Likewise, its contact with the Choza Formation is marked by the base of the Bullwagon Dolomite, which is most well-exposed south of Haskell, or by evaporite beds in northern exposures such as Knox County.

[3][1] Limestone is rare in the fully terrestrial northern red beds, complicating the distinction between the three formations of the Clear Fork Group.

[3] To resolve this problem, some geologists, like Nelson et al. (2013), consider the northern part of the Clear Fork Group to be a single formation divided into three informal subunits.

[3][1][4][2][5][6] The conglomerates of the Vale Formation occur in two distinct forms, either large light-colored fragments or (particularly in the northern area) dark brown pebbles derived from the surrounding clay.

[9][1] Since 1946, many more finds were recovered from Knox, Baylor, and Foard counties under the direction of University of Chicago paleontologist Everett C. Olson, who described the northern Vale fossil fauna in detail over the course of the 1950s.

[1] The largest true reptile known from the Vale Formation is an indeterminate moradisaurine captorhinid represented by an enormous tooth plate, at least 11.6 centimetres (4.6 in) in length.

These include freshwater bivalves (?Palaenodonta) and a single well-preserved pygocephalomorph crustacean, Mamayocaris jespeni, a species which is abundant in Permian sediments of South Dakota.