DeBeque Formation

The DeBeque Formation is a geologic formation in Colorado's Piceance Basin,[1] preserving fossils which date back to the Late Paleocene to Early Eocene period (Clarkforkian to Wasatchian in the NALMA classification.[2][3] Examples of these fossils are held in the University of Colorado Museum of Natural History.[4]

DeBeque Formation Stratigraphic range: Late Paleocene-Early Eocene (Clarkforkian-Wasatchian) ~56–50 Ma PreꞒ Ꞓ O S D C P T J K Pg N
Fossil from the DeBeque Formation
Type	Formation
Sub-units	Atwell Gulch Member
Lithology
Primary	Claystone
Location
Coordinates	40.0°N 107.9°W
Approximate paleocoordinates	44.8°N 91.8°W
Region	Colorado
Country	United States
DeBeque Formation (the United States) DeBeque Formation (Colorado)

Wasatchian correlations

Wasatchian correlations in North America

Formation	Wasatch	DeBeque	Claron	Indian Meadows	Pass Peak	Tatman	Willwood	Golden Valley	Coldwater	Allenby	Kamloops	Ootsa Lake	Margaret	Nanjemoy	Hatchetigbee	Tetas de Cabra	Hannold Hill	Coalmont	Cuchara	Galisteo	San Jose	Ypresian (IUCS) • Itaboraian (SALMA) Bumbanian (ALMA) • Mangaorapan (NZ)
Basin	Powder River Uinta Piceance Colorado Plateau Wind River Green River Bighorn	Piceance	Colorado Plateau	Wind River	Green River	Bighorn		Williston	Okanagan	Princeton	Buck Creek	Nechako	Sverdrup	Potomac	GoM	Laguna Salada	Rio Grande	North Park	Raton	Galisteo	San Juan	DeBeque Formation (North America)
Country	United States								Canada					United States		Mexico	United States
Copelemur
Coryphodon
Diacodexis
Homogalax
Oxyaena
Paramys
Primates
Birds
Reptiles
Fish
Insects
Flora
Environments	Alluvial-fluvio-lacustrine	Fluvial				Fluvial	Fluvio-lacustrine	Fluvial	Lacustrine		Fluvio-lacustrine		Deltaic-paludal	Shallow marine		Fluvial	Shallow marine	Fluvial		Fluvial		Wasatchian volcanoclastics Wasatchian fauna Wasatchian flora
Volcanic	Yes	No							Yes	No	Yes	No	Yes	No						Yes	No

See also

• List of fossiliferous stratigraphic units in Colorado
• Paleontology in Colorado

References

1. Bown & Kihm, 1981
2. DeBeque Formation at Fossilworks.org
3. Hirsch et al., 1997
4. "Collections". Museum of Natural History. 24 May 2016. Retrieved 10 November 2019.

Bibliography

• Hirsch, Karl F.; Allen J. Kihm, and Darla K. Zelenitsky. 1997. New Eggshell of Ratite Morphotype with Predation Marks from the Eocene of Colorado. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 17. 360. ISSN 0272-4634 JSTOR 4523812 doi:10.1080/02724634.1997.10010980
• Bown, Thomas M., and Allen J. Kihm. 1981. Xenicohippus, an Unusual New Hyracotheriine (Mammalia, Perissodactyla) from Lower Eocene Rocks of Wyoming, Colorado and New Mexico. Journal of Paleontology 55. 257. ISSN 0022-3360 JSTOR 1304347

Further reading

• A. J. Lichtig and S. G. Lucas. 2015. Paleocene-Eocene turtles of the Piceance Creek Basin, Colorado. New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science Bulletin 67:145-152
• A. J. Kihm. 1984. Early Eocene Mammalian Fauna of the Piceance Creek Basin. Northwestern Colorado
• K. P. Schmidt. 1938. New crocodilians from the upper Paleocene of western Colorado. Geological Series of Field Museum of Natural History 6(21):315-321