[4][5] Fossil plants found in the formation include petrified wood and other remains from conifers, seed ferns (notably Gangamopteris), and various palynomorphs.

Invertebrate fossils include bivalves, clam shrimp, insect wings (Hemiptera and Coleoptera of Paracicadopsis mendezalzolai, Barona arcuata and Perlapsocus formosoi),[7] pygocephalomorphs, and Chondrites.

Vertebrate fossils include fragmentary remains of actinistians (coelacanths) and actinopterygians (tentatively identified as belonging to Elonichthyidae), possible ichnofossils of acanthodians (Undichna insolentia), and numerous and well-preserved skulls and partial skeletons of mesosaurs (Stereosternum and Mesosaurus).

Fossils in some layers are exceptionally preserved, retaining details of soft tissue (including bone sutures, blood vessels, and nerves).

Its early conditions were probably estuarine or brackish, and the fossils found in the lower mudstone and claystone layers are of bioturbating invertebrates, bivalves and fish.