The Morrison Basin, which stretched from New Mexico in the south to Alberta and Saskatchewan in the north, was formed during the Nevadan orogeny, a precursor event to later orogenic episodes that created the Rocky Mountains started pushing up to the west. The deposits from their east-facing drainage basins, carried by streams and rivers from the Elko Highlands (along the borders of present-day Nevada and Utah) and deposited in swampy lowlands, lakes, river channels and floodplains, became the Morrison Formation.
The Morrison Formation is subdivided into several members, the occurrence of which are varied across the geographic extent of the Morrison. Members are (in alphabetical order):
Other informal or disused designations of the Morrison include the Stockett Bed in Montana, an unofficial sub-unit which contains bituminous coal; the outdated terms Casamero, Chavez, and Prewitt Sandstone for the Brushy Basin, Recapture, and Westwater Canyon, respectively; and the Bullington Member, which has been discarded entirely.
Locations where significant Morrison Formation fossil discoveries have been made include:
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Mateus, O. 2006. Late Jurassic dinosaurs from the Morrison Formation, the Lourinhã and Alcobaça Formations (Portugal), and the Tendaguru Beds (Tanzania): a comparison. in Foster, J.R. and Lucas, S. G. R.M., eds., 2006, Paleontology and Geology of the Upper Jurassic Morrison Formation. New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science Bulletin 36: 223-231.
Turner, Christine E.; Peterson, Fred (May 2004). "Reconstruction of the Upper Jurassic Morrison Formation extinct ecosystem—a synthesis" (PDF). Sedimentary Geology. 167 (3–4): 309–355. Bibcode:2004SedG..167..309T. doi:10.1016/j.sedgeo.2004.01.009. http://doc.rero.ch/record/14577/files/PAL_E1793.pdf
"Geologic Unit: Morrison". USGS Geolex. Retrieved December 30, 2020.
https://ngmdb.usgs.gov/Geolex/Units/Morrison_9394.html
"Geologic Unit: Windy Hill". USGS Geolex. Retrieved December 30, 2020.
https://ngmdb.usgs.gov/Geolex/Units/WindyHill_11198.html
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Allan R. Kirk; Steven M. Condon (1986). "Structural Control of Sedimentation Patterns and the Distribution of Uranium Deposits in the Westwater Canyon Member of the Morrison Formation, Northwestern New Mexico--A Subsurface Study". In Turner-Peterson, C.E.; Santos, Elmer S.; Fishman, Neil S. (eds.). Basin Analysis Case Study: The Morrison Formation, Grants Uranium Region, New Mexico. Tulsa: The American Association of Petroleum Geologists. p. 110-111.
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