[3] It contains coal, clay and uranium deposits, as well as plant and animal fossils, including dinosaur remains.

It rests conformably on the Fox Hills Sandstone and unconformably underlies the Arapahoe Conglomerate.

(See Uranium mining in Colorado) Fossil vertebrates from the Laramie Formation were among the first dinosaurs to be discovered in the American West (Carpenter and Young 2003).

In 1873, Edward D. Cope accompanied Ferdinand V. Hayden, who was leader of the U.S. Geological and Geographical Survey of the Territories.

Subsequent discoveries of dinosaurs occur through the formation, and include a nearly complete skull of Triceratops.

[10] More recent work in and around the Pawnee National Grasslands in Weld County has produced a diverse collection of 10 different fossil mammal species, including six multituberculates and four therians.

Edmontonia[13] Indeterminate[13] Nodosauridae (possibly Denversaurus)[14] Edmontosaurus[13] E. annectens[13] Hadrosauridae Ornithomimus[13] O. minutus[13] "Partial metatarsals II-IV.

[18] Magnetostratigraphy also shows that the Laramie Formation becomes progressively younger eastward as deposition followed the regression of the Western Interior Seaway.

Common plants include "Ficus" planicostata, "Myrica" torreyi, Sabalites sp., Platanites marginata, and Marmarthia pearsonii.