Introduction to the Green River Formation

Abstract

The Green River Formation of Wyoming, Colorado and Utah contains an important record of the paleogeography, climate and lakes in the Rocky Mountains region during the Early Eocene epoch. Its have been a source of inspiration for paleolimnologists since before the term paleolimnology came to exist. Its strata contain fossil faunas and flora, extensive resources of trona and kerogenous shale, and one of the most complete records of the Early Eocene Climatic Optimum. Emerging geochronology has permitted correlations of the Green River Formation between the structural basins that contain it, and is beginning to bring to tempo and origins of the pronounced cyclity exhibited by the Green River Formation into focus. Each of the 11 subsequent chapters of this book presents a suite of detailed stratigraphic and sedimentologic investigations of the Green River Formation within the Green River Formation basins.