Gircha Formation
Late Carboniferous–Early Permian
Karakoram-Hindukush Basin · Central Karakoram Batholith
Permian in the time scale →Cited in 12 sources Last reviewed Aug 20, 2026
- Rank
- formation
- Status
- Published
- Age
- Paleozoic · Permian · Early PermianLate Carboniferous–Early Permian
- Named by
- Desio (1963)
- Type locality
- Gircha36.6300°N, 74.8500°E
- Thickness
- >50 m (Axial) to >500 m (Karambar); ~250 m in the Lashkargaz/Baroghil sheet
- Lithology
- Thick-bedded to massive arkosic and quartzarenitic sandstone with slate (argillite) intercalations, passing upward into dark argillites with thin limestone–dolomite beds; sandstones are rich in igneous rock fragments.
- Synonyms
- Not recorded
The oldest exposed rocks of the upper Hunza Permian sequence — river- and delta-laid sandstones and slates that grade up into the marine Chapursan Group.
Gircha formation is named after Gircha village in upper Hunza valley by Desio (1963), consists of sandstone and slate intercalations of earliest Permian. Gaetani et al. (1995) consider Pasu slates as being a local facies of the Gircha formation and also include in it the Shimsal slates of Casnedi et al. (1985) and Kilik formation of Desio (1963).
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
- Karakoram-Hindukush Basin
- Region
- Central Karakoram Batholith
- Depositional environment
- fluvial, deltaic, rift
- Coordinates
- 36.6300°N, 74.8500°E
See it in the field
Geoheritage sites where this unit is exposed at outcrop.
Correlation
Not recorded. Compare this unit against other basins on the correlation panel →
Economic significance
Not recorded
Remarks
Lowest exposed unit of the Permian sequence of the Sost/Upper Hunza tectonostratigraphic block; deposited in rapidly subsiding rift troughs in a fluvio-deltaic setting. Its base is not exposed and its top passes transitionally up into the marine Chapursan Group. The Pasu Slates, Shimshal Slates and Kilik Formation are treated as local facies of the Gircha Formation.
Research notes (10)
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 (4)
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Zanchi & Gaetani (2011): most of the Gircha Formation was deposited during the earliest Permian — bracketed below by the Tournaisian Ribat Formation (gentle angular unconformity) and above by the Sakmarian brachiopod assemblage at the base of the overlying Lashkargaz Formation; an Asselian brachiopod-packed siltstone occurs in the Karambar Unit (Angiolini et al. 2005), so a latest-Carboniferous start cannot be excluded. Redefined by Gaetani et al. (1990a) with a ~1000 m type-area thickness (Desio 1963); marine, storm-dominated shallow-water passing up to fluvio-deltaic.
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Gaetani et al. (2004): the Gircha Formation (arkoses to quartzarenites; exceeds ~1,000 m in the Karambar area) seals the Carboniferous succession above a break-up unconformity linked to early drifting in the seaway bordering the Karakoram. Its base is ?latest Carboniferous–earliest Permian and an Asselian brachiopod fauna occurs 133 m above the base — so the very base is latest Carboniferous, with the bulk Early Permian (early Sakmarian at the top of the studied interval). Refines/contextualises the curated Permian age (the basal Gircha is latest Carboniferous).
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Gaetani et al. (1995): the middle-upper Gircha Formation is dated latest Asselian-Early Sakmarian on a brachiopod assemblage (Trigonotreta lyonsensis, T. stokesi, Punctospirifer afghanus, Spirelytha petaliformis) with an Eurydesma bivalve fauna, correlated to Western Australia (Lyons/Callytharra), the Carnarvon Basin, Tasmania and SE Pamir; the base age is unknown and may reach into the Carboniferous. No Permo-Carboniferous glacigene deposits were found (warmer conditions), and the >800 m of inferred Sakmarian section implies a very high accumulation rate.
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Extended from "Permian": the base of the Gircha Formation yields a Late Carboniferous (Moscovian-Kasimovian) brachiopod fauna (Densepustula, Septacamera darvazensis, Alispirifer middlemissi), so the unit spans the Late Carboniferous to Early Permian (Angiolini, Brunton & Zanchi 1999).
Angiolini, L., Brunton, H. & Zanchi, A. (1999)
Thickness (1)
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CONFIRMED against Zanchi & Gaetani (2011, Fig. 19): the Gircha Formation is Lower Permian, ranging from >50 m (Axial) to >500 m (Karambar) across the thrust sheets. Corroborates the Permian age; thickness gap-filled.
Geological significance (4)
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Coward et al. (1984), following the Tahirkheli (1979) framework, described the Gircha Formation near Khaiber as ~4,000 m thick, its upper part argillaceous with thin calcareous intercalations and its lower part sandstone with calcareous-arenaceous shales, carrying Lower Permian brachiopods, corals and bryozoans. (This early bulk thickness far exceeds the member-scale figures of the later Gaetani et al. 1995 formalization.)
Coward, M.P., Jan, M.Q., Rex, D., Tarney, J., Thirlwall, M. & Windley, B.F. (1984)
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Gaetani et al. (1995): the Gircha Formation (name introduced by Desio 1963, whose original ~6,000 m thickness is a large over-estimate from faulting/folding, and whose base is nowhere exposed in Hunza) is here clarified with reference sections at Ashtigar (Hunza) and East Baroghil (Yarkhun); thickness increases eastward from no more than ~600 m in the Upper Yarkhun/Baroghil to >1,000 m in Chapursan. The Pasu Slates (Schneider 1957) and Shimshal Slates (Casnedi & Nicora 1985) are treated as synonyms, and Desio's Kilik Formation is rejected (a tectonic juxtaposition of Permian and Jurassic slices). It is the basal terrigenous clastic wedge (arkoses to quartzarenites, continental-to-coastal with abrupt marine transgressions), passing up into the carbonate Chapursan Group.
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Tahirkheli et al. (1990): in the Upper Hunza Valley the Gircha Formation occupies the core of the newly recognised Sost Anticline and is the oldest formation exposed there; its base is not exposed and it is presumed to overlie the Dumurdu Formation of Desio & Martina (1972) / Baltit Group of Tahirkheli (1982). It is ~85% argillaceous (garnet-mica schist, chlorite schist, quartz schist, sericite-phyllitic schist and splintery slaty shales) with subordinate thin yellowish-brown limestone and flaggy quartzitic sandstone, intruded by dolerite, diorite, granite, aplite and vein quartz; its upper contact with the overlying Pak-China Friendship Formation is unconformable and faulted. A Lower Permian age (Desio & Martina 1972) is supported by a new fossil locality ~3 km north of Sost.
Tahirkheli, R.A.K., Sun Dongli, Pan Yushang, Deng Wanming, Zhang Yuquan, Baqri, S.R.H. & Dawood, H. (1990)
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Corroborated by Tahirkheli et al. (1990): the Gircha Formation is the oldest exposed formation of the Upper Hunza Valley (North Karakoram), occupying the core of the Sost Anticline. Its base is not exposed but is presumed to unconformably overlie the Dumordo Formation / Baltit Group. It is the base of a faunally-dated UHV succession (Gircha - Pak-China Friendship/Dih - Passu Slate - Gujal Dolomite - Shanoz Conglomerate) that ranges from Late Permian to Late Cretaceous-Early Tertiary.
Tahirkheli, R.A.K., Sun Dongli, Pan Yushang, Deng Wanming, Zhang Yuqua, Baqri, S.R.H. & Dawood, H. (1990)
Sources (11)
- 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.
- Gaetani, M., Zanchi, A., Angiolini, L., Olivini, G., Sciunnach, D., Brunton, H., Nicora, A. & Mawson, R. (2004). The Carboniferous of the Western Karakoram (Pakistan). Journal of Asian Earth Sciences, 23(2), 275-305.
- 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.
- Coward, M.P., Jan, M.Q., Rex, D., Tarney, J., Thirlwall, M. & Windley, B.F. (1984). Geology of the South Central Karakoram and Kohistan. In: Miller, K.J. (ed.), The International Karakoram Project, Vol. 2, 71-84. Cambridge University Press.
- 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.
- Tahirkheli, R.A.K., Sun Dongli, Pan Yushang, Deng Wanming, Zhang Yuquan, Baqri, S.R.H. & Dawood, H. (1990). Review of stratigraphy of the Upper Hunza Valley (UHV), NW Karakoram, Pakistan. Geological Bulletin, University of Peshawar, 23, 203-214.
- Tahirkheli, R.A.K., Sun Dongli, Pan Yushang, Deng Wanming, Zhang Yuqua, Baqri, S.R.H. & Dawood, H. (1990). Stratigraphy of the Upper Hunza Valley, North Karakoram, Pakistan. Geological Bulletin, University of Peshawar, 23, 203-214.
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). Gircha Formation. In Pakistan Stratigraphy Dataset [Data set]. Zenodo. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.21363991
@misc{stratigraphypk_girchaformation,
author = {Qudsi, Lareb},
title = {{Gircha 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/gircha-formation (accessed October 29, 2026).
To cite the unit's original definition instead, see: Desio (1963).
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