The name is derived from the village of Arbuthnott in Aberdeenshire and the Hill of Garvock near Laurencekirk.
These rocks are exposed in the west in southern Kintyre between Campbeltown and Southend and in an arcuate belt between Machrie and Sannox on the Isle of Arran.
They occur in a southwest–northeast trending belt parallel to and just south of the Highland Boundary Fault between Helensburgh and Blairgowrie via Aberfoyle and Callander and as far as the southern edge of Stonehaven on the Scottish east coast.
A further belt of country between Forfar and Dunblane through Perth and extending into northern Fife is underlain by these rocks.
[2] The Group comprises numerous formations including the Catterline Conglomerate, Scone Sandstone, Craighall Conglomerate, Ruchil Flagstone and Craig of Monievreckie Conglomerate formations laid down during the Lochkovian to Pragian stages of the Devonian Period.