Ultramafic, troctolitic and gabbroic rocks at the northern end of the Belhelvie layered intrusion display progressive cryptic variation over a stratigraphic thickness of approximately 800 m in steeply-dipping cumulates, which young from W to E. This variation is shown by olivine (Fosv-vv), orthopyroxene (En87-79), clinopyroxene (Ca45Mg48Fe7 to Ca44.sMg45.sFelo) and plagioclase (An81_75). The Belhelvie succession is believed to be equivalent to the poorly-exposed and structurally complex Insch Lower Zone. A laterally impersistent hypersthene-gabbro unit within the main sequence is re-interpreted as a downfaulted block of slightly more evolved cumulates. A repeat sequence of peridotites, troctolites and gabbros on the eastern side of the intrusion, and separated from the underlying main succession by a thin septum of country rock, is believed to represent a fresh influx of magma.