[1] It preserves fossils dating back to the late Guadalupian Age of the Permian period.

[2] The formation consists of limestone, siltstone, and anhydrite that is extensive in the subsurface in southeastern New Mexico and west Texas.

The formation is mostly limestone in the south and west, around the rim of the Delaware Basin, and grades into anhydrite in the north and east.

[5] The formation is part of the Artesia Group, which is interpreted as a shelf rock sequence.

[2] The formation was first named by DeFord et al. in 1938[1] and formally defined in 1941 and assigned to the (now abandoned) Whitehorse Group.