Detrital zircon geochronology establishes a maximum age for the Rinconada Formation of about 1723 Mya, placing it in the Statherian period of the Precambrian.

[4] The beds making up the unit were originally assigned to the Ortega quartzite by Evan Just during his 1937 survey of pegmatites in northern New Mexico.

Evan gave the informal name, Rinconada schist, to these beds and noted the presence of staurolite porphyroblasts.

[11] Montgomery formalized the designation of the mixed schist and quartzite beds as the Rinconada member of the Ortega Formation in 1953.

[12] The Rinconada Member was promoted to independent formation status by Bauer and Williams in their sweeping revision of the Precambrian stratigraphy of northern New Mexico in 1987.