Paleozoic • Carboniferous–Permian In GSP lexicon

Darkot Group

Late Palaeozoic (Upper Carboniferous–Lower Permian)

Carboniferous–Permian in the time scale →

Cited in 7 sources Last reviewed Aug 20, 2026

Unit summary

Rank: Not recorded
Status: Published
Age: Paleozoic · Carboniferous–PermianLate Palaeozoic (Upper Carboniferous–Lower Permian)
Named by: Ivanac et al. (1956)
Type locality: Darkot village, upper Yasin valley36.4700°N, 73.5300°E
Thickness: 3000+ m
Lithology: A thick sequence of slate, limestone, quartzite, conglomerate, schist, marble, gneiss and volcanics.
Synonyms: Not recorded

The Permo-Carboniferous Darkot Group — the main southern sedimentary belt of the Karakoram — including the Rawat, Gum and Barum formations and their metamorphic equivalents.

Metamorphosed Paleozoic sequence in Chitral area. Contains various metasedimentary and metavolcanic rocks.

Fossils

Bryozoans Foraminifera Brachiopods Crinoids Corals Gastropods

Contacts

In the Hindukush-Chitral column

Shale / mudConglomerateMetamorphicLimestoneFossils recordedUnconformityContact 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

Hindukush-Chitral

Basin: Not recorded
Region: Not recorded
Depositional environment: marine
Coordinates: 36.4700°N, 73.5300°E

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Correlation

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

Economic significance

Not recorded

Remarks

The Permo-Carboniferous group that forms most of the southern sedimentary belt of the Karakoram, exposed in two long east–west belts north of the Main Karakoram Thrust. It comprises the White Marble, Rawat, Gum and Barum formations and the basal shales (Le Fort and Gaetani, 1998); in the higher-grade Hunza and Baltoro–Shigar areas its metamorphosed equivalents are the Dumordo, Ganchen and Askore formations. It is intruded by Karakoram Batholith plutons and is unconformably overlain by the Reshun Formation.

Research notes (4)

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 of Pakistan's compiled lexicon (listed in the memoir's contents). Adds the definitional GSP/SCP lexicon citation.

Shah, S.M.I. (2009)

Age & correlation (2)

Zanchi & Gaetani (2011): the Darkot Group (Ivanac et al. 1956) is subdivided by Le Fort & Gaetani (1998) into the Gum, Barum and Rawat formations and spans the Upper Palaeozoic (bryozoans, brachiopods, Permian fusulinids, Upper Carboniferous conodonts) to the Mesozoic (Late Triassic megalodontids in the Gum Fm.); the paper introduces the term 'Darkot-Gazin Metasedimentary Belt' for it. NB: broader than the curated 'Ordovician–Devonian' age — flagged for reconciliation.

Zanchi, A. & Gaetani, M. (2011)
Kazmi & Abbasi (2008) CORRECTION: the Darkot Group is Late Palaeozoic — its fossils indicate an Upper Carboniferous to Lower Permian age (mapped as Permian), NOT 'Ordovician–Devonian' as previously recorded (the earlier age was unsourced). The Barum Formation is a member of this Permian Darkot Group. Age corrected.

Kazmi, A.H. & Abbasi, I.A. (2008)

Geological significance (1)

Gaetani et al. (1995): in formalizing the Permian Chapursan Group (Lashkargaz-Lupghar-Panjshah formations) the authors kept it distinct from the Darkot Group (Ivanac et al. 1956) while noting a possible affinity between the two.

Gaetani, M., Angiolini, L., Garzanti, E., Jadoul, F., Leven, E.Ya., Nicora, A. & Sciunnach, D. (1995)

Sources (7)

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.
OpenStreetMap contributors and GEOnet Names Server (public geographic gazetteers), used to geolocate named GSP type localities to approximate decimal coordinates.
Shah, S.M.I. (2009). Stratigraphy of Pakistan. Geological Survey of Pakistan, Memoir Vol. 22.
Zanchi, A. & Gaetani, M. (2011). The geology of the Karakoram range, Pakistan: the new 1:100,000 geological map of Central-Western Karakoram. Italian Journal of Geosciences, 130(2), 161-262.
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.
Gaetani, M., Angiolini, L., Garzanti, E., Jadoul, F., Leven, E.Ya., Nicora, A. & Sciunnach, D. (1995). Permian stratigraphy in the Northern Karakorum, Pakistan. Rivista Italiana di Paleontologia e Stratigrafia, 101(2), 107-152.

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

BibTeX

@misc{stratigraphypk_darkotgroup,
  author    = {Qudsi, Lareb},
  title     = {{Darkot 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/darkot-group (accessed October 29, 2026).

To cite the unit's original definition instead, see: Ivanac et al. (1956).

Below · older

Chitral Slate

Above · younger

Reshun Formation

Cretaceous