Paleozoic • Ordovician formation In GSP lexicon

Hisartang Formation

Ordovician

Northern Indus Suture

Cited in 4 sources Last reviewed Jul 31, 2026

Unit summary

Rank: formation
Status: Published
Age: Paleozoic · OrdovicianOrdovician
Named by: Hussain et al. (1989)
Type locality: Hisartang, Attock-Cherat Range
Thickness: minimum 650 m
Lithology: White-to-grey, fine-grained unfossiliferous quartzite with worm burrows and dark argillite beds in the middle.
Synonyms: Not recorded

An Ordovician quartzite of the Attock-Cherat Range, between the Darwaza and Inzari units.

Hisartang Formation is named after Hisartang village by Hussain at al. (1990) for quartzite and argillite. Late Proterozoic sequence.

Fossils

Not recorded

Contacts

In the Khyber–Nowshera Belt column

LimestoneMetamorphicFossils recordedContact 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

Khyber–Nowshera Belt

Basin: Northern Indus Suture
Region: Not recorded
Depositional environment: marine
Coordinates: Not recorded

Correlation

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

Economic significance

Not recorded

Remarks

An Ordovician quartzite of the Attock-Cherat Range, conformable on the Darwaza Formation and overlain by the Inzari Limestone; on lithologic grounds it is correlated with the Early–Middle Ordovician Misri Banda Quartzite.

Research notes (3)

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)

Kazmi & Jan (1997): the Hisartang Formation (Hussain et al. 1989, 1990; Attock-Cherat Range) is a ≥650 m sequence of unfossiliferous white-to-grey quartzites (with worm-burrow impressions) and a middle dark laminated argillite; its Ordovician age is inferred by lithological correlation with the Early–Middle Ordovician Misri Banda Quartzite. It has a conformable gradational contact with the underlying Darwaza Formation and is conformably overlain by the (?Devonian) Inzari Limestone. Consistent with the curated Ordovician age (noted as inferred/unfossiliferous).

Kazmi, A.H. & Jan, M.Q. (1997)
Kazmi & Abbasi (2008) COMPETING INTERPRETATION: the book now places the Hisartang Formation in the Late Proterozoic (below the ~750 Ma Inzari Limestone), superseding the earlier Ordovician age it inferred by lithological correlation with the Misri Banda Quartzite. As this unit is unfossiliferous, the Precambrian reassignment may be correct; recorded as a note and flagged with the Attock-Cherat cluster for reconciliation.

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

Sources (4)

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.
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.

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.

Spotted an error? Suggest a sourced correction →

Cite this unit

APA

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

BibTeX

@misc{stratigraphypk_hisartangformation,
  author    = {Qudsi, Lareb},
  title     = {{Hisartang 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/hisartang-formation (accessed October 29, 2026).

To cite the unit's original definition instead, see: Hussain et al. (1989).

Below · older

Darwaza Formation

Above · younger

Inzari Limestone

Devonian