Tanawal Formaion:

Wynne (1879b) descibed the rocks of this formation as "Tanol group". Middlcmiss (1896)
called them "Tanol quartzite" and believed that they formed the lower part of the over lying' InraTias' (see Abbottabad Formation). Marks and Ali (1962) and Latif (1970) named them "Tanol
formation"; Calkins et al. (1969) made a detailed study and used the name Tanawal Formation
for this unit of rocks. According to them, the Tanawal Formation consists mainly of quartzose
schist, quartzitc and schistose conglomerate.
The unit is well exposed in the south and southeastern margin of the Mansehra Granite' and
in a narrow belt to the northwest along the western lanks of the Balakot syntaxis. To the South of
the 'Mansehra Granite', the Tanawal Formation mainly consists of medium-grained quartzite and
ine-grained mica-quartz schist. In the area of the "Manschra Granite" and northward , the grade
of metamorphism in the Tanawal Formation is higher than in the south. In these areas , granite,
biotite- muscovite-quartz schist, and andalusite-staurolite schist constitute the greater part of the
Tanawal Formation (Calkins et al., 1969).
The thickness of the Tanawal Formation is diicult to measure due to structural
complications. Marks and Ali (1962) estimated the thickness as 1666 m. At quite a few places,
the Tanawal Formation is missing and the Hazara Formation underlies the Abbottabad
Formation. The Tanawal Formation underlies the Abbottabad Formation and overlies the Hazara
Formation in the area between Abbottabad and the Indus River.
The contact between the Abbottabad Formation and the Tanawal Formation, in this area is
marked by an unconformity, which is represented by a boulder bed known in the literature as
Tanakki conglomerate. Calkins ct al. (1969) further stated that between Abbottabad and Garhi
Habibullah the lower contact of Tanawal Formation with the Hazara Formation is marked by
only a lithologic change rom slate to quartzite, which in places is gradational. In northeastern
part of southern Hazara, the Tanawal Formation directly overlies the Precambian Salkhala
Formation with an unconformity. Calkins et al. (1969) tentatively correlated the formation with
the 'Muth quartzite' o Siluian-Devonian age exposed near Shimla, India.

The Tanawal Formation is devoid of fossils. However, rom the above-mentioned contact
relation, it is evident that the Tanawal Formation is younger than the Hazara Formation of Late
Precambian age and older than the Abbottabad Formation.
In the light of a new ind of Cambian fossils in the Abbottabad Formation, the age of the
Tanawal Formation may also be Cambian or Precambian. Tanol is considered here a synonym of
Tanawal and it is interesting to note that exposures of Tanol at Mansehra are older, not younger
than Hazara Formation (Chaudhry and Ghazanfar, 1993.