Blackleaf Formation
NATURE · GEOLOGY
Blackleaf Formation
Nature
Montana’s Blackleaf Formation preserves fossils from the Albian to Cenomanian stages of the Cretaceous and is notable for both its fossil record and its distinctive sedimentary structures. A described section includes an isolated, sinuous sandstone body cutting across three mudrock units, with a bone-bearing lower sandstone rich in volcanogenic grains and bordered by a claystone rim marked by calcite veins. The formation has yielded reptiles, fish, and plants, including Oryctodromeus cubicularis and other vertebrates and flora that illuminate mid-Cretaceous environments in the Northern Rockies. By combining fossiliferous beds with clearly recognizable field features, it has become important to both paleontology and geology.
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