The Paleontology of North America

The Triassic in Colorado, US

 map

undifferentiated rock units

See exposures in this state from the:

Quaternary
Tertiary
Cretaceous
Jurassic
Triassic
Permian
Carboniferous
Devonian
Silurian
Ordovician
Cambrian
Precambrian

Triassic Fossils

No slide show is available for the Triassic in Colorado.

Paleontology and geology

During the Triassic, erosion lowered the Ancestral Rockies, burying them in their own debris. Extensive red beds formed adjacent to a shallow seaway that lay to the north in Wyoming, and Colorado hosted its first dinosaur. Other Triassic fossils include armored aetosaurs, crocodile-like phytosaurs, large amphibians, conifers, and the very enigmatic plant known as Sanmiguelia. Portions of the Triassic section near Denver were formed in a coastal environment and contain abundant limestone stromatolites.

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