereals, bamboo and the grasses of lawns ...
es, flower
Flower
A flower, sometimes known as a bloom or blossom, is the reproductive structure found in flowering plants . The biological function of a flower is to effect reproduction, usually by providing a mechanism for the union of sperm with eggs...
s, and some trees), the flora was quite different. Conifers, the dominant plants of the time, were to be found with ginkgo
Ginkgo
Ginkgo , also spelled gingko and known as the Maidenhair Tree, is a unique species of tree with no close living relatives...
s, cycad
Cycad
Cycads are seed plants typically characterized by a stout and woody trunk with a crown of large, hard and stiff, evergreen leaves. They usually have pinnate leaves. The individual plants are either all male or all female . Cycads vary in size from having a trunk that is only a few centimeters...
s, tree ferns, and horsetail rushes
Juncaceae
Juncaceae, the rush family, are a monocotyledonous family of flowering plants. There are eight genera and about 400 species. Members of the Juncaceae are slow-growing, rhizomatous, herbaceous plants, and they may superficially resemble grasses. They often grow on infertile soils in a wide range...
. Much of the fossilized vegetation was riparian, living along the river flood plains. Insect
Insect
Insects are a class of living creatures within the arthropods that have a chitinous exoskeleton, a three-part body , three pairs of jointed legs, compound eyes, and two antennae...
s were very similar to modern species
Species
In biology, a species is one of the basic units of biological classification and a taxonomic rank. A species is often defined as a group of organisms capable of interbreeding and producing fertile offspring. While in many cases this definition is adequate, more precise or differing measures are...
, with termite
Termite
Termites are a group of eusocial insects that, until recently, were classified at the taxonomic rank of order Isoptera , but are now accepted as the epifamily Termitoidae, of the cockroach order Blattodea...
s building 30 m (100 ft.) tall nests. Along the rivers, there were fish
Fish
Fish are a paraphyletic group of organisms that consist of all gill-bearing aquatic vertebrate animals that lack limbs with digits. Included in this definition are the living hagfish, lampreys, and cartilaginous and bony fish, as well as various extinct related groups...
, frog
Frog
Frogs are amphibians in the order Anura , formerly referred to as Salientia . Most frogs are characterized by a short body, webbed digits , protruding eyes and the absence of a tail...
s, salamander
Salamander
Salamander is a common name of approximately 500 species of amphibians. They are typically characterized by a superficially lizard-like appearance, with their slender bodies, short noses, and long tails. All known fossils and extinct species fall under the order Caudata, while sometimes the extant...
s, lizard
Lizard
Lizards are a widespread group of squamate reptiles, with nearly 3800 species, ranging across all continents except Antarctica as well as most oceanic island chains...
s, crocodile
Crocodile
A crocodile is any species belonging to the family Crocodylidae . The term can also be used more loosely to include all extant members of the order Crocodilia: i.e...
s, turtle
Turtle
Turtles are reptiles of the order Testudines , characterised by a special bony or cartilaginous shell developed from their ribs that acts as a shield...
s, pterosaur
Pterosaur
Pterosaurs were flying reptiles of the clade or order Pterosauria. They existed from the late Triassic to the end of the Cretaceous Period . Pterosaurs are the earliest vertebrates known to have evolved powered flight...
s, crayfish
Crayfish
Crayfish, crawfish, or crawdads – members of the superfamilies Astacoidea and Parastacoidea – are freshwater crustaceans resembling small lobsters, to which they are related...
, clam
Clam
The word "clam" can be applied to freshwater mussels, and other freshwater bivalves, as well as marine bivalves.In the United States, "clam" can be used in several different ways: one, as a general term covering all bivalve molluscs...
s, and monotreme
Monotreme
Monotremes are mammals that lay eggs instead of giving birth to live young like marsupials and placental mammals...
s (prototheria
Prototheria
Prototheria is a taxonomic group, or taxon, to which the order Monotremata belongs. It is conventionally ranked as a subclass within the mammals.Most of the animals in this group are extinct...
n mammal
Mammal
Mammals are members of a class of air-breathing vertebrate animals characterised by the possession of endothermy, hair, three middle ear bones, and mammary glands functional in mothers with young...
s, the largest of which was about the size of a rat
Rat
Rats are various medium-sized, long-tailed rodents of the superfamily Muroidea. "True rats" are members of the genus Rattus, the most important of which to humans are the black rat, Rattus rattus, and the brown rat, Rattus norvegicus...
).
The dinosaur
Dinosaur
Dinosaurs are a diverse group of animals of the clade and superorder Dinosauria. They were the dominant terrestrial vertebrates for over 160 million years, from the late Triassic period until the end of the Cretaceous , when the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event led to the extinction of...
s were most likely riparian, as well. Hundreds of dinosaur fossils have been discovered, such as Allosaurus
Allosaurus
Allosaurus is a genus of large theropod dinosaur that lived 155 to 150 million years ago during the late Jurassic period . The name Allosaurus means "different lizard". It is derived from the Greek /allos and /sauros...
, Camptosaurus
Camptosaurus
Camptosaurus is a genus of plant-eating, beaked ornithischian dinosaurs of the Late Jurassic period of western North America. The name means 'flexible lizard', ....
, Ornitholestes
Ornitholestes
Ornitholestes was a small theropod dinosaur of the late Jurassic of Western Laurasia . To date, it is known only from a single partial skeleton, and badly crushed skull found at the Bone Cabin Quarry near Medicine Bow, Wyoming, in 1900...
, several stegosaurs
Stegosauria
Known colloquially as stegosaurs, the Stegosauria are a group of herbivorous dinosaurs of the Jurassic and Early Cretaceous Periods, being found mostly in the Northern Hemisphere, predominantly in what is now North America and China....
comprising at least two species of Stegosaurus
Stegosaurus
Stegosaurus is a genus of armored stegosaurid dinosaur. They lived during the Late Jurassic period , some 155 to 150 million years ago in what is now western North America. In 2006, a specimen of Stegosaurus was announced from Portugal, showing that they were present in Europe as well...
and the slightly older Hesperosaurus
Hesperosaurus
Hesperosaurus was a herbivorous dinosaur from the Kimmeridgian to Tithonian epochs of the Jurassic period , whose fossils are found in the state of Wyoming in the United States of America...
, and the early ankylosaurs
Ankylosauria
Ankylosauria is a group of herbivorous dinosaurs of the order Ornithischia. It includes the great majority of dinosaurs with armor in the form of bony osteoderms. Ankylosaurs were bulky quadrupeds, with short, powerful limbs. They are first known to have appeared in the early Jurassic Period of...
, Mymoorapelta
Mymoorapelta
Mymoorapelta is an ankylosaur from the Late Jurassic Morrison Formation of western Colorado. The taxon is known from portions of a disarticulated skull, parts of three different skeletons and other postcranial remains...
and Gargoyleosaurus
Gargoyleosaurus
Gargoyleosaurus is one of the earliest ankylosaurs known from reasonably complete fossil remains. Its skull measures in length, and its total body length is an estimated . It may have weighed as much as...
, most notably a very broad range of sauropods (the giants of the Mesozoic
Mesozoic
The Mesozoic era is an interval of geological time from about 250 million years ago to about 65 million years ago. It is often referred to as the age of reptiles because reptiles, namely dinosaurs, were the dominant terrestrial and marine vertebrates of the time...
era). Since at least some of species are known to have nested in the area (Camptosaurus embryo
Embryo
An embryo is a multicellular diploid eukaryote in its earliest stage of development, from the time of first cell division until birth, hatching, or germination...
es have been discovered), there are indications that it was a good environment
Natural environment
The natural environment encompasses all living and non-living things occurring naturally on Earth or some region thereof. It is an environment that encompasses the interaction of all living species....
for dinosaurs and not just home to migratory, seasonal populations.
Sauropods that have been discovered include the Diplodocus
Diplodocus
Diplodocus , or )is a genus of diplodocid sauropod dinosaur whose fossils were first discovered in 1877 by S. W. Williston. The generic name, coined by Othniel Charles Marsh in 1878, is a Neo-Latin term derived from Greek "double" and "beam", in reference to its double-beamed chevron bones...
(most famously, the first nearly-complete specimen of D. carnegiei, which is now exhibited at the Carnegie Museum of Natural History
Carnegie Museum of Natural History
Carnegie Museum of Natural History, located at 4400 Forbes Avenue in the Oakland neighborhood of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA, was founded by the Pittsburgh-based industrialist Andrew Carnegie in 1896...
, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania), Camarasaurus
Camarasaurus
Camarasaurus meaning 'chambered lizard', referring to the hollow chambers in its vertebrae was a genus of quadrupedal, herbivorous dinosaurs. It was the most common of the giant sauropods to be found in North America...
(the most commonly found sauropod), Brachiosaurus
Brachiosaurus
Brachiosaurus is a genus of sauropod dinosaur from the Jurassic Morrison Formation of North America. It was first described by Elmer S. Riggs in 1903 from fossils found in the Grand River Canyon of western Colorado, in the United States. Riggs named the dinosaur Brachiosaurus altithorax,...
, Apatosaurus
Apatosaurus
Apatosaurus , also known by the popular but scientifically deprecated synonym Brontosaurus, is a genus of sauropod dinosaur that lived from about 154 to 150 million years ago, during the Jurassic Period . It was one of the largest land animals that ever existed, with an average length of and a...
(also wrongly known as Brontosaurus
Apatosaurus
Apatosaurus , also known by the popular but scientifically deprecated synonym Brontosaurus, is a genus of sauropod dinosaur that lived from about 154 to 150 million years ago, during the Jurassic Period . It was one of the largest land animals that ever existed, with an average length of and a...
), Barosaurus
Barosaurus
Barosaurus ; Greek barys/βαρυς meaning 'heavy' and saurus/σαυρος meaning 'lizard', 'heavy lizard') was a giant, long-tailed, long-necked, plant-eating dinosaur closely related to the more familiar Diplodocus...
, the uncommon Haplocanthosaurus
Haplocanthosaurus
Haplocanthosaurus is a genus of sauropod dinosaur. Two species, H. delfsi and H. priscus, are known from incomplete fossil skeletons. It lived during the late Jurassic period , 155 to 152 million years ago. The type species is H. priscus, and the referred species H...
and the Seismosaurus. The very diversity of the sauropods has raised some questions about how they could all co-exist. While their body shapes are very similar (long neck, long tail, huge elephant-like body), they are assumed to have had very different feeding strategies, in order for all to have existed in the same time frame and similar environment.
Sites and quarries
Locations where significant Morrison Formation fossil discoveries have been made include:Colorado
- Garden Park, ColoradoGarden Park, ColoradoGarden Park, in southcentral Colorado, is known for its Jurassic dinosaurs and the role the specimens played in the infamous bone wars of the late 19th century. Located north of Cañon City, Colorado, the name originates from the area providing vegetables to the miners at nearby Cripple Creek in...
: One of the three major sites excavated by the paleontologists Othniel Charles Marsh and Edward Drinker Cope during the Bone Wars in 1877, though most of the specimens were too incomplete to classify (nomina dubia). In 1992, a specimen of Stegosaurus stenops was discovered with its armorArmour (zoology)Armour in animals is external or superficial protection against attack by predators, formed as part of the body , usually through the hardening of body tissues, outgrowths or secretions. It has therefore mostly developed in 'prey' species...
still in place, which confirmed that the dinosaur had two rows of plates on its back. - Dry Mesa QuarryDry Mesa QuarryThe Dry Mesa Dinosaur Quarry is situated in southwestern Colorado, USA, near the town of Delta. Its geology forms a part of the Morrison Formation and has famously yielded a great diversity of animal remains from the Jurassic Period, among them Ceratosaurus, Supersaurus, and Torvosaurus...
, Colorado: A wide variety of fauna, as well as the most diverse set of dinosaurs from any Morrison Formation quarry. The first dig was in 1972, by the Brigham Young UniversityBrigham Young UniversityBrigham Young University is a private university located in Provo, Utah. It is owned and operated by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints , and is the United States' largest religious university and third-largest private university.Approximately 98% of the university's 34,000 students...
. Unique specimens include the longest dinosaur known, SupersaurusSupersaurusSupersaurus is a genus of diplodocid sauropod dinosaur discovered by Vivian Jones of Delta, Colorado, in the Upper Jurassic Morrison Formation of Colorado in 1972. The fossil remains came from the Brushy Basin Member of the formation, dating to about 153 million years ago...
, the chimeric Ultrasauros, and the largest carnivoreCarnivoreA carnivore meaning 'meat eater' is an organism that derives its energy and nutrient requirements from a diet consisting mainly or exclusively of animal tissue, whether through predation or scavenging...
on the continent, TorvosaurusTorvosaurusTorvosaurus is a genus of large theropod dinosaur that lived during the Late Jurassic period...
. - Fruita Paleontological Resource Area: Badlands sites located south of Fruita, Colorado, were actively worked by George Callison from California State University, Long Beach and the Los Angeles County Museum of Natural History. Numerous specimens of mammals, lizards, and crocodiles were found. Most recently, Fruitafossor windscheffelia and the new dinosaur FruitadensFruitadensFruitadens is a genus of heterodontosaurid dinosaur. The name means "Fruita tooth", in reference to Fruita, Colorado , where its fossils were first found. It is known from partial skulls and skeletons from at least four individuals of differing biological ages, found in Tithonian rocks of the...
were described from the area.
- Purgatoire River track sitePurgatoire River track siteThe Purgatoire River track site, also called the Picketwire Canyonlands tracksite, is one of the largest dinosaur tracksites in North America. It is located on public land of the Comanche National Grassland, along the Purgatoire River south of La Junta in Otero County, Colorado...
, Otero County, ColoradoOtero County, ColoradoOtero County is one of the 64 counties of the State of Colorado of the United States. The county was named for Miguel Antonio Otero, one of the founders of the town of La Junta and a member of a prominent Hispanic family. The county population was 20,311 at U.S. Census 2000...
.
Utah
- Cleveland-Lloyd Dinosaur Quarry, Utah: First excavated by geologists from the University of Utah in the late 1920s. William Lee Stokes led an expedition from Princeton in 1939. During the Jurassic, the quarry was a mudhole where several enormous sauropods got stuck and apparently caused a feeding frenzy that lured and trapped many carnivorous dinosaurs. Most of the allosaurs are from this site, as well as the unique StokesosaurusStokesosaurusStokesosaurus is a genus of small , early tyrannosaur from the Late Jurassic period of Utah and England. It was named after Utah geologist William Lee Stokes...
and MarshosaurusMarshosaurusMarshosaurus was a genus of medium sized theropod, with a size up to 5 or 6 meters in length and a skull about 60 cm long. It is known from parts of at least three individuals from the Morrison Formation of Utah and Colorado.The holotype is a left ilium, or upper pelvis bone found at the...
. - Dinosaur National MonumentDinosaur National MonumentDinosaur National Monument is a National Monument located on the southeast flank of the Uinta Mountains on the border between Colorado and Utah at the confluence of the Green and Yampa Rivers. Although most of the monument area is in Moffat County, Colorado, the Dinosaur Quarry is located in Utah...
, Utah - Hanksville-Burpee QuarryHanksville-Burpee QuarryHanksville-Burpee Quarry is the name given a paleontological excavation site approximately wide by long near Hanksville, Utah where scientists have found a large mix of remains of sauropods, trees, freshwater clams, and other species dating between 145 million years ago to 150 million years ago...
, Utah
Wyoming
- Bone Cabin QuarryBone Cabin QuarryBone Cabin Quarry lies approximately fifteen miles north of Laramie, Wyoming near historic Como Bluff. During the summer of 1897 Walter W. Granger, a paleontologist from the American Museum of Natural History, came upon a hillside littered with Jurassic period dinosaur bone fragments...
, Wyoming - Como BluffComo BluffComo Bluff is a long ridge extending east-west, located between the towns of Rock River and Medicine Bow, Wyoming. The ridge is an anticline, formed as a result of compressional geological folding. Three geological formations, the Sundance, the Morrison, and the Cloverly Formations, containing...
, Wyoming: One of the most renowned fossil sites in North America. It was first worked by Cope and particularly Marsh in 1877 and has been the source of many different sauropods and non-dinosaur species. The Cloverly FormationCloverly FormationThe Cloverly Formation are Lower Cretaceous strata located in Montana and Wyoming, in the western United States. The term now includes strata that had formerly been called the Dakota Formation in central and southern Wyoming.-Members:...
from the Cretaceous and some TriassicTriassicThe Triassic is a geologic period and system that extends from about 250 to 200 Mya . As the first period of the Mesozoic Era, the Triassic follows the Permian and is followed by the Jurassic. Both the start and end of the Triassic are marked by major extinction events...
strata are also exposed at this location.
Site comparisons
The Morrison Formation is comparable to the TendaguruTendaguru
The Tendaguru Beds are a fossil-rich formation in Tanzania. It has been considered the richest of Late Jurassic strata in Africa. Continental reconstructions show Tendaguru to have been in the southern hemisphere during the Late Jurassic. Tendaguru is similar to the Morrison Formation except in...
beds in Tanzania and Lourinhã Formation
Lourinhã Formation
The Lourinhã Formation is a geological formation in West Portugal, named for the municipality of Lourinhã, from which a wide array of fossils comes...
in Portugal. In age it is also comparable with the Solnhofen Limestone
Solnhofen limestone
The Solnhofen Plattenkalk is a Jurassic Konservat-Lagerstätte that preserves a rare assemblage of fossilized organisms, including highly detailed imprints of soft bodied organisms such as sea jellies...
in Germany.
See also
- List of fossil sites (with link directory)
- List of dinosaur-bearing rock formations
- Chugwater FormationChugwater formationThe Chugwater Formation is a mapped bedrock unit consisting primarily of red sandstone, in the states of Wyoming, Montana, and Colorado in the USA...
- Paleobiota of the Morrison FormationPaleobiota of the Morrison FormationThe Morrison Formation is a distinctive sequence of Late Jurassic sedimentary rock that is found in the western United States, which has a wide assortment of taxa represented in its fossil record, including dinosaur fossils in North America. It is composed of mudstone, sandstone, siltstone and...
External links and references
- Morrison Natural History Museum home page.
- Dinosaurs and the History of Life, Columbia University lecture on the Morrison Formation.
- Geology of the (Dinosaur National Monument) Quarry, from the National Park Service.
- Spatial distribution of Morrison in Macrostrat.
- Paleobiology Database: Dalton Well Dinosaur Track Site (Morrison Formation): Late/Upper Jurassic, Utah
- Paleobiology Database: Black Ridge Dinosaur Track Site (Morrison Formation): Late/Upper Jurassic, Colorado
- Catalogue of Morrison mammals (bottom of the page)
Other references
- Foster, J. (2007). Jurassic West: The Dinosaurs of the Morrison Formation and Their World. Indiana University Press. 389pp.
- Foster, J.R. 2003. Paleoecological Analysis of the Vertebrate Fauna of the Morrison Formation (Upper Jurassic), Rocky Mountain Region, U.S.A. Albuquerque, New Mexico: New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science. Bulletin 23.
- Mateus, O. 2006. Late Jurassic dinosaurs from the Morrison Formation, the Lourinhã and Alcobaça Formations (Portugal), and the Tendaguru Beds (Tanzania): a comparison. in Foster, J.R. and Lucas, S. G. R.M., eds., 2006, Paleontology and Geology of the Upper Jurassic Morrison Formation. New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science Bulletin 36: 223-231.