[2] The Bursum Formation is primarily mudstone but with substantial limestone, particularly in its lower beds, with a thickness in excess of 100 m (330 ft).

The fact that the transgressive sequences are fewer in number than the cyclothems of the Pennsylvanian-Permian boundary in the North American mid-continent shows that tectonics had more influence on the development of this formation than glacial cycles.

There are two Lagerstätten in the Red Tanks Member at Carrizo Arroyo that are of early Asselian age, while the recent definition of the base of the Permian as the first appearance of the conodont Streptognathus isolatus pushes the earliest part of the formation, and the associated North American Wolfcampian Stage back into the latest Pennsylvanian.

[2] The Red Tanks Member also contains biogenic carbonate nodules (oncolites) at Cibola Spring (34°13′52″N 106°40′44″W / 34.231151°N 106.6787895°W / 34.231151; -106.6787895) in a distinctive, widespread limestone horizon.

[8] In his revision of Pennsylvanian stratigraphy in New Mexico in 2001, Barry S. Kues retained this assignment, except in the Joyita Hills.