Cooper Canyon Formation: Difference between revisions - Wikipedia


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{{Short description|Geological formation in Texas and New Mexico, US}}

{{Infobox rockunit

| name = Cooper Canyon Formation

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| namedfor =

| namedby =

| region = {{Flag|Texas}} <br /> {{Flag|New Mexico}}

| country = {{Flag|United States}}

| coordinates = {{coord|33.127|N|101.366|W|display:inline}}

| unitof = [[Dockum Group]]

| subunits =

| underlies = [[Redonda Formation]]

| overlies = [[Trujillo Formation]], possibly [[Camp Springs Formation]], andpossibly [[Colorado City Formation]]

| thickness =

| extent =

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}}

The '''Cooper Canyon Formation''' is a geological [[Formation (geology)|formation]] of [[Norian]] age in [[Texas]] and [[New Mexico]]. It is one of several formations encompassed by the [[Dockum Group]].<ref name="triassicdistribution">Weishampel, David B; et al. (2004). "[https://books.google.com/books?id=h4WRTHfTzXsC&pg=PA521&dq=%22Cooper%20Canyon%20Formation%22&pg=PA521 Dinosaur distribution (Late Triassic, North America)]." In: Weishampel, David B.; Dodson, Peter; and Osmólska, Halszka (eds.): The Dinosauria, 2nd, Berkeley: University of California Press. Pp. 518–521. {{ISBN|0-520-24209-2}}.</ref><ref name=Lehman_1992/>

The type area of the formation is situated in [[Garza County, Texas]], southeast of [[Lubbock, Texas|Lubbock]]. The Cooper Canyon Formation consist of reddish [[siltstone]] and [[mudstone]] with [[lens (geology)|lenses]] of [[sandstone]] and [[conglomerate (geology)|conglomerate]]. Thickness of the formation in the type area is 161.5 meters. It increases to the south, and in some places exceeds 200 m. The formation contains diverse fossils, including [[vertebrate]] remains.<ref name="Lehman_1992" />

== Regional equivalents ==

The '''[[Bull Canyon Formation''']] in eastern New Mexico is equivalent to the upper part of the Cooper Canyon Formation. Some researchers argue that the latter name should be abandoned.<ref name="Lehman_1992" /> The middle and lower parts of the Cooper Canyon are correlated to the [[Trujillo Formation|Trujillo]] and [[Tecovas Formation|Tecovas]] formations (respectively) further north in the [[Texas Panhandle]]. The lowermost part of the Cooper Canyon Formation may also be correlated to the [[Colorado City Formation]] further south at [[Otis Chalk]] ([[Howard County, Texas|Howard County]]).<ref name="Martz08" /><ref name="Martz13" /><ref name="Sar16" />

==Vertebrate fauna==

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''[[Redondasaurus]]?''

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''R. gregorii''?<ref name="SL12"/>

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*Upper<ref name=":1">{{Cite journal |last=Sarıgül |first=Volkan |date=2017-02-01 |title=New theropod fossils from the Upper Triassic Dockum Group of Texas, USA, and a brief overview of the Dockum theropod diversity |url=https://escholarship.org/content/qt8z33r6cx/qt8z33r6cx.pdf |journal=PaleoBios |volume=34 |doi=10.5070/p9341033817 |issn=2373-8189}}</ref>

*Upper

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*Macy Ranch<ref name=":2" /> (MOTT 3927)<ref name="SL12:1" />

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SkullsSkull and postcranial skeleton (specimen TTUP 9425).<ref name=":2" /><ref name="SL12"/>

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Specimens currently only described in unpublished theses, firstinitially referred to a new informal genus "Macysuchus" and then as a new species of ''Redondasaurus''. Referred to ''R. gregorii'' by Spielmann and Lucas (2012).<ref>{{Cite journal |last1name=Chatterjee |first1=Sankar |last2=Tewari |first2=Rajni |last3=Agnihotri |first3=Deepa |date=2013-06-01 |title=A Dicroidium flora from the Triassic of Allan Hills, South Victoria Land, Transantarctic Mountains, Antarctica |url=https"://doi.org/10.1080/03115518.2013.736799 |journal=Alcheringa: An Australasian Journal of Palaeontology |volume=37 |issue=2 |pages=209–221 |doi=10.1080/03115518.2013.736799 |s2cid=129383334 |issn=0311-5518}}</ref><ref">{{Cite thesis |last=McQuilkin |first=K. S. |year=1998 |title=An Articulated Phytosaur Skeleton: Preparation Techniques From Field to Exhibit |type=Unpublished MSc thesis |publisher=[[Texas Tech University]] |url=https://ttu-ir.tdl.org/bitstream/handle/2346/16514/31295013300354.pdf}}</ref> Referred to ''R. gregorii'' by Spielmann and Lucas (2012).<ref name="SL12">{{cite journal |last1=Spielmann |first1=J. A. |last2=Lucas |first2=S. G. |year=2012 |title=Tetrapod Fauna of the Upper Triassic Redonda Formation East-central New Mexico: The Characteristic Assemblage of the Apachean Land-vertebrate Faunachron |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=r-woCgAAQBAJ |journal=Bulletin of the New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science |volume=55}}</ref>

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====Pseudosuchians====

Indeterminate [[paracrocodylomorph]] and [[stagonolepidid]] material is known from the Boren Quarry (MOTT 3869).<ref name="Argo"/>

{| class="wikitable" align="center" width="100%"

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! Images

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|style="background:#fbdddb;" |

{{strikethrough|''[[Calyptosuchus]]''}}

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|style="background:#fbdddb;" |

{{strikethrough|''C. wellesi''}}<ref name="Argo"/>

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|style="background:#fbdddb;" |

*Lower (upperlower)

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|style="background:#fbdddb;" |

*PostBoren Quarry (MOTT 36243869)<ref name="Argo"/>

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|style="background:#fbdddb;" |

Osteoderms

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|style="background:#fbdddb;" |

A [[desmatosuchia]]n [[aetosaur]]. Material from Post Quarry named as the new genus and species ''Scutarx deltatylus'' in 2016.<ref name=":3">{{Cite journal |last=Parker |first=William |date=2016 |title=Revised phylogenetic analysis of the Aetosauria (Archosauria: Pseudosuchia); assessing the effects of incongruent morphological character sets |journal=PeerJ |volume=4 |pages=e1583 |doi=10.7717/peerj.1583 |pmid=26819845 |pmc=4727975 |doi-access=free }}</ref>

| rowspan="107" |

[[File:Poposaurus_gracilis_(1).jpg|thumb|center|200px|''[[Poposaurus gracilis]]'']]

[[File:Postosuchus kirkpatricki.jpg|thumb|center|200px|''[[Postosuchus kirkpatricki]]'']]

[[File:Scutarx-deltatylus_1.jpg|thumb|center|200px|''[[Scutarx deltatylus]]'']]

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Indeterminate

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*Lower (upper, lower)

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*Post Quarry (MOTT 3624)<ref name="Martz13"/>

*Boren Quarry (MOTT 3869)<ref name="Argo"/>

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Right femurFemora<ref name="Martz13"/>

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A small crocodylomorph comparable to ''[[Hesperosuchus]]''.<ref name="Martz13"/>

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Several skulls and partial skeletons, osteoderms<ref name="Dsmalli"/>

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An armoured [[aetosaur]] with large shoulder spines. Type locality of ''D. smalli'', species also known from the [[List of archosaurs of the Chinle Formation#Aetosaurs|Chinle Formation]]. Some skeletal postcranial material may belong to ''Paratypothorax''.<ref name=":3"/>

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''[[Garzapelta]]''

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''G. muelleri''<ref name="Gpelta">{{Cite journal|last1=Reyes |first1=W. A. |last2=Martz |first2=J. W. |last3=Small |first3=B. J. |title=''Garzapelta muelleri'' gen. et sp. nov., a new aetosaur (Archosauria: Pseudosuchia) from the Late Triassic (middle Norian) middle Cooper Canyon Formation, Dockum Group, Texas, USA, and its implications on our understanding of the morphological disparity of the aetosaurian dorsal carapace |year=2024 |journal=The Anatomical Record |volume=307 |issue=4 |pages=1271–1299 |doi=10.1002/ar.25379 }}</ref>

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*Middle

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*UU Sand Creek (MOTT 3882)<ref name="Gpelta"/>

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Osteoderms and some associated postcrania<ref name="Gpelta"/>

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Believed to be a [[Paratypothoracini|paratypothoracin]] aetosaur, but with lateral osteoderms convergent with [[Desmatosuchinae|desmatosuchins]].<ref name="Gpelta"/>

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Osteoderms and some associated postcrania<ref name="Martz13"/>

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A [[Paratypothoracini|paratypothoracin]] aetosaur. Potentially belongs to a distinct species from ''P. andressorum'', as for other North American ''Paratypothorax''.<ref name=":3"/>

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''[[Poposaurus]]''

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''P. gracilis''<ref name="Argo"/>

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*Lower (lower)

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*Boren Quarry (MOTT 3869)<ref name="Argo"/>

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Femur, cervical vertebra<ref name="Mueller16"/>

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A bipedal predatory paracrocodylomorph.

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Two skeletons and isolated remains<ref name="Martz13"/>

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A large predatory [[rauisuchid]], type specimen from the Post Quarry. Most rauisuchid material from elsewhere in the southwestern US has also been assigned to ''Postosuchus kirkpatricki'' but it is unclear how much of it definitively belongs to ''Postosuchus''.<ref>{{cite journal |author1=Emily J. Lessner |author2=Michelle R. Stocker |author3=Nathan D. Smith |author4=Alan H. Turner |author5=Randall B. Irmis |author6=Sterling J. Nesbitt |year=2016 |title=A new rauisuchid (Archosauria, Pseudosuchia) from the Upper Triassic (Norian) of New Mexico increases the diversity and temporal range of the clade |journal=PeerJ |volume=4 |pages=e2336 |doi=10.7717/peerj.2336 |pmid=27651983 |pmc=5018681 |doi-access=free }}</ref> A fifth metatarsal from the Boren Quarry (MOTT 3869) may belong to ''Postosuchus''.<ref name="Mueller16">{{cite thesis |last1=Mueller |first1=B. D. |year=2016 |title=Triassic Tetrapod Paleontology and Taphonomy of the Boren Quarry, Dockum Group, Garza County, Texas |type=Unpublished PhD thesis |publisher=Texas Tech University |url=https://ttu-ir.tdl.org/handle/2346/73724 |access-date=5 November 2023}}</ref>

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Osteoderms<ref name=":4"/>

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A [[desmatosuchine]] [[aetosaur]] based on material formerly assigned to ''[[Calyptosuchus wellesi]]''. Known more abundantly in the [[List of archosaurs of the Chinle Formation#Aetosaurs|Chinle Formation]].<ref name=":3"/>

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*Upper?

*Lower (upper, lower)

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*Patricia Site (MOTT 3870)?<ref name=":0"/>

*Post Quarry (MOTT 3624)<ref name="Martz13"/>

*Boren Quarry (MOTT 3869)<ref name="Argo"/>

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Skulls and skeleton<ref name="Martz13"/>

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====Ornithodirans====

Numerous bones from ornithodirans have been discovered throughout the Cooper Canyon Formation but cannot be assigned to specific genera or clades. However, they are at least variably identifiable as lagerpetids, dinosauromorphs, dinosaurs, saurischians and theropods.<ref name=":4">{{Cite journal |last1=Lessner |first1=E. J. |last2=Parker |first2=W. G. |last3=Marsh |first3=A. D. |last4=Nesbitt |first4=S. J. |last5=Irmis |first5=R. B. |last6=Mueller |first6=B. D. |title=New insights into Late Triassic dinosauromorph-bearing assemblages from Texas using apomorphy-based identifications |journal=PaleoBios |date=2018 |volume=35 |doi=10.5070/P9351039960|doi-access=free }}</ref>

{| class="wikitable" align="center" width="100%"

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Dentaries, cervical vertebrae, femur, humerus.<ref name="maleri21"/><ref name="Sari17"/>

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A ''Malerisaurus''-like taxon, a small carnivorous [[azendohsaurid]] allokotosaur. Three dentaries from the Boren Quarry were misinterpreted as the oldest [[saurischian]] dinosaurs in North America, but show affinity to malerisaurines.<ref name="Sari17">{{cite journal |last=Sarigül |first=V. |year=2017 |title=New archosauromorph fragments from the Dockum Group of Texas and the assessment of earliest dinosaurs in North America |journal=Historical Biology |volume=30 |issue=8 |pages=1059–1075 |doi=10.1080/08912963.2017.1333609}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |lastlast1=Marsh |firstfirst1=Adam D. |last2=Parker |first2=William G. |last3=Nesbitt |first3=Sterling J. |last4=Kligman |first4=Ben T. |last5=Stocker |first5=Michelle R. |year=2022 |title=Puercosuchus traverorum n. gen. n. sp.: a new malerisaurine azendohsaurid (Archosauromorpha: Allokotosauria) from two monodominant bonebeds in the Chinle Formation (Upper Triassic, Norian) of Arizona |journal=Journal of Paleontology |language=en |volume=96 |issue=S90 |pages=1–39 |doi=10.1017/jpa.2022.49 |issn=0022-3360 |doi-access=free}}</ref>

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*Boren Quarry (MOTT 3869)<ref name="Trilo20"/>

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Teeth, jaw elements<ref>{{cite journal |lastlast1=Müller |firstfirst1=B. D. |last2=Parker |first2=W. G. |year=2006 |title=A new species of ''Trilophosaurus'' (Diapsida: Archosauromorpha) from the Sonsela Member (Chinle Formation) of Petrified Forest National Park, Arizona |journal=Museum of Northern Arizona, Bulletin |volume=62 |pages=119-125119–125 |url=https://www.nps.gov/pefo/upload/Mueller-Parker-2006-New-Species-of-Trilophosaurus.pdf}}</ref>

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''V. campi''<ref name="Sari18"/>

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*Lower (upper, lower)

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*Post Quarry (MOTT 3624)<ref name="Sari18"/>

*Boren Quarry (MOTT 3869)<ref name="Argo"/>

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Postcervical vertebrae, osteoderms (MOTT 3624)<ref name="Sari18"/>

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An unusual armoured semi-aquatic archosauriform. Additional limb bones from the Post and Kirkpatrick quarries may belong to ''Vancleavea'' or a related taxon.

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===Other amniotes===

Numerous fragmentary limb bones of various reptiles have been collected that cannot be reliably diagnosed to specific clades, though some show similarities to [[drepanosauromorphs]]. Indeterminate [[procolophonid]] material is known from the Boren Quarry (MOTT 3869).<Ref name="Argo"/>

{| class="wikitable" align="center" width="100%"

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! Image

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|''[[Argodicynodon]]''<ref name="Argo">{{Cite journal |last1=Mueller |first1=B. D. |last2=Huttenlocker |first2=A. K. |last3=Small |first3=B. J. |last4=Pinto |first4=J. L. |last5=Dean-Wallace |first5=K. |last6=Chatterjee |first6=S. |year=2023 |title=A new kannemeyeriiform dicynodont (Synapsida) from a Late Triassic vertebrate assemblage in west Texas, U.S.A. |journal=Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology |at=e2255236 |doi=10.1080/02724634.2023.2255236|doi-access=free }}</ref>

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''A. boreni''

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Indeterminate

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*Lower (uppermiddle)

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*Post Quarry (MOTT 3624)3610<ref name="Martz13Argo"/>

*Meyer’sMcCarty HillRanch (MOTT 38810690)<ref name="Martz08Argo"/>

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Cranial fragments, sternum.<ref name="Argo"/>

A humerus (MOTT 3881) and a femur (MOTT 3624).<ref name="LC05"/><ref name="Martz13"/>▼

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Isolated indeterminate dicynodont material, seemingly not referable to ''Placerias''.<ref name="LC05Argo"/>

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Indeterminate

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*Lower (upper, lower)

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*Post Quarry (MOTT 3624)<ref name="Martz13"/>

*Boren Quarry (MOTT 3869)<ref name="Argo"/>

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Two scapulacoracoids (MOTT 3624)<ref name="Martz13"/>

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An unusual, possibly arboreal diapsid reptile.

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Probable eucynodonts with teeth lacking a cingulum and possessing a large main cusp and 2–3 smaller posterior cusps.<ref name="Martz13"/>

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|[[Kannemeyeriiformes]] indet.<ref name="Argo"/>

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Indeterminate

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*Lower (upper)

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*Post Quarry (MOTT 3624)<ref name="Argo"/>

*Meyer’s Hill (MOTT 3881)<ref name="Argo"/>

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▲A humerus (MOTT 3881) and a femur (MOTT 3624).<ref name="LC05"/><ref name="Martz13"/>

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Isolated indeterminate kannemeyeriiforms, potentially distinct from ''Argodicynodon''.<ref name="Argo"/>

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At least two partial skeletons

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A problematic taxon purported to be an early [[avialan]], may be a [[Chimera (paleontology)|chimaera]] of different fossils.<ref>{{cite book |last=Witmer |first=L. |year=2002 |chapter=The debate on avian ancestry: phylogeny, function, and fossils |pages=3-303–30 |editor-last1=Chiappe |editor-first1=L. M. |editor-last2=Witmer |editor-first2=L. M. |title=Mesozoic birds: Above the heads of dinosaurs |publisher=University of California Press |location=Berkeley, Calif., USA |ISBNisbn=0-520-20094-2}}</ref>

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<ref name=Lehman_1992>{{cite journal

|title =The Cooper Canyon Formation (Late Triassic) of western Texas

|authorauthor1 =Lehman T., Chatterjee S., Schnable J.

|author2 =Chatterjee S.

|author3= Schnable J.

|date =1992

|journal=The Texas Journal of Science

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*[https://mrdata.usgs.gov/geology/state/sgmc-unit.php?unit=NMTRb%3B0 Bull Canyon Formation of Chinle Group] by USGS

[[Category:Triassic formations of New Mexico]]

[[Category:Triassic geology of Texas]]

[[Category:Norian Stage]]