The Tongue River Member is the uppermost

geologic member A stratigraphic unit is a volume of rock of identifiable origin and relative age range that is defined by the distinctive and dominant, easily mapped and recognizable petrographic, lithologic or paleontologic features (facies) that characterize i ...

of the

Fort Union Formation The Fort Union Formation is a geologic unit containing sandstones, shales, and coal beds in Wyoming, Montana, and parts of adjacent states. In the Powder River Basin, it contains important economic deposits of coal, uranium, and coalbed methane. ...

in Montana,

North Dakota North Dakota ( ) is a U.S. state in the Upper Midwest, named after the indigenous Dakota people, Dakota and Sioux peoples. It is bordered by the Canadian provinces of Saskatchewan and Manitoba to the north and by the U.S. states of Minneso ...

Wyoming Wyoming ( ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States, Western United States. It borders Montana to the north and northwest, South Dakota and Nebraska to the east, Idaho t ...

. The strata are yellow or light-colored massive sandstones and numerous thick coal beds. The vertebrate fossil fauna includes fishes, turtles, crocodiles, and mammals. Mammalian genera known from rocks of both the Torrejonian and the Tiffanian land mammal ages (middle and late Paleocene) are present.

References

Paleogene Montana Paleogene geology of North Dakota Geological members Tongue River Mbr 2

{{Paleogene-stub Mudstones and sandstone, Tongue River Member, exposed in a roadcut, US Highway 87

See also

References