Typical caliche colors are white, gray, brown and reddish-brown. Well-developed caliche can have an appearance that resembles conglomerate, breccia, coquina, or sandstone if the cemented particles are of the proper type and size. Caliche can be a very hard, dense, heavy, and durable material if it is firmly bound by a cement that completely fills the interstitial voids between the soil or sediment particles. It can also be a weak and friable material if it is poorly cemented.

In excavations and outcrops, a well-developed caliche usually stands out as a competent, well-cemented sediment or soil with loose friable material below. Sometimes it is overlain by uncemented surface material. Plant roots might not penetrate a well-developed caliche.