Cenozoic • Paleogene In GSP lexicon

Bahadurkhel Salt

Early Eocene

Cited in 10 sources Last reviewed Aug 20, 2026

Unit summary

Rank: Not recorded
Status: Published
Age: Cenozoic · Paleogene · EoceneEarly Eocene
Named by: Meissner et al. (1968), for the 'Kohat Saline Series' of Gee (1945)
Type locality: Bahadurkhel, Kohat33.1762°N, 70.9525°E
Thickness: 50-300 m
Lithology: Rock salt, gypsum, shale
Synonyms: Bahadur Khel Salt

A thick Early Eocene rock-salt body in the Kohat area - the biggest salt deposit of the region - laid down when the shrinking Tethys sea dried into a salty, restricted basin. It is the main source of mined salt in the district.

Named after Bahadurkhel village in Kohat. Major evaporite deposit unique to Kohat Basin. Economically important salt deposit.

Fossils

Not recorded

Contacts

In the Kohat Basin column

Shale / mudLimestoneGypsum / evaporiteFossils recordedContact not recordedConformable

Band colour = period; texture = dominant rock type. Lines between bands mark the contact type; dotted = no contact recorded in the sources (not a claim of conformity). True scale makes height ∝ recorded thickness; hatched = thickness not recorded. Ages approximate, for ordering.

This unit (highlighted) within its province column; faded ends continue above and below. Line style marks the contact type.

Distribution & setting

Kohat Basin

Basin: Not recorded
Region: Not recorded
Depositional environment: restricted marine, evaporitic, sabkha
Coordinates: 33.1762°N, 70.9525°E

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Correlation

Not recorded. Compare this unit against other basins on the correlation panel →

Economic significance

Salt & evaporites

The largest rock-salt (halite) resource of the Kohat Basin and a principal salt-mining source in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (Bahadur Khel-Karak salt mines).

Remarks

The main Early Eocene evaporite of the Kohat Basin and the thickest member of the Kohat Saline Series; halite is the dominant mineral with subordinate gypsum, anhydrite, polyhalite and dolomite. It precipitated in a restricted-marine to sabkha basin as the Tethys closed during early India-Asia collision (~50 Ma); subsurface data indicate thicknesses up to about 700 m.

Research notes (3)

Field-by-field findings drawn from the cited literature. Every statement is traced to a registered source — follow a citation for the full reference.

Age & correlation (1)

Afzal, Williams & Aldridge (2009): the Bahadur Khel Salt is an unfossiliferous evaporitic deposit overlying the late Ypresian (SBZ11) Shekhan Formation in the southwest Kohat area, laterally equivalent to the Jatta Gypsum; overlain by the mammal-bearing Kuldana Formation. Supports the curated Early Eocene age (post-Shekhan, late Ypresian).

Afzal, J., Williams, M. & Aldridge, R.J. (2009)

Geological significance (2)

Kazmi & Jan (1997): the Eocene Bahadur Khel Salt is the rock-salt facies of an isolated, desiccated evaporite basin restricted to the southern Kohat Plateau (Jatta–Bahadur Khel–Karak region, ~5,000 km²), the lateral/facies equivalent of the Panoba Shale into which it grades; exposed in anticlinal cores, a 1,500 m borehole did not reach its base.

Kazmi, A.H. & Jan, M.Q. (1997)
Craig et al. (2018): the Early Eocene Bahadur Khel Salt of the Kohat Plateau (with the associated Jatta Gypsum) greatly increases structural complexity where present and forms a shallow detachment in the southern Kohat, giving the Kohat shortening two detachment levels (deep within the Salt Range Formation, shallow within the Palaeogene evaporites). Oil and gas have been produced from three Potwar Plateau fields associated with it.

Craig, J., Hakhoo, N., Bhat, G.M., Hafiz, M., Khan, M.R., Misra, R., Pandita, S.K., Raina, B.K., Thurow, J., Thusu, B., Ahmed, W. & Khullar, S. (2018)

Sources (10)

Malkani, M.S. & Mahmood, Z. (2017). Stratigraphy of Pakistan. Geological Survey of Pakistan, Memoir Vol. 24.
OpenStreetMap contributors and GEOnet Names Server (public geographic gazetteers), used to geolocate named GSP type localities to approximate decimal coordinates.
Shah, S.M.I. (1977). Stratigraphy of Pakistan. Geological Survey of Pakistan, Memoir Vol. 12.
Hussain, S.A., Han, F.Q., Ma, Z., Hussain, A., Mughal, M.S., Han, J., Alhassan, A. & Widory, D. (2021). Origin and Evolution of Eocene Rock Salts in Pakistan and Implications for Paleoclimate Studies: Insights From Chemistry and Cl Stable Isotopes. Frontiers in Earth Science, 9, 644485.
Indian Plate Lexicon (indplex.geolex.org), Geological Society of India and international compilation.
Afzal, J., Williams, M. & Aldridge, R.J. (2009). Revised stratigraphy of the lower Cenozoic succession of the Greater Indus Basin in Pakistan. Journal of Micropalaeontology, 28(1): 7-23.
Shah, S.M.I. (2009). Stratigraphy of Pakistan. Geological Survey of Pakistan, Memoir Vol. 22.
Kazmi, A.H. & Jan, M.Q. (1997). Geology and Tectonics of Pakistan. Graphic Publishers, Karachi.
Kazmi, A.H. & Abbasi, I.A. (2008). Stratigraphy and Historical Geology of Pakistan. Department & National Centre of Excellence in Geology, University of Peshawar, Peshawar. 524 pp. ISBN 978-969-9119.
Craig, J., Hakhoo, N., Bhat, G.M., Hafiz, M., Khan, M.R., Misra, R., Pandita, S.K., Raina, B.K., Thurow, J., Thusu, B., Ahmed, W. & Khullar, S. (2018). Petroleum systems and hydrocarbon potential of the North-West Himalaya of India and Pakistan. Earth-Science Reviews, 187, 109-185.

Reviewer confidence: high

Every fact on this page is source-cited. This entry is part of the peer-archived Pakistan Stratigraphy Dataset (doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.21363991, CC‑BY‑4.0).

Lexicon status: Name attested in the Shah (1977/2009) Geological Survey of Pakistan compilation — the national stratigraphic lexicon. This records where the name is documented; it is not an endorsement of the unit’s definition, age or figures.

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Cite this unit

APA

Qudsi, L. (2026). Bahadurkhel Salt. In Pakistan Stratigraphy Dataset [Data set]. Zenodo. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.21363991

BibTeX

@misc{stratigraphypk_bahadurkhelsalt,
  author    = {Qudsi, Lareb},
  title     = {{Bahadurkhel Salt} --- Pakistan Stratigraphy Dataset},
  year      = {2026},
  publisher = {Zenodo},
  doi       = {10.5281/zenodo.21363991},
  url       = {https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.21363991}
}

Archived dataset: doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.21363991 (CC‑BY‑4.0) · Direct link to this entry: https://stratigraphy.pk/formation/bahadurkhel-salt (accessed October 29, 2026).

To cite the unit's original definition instead, see: Meissner et al. (1968), for the 'Kohat Saline Series' of Gee (1945).

Below · older

Shekhan Formation

Paleogene

Above · younger

Jatta Gypsum