John S. Newberry, from Columbia University and Chief Geologist of the Geological Survey of Ohio, was the first paleontologist to investigate the Linton area.

Fossil collection extended into the 20th century, with expeditions led by Jesse Hyde (AMNH), A.S. Romer (Field Museum), Donald Baird (Harvard, Princeton), Richard Lund and David Hamilla (Carnegie).

Four marine members (Putnam Hill, Vanport, Columbiana, and Washingtonville) have produced a rich fauna of cephalopod fossils, the best representation of the Desmoinesian stage in the Appalachian region.

Conchostracan species in the unit belong to an assemblage zone distinguished by Anomalonema reumauxi, Pseudestheria simoni, and potentially Palaeolimnadiopsis freysteini.

[25][26] Invertebrate fossils from Linton include 'spirorbid' tubes, ostracods, syncarid crustaceans, and millipedes (Xyloiulus bairdi, Plagiascetus lateralis, and other undescribed species).

This biozone is distinguished by Laveineopteris rarinervis and Neuropteris ovata, two species of medullosalean "seed ferns" which first appear in the uppermost Kanawha Formation.

[2] The plant macrofossil record is mirrored by microfossils: "tree fern" spores are the most diverse components of the palynoflora, and Lycospora (a lycopsid miospore) is also abundant.