Dinosaur Park Formation

Dinosaur Park Formation Stratigraphic range: Late Cretaceous, 76.6–74.8 Ma PreЄ Є O S D C P T J K Pg N ↓
Dinosaur Park Formation exposed along the Red Deer River in Dinosaur Provincial Park, southeastern Alberta, Canada.
Type	Geological formation
Unit of	Belly River Group
Underlies	Bearpaw Formation
Overlies	Oldman Formation
Lithology
Primary	Sandstone (lower) Mudstone and siltstone (upper)
Other	Bentonite and coal
Location
Region	Alberta
Country	Canada
Type section
Named for	Dinosaur Provincial Park
Named by	Eberth, D.A. and Hamblin, A.P., 1993.

The Dinosaur Park Formation is the uppermost member of the Belly River Group (also known as the Judith River Group), a major geologic unit in southern Alberta. It was laid down during the Campanian stage of the Late Cretaceous epoch between 76.6 and 74.8 million years ago. It was deposited in alluvial and coastal plain environments, and it is bounded by the nonmarine Oldman Formation below it and the marine Bearpaw Formation above it.

The Dinosaur Park Formation contains dense concentrations of dinosaur skeletons, both articulated and disarticulated, which are often found with preserved remains of soft tissues. Remains of other animals such as fish, turtles, and crocodilians, as well as plant remains, are also abundant. The formation has been named after Dinosaur Provincial Park, a UNESCO World Heritage Site where the formation is well exposed in the badlands that flank the Red Deer River.

The Dinosaur Park Formation is composed of sediments that were derived from the erosion of the mountains to the west. It was deposited on an alluvial to coastal plain by river systems that flowed eastward and southeastward to the Bearpaw Sea, a large inland sea that was part of the Western Interior Seaway. That sea gradually inundated the adjacent coastal plain, depositing the marine shales of the Bearpaw Formation on top of the Dinosaur Park Formation.