This web page contains Morrison Formation facts for kids and is an excellent resource for anyone of any age looking to learn about this geological site. Our goal is to provide you with accurate, up to date facts about the Morrison Formation. In addition to facts, we provide addition resources to help you with your research on it.
The Morrison Formation facts below will help you learn about what the Morrison Formation is, where the Morrison Formation is located, what dinosaurs have been discovered in the Morrison Formation and other Morrison Formation related facts. We hope these facts are interesting and help you learn more about this fossil rich geological site.
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23 Morrison Formation Facts for Kids
- The Morrison Formation is a rich source of dinosaur fossil located in North America.
- The Morrison Formation was discovered by Arthur Lakes in 1877 when he discovered the first dinosaur fossils.
- The Morrison Formation was named after the city of Morrison in Colorado, where Arthur Lakes found the first fossils.
- The composition of the Morrison Formation is limestone, mudstone, sandstone and siltstone.
- The dinosaur fossils found in the Morrison Formation are from the Late Jurassic Period.
- The dinosaur fossils found in the Morrison Formation are between 146.8 and 156.3 million years old.
- The Morrison Formation covers over 600,000 square miles.
- The Morrison Formation is found primarily in the United States.
- The Morrison Formation is primarily in Colorado and Wyoming, but has outcrops in various amounts in Arizona, Idaho, Kansas, Montana, Nebraska, New Mexico, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Texas and Utah.
- 75% of the Morrison Formation is buried and only a small fraction of it is accessible to paleontologists.
- Many popular theropods have been discovered in the Morrison Formation.
- A couple of the popular theropods discovered in the Morrison Formation include the Allosaurus and Ceratosaurus.
- Many popular sauropods have been discovered in the Morrison Formation.
- Popular sauropods discovered in the Morrison Formation include the Brontosaurus, Diplodocus and Brachiosaurus.
- Many popular Ornithischians have been discovered in the Morrison Formation.
- Popular Ornithischians discovered in the Morrison Formation are the Camptosaurus, Stegosaurus and Fruitadens.
- Dinosaur eggs have been discovered in the part of the Morrison Formation that covers Utah.
- The Bone Wars between Othniel Charles Marsh and Edward Drinker Cope were fought at the Morrison Formation between 1877 and 1892.
- The Bone Wars wasn’t an armed conflict, but rather an aggressive fossil hunting and discovery competition between Othniel Charles Marsh and Edward Drinker Cope.
- The Bone Wars resulted in the discovered of 136 new dinosaur species at the Morrison Formation.
- There are many different sites and quarries in the Morrison Formation that have yielded significant fossil discoveries.
- The longest discovered yet to be discovered, the Supersaurus, was discovered in Dry Mesa Quarry in Colorado.
- Many of the Allosaurus specimens recovered to date came from the Cleveland-Lloyd Dinosaur Quarry in Utah.
Pictures of the Morrison Formation
Learn More About the Morrison Formation
- About the Morrison Formation – Learn about the Morrison Formation and what it is on the U.S. National Park Service website.
- Morrison Formation – Discover some cool facts about the Morrison Formation on the University of Utah website.
- Morrison Formation – Wikipedia – Explore the Wikipedia website to learn more about the Morrison Formation.