The formation crops out over a limited area between Sandia Crest and the southern Sangre de Cristo Mountains.

The formation is cut by thrust and strike-slip faults consistent with east-northeast to east-trending tectonic compression of the late stages of the Laramide Orogeny.

[2] The presence of Hyracotherium teeth dates the formation to the late Paleocene or early Eocene.

[2] The beds now designated as the Diamond Tail Formation were originally part of F.V.

[3] By 1997, it was clear that these beds were separated from the remainder of the Galisteo by a significant regional unconformity, and they were split off into the Diamond Tail Formation, named after exposures near Diamond Tail Ranch.