[1] The formation was named for Mowrie Creek, northwest of Buffalo in Johnson County, Wyoming.

Fossils indicate the Mowry was deposited during the early stages of the Western Interior Seaway.

In so much as the Mowry was observed to lie above formations that were originally thought to be associated with the difficult to date upper Dakota units, especially Newcastle Sandstone, the Mowry was previously thought to be of Cenomanian age.

However, recent studies, particularly of fossil pollens and spores, have dated the Mowry to the late-Albian.

[5] Isolated, lenticular accumulations of fish bones, scales, teeth and coprolites are thought to represent storm lag deposits formed by winnowing of the seafloor and concentration of the bones in bottom scours.