The sandstones of the Kimmeridgian (Jurassic) upper Cotton Valley Formation of Mississippi, northern Louisiana, and eastern Texas were deposited on a stable subsiding shelf. These sands are regressive and are part of a complex of deltaic and marine systems. They are quartz-rich and exhibit a variety of sedimentary structures. Cotton Valley fluvial-deltaic systems drained Paleozoic and younger highlands to the north and northwest, depositing sands on the shelf where they were subsequently reworked.

Three depositional environments have been interpreted for these sands in Mississippi: (1) a constructive delta in the west-central part of the state, (2) a destructive delta in the east-central part of the state, and (3) an interdeltaic system in central Mississippi between the other systems. In northern Louisiana and northeastern Texas, the following environments have been interpreted: a proximal destructive delta system in northwest Louisiana and northeast Texas and another delta system in northeastern Louisiana with an interdeltaic system consisting of barrier beaches and barrier bars located centrally between them.

Production is controlled by porosity and permeability barriers, fault traps, and salt- and basement-induced structures.

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