group GSP memoir

Hispar Sar Group

Karakoram-Hindukush Basin · Southern Metamorphic Belt

Cited in 4 sources Last reviewed Jun 29, 2026

Unit summary

Rank: group
Status: Under review
Age: Not recorded
Named by: Tahirkheli (1996)
Type locality: Right bank of the Hispar glacier, extending northwest into the Hunza valley36.0800°N, 75.3000°E
Thickness: Not recorded
Lithology: Massive marble with aluminous schist, quartzite and dark amphibolite.
Synonyms: Ganesh Marble

A marble group of the Hispar–Hunza area that hosts the celebrated Hunza rubies.

Hispar Sar group is named after the right bank of Hispar glacier and may be traced northwestward into the Hunza valley. It consists of massive marbles with aluminous schists and quartzites with dark coloured amphibolite. It has tectonic contact with Hunza granodiorite and at places this contact is intrusive. This unit hosts the famous Hunza rubies and other gemstones (Kazmi and Jan 1997, Le Fort and Pechner 2001). Earlier this unit was named as Ganesh marble by Tahirkheli (1996).

Fossils

Not recorded

Contacts

Not recorded

Distribution & setting

Karakoram

Basin: Karakoram-Hindukush Basin
Region: Southern Metamorphic Belt
Depositional environment: Not recorded
Coordinates: 36.0800°N, 75.3000°E

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Correlation

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

Economic significance

Metals & minerals

Hosts the famous Hunza ruby (corundum) deposits and other gemstones.

Remarks

A marble-dominated group of the Karakoram metamorphic belt with a tectonic, locally intrusive contact against the Hunza Granodiorite; earlier called the Ganesh Marble (Tahirkheli, 1996). Its ruby-corundum marbles, northeast of Aliabad, formed under high-grade conditions.

Sources (3)

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.

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: Appears in a single-author Geological Survey of Pakistan memoir (Malkani & Mahmood 2017), not cross-confirmed against the Shah lexicon. The Stratigraphic Committee of Pakistan is largely inactive, so documented provenance — not formal ratification — is the available signal.

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Cite this unit

APA

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

BibTeX

@misc{stratigraphypk_hisparsargroup,
  author    = {Qudsi, Lareb},
  title     = {{Hispar Sar Group} --- 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/hispar-sar-group (accessed October 29, 2026).

To cite the unit's original definition instead, see: Tahirkheli (1996).