All known specimens of Cryolophosaurus have been recovered in the Hanson Formation, which is one of only two major dinosaur-bearing rock formations found on the continent of Antarctica.
It was discovered in "tuffaceous" siltstone deposited in the Sinemurian to Pliensbachian stage of the Early Jurassic, approximately 194 to 188 million years ago.
This geological formation is part of the Victoria Group of the Transantarctic Mountains, which is approximately 4,000 metres (13,000 ft) above sea level.
The high altitude of this site supports the idea that early Jurassic Antarctica had forests populated by a diverse range of species, at least along the coast.
The Hanson Formation was deposited in an active volcano−tectonic rift system formed during the breakup of Gondwana.

In the Early Jurassic, Antarctica was closer to the equator and the world was considerably warmer than today, but the climate was still cool temperate.
Models of Jurassic air flow indicate that coastal areas probably never dropped much below freezing, although more extreme conditions existed inland.
Cryolophosaurus was found about 650 kilometres (400 mi) from the South Pole but, at the time it lived, this was about 1,000 km (621 mi) or so farther north.
This formation has produced the remains of Glacialisaurus (a large basal sauropodomorph), a crow-sized pterosaur (a dimorphodontid), a synapsid (a tritylodont, which is a type of synapsid about the size of a rat), herbivorous synapsid, and two small unnamed sauropodmorphs.
There are also the remains of many plant genera recovered from the Early Jurassic Camp Hill Formation, around the same age as fossils of Cryolophosaurus, proving that dense plant matter had once grown on Antarctica's surface before it drifted southward.
All known specimens of Cryolophosaurus have been recovered in the Hanson Formation, which is one of only two major dinosaur-bearing rock formations found on the continent of Antarctica. It was discovered in "tuffaceous" siltstone deposited in the Sinemurian to Pliensbachian stage of the Early Jurassic, approximately 194 to 188 million years ago. This geological formation is part of the Victoria Group of the Transantarctic Mountains, which is approximately 4,000 metres (13,000 ft) above sea level. The high altitude of this site supports the idea that early Jurassic Antarctica had forests populated by a diverse range of species, at least along the coast. The Hanson Formation was deposited in an active volcano−tectonic rift system formed during the breakup of Gondwana.
In the Early Jurassic, Antarctica was closer to the equator and the world was considerably warmer than today, but the climate was still cool temperate. Models of Jurassic air flow indicate that coastal areas probably never dropped much below freezing, although more extreme conditions existed inland. Cryolophosaurus was found about 650 kilometres (400 mi) from the South Pole but, at the time it lived, this was about 1,000 km (621 mi) or so farther north. This formation has produced the remains of Glacialisaurus (a large basal sauropodomorph), a crow-sized pterosaur (a dimorphodontid), a synapsid (a tritylodont, which is a type of synapsid about the size of a rat), herbivorous synapsid, and two small unnamed sauropodmorphs. There are also the remains of many plant genera recovered from the Early Jurassic Camp Hill Formation, around the same age as fossils of Cryolophosaurus, proving that dense plant matter had once grown on Antarctica's surface before it drifted southward.
Cryolophosaurus