Detrital zircon geochronology establishes a maximum age for the formation of 1660 to 1630 million years (Mya), in the Statherian period of the Precambrian.

The Mazatzal Group consists mostly of fine-grained light-brown to gray quartzite which often shows cross-bedding; metaconglomerate containing clasts up to 15 centimeters (6 in) or more in size; and occasional lenses, up to 46 meters (150 ft) in thickness, of maroon to gray argillite showing ripple marks and mudcracks.

[3] The group lies disconformably on top of the Red Rock Rhyolite[3] and is in turn overlain by the Hopi Springs Shale.

[4] The group crops out in the Mazatzal Mountains,[2] where it has been strongly deformed (with up to 50% shortening to the northwest[4]) and in the Prescott area, where it has been only mildly metamorphosed.

In the upper Salt River Canyon, the Mazatzal Group is represented by the White Ledges Formation.