million years ago (Early Eocene)
Find the clickable
hot spots for details and evidence, or follow the links below.
to see larger image)
A subtropical rainforest,
trees and lygodium ferns, lines the red banks of a medium-size river.
and aquatic plants fill the channel, and a pair of hippolike Coryphodon
meander along the shore. Ten million years have passed since the rainforest
first formed on the flanks of the Front Range. The world is now in the
grip of an intense phase of global warming. There are no polar ice caps,
and crocodiles and turtles live above the Arctic Circle.
- Paint Mines
- Rock Park
Canyon State Park
Paint Mines Interpretive park offers the best natural exposure of
the Denver Basin paleosol. Here you can see brilliantly colored
red, purple, yellow, and orange fossil dirt. Native Americans used
these colored clays to make paint and pottery.