[1] The lower half of the formation is interpreted as a shallow marine nearshore sequence with occasional nonmarine intervals with thin coal beds.

The upper half was deposited under neritic offshore marine conditions with infrequent nonmarine intervals.

[1] The formation contains abundant fossils of Mesolobus and other brachiopods, fenestrate bryozoans, crinoid fragments, and less common pectinid bivalves, as well as small numbers of trilobites, including Ditomopyge scitula and Ameura missouriensis.

[1] However, in 2004, Barry Kues and Katherine Giles recommended restricting the Madera Group to shelf and marginal basin beds of Desmoinean (upper Moscovian) to early Virgilian age, which excluded the La Pasada Formation.

[3] Spencer G. Lucas and coinvestigators also exclude the La Pasada Formation from the Madera Group.