Cenozoic • Neogene formation GSP memoir

Chaudhwan Formation

Pliocene

Sulaiman Basin

Part of Vihowa Group

Neogene in the time scale →

Cited in 7 sources Last reviewed Aug 10, 2026

Unit summary

Rank: formation
Status: Published
Age: Cenozoic · Neogene · Pliocene–PleistocenePliocene
Named by: Hemphill and Kidwai (1973)
Type locality: Chaudhwan Zam, Sulaiman Range31.6167°N, 70.2500°E
Thickness: ~1,500–2,100 m
Lithology: Mud, sandstone and conglomerate, becoming conglomerate-dominated upward.
Synonyms: Not recorded

The youngest, gravel-rich molasse capping the Sulaiman Range — the coarse debris shed as the mountains rose.

Introduced by Hemphill and Kidwai (1973), type section at Chaudhwan Zam, the Chaudhwan Formation (about 650–750 m) consists of alternating maroon-to-khaki calcareous mudstone/shale, grey-brown sandstone and sandy conglomerate, capped by thick conglomerate that marks the boundary between the Sulaiman Fold Belt and the Sulaiman Foredeep. Its lower contact with the Litra Formation is disconformable and its upper contact with the Dada Formation is angular. It hosts continental vertebrates; on stratigraphic position its age is likely Pliocene.

Fossils

Not recorded

Contacts

In the Sulaiman Fold Belt column

SandstoneFossils 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.

Distribution & setting

Sulaiman Fold Belt

Basin: Sulaiman Basin
Region: Not recorded
Depositional environment: fluvial, alluvial, continental
Coordinates: 31.6167°N, 70.2500°E

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Correlation

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

Economic significance

Building stone

Source of gravel and sand for construction aggregate.

Remarks

The uppermost molasse of the Sulaiman foreland (top of the Vihowa Group), equivalent to the Upper Siwalik (Soan and upper Dhok Pathan); its upward-coarsening, conglomerate-dominated section records the final, high-energy unroofing of the rising Sulaiman ranges.

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)

The Chaudhwan Formation is the coarsening-upward top of the Sulaiman molasse, becoming conglomerate-dominant in its upper reaches, of Pliocene age on mammalian evidence; its type area (with the Chaudhwan Zam) was designated by Hemphill & Kidwai (1973) (Raza et al. 2002).

Raza, S.M., Cheema, I.U., Downs, W.R., Rajpar, A.R. & Ward, S.C. (2002)

Geological significance (1)

Hemphill & Kidwai (1973, USGS PP 716-B) NAMED the Chaudhwan Formation as the upper Siwalik unit, type section at Chaudhwan Zam. Pliocene to possibly Pleistocene; mostly hard massive boulder/cobble/pebble conglomerate (limestone, quartzite, sandstone clasts) in sandstone matrix, ~4,900-7,000 ft, coarsest near the Waziristan/N-Sulaiman highlands; an angular unconformity N of Chaudhwan Zam records late-Pliocene-Pleistocene movement on the Domanda fault. Equivalent to the Malagan + Dhok Pathan + upper Nagri of the eastern ranges.

Hemphill, W.R. & Kidwai, A.H. (1973)

Sources (6)

Malkani, M.S. & Mahmood, Z. (2017). Stratigraphy of Pakistan. Geological Survey of Pakistan, Memoir Vol. 24.
Malkani, M.S. et al. (2018). Tectonic Map of Sulaiman Fold Belt, Pakistan. Geological Survey of Pakistan.
Indian Plate Lexicon (indplex.geolex.org), Geological Society of India and international compilation.
Malkani, M.S. (2010). Updated Stratigraphy and Mineral Potential of Sulaiman Basin, Pakistan. Sindh University Research Journal (Science Series), 42(2), 39-66.
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.
Hemphill, W.R. & Kidwai, A.H. (1973). Stratigraphy of the Bannu and Dera Ismail Khan Areas, Pakistan. U.S. Geological Survey Professional Paper 716-B (Geological Investigations in Pakistan), 36 p.

Reviewer confidence: medium

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). Chaudhwan Formation. In Pakistan Stratigraphy Dataset [Data set]. Zenodo. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.21363991

BibTeX

@misc{stratigraphypk_chaudhwanformation,
  author    = {Qudsi, Lareb},
  title     = {{Chaudhwan Formation} --- 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/chaudhwan-formation (accessed October 29, 2026).

To cite the unit's original definition instead, see: Hemphill and Kidwai (1973).

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