The Parfet Prehistoric Preserve is a dinosaur track site in

Golden, Colorado Golden is a home rule city that is the county seat of Jefferson County, Colorado, United States. The city population was 20,399 at the 2020 United States Census. Golden lies along Clear Creek at the base of the Front Range of the Rocky Mountai ...

. The site is accessible to the public via the Triceratops Trail, a 1.5-mile walking trail maintained by the Friends of Dinosaur Ridge. Tracks include those of ''Triceratops'', a possible ''Tyrannosaurus rex'', and a possible ''Edmontosaurusa''. Non-dinosaur tracks include those of birds, small mammals, and beetles. Palm frond impressions are also preserved. Parfet-Triceratops-Track

The tracks occur in the Upper

Cretaceous The Cretaceous ( ) is a geological period that lasted from about 145 to 66 million years ago (Mya). It is the third and final period of the Mesozoic Era, as well as the longest. At around 79 million years, it is the longest geological period of ...

Laramie Formation The Laramie Formation is a geologic formation of Late Cretaceous (Maastrichtian) age, named by Clarence King in 1876 for exposures in northeastern Colorado, in the United States.King, C. 1876. Report of the Geological Exploration of the Fortieth P ...

, deposited in a semi-tropical swamp about 68 million years ago. The tracks were exposed by a now-discontinued clay mining at the Parfet Clay Pits. The tracks were exposed when the clay layers were removed by the mining, revealing track impressions preserved in the overlying sandstone layers, which are now tilted into a vertical position. The site was designated a

National Natural Landmark The National Natural Landmarks (NNL) Program recognizes and encourages the conservation of outstanding examples of the natural history of the United States. It is the only national natural areas program that identifies and recognizes the best ...

in June 2011 by expansion of the Morrison Fossil Area, also known as

Dinosaur Ridge Dinosaur Ridge is a segment of the Dakota Hogback in the Morrison Fossil Area National Natural Landmark located in Jefferson County, Colorado, near the town of Morrison, Colorado, Morrison and just west of Denver. The Dinosaur Ridge area is one ...

, which is about three miles south of the Parfet Prehistoric Preserve. The combined National Natural Landmark is now the Morrisson-Golden Fossil Areas.National Park Service
National Natural Landmarks

References

External links

* Colorado Geological Survey
Triceratops Trail at Parfet Prehistoric Preserve
{{authority control Golden, Colorado Dinosaur trace fossils National Natural Landmarks in Colorado Fossil trackways in the United States Cretaceous paleontological sites of North America Paleontology in Colorado