The Paliza Canyon Formation is a sequence of mostly andesite flows that is widely exposed in the southern Jemez Mountains. The formation was erupted by numerous coalesced composite volcanoes centered on an axis from the northern Valles Caldera wall south through Paliza and Peralta Canyons to Ruiz Peak (). Exposures along this axis generally exceed . The base of the formation is not exposed along this axis, but is estimated from exposures to the west to be about .