Chichali Formation
Late Jurassic - Early Cretaceous
Jurassic-Cretaceous in the time scale →Cited in 14 sources Last reviewed Aug 20, 2026
- Rank
- Not recorded
- Status
- Published
- Age
- Mesozoic · Jurassic-Cretaceous · Tithonian-BerriasianLate Jurassic - Early Cretaceous
- Named by
- Danilchik (1961)
- Type locality
- Chichali Pass in Surghar33.0031°N, 71.4042°E
- Thickness
- 12-70 m
- Lithology
- Dark greenish grey glauconitic sandstone, glauconitic shale
- Synonyms
- Belemnite Beds; Spiti Shale
A greenish, glauconite-rich marine sandstone and shale marking the Jurassic-to-Cretaceous transition in the Upper Indus Basin.
Named after Chichali Pass in Surghar Range. Marks Jurassic-Cretaceous boundary. Rich in belemnites. Correlated with Spiti Shale of Hazara. Part of the Chichali Group.
Fossils
Contacts
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
- Basin
- Not recorded
- Region
- Not recorded
- Depositional environment
- marine
- Coordinates
- 33.0031°N, 71.4042°E
See it in the field
Geoheritage site where this unit is exposed at outcrop.
Correlation
Not recorded. Compare this unit against other basins on the correlation panel →
Economic significance
Phosphorite (rock phosphate) has been reported from the Chichali Formation near Kohat, but low phosphate content makes it of little economic value.
Remarks
A glauconitic marine sandstone-and-shale unit straddling the Jurassic–Cretaceous boundary in the Kohat–Potwar region; its glauconite and condensed character record slow marine sedimentation, and it underlies the Cretaceous Lumshiwal Formation.
Research notes (12)
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 (2)
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Umar et al. (2024, after Hallam & Maynard 1987; Pandey & Pathak 2017): the Chichali Formation is Late Oxfordian–Berriasian to Aptian and is the northern lateral equivalent of the Sembar Formation. Its glauconitic, phosphate-nodule-bearing, belemnite-rich shales record middle-to-outer ramp, transgressive, anoxic deposition; it is 12–70 m thick across the Surghar, Kohat, Kala Chitta and Hazara basins and rests disconformably on the Samana Suk Formation.
Umar, M., Kassi, A.M., Jamil, M., Kasi, A.K. & Khan, A.S. (2024)
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Calkins et al. (1975): in Hazara the Chichali Formation is a soft, thinly laminated, highly organic black shale (Spiti-Shale facies), a few feet to ~300 ft thick with sheared contacts, and is Late Jurassic here (Perisphinctes frequens, Belemnopsis canaliculatus, ammonites near Abbottabad) — younging westward to Early Cretaceous. Formerly the 'Belemnite Beds' (Oldham 1892); the name 'Spiti Shale' was dropped by the Stratigraphic Committee of Pakistan and these outcrops assigned to the Chichali Formation.
Calkins, J.A., Offield, T.W., Abdullah, S.K.M. & Ali, S.T. (1975)
Lithology (1)
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Four microfacies were identified — clay/iron-oxide-, calcite/flint-, clay/silica- and clay/glauconite-cemented glauconitic to quartzose sandstones — with early diagenetic glauconite and flint (from biogenic silica) and late fracture-filling calcite spar (Qureshi et al. 2007).
Qureshi, M.K.A., Ghazi, S., Butt, A.A., Ahmad, N. & Masood, K.R. (2007)
Thickness (1)
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Thickness ranges from 6-13.5 m across the central-eastern Kala Chitta Range (e.g. Jhalar 12.5 m, Surg 6 m) and expands westward to 30 m at Bata and 60 m at Sujhanda near the Indus (Qureshi et al. 2007).
Qureshi, M.K.A., Ghazi, S., Butt, A.A., Ahmad, N. & Masood, K.R. (2007)
Type locality & location (1)
-
Reviewer confirmed the Chichali Pass type-section coordinate as 33 deg 00' 11" N, 71 deg 24' 15" E (33.0031, 71.4042), superseding the approximate osm-gazetteer value (33.008, 71.407). This resolves the reconciliation cross-check flag: Shah (2009) prints the type section as 33 deg 01' N, 70 deg 25' E, but the longitude is an OCR misread of 71 deg 24' E — the ~1 deg discrepancy was in the OCR, not the dataset. A separate Wikipedia value (33 deg 49' N, 72 deg 04' E, near Attock/Kala Chitta) was reviewed and rejected as a non-type exposure ~110 km north of the type section. The corresponding author independently re-confirmed the 71.4042 longitude against Google Maps (2026-07-17), definitively closing the reconciliation cross-check flag.
Shah, S.M.I. (2009)
Fossils & biostratigraphy (2)
-
Gap-fill (fossils field was empty). Malkani (2019) describes the Chichali Formation as an ammonite-bearing marine glauconitic shale and sandstone that, in the Upper Indus (Kohat-Potwar) Basin, forms one of the Cretaceous formations at the Cretaceous-Paleogene (K/Pg) boundary.
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Qureshi et al. (2007), from nine sections in the Kala Chitta Range, report a Late Oxfordian-Neocomian fauna from the glauconitic Chichali Formation: belemnites (Belemnopsis gerardi, Hibolithes sp.), ammonites (Perisphinctes, Neocosmoceras, Aulacosphinctes, Himalayites) and Gryphaea, plus a palynoflora (Indotriletes korbaensis, Alisporites grandis/bilateralis, Minutosaccus crenulatus and others), confirming an Upper Jurassic to Lower Cretaceous age.
Qureshi, M.K.A., Ghazi, S., Butt, A.A., Ahmad, N. & Masood, K.R. (2007)
Depositional environment (2)
-
Butt (1989): the Chichali Formation is a black-shale facies deposited in a restricted, oxygen-deficient (anoxic) marine trough, with pyrite concretions, the belemnite Belemnopsis and the ammonite Perisphinctes indicating reducing conditions. Butt notes source-bed deposition occurred but the formation lacks a proper burial history and cannot be ranked as a source rock (his interpretation).
-
The sequence records an epicontinental marine transgression across a weathered platform: robust belemnites in the basal glauconitic sandstones are storm-winnowed lag concentrates, while thick pyritic black shales in the western sections (Bata, Sujhanda) mark restricted, oxygen-deficient basinal troughs (Qureshi et al. 2007).
Qureshi, M.K.A., Ghazi, S., Butt, A.A., Ahmad, N. & Masood, K.R. (2007)
Economic significance (2)
-
Asim et al. (2014): the shales of the (Late Jurassic–Neocomian) Chichali Formation are a hydrocarbon SOURCE rock in the Central Indus Basin (Punjab Platform / Sulaiman Depression), mature enough to have generated large volumes of gas.
Asim, S., Qureshi, S.N., Asif, S.K., Abbasi, S.A., Solangi, S. & Mirza, M.Q. (2014)
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Craig et al. (2018): the Lower Cretaceous Chichali Formation (glauconitic sandstones and basinal shales) is listed with the Lumshiwal among the youngest mature Mesozoic source rocks; its algal/microbial organic matter (anoxic marine) gives fair generation potential, best developed on the Punjab Platform and toward Hazara (Gakkhar et al. 2012).
Geological significance (1)
-
Ahmed et al. (1997), Surghar Range: the Oxfordian-Neocomian Chichali Formation (glauconitic deeper-shelf deposits; part of the Surghar Group with the overlying Lumshiwal) records the drowning of the Jurassic carbonate platform whose top is marked by a hardground.
Ahmed, S., Mertmann, D. & Manutsoglu, E. (1997)
Sources (15)
- 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.
- Microfacies and biostratigraphy of the Chichali, Lumshiwal and Kawagarh formations, Upper Indus and Hazara basins, Pakistan (2024).
- OpenStreetMap contributors and GEOnet Names Server (public geographic gazetteers), used to geolocate named GSP type localities to approximate decimal coordinates.
- Indian Plate Lexicon (indplex.geolex.org), Geological Society of India and international compilation.
- Malkani, M.S. (2019). Cretaceous Stratigraphy of Pakistan. Open Journal of Geology, 9, 671-673.
- Shah, S.M.I. (2009). Stratigraphy of Pakistan. Geological Survey of Pakistan, Memoir Vol. 22.
- 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.
- Asim, S., Qureshi, S.N., Asif, S.K., Abbasi, S.A., Solangi, S. & Mirza, M.Q. (2014). Structural and Stratigraphical Correlation of Seismic Profiles between Drigri Anticline and Bahawalpur High in Central Indus Basin of Pakistan. International Journal of Geosciences, 5(11), 1231-1240.
- Umar, M., Kassi, A.M., Jamil, M., Kasi, A.K. & Khan, A.S. (2024). Cretaceous stratigraphic framework and sedimentary architecture, Pakistan: signatures of rift-drift tectonics and submarine volcanism along the western continental margin of the Indian Plate. In: Hart, M.B. et al. (eds) Cretaceous Project 200 Volume 2: Regional Studies. Geological Society, London, Special Publications, 545.
- Calkins, J.A., Offield, T.W., Abdullah, S.K.M. & Ali, S.T. (1975). Geology of the southern Himalaya in Hazara, Pakistan, and adjacent areas. U.S. Geological Survey Professional Paper 716-C, 29 p. (Geological Investigations in Pakistan).
- Butt, A.A. (1989). An Overview of the Hazara Arc Stratigraphy, Northern Pakistan. Geological Bulletin of the Punjab University, 24, 1-11.
- Ahmed, S., Mertmann, D. & Manutsoglu, E. (1997). Jurassic shelf sedimentation and sequence stratigraphy of the Surghar Range, Pakistan. Journal of Nepal Geological Society, 15, 15-22.
- 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.
- Qureshi, M.K.A., Ghazi, S., Butt, A.A., Ahmad, N. & Masood, K.R. (2007). Microfacies analysis and the environmental pattern of the Chichali Formation, Kala Chitta Range, Pakistan. Geological Bulletin of the Punjab University, 42, 53-59.
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.
Cite this unit
Qudsi, L. (2026). Chichali Formation. In Pakistan Stratigraphy Dataset [Data set]. Zenodo. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.21363991
@misc{stratigraphypk_chichaliformation,
author = {Qudsi, Lareb},
title = {{Chichali 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/chichali-formation (accessed October 29, 2026).
To cite the unit's original definition instead, see: Danilchik (1961).
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