The formation, with a maximum thickness of 126 metres (413 ft), comprises reddish mudstones with thin beds of tuffs and sandstones, deposited in a fluvial, environment.

The Huayqueriás Formation, present in the Frontal Cordillera and the neighboring Cuyo Basin, was described in 1934 by Kraglievitch as the basis for the Huayquerian South American land mammal age.

[1] The formation comprises reddish mudstones with mudcracks, paleoburrows and ichnofossils of vertebrates.

[4] The Huayquerías Formation has been used to define the Huayquerian South American land mammal age, ranging from 9.0 to 6.8 Ma.

However, later analysis of the ashfall bed in the formation, provided a much younger age of 5.84 ± 0.41 Ma, extending the temporal range of the Huayquerian SALMAans until near the Miocene-Pliocene limit.