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

[1][2] The formation consists of sandstone, siltstone, and anhydrite.

The sandstone is fine to very fine grained and contains scattered large rounded and frosted quartz grains.

[2] The unit was first identified in the subsurface at the Yates oil field of west Texas.

[1] It was first traced to surface outcrops in the Carlsbad, New Mexico area in 1938 and assigned as a member of the (now abandoned) Whitehorse Formation.