Williams Fork Formation

Williams Fork Formation
Stratigraphic range: Campanian (Edmontonian)
~73–70 Ma
TypeGeological formation
Unit ofMesaverde Group
Lithology
PrimaryMudstone
OtherSandstone
Location
Coordinates40°00′N 108°48′W / 40.0°N 108.8°W / 40.0; -108.8
Approximate paleocoordinates47°30′N 80°18′W / 47.5°N 80.3°W / 47.5; -80.3
RegionColorado
Country United States
Williams Fork Formation is located in the United States
Williams Fork Formation
Williams Fork Formation (the United States)
Williams Fork Formation is located in Colorado
Williams Fork Formation
Williams Fork Formation (Colorado)

The Williams Fork Formation is a Campanian to Maastrichtian (Edmontonian) geologic formation of the Mesaverde Group in Colorado. Dinosaur remains are among the fossils that have been recovered from the formation, most notably Pentaceratops sternbergii,[1]. Other fossils found in the formation are the ammonite Lewyites, tyrannosaurids, dromaeosaurids, troodontids, nodosaurids, ankylosaurids, hadrosaurids, hybodonts, neosuchian crocodylomorphs, and the mammals Glasbius and Meniscoessus collomensis.[2][3]

See also[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^ Diem, Steve; Archibald, James D. (2005). "Range extension of southern chasmosaurine Ceratopsian dinosaurs into northwestern Colorado". Journal of Paleontology. 79 (2): 251–258. CiteSeerX 10.1.1.538.7263. doi:10.1666/0022-3360(2005)079<0251:REOSCC>2.0.CO;2. S2CID 17715685. Retrieved 21 September 2016.
  2. ^ Jubb Creek at Fossilworks.org
  3. ^ Rangely South (SDNHM) at Fossilworks.org

Bibliography[edit]

  • Weishampel, David B.; Peter Dodson, and Halszka Osmólska (eds.). 2004. The Dinosauria, 2nd edition, 1–880. Berkeley: University of California Press. Accessed 2019-02-21. ISBN 0-520-24209-2
  • Diem, Stephen Daniel. (1999). Vertebrate Faunal Analysis of the Upper Cretaceous Williams Fork Formation, Rio Blanco County, Colorado [Master’s Thesis]. San Diego State University.

Further reading[edit]

  • Archibald, J. D. (1987). Late Cretaceous (Judithian and Edmontonian) Vertebrates and Geology of the Williams Fork Formation. N.W. Colorado. In P. J. Currie, E. H. Koster, & Royal Tyrrell Museum of Palaeontology (Eds.), Fourth Symposium on Mesozoic Terrestrial Ecosystems: Drumheller, August 10-14, 1987: Short Papers (Rev. ed, pp. 7–11). Tyrrell Museum of Palaeontology.
  • Brand, N., Heckert, A., Sanchez, I., Foster, J., Hunt-Foster, R., & Eberle, J. (2022). New Upper Cretaceous Microvertebrate Assemblage from the Williams Fork Formation, northwestern Colorado, U.S.A., and its Paleoenvironmental Implications. Acta Palaeontologica Polonica, 67(3), 579–600. https://doi.org/10.4202/app.00934.2021.
  • Cifelli, R. L., Eberle, J. J., Lofgren, D. L., Lillegraven, J. A., & Clemens, W. A. (2004). Mammalian Biochronology of the Latest Cretaceous. In M. O. Woodburne (Ed.), Late Cretaceous and Cenozoic Mammals of North America: Biostratigraphy and Geochronology (pp. 21–42). Columbia University Press. https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.7312/wood13040.8.
  • Diem, Stephen Daniel. (1999). Vertebrate Faunal Analysis of the Upper Cretaceous Williams Fork Formation, Rio Blanco County, Colorado [Master’s Thesis]. San Diego State University.
  • Noll, M. D. (1998). Sedimentology of the Upper Cretaceous Williams Fork Formation, Rio Blanco County, Northwestern Colorado [Master’s Thesis]. San Diego State University. https://digitallibrary.sdsu.edu/islandora/object/sdsu%3A17
  • J. R. Foster and R. K. Hunt-Foster. 2015. First report of a giant neosuchian (Crocodyliformes) in the Williams Fork Formation (Upper Cretaceous: Campanian) of Colorado. Cretaceous Research 55:66-73
  • Lockley, M. G., Smith, J. A., & King, M. R. (2018). First reports of turtle tracks from the Williams Fork Formation (‘Mesaverde’ Group), Upper Cretaceous (Campanian) of western Colorado. Cretaceous Research, 84, 474–482. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cretres.2017.11.001.
  • W. J. Kennedy, W. A. Cobban, and G. R. Scott. 2000. Heteromorph ammonites from the Upper Campanian (Upper Cretaceous) Baculites cuneatus and Baculites reesidei zones of the Pierre Shale in Colorado, USA. Acta Geologica Polonica 50:1-20
  • J. A. Lillegraven. 1987. Stratigraphic and evolutionary implications of a new species of Meniscoessus (Multituberculata, Mammalia) from the Upper Cretaceous Williams Fork Formation, Moffat County, Colorado. Dakoterra 3:46-56
  • Sullivan, R.M., and Lucas, S.G. 2006. "The Kirtlandian land-vertebrate "age" – faunal composition, temporal position and biostratigraphic correlation in the nonmarine Upper Cretaceous of western North America." New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science, Bulletin 35:7-29.