The Neslen Formation is a

geologic formation A geological formation, or simply formation, is a body of rock having a consistent set of physical characteristics ( lithology) that distinguishes it from adjacent bodies of rock, and which occupies a particular position in the layers of rock exp ...

Utah Utah ( , ) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. Utah is a landlocked U.S. state bordered to its east by Colorado, to its northeast by Wyoming, to its north by Idaho, to its south by Arizona, and to its ...

. It preserves

fossils A fossil (from Classical Latin , ) is any preserved remains, impression, or trace of any once-living thing from a past geological age. Examples include bones, shells, exoskeletons, stone imprints of animals or microbes, objects preserved ...

dating back to the

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 ...

period Period may refer to: Common uses * Era, a length or span of time * Full stop (or period), a punctuation mark Arts, entertainment, and media * Period (music), a concept in musical composition * Periodic sentence (or rhetorical period), a concept ...

. It has been exploited for coal. The

Kaiparowits Formation The Kaiparowits Formation is a sedimentary rock formation found in the Kaiparowits Plateau in Grand Staircase–Escalante National Monument, in the southern part of Utah in the western United States. It is over 2800 feet (850 m) thick, and is Ca ...

is closely associated. Only two specimens have been reported from the formation. The first is a diagnostic tyrannosaur foot, the second being the type and only specimen of ''

Rhinorex ''Rhinorex'' is a genus of kritosaurin hadrosaur from the Late Cretaceous Neslen Formation, in central Utah. Its exact placement in time is uncertain, though it probably dates to 75 million years ago and was discovered in estuarine sediments.

''.& Scheetz (2014): A new saurolophine hadrosaurid (Dinosauria: Ornithopoda) from the Campanian of Utah, North America
Journal of Systematic Palaeontology. doi: 10.1080/14772019.2014.950614

References

Geologic formations of Utah Cretaceous System of North America {{Cretaceous-stub

See also

References