Morrison Formation

English

An outcrop of the Morrison Formation in Colorado National Monument, Colorado, USA

Alternative forms

• Morrison formation

Etymology

Named after the town of Morrison, Colorado, where some of the first fossils in the formation were discovered by American geologist Arthur Lakes in 1877.

Proper noun

Morrison Formation

1. (geology) A sequence of Upper Jurassic sedimentary rock in the western United States, noted as the most fertile source of dinosaur fossils in North America.
   • 1987, Lee A. Woodward, Geology and Mineral Resources of Sierra Nacimiento and Vicinity, New Mexico, New Mexico Bureau of Mines & Mineral Resources, page 34:

     Later it was given a member rank and assigned to the Morrison Formation […] .

   • 1991, Brigham Young University Geology Studies, Volumes 37-38, Brigham Young University, page 65:

     The paleoecology of the Morrison Formation is still a matter of debate (compare Dodson and others 1980 and 1983 with Tidwell 1990).

   • 2007, Central Utah: Diverse Geology of Dynamic Landscape, Utah Geological Association, page 82:

     In all areas of Utah where it has been dated, the uppermost Morrison Formation is 148 Ma based on ${\ce {^{40}\!Ar/^{39}\!Ar}}$ ages (Kowallis and others, 1988), placing it in the early Tithonian (Ogg, 2004).

Translations

geological formation in North America

• French: formation de Morrison f
• German: Morrison-Formation f
• Italian: Formazione Morrison f

Further reading

• Paleobiota of the Morrison Formation on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• List of dinosaurs of the Morrison Formation on Wikipedia.Wikipedia