The total productive area is about 1,540 acres (6.2 km2), and the field is about five miles (8 km) long by one-half mile across, with the long axis trending approximately northwest to southeast, beginning at Whiterock Bluff in the Caliente Range, crossing under the Cuyama River, and ending in the foothills of the Sierra Madre Mountains.

Terrain consists of an alluvial plain around the river, and grass- and brush-covered hills, cut by numerous gullies and badlands, at both ends of the field in the lower portion of the Caliente and Sierra Madre mountains.

Climate is Mediterranean, but modified by the distance from the coast; winters are colder, with occasional freezes, and summertime temperatures sometimes top 100 °F (38 °C).

The oil-bearing rocks in the homocline – the Santa Margarita and Vaqueros Formations, of late and early Miocene age respectively – are sandstones with a porosity of between 23 and 32 percent.

Norris Oil Company put in the discovery well on January 1, 1948, which produced 190 barrels per day (30 m3/d); unfortunately the production turned to water quickly, and prospectors began looking for a more favorable location.

Inevitably, production declined, and field operators employed several enhanced recovery technologies to increase reservoir pressure and keep the wells flowing.

[1] The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) approved an oil well and pipeline project within the Carrizo Plain National Monument in 2018, but withdrew it after Los Padres ForestWatch and the Center for Biological Diversity filed objections citing the potential for oil spills, air pollution and harm to wildlife, among other environmental concerns.

The BLM approved the project in 2020 after their analysis showed that the new well posed no undue health or safety concerns, had no significant impacts to the environment and was consistent with management directives for the monument.