It is known for its fossil ammonites, some of which are mined in Alberta to produce the organic gemstone ammolite.

[3] The formation was deposited in the Bearpaw Sea, which was part of the Western Interior Seaway that advanced and then retreated across the region during Campanian time.

These include Placenticeras meeki, Placenticeras intercalare, Hoploscaphites, and Sphenodiscus, the baculite Baculites compressus and the bivalve Inoceramus, some of which are mined south-central Alberta to produce the organic gemstone ammolite.

[3] Other fossils found in this formation include many types of shellfish, bony fish, sharks, rays, birds, and marine reptiles like mosasaurs such as Prognathodon overtoni and Plioplatecarpus peckensis, plesiosaurs such as Dolichorhynchops herschelensis, Albertonectes and Nakonanectes, and sea turtles.

Dinosaur remains have occasionally been discovered, presumably from carcasses that washed out to sea.