1

GEOLOGY OF PAKISTAN
LECTURE # VI 1/6

RAFIQ AHMED LASHARI

Precambrian Cambrian of
Pakistan

Geology
of
Pakista
n

Geology of
Pakistan
Precambrian
3

The Stratigraphic sequence in Pakistan ranges from Precambrian to Recent.

Precambrain metasediments cover the Archean gnesisic complex of Indian
Craton and form the upper part of the basement complex.

Geology of
Pakistan

1.

Lower Indus Basin

Nagar Parker Igneous Complex

2.

Upper Indus Basin

Kirana Complex
Hachi group
Kirana group
Sharaban group

3.

Kohat Potwar Province

Salt Range Formation

Geology of
Pakistan

4.

Axial Belt
Attock Cherat Range

5.

HimalayanTectonostratigraphic Basin
Salkhala Formation
Tanawal Formation
Sharda group
Alpurai group
Besham group
Karora group
Khaghan group

Geology of
Pakistan

1.

Lower Indus Basin

Nagar Parker Complex
Jan et al. (1997) named and described a sequence of acid and
basic igneous rocks exposed near Nagar Parker in Sindh as
Nagar Parkar igneous complex.
Butt et al (1994) called it as Late Proterozoic rocks of Nagar
Parkar.

Geology of
Pakistan

Butt et al (1994) mapped and described the rock sequence as

follows. The oldest rocks are metamorphosed basic igneous
rocks. Acidic dykes have intruded these metabasites, which
have the level of epidote amphibolites metamorphism.
Acid dykess range from rhyolite to quartz trachyte in
composition.
Metabasites are intruded by grey granite, which contain the
xenoliths of the former rock type.
Pink granite intrudes the grey granite, and also carries xenoliths
of mafic rocks, finally all the major rocks including both the
granites are intruded by mafic dykes".

Geology of
Pakistan

Jan et al. (1997) made detailed and critical petrographic studies

and produced a geological map of the area. According to them six
major magmatic episodes of intrusive and extrusive activities have
been identified:
(1)Amphibolites and related dykes:
The amphibolites, apparently forming host rock for the
subsequent intrusions, show low-grade metamorphism.
Geophysical survey carried out by Farah and Jaffrey (1966) in the
area indicates that they cover large subsurface area and evidently
form the basement for the later rocks; they are metamorphosed
up to amphibolite grade.

(2)

Geology of
Pakistan

Riebeckite-aegirine grey granite:

The riebeckite-aegirine grey granite is essentially composed of

perthitic feldspar and quartz, with a small amount of plagioclase
and presence of sodic minerals including characteristic riebeckite
and aegirine.
The best exposures of the grey granite are at Karunjhar Hill. It is
mostly undeformed; also contain iron oxide, zircon and many
other accessory minerals.
Jan et al. (1997) correlated this unit with Warsak and ShevaShahbaz Garhi granite in the northern Pakistan.

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(3)

Geology of
Pakistan

Biotite-hornblende pink granite:

The biotite-hornblende pink granite is mostly medium to coarsegrained. Jan et al. (1997) termed it as "generally leucocratic and
commonly homogeneous". It is generally made up of "light
minerals" like perthitic feldspar, local micro cline, quartz, and
minor plagioclase (oligoclase), with some biotite, hornblende and
iron oxide. Some rocks contain sufficient plagioclase to be termed
quartz monzonite or adamellite.

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(4)

Geology of
Pakistan
Acid dykes:

This unit includes porphyritic microgranite dykes, rhyolitic dykes

and rhyolite porphyry and with leucogranitic and equigranitic aplite
dykes.
This unit ranges from aplite to microgranite to quartz trachyte. It
contain phenocrysts of perthite, plagioclase and quartz in an
allotriomorphic matrix of these minerals and it induces in it
accessory minerals, like iron oxide, blue-green amphibole
(riebeckite), biotite, zircon, apatite, fluorite, sphene, allanite and
secondary epidote.
These rocks generally occur as small bodies but locally (as in
Dhedhvero), form up to 6 m thick dykes extending for more than 2
km.

12

Geology of
Pakistan

(5) Rhyolite Plugs:

The rhyolites occur in two small, domel outcrops surrounded

by alluvium. They are dark grey to black, glassy looking rocks
with whitish bands and consist of phenocrysts of feldspar and
quartz in a very fine-grained matrix.
The rocks are fine-grained and porphyritic to sub porphyritic,
contain phenocrysts of K-feldspar, mainly perthite and quartz
with small amount of plagioclase and accessory minerals like
zircon' and apatite

13

Geology of
Pakistan

(6) Basic dykes:

All the major rock units of the complex are intruded by

undeformed basic dykes, mostly less than 3 m thick.
They show considerable petrographic variation and range from
hornblende micro diorite to gabbro and dolerite, some of which
contain titanian augite suggestive of alkaline affinity (Jan etal.,
1997).

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2.

Geology of
Pakistan
Upper Indus Basin
Kirana Complex
Hachi group
Kirana group
Sharaban group

15

Geology of
Pakistan

Kirana Complex

Sedimentary and igneous rocks of Kirana hills of Late Proterozoic

age are exposed in Punjab, covering the areas from Sargodha to
Shahkot. Major exposures are located near the towns of
Sargodha, Chiniot, Shahkot and Sangla hills.
The complex is composed of metasedimentary, grey slates, red
and grey quartzite, conglomerate, volcanic and metavolcanic. No
plutonic rocks in the complex yet have been reported from
anywhere. The complex contains some mineralized zones of
hematite, copper, gold, silver and cobalt. Except hematite all other
minerals are in minor quantities.

16

Geology of
Pakistan

Hachi group

Hachi volcanic of Alam (1987) is described as Hachi Hill north of

Sikhanwali Railway Station.
Ahmed et al. (2000) divided the Hachi volcanic into the following
two units.
A)Volcanic (dolerites, andesite, dacite, dacitic tuff, rhyolite and
rhyolitic tuff:) Volcanogenic slates, often interbedded with
rhyolite/rhyolitic tuff and dolerite.
B)More than 90 m. thick, grey, glassy lava and tuff is present with
lava flows predominate.

17

Geology of
Pakistan

Kirana group
The Kirana group (mentioned before by Kazmi (1964) and Shah
(1961 [unpublished] and 1973), into two units: namely
1.
Taguwali formation
2.
Asianwala quartzites
1.
Taguwali formation:
The name has been assigned after a small place Taguwali.
Lithology of this unit is phyllite/slate and fine-grained quartzites in
the lower part. Phyllite is light silver-grey, fine-grained, thinbedded, partly thick-bedded at places and shows cross bedding.
In the upper part of the formation, phyllite is the dominant rock
type with minor slate..

18

Geology of
Pakistan

2.
Asianwala quartzites
This unit is named after the canal rest house Asianwala located at
11 km. on the Sargodha-Faisalabad Road.
Lithologically, the formation is predominantly quartzite with minor
intercalations of slate.
The quartzite is generally coarse-grained; partly pebbly at places
the quartzite is dirty white to lightgrey, mottled brown, thickbedded. It is cross-bedded and ripple marked. At places, joints
and fractures are filled with brown hematitic material. The
interbedded slates are light grey in colour and occur as thin layers
in-between the thick beds of quartzite.

19

Geology of
Pakistan

Sharaban group
According to Alam (1987), "new Sharaban group has been
proposed comprising of two units:
The upper unit is Sharaban conglomerate, which is
characteristically calcareous in nature and
The lower unit is Hadda quartzite, which is also calcareous.
The rocks of these units are exposed only in isolated hills called
Sharaban. These units are considered younger than the Kirana
group based on regional trend/structure.

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3.

Geology of
Pakistan

Kohat Potwar Province

Salt Range Formation
Rock units ranging in age from Precambrian to Cambrian are
exposed in the Kohat-Potwar Province of the Indus Basin, where
the Salt Range Formation with salt marl, salt seams and dolomite
forms the basement for the fossiliferous Cambrian sequence of
the Salt Range.
The deposits of the Salt Range Formation represent an evaporite
sequence similar to the Hormuz Salt Formation of lran (Shah and
Quennell, 1980). Probably a large part of the Indus Basin is
occupied by this formation. Although, its exposures are restricted
to the Salt Range, deep drill holes have confirmed its presence to
the north and south of the exposures.

21

Geology of
Pakistan

Salt Range Formation

Wynne (1878) named and described the formation as 'Saline
Series'. Gee (1945) called the same unit as the 'Punjab Saline
Series'.
Asrarullah (1967) has given the present name 'Salt Range
Formation' after the Salt Range.
Khewra Gorge in the eastern Salt Range has been designated as
the type section.

Kewara Sandstone
22

23

Geology of
Pakistan

The lower part of the Salt Range Formation is composed of red

coloured gypsferous marl with thick seams of salt, beds of
gypsum, dolomite, greenish clay and low-grade oil shale are the
constituents of the upper part.
A highly weathered igneous body known as "Khewra Trap" has
been reported from the upper part of the formation.
The "Khewra Trap", also known as "Khewrite" by Mosebach
(1956), is six (06) meters thick and is purple to green in colour.
It consists of highly decomposed radiating needles of a lightcoloured mineral, probably pyroxene.

24

Geology of
Pakistan

The red colored marl consists chiefly of clay, gypsum and dolomite
with occasional grains and crystals of quartz of variable sizes.
Thick-bedded salt shows various shades of pink color and welldeveloped laminations and color bandings up to a meter thick.
Minor amounts of potassium and magnesium sulphates are found
in association with the shale beds.
The gypsum is white to light grey in color. It is about 5 m thick,
massive and is associated with bluish grey, clayey gypsum and
earthy, friable gypseferous clay. The dolomite is usually light color,
it is flaggy and cherty. It is associated with dolomitic shale,
bituminous shale and low-grade oil shale

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4.

Geology of
Pakistan

Axial Belt
Attock Cherat Range

Hussain et al. (1989) divided the Attock-Cherat Range into

northern, central and southern blocks bounded by thrust faults, for
the convenience of the description of stratigraphy. They described
the Precambrian rocks from the Attock-Cherat Range as following.
1.Manki Formation
2.Shahkot Formation
3.Uch Khattak Formation
4.Shekhai Formation
5.Dakhner Formation
6.Hazara Formation

26

Geology of
Pakistan

5. HimalayanTectonostratigraphic Basin
Originally, in this area only Salkhala, Tanawal and little igneous
rock were described about three decades ago. This situation
was due to inaccessibility and lack of mapping in this area and
only roadside reconnaissance work was available. Detailed
research work began in late seventies and subsequently, a
large number of formations have now been described. This
basin is delineated by Panjal Thrust in the south and Main
Mantle Thrust (MMT) in the north, and includes Lesser and
Higher Himalayas with the Main Central Thrust (MCT) in
between them. This basin comprises of :

Geology of
Pakistan
5. HimalayanTectonostratigraphic Basin
27

1. Salkhala Formation
2. Tanawal Formation
3. Sharda group
4. Alpurai group
5. Besham group
6. Karora group
7. Khaghan group

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Geology of
Pakistan

Cambrian
Upper Indus Basin (Kohat-Potwar Province)
5. Khisor Formation
4. BaghanwalaFormation
3. JutanaFormation
2. KussakFormation
1. Khewra Sandstone

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Geology of
Pakistan

AxialBelt

Attock-Cherat Range
Darwaza formation
Hazara Area
Hazira Formation ( Cambrian)
Abbottabad Formation (Cambrian)
Tanawal Formation (Precambrian to Cambrian)

30

Geology of
Pakistan

Himalayan Tectonostratigraphic Basin

Peshawar - Swabi area
Ambar formation
Bampokha group
Girarai formation
Tursak formation

31

Geology of
Pakistan

Hindukush Karakoram Tectonostratigraphic Basin

Northern Sedimentary Province
Chikar quartzite
Aghost formation

32

Geology of
Pakistan

Cambrian
The Cambrian System of Pakistan has been best studied in the
Salt and Khisor ranges, where the sequence is well developed.
Although in northern areas, some rocks have been assigned
Cambrian age.
However, in Lesser Himalaya, a division of Himalayan
Tectonostratigraphic Basin, the presence of the Cambrian rocks in
the Kashmir and Hazara areas has been undoubtedly recognized.

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Geology of
Pakistan

Lithology

The Salt Range, is composed of sandstone, shale and dolomite

beds with Early to Middle Cambrian fauna.
The Cambrian of Kashmir is mainly composed of foliated clay,
slate, greywacke and limestone containing Late to Middle
Cambrian fauna.
The sediments of the Hazara area have some lithological
similarity with Salt Range, especially on evaporative style of
deposition but scanty Cambrian fauna which is found in the
Hazara area has not yet been reported either from the Salt Range
or from Kashmir.

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Geology of
Pakistan

Upper Indus Basin (Kohat-Potwar Province)

1. Khewra Sandstone
The name "Khewra group" was originally proposed by Noetling
(1894).
Prior to that, Wynne (1878) called the formation "Purple
sandstone series".
The latter name continued until recently, when the name of the
formation was formalized as "Khewra Sandstone" by the
Stratigraphic Committee of Pakistan, Fatmi (1973).
The type locality is in Khewra Gorge near Khewra Town, Salt
Range.

Mosque in Khewra Salt Mine

35

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Geology of
Pakistan

1. Khewra Sandstone
The formation consists predominantly of purple to brown,
yellowish-brown, fine-grained sandstone. The lower most part of
the formation is red, flaggy shale.
The sandstone is mostly thickbedded to massive. Sedimentary
features like ripple marks; mud cracks etc. are common in the
formation.
The contact of the Khewra Sandstone with the underlying Salt
Range Formation has long been the subject of controversy, which
arose because of age dispute of the Salt Range Formation.

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Geology of
Pakistan

Thickness at the type locality is about 150 m.

In the western Salt Range, it is 200 m and the exposed thickness
in the Khisor Range is about 60 m.
The formation contains only a few trace fossils in the Salt Range,
which have been interpreted as trilobite trails by Schindewolf and
Seilacher (1955) and are not indicative of any particular age.
the Khewra Sandstone is almost certainly Early Cambrian.

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Geology of
Pakistan

Upper Indus Basin (Kohat-Potwar Province)

2. KussakFormation
Wynne (1878) applied the name 'Obolus beds' or 'Siphonotrata
beds' to a predominantly greenish-grey, glauconitic, micaceous
sandstone and siltstone.
Waagen and Wynne (1895) used the name "Neobolus beds" for
the same unit.
Noetling (1894) proposed the name "Kussak group" and finally the
Stratigraphic Committee of Pakistan formalized the name of the
unit as Kussak Formation (Fatmi, 1973).
The type locality lies near Kussak Fort in the eastern part of the
Salt Range.

39

Geology of
Pakistan

At the type locality, the formation is composed of greenish-grey,

glauconitie micaceous sandstone, greenish-grey siltstone,
interbedded with light grey dolomite and some oolitic, arenaceous
dolomite.
Numerous layers of intraformational conglomerate are also
present.
Pink gypsum lenses are present near the top.
Thickness at the type locality is 70 m. but varies from 6 to 53 m. at
other places. In the Khisor Range the formation is 55 m. thick.

40

Geology of
Pakistan

The formation is fossiliferous and has yielded the following fauna:

Neobolus warthi,
Botsfordia granulata,
Lingulella wanniecki, L. fuchsi,
Hyolithes wynnei,
Redlichia noetlingi.
Schindewolf and Seilaeher (1955) regarded the age as Early
Cambrian. However, the age of the formation is, therefore, either
late early or early Middle Cambrian.

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Geology of
Pakistan

Upper Indus Basin (Kohat-Potwar Province)

3. JutanaFormation
Fleming (1853) named this unit "Magnesian sandstone".
Noetling (1894) described it as Jutana stage.
The Stratigraphic Committee of Pakistan formalized the name as
JutanaFormation.
The type locality lies near Jutana Village in the eastern Salt Range

42

Geology of
Pakistan

At the type locality, the lower part of the formation consists of light
green, hard, massive partly sandy dolomite, while the upper part
is composed of light green to dirty white massive dolomite.
In the upper part, brecciated dolomite is also present with matrix
and fragments of the same rock.
The formation is fossiliferous including
Lingulella fuchsi,
Botsfordia granulata,
Redlichia noetlingi and also a gastropod identified as
Pseudo theca cf. subrugosa.
The age of the formation is described as late Early Cambrian to
Early Middle Cambrian.

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Geology of
Pakistan

Upper Indus Basin (Kohat-Potwar Province)

4. Baghanwala Formation
The name Baghanwala Formation is now given to the rocks of the
"Pseudomorph Salt Crystal Zone" of Wynne (1878) and the
"Baghanwala Group" of Noetling (1894), which overlies the Jutana
Formation.
Holland (1926) called these beds "Salt Pseudomorph beds" and
Pascoe (1959) named them "Baghanwala Stage".
The type section is located near Baghanwala Village in the
eastern Salt Range.

Pseudomorph Salt Crystal of

BaghanwalaFormation
44

45

Geology of
Pakistan

The formation is composed of red shale and clay with alternate

beds of flaggy sandstone.
The flaggy sandstone exhibits several colours including pink grey
or blue green, especially in the lower half of the formation.
Sedimentary structures such as ripple marks and mud cracks are
common.
Numerous pseudomorphic casts of salt crystals, which are found
along the bedding planes, are the diagnostic feature of this
formation.
Presence of casts of salt pseudomorphs coupled with the absence
of fossils indicates lagoonal environment and arid climatic
conditions for the deposition of the formation.
It is considered as Early Middle Cambrian in age.

46

Geology of
Pakistan

Upper Indus Basin (Kohat-Potwar Province)

5. Khisor Formation
Gee (1945) described a unit of rocks composed of gypsiferous
dolomitic shale and dolomite lying between the Jutana Formation
and the Tobra Formation in the Khisor Range as "Gypsiferous
Series".
Hussain (1960) undertook a detailed study of the unit and named
it "Khisor gypsiferous beds".
The Stratigraphic Committee of Pakistan approved the name
Khisor Formation.

47

Geology of
Pakistan

The Khisor Formation is limited only to the Khisor Range, where it

is exposed only at one place near Saiyiduwali. This formation is
not present in the Salt Range. However, its stratigraphic
equivalent, the Baghanwala Formation, is fully developed in the
Eastern Salt Range.
At the type locality Hussain (1960) divided the rock unit into two
parts.
The lower part consists of massive white gypsum, with few thin
beds of fine, grey, crystalline dolomite.
The upper part is composed of light coloured, bedded shale, with
finely crystalline dolomite and white gypsum. The shale is light
grey in colour and is thin- to medium-bedded. The dolomite is
medium to thick -bedded and the gypsum is massive.

48

Geology of
Pakistan

The formation is devoid of mega-fossils.

However, the rocks have not been examined for micro fauna.
Since the formation occupies the same stratigraphic position as
the Baghanwala Formation of the Salt Range, it is assumed that it
represents Early Middle Cambrian age.

49

Geology of
Pakistan

AxialBelt

Attock-Cherat Range
Darwaza formation
HazaraArea
Hazira Formation ( Cambrian)
Abbottabad Formation (Cambrian)
Tanawal Formation (Precambrian to Cambrian)

50

Geology of
Pakistan

Himalayan Tectonostratigraphic Basin

Peshawar -Swabi area
Ambar formation
Bampokha group
Girarai formation
Tursak formation

51

Geology of
Pakistan

Hindukush Karakoram Tectonostratigraphic Basin

Northern Sedimentary Province
Chikar quartzite
Aghost formation

52

Geology of
Pakistan

Allah Hafiz