Paleozoic • Permian formation In GSP lexicon

Gharil Formation

Middle to Late Permian (Kubergandian–Midian)

Karakoram-Hindukush Basin · Central Karakoram Batholith

Cited in 7 sources Last reviewed Aug 20, 2026

Unit summary

Rank: formation
Status: Published
Age: Paleozoic · Permian · Late Permian–Late TriassicMiddle to Late Permian (Kubergandian–Midian)
Named by: Gaetani et al. (1995)
Type locality: Gharil36.8800°N, 73.4200°E
Thickness: ~5 m (Lasht/Siru) to ~20 m (Lashkargaz/Baroghil)
Lithology: Siltstone, sandstone and marl, with poorly sorted microconglomerate and dark red hematitic cross-bedded sandstone (ironstone) at its scoured base in the Baroghil region.
Synonyms: Not recorded

A Late Permian to Late Triassic sandstone-and-marl unit of the Baroghil area, between the Lashkargaz and Ailak formations.

Gharil formation is named after the Gharil village in upper Yarkhun valley, 5km east of Baroghil pass by Gaetani et al. (1995), and consists of siltstone, sandstone and marl of Late Permian to Late Triassic age.

Fossils

Not recorded

Contacts

In the Hindukush-Chitral column

SandstoneLimestoneShale / mudConglomerateFossils 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: Karakoram-Hindukush Basin
Region: Central Karakoram Batholith
Depositional environment: marginal marine, marine
Coordinates: 36.8800°N, 73.4200°E

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Correlation

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

Economic significance

Not recorded

Remarks

A largely siliciclastic unit of the Upper Yarkhun (Baroghil) succession that rests on a deeply scoured surface of the Lashkargaz Formation and is overlain by the Ailak Formation.

Research notes (5)

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 Gharil Formation is unfossiliferous; a latest Middle Permian to earliest Late Permian age is proposed from its stratigraphic position at the end-Guadalupian regression. It is the 'Ironstone Horizon' of Hayden (1915) — red fining-upward conglomerate/arenite cycles capped by lateritic Fe-enriched siltstones, recording subaerial exposure at near-equatorial palaeolatitude (Muttoni et al. 2009).

Zanchi, A. & Gaetani, M. (2011)
Kazmi & Abbasi (2008) CORRECTION: the book places the Gharil Formation between the Kubergandian and Midian stages (Middle–Late Permian); the Triassic part of the previous 'Permian–Triassic' range belongs to the overlying Ailak Formation. Age corrected to Middle–Late Permian (previous age unsourced).

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

Thickness (1)

CONFIRMED against Zanchi & Gaetani (2011, Fig. 19): the Gharil Formation is a thin Permian unit, ~5 m (Lasht/Siru) to ~20 m (Lashkargaz/Baroghil). Thickness gap-filled.

Zanchi, A. & Gaetani, M. (2011)

Geological significance (1)

Gaetani et al. (1995): the Gharil Formation is a thin terrigenous-and-ironstone horizon at the Kubergandian-?Murgabian boundary, resting on a major, tectonically enhanced disconformity above the Lashkargaz Formation and sealed by the Ailak Formation dolostones. Its quartzarenites are compositionally mature (average Q97 F2 L1) and it carries a prominent ironstone / bauxite-laterite ooid horizon recording prolonged subaerial exposure at equatorial latitudes - evidence, with the overlying Ailak dolostones, of the significant northward (tropical) drift of the Northern Karakorum during the Permian.

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.
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.
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.
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: 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.

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Cite this unit

APA

Qudsi, L. (2026). Gharil Formation. In Pakistan Stratigraphy Dataset [Data set]. Zenodo. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.21363991

BibTeX

@misc{stratigraphypk_gharilformation,
  author    = {Qudsi, Lareb},
  title     = {{Gharil 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/gharil-formation (accessed October 29, 2026).

To cite the unit's original definition instead, see: Gaetani et al. (1995).

Below · older

Lashkargaz Formation

Permian

Above · younger

Ailak Formation

Triassic