The sandstone dominated units form the cliffs around the Waitemata Harbour and rare more resistant conglomerates underlie some of Auckland's prominent ridges.

[2] The sedimentary source for the Group's sandstone is a mix of these basement sediments of the Waipapa Terrane and the mostly intermediate volcanic rocks.

The Meremere Subgroup is finer grained and represents a bathyal submarine fan and basin floor facies.

[1][6] In the shallow water Kawau Subgroup at least 84 taxa have been identified, half of which were molluscs, however, corals and brachiopods were also found.

[9] Landslides are commonly caused by bedding plan failure in weathered Waitemata Group sedimentary rock.