[4][5] The formation appears to have been deposited in a pelagic subtropical environment on the outer continental shelf of the Afro-Arabian continent, with the Harrana locality being deposited no deeper than 100 metres (330 ft) below the surface, based on the occurrence of depth-limited fauna such as nurse sharks.

[4] The formation of this habitat likely originates from a major marine transgression of the Tethys Ocean at the same time as this depositional event, turning it into an open water ecosystem.

[4] While the formation as a whole lasts from the early Maastrichtian to the end of the Paleocene based on foraminifera-based dating, a significant uncomformity exists in some localities at the Cretaceous-Paleogene boundary, which may be due to a drop in sea levels at the time, with deposition continuing following a second sea level rise in the Paleocene.

[1] In addition, the highly fossiliferous portion of the formation was only deposited in the span of a few hundred thousand years at the end of the Maastrichtian.

[4] The fossil potential of the Harrana locality was documented by geologist Hani Kaddumi, who described most of the formation's taxa in a 2009 book.