Paleozoic • Ordovician formation In GSP lexicon

Jobra Formation

Early–Middle Ordovician

Northern Indus Suture

Cited in 6 sources Last reviewed Jul 28, 2026

Unit summary

Rank: formation
Status: Published
Age: Paleozoic · Ordovician · Early–Middle OrdovicianEarly–Middle Ordovician
Named by: Stauffer (1968a)
Type locality: Misri Banda, Nowshera area34.5836°N, 72.3956°E
Thickness: 175 m
Lithology: Grey to pinkish, cross-bedded feldspathic quartzite with subordinate argillite, a basal conglomerate, and crinoidal limestone with dark phyllite in the upper third.
Synonyms: Misri Banda Quartzite

The Ordovician Misri Banda Quartzite near Nowshera, with Cruziana trace fossils, above the Ambar dolomite.

The Jobra Formation (DiPietro, 1990; Swat area, southeast of Ilam) is a proposed synonym of the Nowshera Formation (Stauffer, 1968) and corresponds to the Misri Banda Quartzite of the Nowshera hills — quartzite with limestone and argillite. It is dated Early–Middle Ordovician on the trace fossil Cruziana rugosa (Pogue et al., 1992; Kazmi & Jan, 1997) and rests unconformably on older (Cambrian?) rocks.

Fossils

Cruziana rugosa

Contacts

In the Khyber–Nowshera Belt column

MetamorphicLimestoneFossils 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: 34.5836°N, 72.3956°E

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Correlation

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

Economic significance

Not recorded

Remarks

The Misri Banda Quartzite of the Nowshera area — a cross-bedded feldspathic quartzite carrying the trace fossil Cruziana rugosa (Early–Middle Ordovician) — resting unconformably on the Cambrian Ambar Formation and overlain unconformably by the Panjpir 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)

Baseline age 'Cambrian–Carboniferous' is over-broad. This unit (type locality Misri Banda, Stauffer 1968a) is the Misri Banda Quartzite, dated Early–Middle Ordovician by the trace fossil Cruziana rugosa (Kazmi & Jan, 1997). Age needs review.

Kazmi, A.H. & Jan, M.Q. (1997)
DiPietro et al. (1993, Table 1) place the Jobra Formation (with a query) at the Early-Middle Paleozoic level, unconformably below the Alpurai Group. This is CONSISTENT with the dataset s Early-Middle Ordovician age (the text-level “unknown age” was hedging; the correlation chart positions it). No conflict.

DiPietro, J.A., Pogue, K.R., Lawrence, R.D., Baig, M.S., Hussain, A. & Ahmad, I. (1993)

Lithology (1)

DiPietro et al. (1993) apply the name 'Jobra formation' in Lower Swat to isolated lenses of fine-grained, wollastonite-bearing calc-silicate rock interlayered with quartzite, tremolite marble, garnetiferous schist and amphibolite, overlying the Ilam gneiss and unconformably below the Marghazar Formation (formalised at formation rank by DiPietro 1990). Its age is uncertain — possibly an early–middle Palaeozoic shelf sequence, perhaps correlative with the Devonian Nowshera Formation. This metamorphic Swat unit is lithologically distinct from the canonical (Ordovician, Peshawar-basin) Jobra Formation (Misri Banda Quartzite); the two may be homonyms.

DiPietro, J.A., Pogue, K.R., Lawrence, R.D., Baig, M.S., Hussain, A. & Ahmad, I. (1993)

Type locality & location (1)

Type locality relocated to Jubra, Gadezai, Buner (Ellum Road) — reviewer-verified against Google Maps and a published geological map (Plus Code H9MW+C6H). Supersedes an earlier Nowshera-area estimate.

OpenStreetMap contributors and GEOnet Names Server (public geographic gazetteers), used to geolocate named GSP type localities to approximate decimal coordinates.

Sources (5)

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.
DiPietro, J.A., Pogue, K.R., Lawrence, R.D., Baig, M.S., Hussain, A. & Ahmad, I. (1993). Stratigraphy south of the Main Mantle Thrust, Lower Swat, Pakistan. In: Treloar, P.J. & Searle, M.P. (eds), Himalayan Tectonics. Geological Society, London, Special Publications, 74, 207-220.
Shah, S.M.I. (2009). Stratigraphy of Pakistan. Geological Survey of Pakistan, Memoir Vol. 22.

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

BibTeX

@misc{stratigraphypk_jobraformation,
  author    = {Qudsi, Lareb},
  title     = {{Jobra 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/jobra-formation (accessed October 29, 2026).

To cite the unit's original definition instead, see: Stauffer (1968a).

Below · older

Ambar Formation

Cambrian

Above · younger

Panjpir Formation

Ordovician–Silurian