 The hanging wall is uniform, comprising poikilitic pyroxenite to feldspathic

pyroxenite, typically 1 to 2 m thick, which grades upwards into a norite.

 The footwall to the reef is typically a norite or anorthosite that is marked by the thin
chromite stringer.
 The Merensky Reef is composed of coarse grained to pegmatoidal feldspathic
pyroxenite (ranges in thickness from 4 cm to 4m), bounded top (2-10 mm thick) and
bottom (2 to 40 mm thick) by thin chromitite layers which define the upper and
lower boundaries of the reef.
 Economic importance of the Bushveld Igneous Complex.
 The Bushveld complex is economically important due to its platinum group elements
which can be mined for profit. These elements are found in both the eastern and
western limbs within reefs which are located within the Critical Zone. The reefs are
the Merensky Reef and Upper Group 2 (UG2) along with the Platreef located in the
northern limb of the complex. The Merensky Reef is present in the Upper Critical
Zone of the eastern and western limbs, and the Platreef, occurs at the basal contact
of the northern limb.
 Previously there were discordant dunites in the eastern Bushveld Complex, but
these are currently mined out.