Chinji Formation
Middle to Late Miocene (Serravallian-Tortonian)
Part of Siwalik Group
Neogene in the time scale →Cited in 14 sources Last reviewed Aug 10, 2026
- Rank
- Not recorded
- Status
- Published
- Age
- Cenozoic · Neogene · MioceneMiddle to Late Miocene (Serravallian-Tortonian)
- Named by
- Lewis (1937)
- Type locality
- Chinji village, Potwar Plateau32.6604°N, 72.3755°E
- Thickness
- 500-800 m
- Lithology
- Red clay and sandstone
- Synonyms
- Not recorded
A Middle-Miocene red-clay floodplain deposit of the Potwar, celebrated worldwide for its Siwalik mammal fossils - including the ape Sivapithecus.
Fine-grained floodplain deposits. World-famous for Miocene mammal fauna including Deinotherium, Hipparion, and Sivapithecus.
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
- fluvial, floodplain
- Coordinates
- 32.6604°N, 72.3755°E
Correlation
Not recorded. Compare this unit against other basins on the correlation panel →
Economic significance
Not recorded
Remarks
A Middle-Miocene, dominantly red-clay floodplain unit of the Lower Siwalik, defined by Lewis (1937) at Chinji village. Its fine-grained overbank deposits are world-famous for a rich Lower Siwalik mammal fauna, including the hominoid Sivapithecus and the giraffid Giraffokeryx, making it a key locality for Neogene mammalian evolution.
Research notes (9)
Field-by-field findings drawn from the cited literature. Every statement is traced to a registered source — follow a citation for the full reference.
Name & nomenclature (1)
-
Attested in Shah (2009), Geological Survey of Pakistan Memoir 22 - the Stratigraphic Committee's compiled lexicon. Adds the definitional GSP/SCP lexicon citation.
Shah, S.M.I. (2009)
Age & correlation (3)
-
Johnson et al. (1982): based exclusively on stratotype data, the Chinji Formation has a nominal magnetostratigraphic age range of 13.1–10.1 Ma (Kamlial–Chinji boundary within Chron 14 at ~13.1 Ma; Chinji–Nagri boundary near the top of Chron 10 at ~10.1 Ma). Formational boundaries may vary in age by ~10^5 yr within ~20 km of the stratotype.
Johnson, N.M., Opdyke, N.D., Johnson, G.D., Lindsay, E.H. & Tahirkheli, R.A.K. (1982)
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Badgley & Tauxe (1990): lateral tracing of reversal boundaries in the Chinji Formation shows secular change in sediment-accumulation rate and time-transgressive sandstone units, so the Chinji–Nagri lithofacies boundary is diachronous — individual strata span more time laterally than in a single vertical transect.
-
Nomenclature (Khan et al. 1988; Javed Khan & Opdyke 1981): Hemphill & Kidwai (1973) proposed extending the name 'Chinji Formation' to the Trans-Indus (Bhittani–Marwat–Khasor) red-bed unit (the Kargocha Formation of Morris 1938 / Munthe 1981), but both magnetostratigraphic studies reject this — the Trans-Indus Kargocha is Plio-Pleistocene (magnetostratigraphically ~3.2 Ma and younger), not the middle–late Miocene of the Chinji type section on the Potwar Plateau, and cannot be physically traced between the two areas. The curated Miocene age of the Chinji type section is unaffected.
Lithology (5)
-
Iqbal et al. (2018): in the Rumbli–Panjar area the Chinji Formation is clays, ash-grey sandstone and siltstone with a clay:sandstone ratio of about 70:30 and an absence of Punjal volcanic clasts; contacts with the Kamlial and Nagri formations are gradational.
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Gill (1951): the Chinji Stage of the Northern Potwar is subdivided into a Lower Chinji Stage (bright-red shales) and an Upper Chinji Stage (brick-red shales with grey sandstone); Gill's stages, originally the palaeontological zones of the Siwalik Series, are the historical basis for the modern Chinji Formation.
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Flynn et al. (2016): the Chinji Formation is dominated by fine-grained red silt with abundant paleosols and evidence of ponding, contrasting with the sandier Kamlial below and Nagri above.
Flynn, L.J., Pilbeam, D., Barry, J.C., Morgan, M.E. & Raza, S.M. (2016)
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Munthe et al. (1979): at Daud Khel the Chinji Formation is 881 m thick and 73% mudstone - moderate-red (not 'brick-red') silty mudstone with subordinate pale-yellowish-brown cross-bedded very-fine sandstone in fining-upward fluvial cycles, and hematitic fossiliferous 'pellet-rock' beds (fossil locality H-GSP 18). It is the most readily identified Siwalik unit here and closely matches its stratotype.
Munthe, J., Hussain, S.T., Lukacs, J.R., West, R.M. & Shah, S.M.I. (1979)
-
Gill (1951): in the eastern Soan syncline the lowest ~1500 ft (~460 m) of the Chinji Stage develops a sandy 'Kamlial' facies — the Riwat Beds — with ridge-forming sandstones up to 200 ft (~60 m) thick that pass eastward into Chinji beds of type lithology near Riwat village; this local sandy development is matched by a corresponding reduction in the Chinji's normal clay-shale thickness.
Sources (14)
- 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.
- Kazmi, A.H. & Jan, M.Q. (1997). Geology and Tectonics of Pakistan. Graphic Publishers, Karachi.
- Lindsay, E.H., Flynn, L.J. et al. (2005). Miocene stratigraphy and mammal fauna from the Sulaiman Range, Southwestern Himalayas, Pakistan. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology.
- Indian Plate Lexicon (indplex.geolex.org), Geological Society of India and international compilation.
- Shah, S.M.I. (2009). Stratigraphy of Pakistan. Geological Survey of Pakistan, Memoir Vol. 22.
- Johnson, N.M., Opdyke, N.D., Johnson, G.D., Lindsay, E.H. & Tahirkheli, R.A.K. (1982). Magnetic polarity stratigraphy and ages of Siwalik Group rocks of the Potwar Plateau, Pakistan. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology, 37, 17-42.
- Badgley, C. & Tauxe, L. (1990). Paleomagnetic stratigraphy and time in sediments: studies in alluvial Siwalik rocks of Pakistan. Journal of Geology, 98, 457-477.
- Iqbal, O., Baig, M.S., Pervez, S. & Siddiqi, M.I. (2018). Structure and Stratigraphy of Rumbli and Panjar Areas of Kashmir and Pakistan with the Aid of GIS. Journal of the Geological Society of India, 91, 57-66.
- Khan, M.J., Opdyke, N.D. & Tahirkheli, R.A.K. (1988). Magnetic stratigraphy of the Siwalik Group, Bhittani, Marwat and Khasor Ranges, northwestern Pakistan, and the timing of Neogene tectonics of the Trans Indus. Journal of Geophysical Research, 93(B10), 11773-11790.
- Gill, W.D. (1951). The stratigraphy of the Siwalik Series in the Northern Potwar, Punjab, Pakistan. Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society of London, 107, 375-394.
- 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.
- Flynn, L.J., Pilbeam, D., Barry, J.C., Morgan, M.E. & Raza, S.M. (2016). Siwalik synopsis: a long stratigraphic sequence for the Later Cenozoic of South Asia. Comptes Rendus Palevol, 15(7), 877-887.
- Munthe, J., Hussain, S.T., Lukacs, J.R., West, R.M. & Shah, S.M.I. (1979). Neogene Stratigraphy of the Daud Khel Area, Mianwali District, Pakistan. Milwaukee Public Museum Contributions in Biology and Geology, 23, 1-18.
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). Chinji Formation. In Pakistan Stratigraphy Dataset [Data set]. Zenodo. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.21363991
@misc{stratigraphypk_chinjiformation,
author = {Qudsi, Lareb},
title = {{Chinji 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/chinji-formation (accessed October 29, 2026).
To cite the unit's original definition instead, see: Lewis (1937).
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