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66 million
years ago (Late Cretaceous)
Find the clickable
hot spots for details and evidence, or follow the links below. (Click
to see larger image) |
Description:
The Colorado Front Range has formed, bringing mountain topography back
to Colorado for the first time in nearly 200 million years. Warm air and
plentiful rainfall promote a bounty of plant life. Huge plant-eaters such
as Triceratops
browse in a forest of palm tree thickets and patches of paddle-leaved
plants. Climbing
ferns, herbaceous
plants, and a variety of broad-leaved trees also grew here. Home to
hundreds of turtles, birds, lizards, tiny mammals, frogs, and snakes,
this landscape is also the turf of Tyrannosaurus
rex, the largest meat-eating animal in North American history.
Formation:
D1
- Denver Formation
Artist: Gary
Staab
Best Viewing
Spots:
- South Table
Mountain
- Pulpit Rock
Park
- Austin Bluffs
Park
- Palmer Park
- Green Mountain
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Like the Pierre Shale, the Denver Formation is rarely found as outcrops.
This is the rock layer that lies below downtown Denver. This picture
was taken at a roadcut on the side of I-70 about thirty miles east
of town. The Denver Formation is exposed in the cut beneath the
overpass.
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