[2][3] Artist Georgia O'Keeffe drew inspiration from her study of the formation at Plaza Blanca.

[1] Individual beds in the formation thicken across the Canones fault zone, which separates the Colorado Plateau from the Rio Grande rift.

The first interval derives its sediments from basement rock of the Tusas Mountains and from the San Juan volcanic field.

These intervals reflect development of the early Rio Grande rift, with the final interval showing that tilting to the east in the San Luis basin was initially slow enough that debris from the Latir field filled the basin and overflowed to the southwest.

[3] Georgia O'Keeffe painted her landscape "From the White Place" in 1940 based on her study of the Abiquiu Formation at Plaza Blanca, and her studio at Abiquiu commanded a view of the Plaza Blanca outcrops to the north.