[7] In most areas the formation can be subdivided into three units: In southwestern Alberta around the Red Deer and Oldman Rivers, the middle carbonaceous shale unit is absent and the formation consists of white-weathering, cross-bedded kaolinitic sandstones interbedded with white- to cream-weathering silty and sandy clay.

[8] Sedimentology and fossils indicate that the Whitemud sediments accumulated in river channels, low-gradient streams, and shallow lakes and ponds on a low-lying coastal plain.

[5] Kaolinite-rich clays have been quarried from the Whitemud Formation since before 1920 and are used in the manufacture of stoneware products ranging from pottery to sewer pipes.

The feces have been preserved due to the replacement of the original fecal material by goethite, siderite and other iron minerals.

A variety of coiled and uncoiled morphologies have been described, and some spiral forms with intricate systems of internal folds are thought to represent fossilized intestines containing feces that were unexpelled when the fishes died.