Dinosaur Ridge: Scientific Themes

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General Resources

Dinosaur Ridge may be "the best square mile of ideal outdoor classroom to study geology" for the following reasons:

It has excellent stratigraphy in the Mesozoic rocks; also the type section of the world famous Morrison Formation comes from this area;

Structure (the upturned layers of the Front Range mark the Laramide uplift and the ever so prominent Golden Fault);

Best place to explain to someone "differential erosion" in sedimentary rock types where they can see weaker shales and stronger sandstones giving a valley and ridge topography;
Geologically recent stream erosion and capture from Bear Creek;
The stream "notch" along the ridge that is visible from the parking lot of the visitor center and serves to help explain the origin of Green Mountain;
The "V-shaped" notches emanating in many places along the front range from stream erosion that are visible from the ridge; and finally,
The visible landslides in the Precambrian rocks of Mount Morrison

Sedimentary features (concretions, ripple marks, ancient stream channels, trace fossils from burrowing organisms, and claw marks likely from Cretaceous crocodiles);

Geologic time (from the "Jurassic Park" side one can see older Paleozoic rocks of the Fountain Formation in Red Rocks Park that attest to the Ancestral Rockies formed in the Pennsylvanian Period; also from the "Brontosaur Bulges" one can point out the Precambrian rocks that mark the top of Mt. Morrison that are some 1 billion years old!); and

Most importantly, the "world-class" remnants of the Mesozoic Era that present proof of the dinosaurs existence in this region via the dinosaur bones, tracks, and trace fossils.

Friends of Dinosaur Ridge Publications

Fossil Footprints of the Dinosaur Ridge Area Currently Out of Print - Re-release will highlight new finds at Fossil Trace Golf Course!
A Field Guide to Dinosaur Ridge
Archaeology