Drosh Formation
Cretaceous
Kohistan-Ladakh Magmatic Arc · Northern Greenstone Belt
Cretaceous in the time scale →Cited in 5 sources Last reviewed Jul 30, 2026
- Rank
- formation
- Status
- Published
- Age
- Mesozoic · Cretaceous · CretaceousCretaceous
- Named by
- Not recorded
- Type locality
- Drosh35.5684°N, 71.8038°E
- Thickness
- about 1,500 m
- Lithology
- Epidotised vesicular andesite with interbedded thin red shales.
- Synonyms
- Not recorded
A Cretaceous andesite-and-shale of the Chitral arc — lavas from the Kohistan island-arc volcanoes.
Drosh formation (1.5km thick) is named after Drosh and it consists of epidotised beds, vesicular andesite and interbedded thin red shales.
Fossils
Not recorded
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
- Kohistan-Ladakh Magmatic Arc
- Region
- Northern Greenstone Belt
- Depositional environment
- volcanic-arc
- Coordinates
- 35.5684°N, 71.8038°E
Correlation
Not recorded. Compare this unit against other basins on the correlation panel →
Economic significance
Not recorded
Remarks
A Cretaceous arc-volcanic unit (andesite) of the Chitral part of the Kohistan–Dir arc, recording subaerial-to-shallow-marine island-arc volcanism.
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.
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 (1)
-
Kazmi & Jan (1997): the Drosh Formation (Cretaceous; type section Drosh Gol, SW Chitral) is ~1.5 km of thickly-bedded epidotised, vesicular porphyritic andesite (plagioclase-hornblende-pyroxene phenocrysts, locally autobrecciated, with associated copper mineralisation) interbedded with thin red shales, overlying the Purit Formation in the Kohistan arc south of the Shyok Suture (possibly part of the Yasin Group).
Kazmi, A.H. & Jan, M.Q. (1997)
Sources (6)
- Pudsey, C. J. et al. (1985). Collision zone between the Kohistan arc and the Asian plate, NW Pakistan.
- Malkani, M. S. & Mahmood, Z. (2017). Stratigraphy of Pakistan. Memoir of the Geological Survey of Pakistan, Vol. 24.
- 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.
- Shah, S.M.I. (2009). Stratigraphy of Pakistan. Geological Survey of Pakistan, Memoir Vol. 22.
- Kazmi, A.H. & Jan, M.Q. (1997). Geology and Tectonics of Pakistan. Graphic Publishers, Karachi.
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). Drosh Formation. In Pakistan Stratigraphy Dataset [Data set]. Zenodo. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.21363991
@misc{stratigraphypk_droshformation,
author = {Qudsi, Lareb},
title = {{Drosh 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/drosh-formation (accessed October 29, 2026).
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