They are located in the southern region of the Canadian province of Saskatchewan, east of Old Wives Lake and about 60 kilometres (37 mi) south-east of Moose Jaw and are part of the Bearpaw Formation within Palliser's Triangle and the Great Plains ecoregion.

The advancing ice sheet acted like a bulldozer pushing, moving, and uplifting earth until in ran into the upward slope of the escarpment.

The Dirt Hills are composed mostly of bedrock and drift that was stacked up to form a single block 215 metres (705 ft) thick where the ice sheet ended its advance.

[4] The moraine has an area of almost 1,000 square kilometres (390 sq mi) with a height of 880 metres (2,890 ft) above sea level.

About 1 kilometre (0.62 mi) away from the Avonlea Badlands at the eastern end of The Dirt Hills, is a buffalo jump.

[6] In 1886 Thomas McWilliams, a homesteader from the Moose Jaw River area, discovered clay at the north-east corner of The Dirt Hills while out looking for lost cattle and picking Saskatoon berries.

Near the same time, he sought permission from the federal government to mine the refractory clay on his land.