The formation's localities lie along the Drakensberg Mountains in Kwazulu-Natal, and near Ladybrand in the Free State of South Africa.

Finer-grained sandstones occur throughout the lower deposits of the Molteno Formation, growing coarser toward the upper sections.

Sporadic coal seams populate the Molteno Formation, and less common quartz pebble and cobble conglomerates occur in the lower sections.

However, the mudstones are part of repeating fining upward cycles with coarser-grained sandstones and thin coal seams.

The Molteno Formation was part of a greater inland basin, which the Gondwanide mountain range bordered in the south.

The Permo-Triassic extinction event occurred a few million years before the Molteno Formation rock sediments were deposited.

However, its lingering effects continued to influence the stability of the Earth's climate when the Molteno Formation rocks were deposited.

[14] Local and international paleobotanists and entomologists revere the Molteno Formation for its richly diverse plant and insect fossils.

The first two habitats include arboreal species of Dicroidium, an extinct genus of seed fern that grew in either lush, riparian forests or more temperate woodlands.

Fossil leaf impressions and other soft vegetative material of these species appear commonly in the low-energy mudstone-rich depositional environments.

Petrified wood fragments, cones, and other woody material predominantly lie in the high-energy depositional environments dominated by the coarser sandstones.