Fruitland Formation the Colorado-New Mexico state line, and is one of the most productive areas for coalbed methane in the United States. The Fruitland is underlain by the Pictured Cliffs Sandstone, and overlain by the more recent Kirtland Formation. The sequence of rocks represents the final filling of the Cretaceous seaway. The underlying Pictured Cliffs is a marginal marine sandstone, deposited in an environment similar to offshore barrier islands of the southeast United States. As the seaway retreated, the Pictured Cliffs was covered by the Fruitland Formation, which was deposited in near-shore swampy lowlands. The formation is dated to the late Campanian
Straight Cliffs Formation Member were subaerially exposed and eroded before Drip Tank deposition. After the period of erosion river systems swept over the Kaiparowits Plateau and deposited the braided fluvial sheet deposits sands of the Drip Tank Member. The most diverse and abundant fossils found in the Straight Cliffs Formation are invertebrate fauna. The fauna observed include oysters, ammonites, inoceramids, bivalves, ostracods and foraminifera. Oysters are one of the most common invertebrate fossils found in the Straight Cliffs Formation and are often preserved in large shell hash beds in marginal marine parts of the section. Only the Tibbet Canyon and John Henry members