Mesaverde Formation
Encyclopedia
The Mesaverde Formation is a Late Cretaceous
geologic formation.
The formation is described by W.G. Pierce as interbedded light gray sandstone and gray shale in upper part; lower part massive, light-buff, ledge-forming sandstone containing thin lenticular coal beds.
The formation occurs in various structural basins in the western United States such as Piceance Basin
, Powder River Basin
, Uintah Basin
, Washakie Basin, and Wind River Basin
.
Dinosaur
remains are among the fossils that have been recovered from the formation, although none have yet been referred to a specific genus
.
Late Cretaceous
The Late Cretaceous is the younger of two epochs into which the Cretaceous period is divided in the geologic timescale. Rock strata from this epoch form the Upper Cretaceous series...
geologic formation.
The formation is described by W.G. Pierce as interbedded light gray sandstone and gray shale in upper part; lower part massive, light-buff, ledge-forming sandstone containing thin lenticular coal beds.
The formation occurs in various structural basins in the western United States such as Piceance Basin
Piceance Basin
The Piceance Basin is a geologic structural basin in northwestern Colorado, in the United States. It includes geologic formations from Cambrian to Holocene in age, but the thickest section is made up of rocks from the Cretaceous Period...
, Powder River Basin
Powder River Basin
The Powder River Basin is a geologic region in southeast Montana and northeast Wyoming, about east to west and north to south, known for its coal deposits. The region supplies about 40 percent of coal in the United States. It is both a topographic drainage and geologic structural basin...
, Uintah Basin
Uintah Basin
The Uintah Basin, also spelled Uinta Basin, is a physiographic section of the larger Colorado Plateaus province, which in turn is part of the larger Intermontane Plateaus physiographic division. It is also a geologic structural basin in eastern Utah, east of the Wasatch Mountains and south of the...
, Washakie Basin, and Wind River Basin
Wind River Basin
The Wind River Basin or Shoshone Basin is a semi-arid intermontane structural basin in central Wyoming, USA. It is bounded by Laramide uplifts on all sides. On the west is the Wind River Range and on the North are the Absaroka Range and the Owl Creek Mountains...
.
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...
remains are among the fossils that have been recovered from the formation, although none have yet been referred to a specific genus
Genus
In biology, a genus is a low-level taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms, which is an example of definition by genus and differentia...
.