The age of the formation is between 1474 and 1436 million years, and detrital zircon geochronology of its sediments provides clues for reconstruction the supercontinent, Rodinia.

The Blackjack Joe Formation consists of 600 meters (2,000 ft) of argillaceous (clay-rich) sediments.

Detrital zircon geochronology establishes a minimum age for the formation of 1474 ± 13 million years.

Detrital zircon age spectrums and isotope ratios from the formation support a reconstruction of the supercontinent, Rodinia, in which Australia was a source of sediments for southwestern Laurentia.

Livingston in 1969 for outcroppings 30 kilometers (20 mi) in the Blackjack Mountains, Arizona.