Paleozoic • Cambrian In GSP lexicon

Hazira Formation

Cambrian

Cited in 8 sources Last reviewed Aug 9, 2026

Unit summary

Rank: Not recorded
Status: Published
Age: Paleozoic · CambrianCambrian
Named by: Gardezi and Ghazanfar (1965)
Type locality: Hazira, Hazara34.1700°N, 73.2100°E
Thickness: 100-200 m
Lithology: Phosphatic shale and siltstone with phosphorite beds.
Synonyms: Not recorded

A Cambrian phosphate-bearing shale of the Hazara area — a key Pakistani rock-phosphate source.

Named after Hazira village. Overlies Abbottabad Formation with glauconitic facies near base indicating marine transgression. Contains Hyolithids.

Fossils

Hyolithids

Contacts

In the Hazara Basin column

MetamorphicLimestoneShale / mudFossils recordedContact not recordedUnconformity

Band colour = period; texture = dominant rock type. Lines between bands mark the contact type (wavy = unconformity inferred from a missing period); 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

Hazara Basin

Basin: Not recorded
Region: Not recorded
Depositional environment: marine
Coordinates: 34.1700°N, 73.2100°E

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Correlation

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

Economic significance

Metals & minerals

Phosphorite (rock phosphate) of the basal Cambrian beds of the Hazara–Abbottabad area; the Kakul/Hazira phosphate is one of Pakistan's principal phosphate sources.

Remarks

A Cambrian phosphatic unit at the base of the Hazara–Abbottabad carbonate succession, economically important for its phosphorite.

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)

Baseline age 'Cambrian–Triassic' is over-broad; Kazmi & Jan (1997) treat the Hazira Formation as Cambrian (a basal phosphatic member associated with the Abbottabad Formation). Age needs review.

Kazmi, A.H. & Jan, M.Q. (1997)
Fuchs (1970): Fuchs distinguished the flysch-like Hazira Formation from the orthoquartzite–carbonate association of the underlying Abbottabad Group and, with Latif, suggested the Galdanian and Hazira formations might form a separate Tarnawai Group; comparing the Hazira shales to the Upper Triassic (Norian) Kuti and Tarap Shales of the Tibetan Zone, and noting the formation occurs only in northern Hazara, he raised the possibility of an Upper Triassic age reached by an early northern transgression.

Fuchs, G. (1970)

Lithology (1)

Butt (1968) grouped the Hazira Formation with the Hematite Formation as lateral facies of a single unit (proposed Kihal Formation, type near Kihal, Abbottabad): a Hazira Member (~192 ft of buff/brown siltstones with two calcareous bands and basal glauconitic layers) and a Shekhan Bandi Member (~268 ft of red quartzitic limestones, repetitive quartzite breccias, sandstones and a massive hematitic sandstone), capped by a persistent white quartz sandstone directly below fossiliferous Jurassic marine limestone.

Butt, A.A. (1968)

Fossils & biostratigraphy (1)

Butt (1989): the Cambrian Hazira Formation is glauconitic and carries the pteropod genus Hyolithes (Latif 1974) as an index fossil used for Salt Range correlation. It was the 'Hazira Member' of Gardezi and Ghazanfar (1965), later raised to formational rank; it overlies the Sirban Dolomite and is overlain by the Shekhan Bandi Formation (= Galdanian Formation of Latif 1970).

Butt, A.A. (1989)

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.
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.
Butt, A.A. (1989). An Overview of the Hazara Arc Stratigraphy, Northern Pakistan. Geological Bulletin of the Punjab University, 24, 1-11.
Fuchs, G. (1970). The significance of Hazara to Himalayan geology. Jahrbuch der Geologischen Bundesanstalt (Vienna), Sonderband 15, 21-23.

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

BibTeX

@misc{stratigraphypk_haziraformation,
  author    = {Qudsi, Lareb},
  title     = {{Hazira 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/hazira-formation (accessed October 29, 2026).

To cite the unit's original definition instead, see: Gardezi and Ghazanfar (1965).

Below · older

Abbottabad Formation