Cenozoic • Paleogene group GSP memoir

Chamalang (=Ghazij) Group

Eocene

Sulaiman Basin

Cited in 5 sources Last reviewed Jul 17, 2026

Unit summary

Rank: group
Status: Published
Age: Cenozoic · Paleogene · Early EoceneEocene
Named by: Malkani (2010a)
Type locality: Spintangi29.9517°N, 68.0833°E
Thickness: ≈780 m at Kingri to ≈1,372 m in the Mughal Kot area; thins toward the Marri-Bugti Hills
Lithology: Thick shale with subordinate sandstone, limestone, coal, gypsum and laterite.
Synonyms: Ghazij Group

The Early Eocene Ghazij (Chamalang) Group of the Sulaiman Range — Shaheed Ghat, Drug, Toi, Baska and Kingri — a thick shale unit with coal and gypsum.

The Chamalang Group (Malkani, 2010) is the fully developed equivalent of the Ghazij Group (introduced by Oldham, 1890; type section at Spintangi after Williams, 1959; raised to group rank by Shah, 2002), with its type area at Chamalang. It comprises the Shaheed Ghat, Toi, Kingri and Baska formations. Early Eocene.

Fossils

Early Eocene mammals

Contacts

In the Sulaiman Fold Belt column

Shale / mudLimestoneSandstoneFossils recordedContact not recorded

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.

Constituent units

Formations that make up this group, in stratigraphic order (youngest at top, as in the column).

Distribution & setting

Sulaiman Fold Belt

Basin: Sulaiman Basin
Region: Not recorded
Depositional environment: marginal marine, paralic
Coordinates: 29.9517°N, 68.0833°E

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Correlation

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

Economic significance

Seal Coal & lignite Salt & evaporites

Hosts coal (Toi Formation) and gypsum (Baska Formation); the Ghazij shales form a regional seal.

Remarks

The Early Eocene Ghazij succession (Chamalang Group) of the Sulaiman region, comprising the Shaheed Ghat, Drug, Toi, Baska and Kingri formations; a thick shale-dominated unit with economic coal, gypsum and laterite.

Research notes (2)

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

Lithology (1)

Equated with the lower Eocene Ghazij Formation of USGS OFR 94-689 (divided into upper/middle/lower zones around the flanks of the Sibi-Urak trough); the upper zone is reddish-weathering claystone with minor conglomeratic sandstone and local bog iron, ~215 m thick in the Mach area.

Maldonado, F., Khan, S.H. & Mengal, J.M. (1994)

Depositional environment (1)

Khan & Clyde (2013): the Ghazij Formation (= Chamalang Group) records an upper Paleocene-lower Eocene shallowing-upward synorogenic succession — proximal conglomerate (lower-Paleocene + Mesozoic clasts) in the west grading to distal sandstone/shale in the east, with deltaic and fluvial facies. Paleocurrents flow SE (reversed from the Cretaceous shelf), and sandstone petrography indicates a collision-suture/fold-thrust provenance. Its lower contact on the Dungan Group and upper contact with the Spintangi Limestone are both time-transgressive; a late Paleocene-early Eocene unconformity in the Quetta-Kalat region is read as the local response to initial India-Asia contact.

Khan, I.H. & Clyde, W.C. (2013)

Sources (4)

Malkani, M.S. & Mahmood, Z. (2017). Stratigraphy of Pakistan. Geological Survey of Pakistan, Memoir Vol. 24.
Kazmi, A.H. & Jan, M.Q. (1997). Geology and Tectonics of Pakistan. Graphic Publishers, Karachi.
Maldonado, F., Khan, S.H. & Mengal, J.M. (1994). Preliminary Geologic Map of Parts of Loralai, Sibi, Quetta, and Khuzdar Divisions, Balochistan Province, West-Central Pakistan. U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 94-689, 20 p., 1 sheet.
Khan, I.H. & Clyde, W.C. (2013). Lower Paleogene Tectonostratigraphy of Balochistan: Evidence for Time-Transgressive Late Paleocene-Early Eocene Uplift. Geosciences, 3(3), 466-501.

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: Appears in a single-author Geological Survey of Pakistan memoir (Malkani & Mahmood 2017), not cross-confirmed against the Shah lexicon. The Stratigraphic Committee of Pakistan is largely inactive, so documented provenance — not formal ratification — is the available signal.

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Cite this unit

APA

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

BibTeX

@misc{stratigraphypk_chamalanggroup,
  author    = {Qudsi, Lareb},
  title     = {{Chamalang (=Ghazij) Group} --- 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/chamalang-group (accessed October 29, 2026).

To cite the unit's original definition instead, see: Malkani (2010a).

Referenced in other successions

Overlain by Kirthar Group