Geologic Field Trips to the Basin and Range, Rocky Mountains, Snake River Plain, and Terranes of the U.S. Cordillera

The combination of a long geologic record and stunning scenery has attracted geologists to the Rocky Mountain and Cordilleran regions for two centuries. Past and ongoing geologic research in this region has resulted in a wealth of significant observations and paradigm shifts in interpretations. This field guide, compiled for the 2011 joint meeting of the GSA Rocky Mountain and Cordilleran Sections, provides a small and succulent appetizer to the full menu of remarkable geology of the Rocky Mountain and Cordillera regions. Field trips presented in this volume span geologic topics from Neoproterozoic deposits, late Paleozoic—early Mesozoic terrane accretion, Eocene mammals and climate, Eocene to middle Miocene extension, late Miocene and younger basin and river system evolution, and Pleistocene glaciers and pluvial lakes.
Paleontology and stratigraphy of middle Eocene rock units in the Bridger and Uinta Basins, Wyoming and Utah Available to Purchase
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Published:January 01, 2011
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CiteCitation
Paul C. Murphey, K.E. Beth Townsend, Anthony R. Friscia, Emmett Evanoff, 2011. "Paleontology and stratigraphy of middle Eocene rock units in the Bridger and Uinta Basins, Wyoming and Utah", Geologic Field Trips to the Basin and Range, Rocky Mountains, Snake River Plain, and Terranes of the U.S. Cordillera, Jeffrey Lee, James P. Evans
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Abstract
The Bridger Formation is located in the Green River basin in southwest Wyoming, and the Uinta and Duchesne River formations are located in the Uinta basin in Utah. These three rock units and their diverse fossil assemblages have great scientific importance and are also of historic interest to vertebrate paleontologists. Notably, they are also the stratotypes for the three middle Eocene North American Land Mammal “Ages,” the Bridgerian, Uintan, and Duchesnean, from oldest to youngest. The fossils and sediments of these formations provide a critically important record of biotic, environmental, and climatic history spanning ~10 million years (49–39 Ma). This article features a detailed field excursion through portions of the Green River and Uinta basins that focuses on locations of geologic, paleontologic, and historical interest. In support of the field excursion, we also provide a review of current knowledge of these formations with emphasis on lithostratigraphy, biochronology, depositional and paleoenvironmental history, and the history of scientific exploration.
- assemblages
- biochronology
- Bridger Formation
- Cenozoic
- Chordata
- Duchesne River Formation
- Eocene
- field trips
- Green River basin
- Green River Formation
- Invertebrata
- lithostratigraphy
- Mammalia
- middle Eocene
- Mollusca
- paleoclimatology
- paleoenvironment
- Paleogene
- Plantae
- road log
- stratotypes
- Tertiary
- Tetrapoda
- type localities
- Uinta Basin
- Uinta Formation
- United States
- upper Eocene
- Utah
- Vertebrata
- Wyoming
- Bridger Basin
- Lyman Limestone