It preserves fossils dating back to the Callovian stage of the middle Jurassic period.

[1][2] Based on varve counts in the Luciano Mesa Member, the formation was laid down in a geologically brief period of time,[3] likely in a salina (a coastal body of saline water) that was replenished both by rivers and by seepage or periodic flooding from the Sundance Sea.

[4] The presence of dasyclad algae in the Luciano Mesa Member indicates at least some marine flooding.

[6] The formation is mined for gypsum in the northern Albuquerque Basin, including along the La Bajada escarpment south of I-25, near San Felipe Pueblo, and at White Mesa near San Ysidro.

Gregory in 1917 for exposures at Todilto Park in the San Juan Basin.