Paleozoic • Cambrian In GSP lexicon

Khewra Sandstone

Early Cambrian

Cited in 10 sources Last reviewed Aug 20, 2026

Unit summary

Rank: Not recorded
Status: Published
Age: Paleozoic · Cambrian · TerreneuvianEarly Cambrian
Named by: Noetling (1894) as 'Khewra group'; Wynne (1878) 'Purple sandstone series'; formalized as Khewra Sandstone by the Stratigraphic Committee of Pakistan, Fatmi (1973)
Type locality: Khewra Gorge, Salt Range32.6486°N, 73.0111°E
Thickness: 100-300 m
Lithology: Purple to reddish-brown sandstone with cross-bedding
Synonyms: Purple Sandstone

A distinctive purple-red Cambrian sandstone that marks the base of the Salt Range Paleozoic sequence; it was laid down by rivers and deltas under a dry climate.

Named after Khewra Gorge. Distinctive purple sandstone marking base of Paleozoic sequence. Contains trace fossils interpreted as trilobite trails. Part of the Khewra Group.

Fossils

Trilobite trails (trace fossils)Skolithos burrows Cruziana traces

Contacts

In the Salt Range column

LimestoneSandstoneFossils 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

Salt Range Kohat Basin Potwar Basin

Basin: Not recorded
Region: Not recorded
Depositional environment: fluvial, deltaic
Coordinates: 32.6486°N, 73.0111°E

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See it in the field

Geoheritage site where this unit is exposed at outcrop.

Khewra Salt Mine

Salt Range

Correlation

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

Economic significance

Building stone Groundwater

Dimension stone, aquifer

Remarks

The basal Cambrian clastic unit of the Salt Range (Jhelum Group), recording fluvial to deltaic deposition under arid to semi-arid conditions; sedimentary-geochemical signatures point to a felsic continental (southern Indian) provenance.

Research notes (4)

Field-by-field findings drawn from the cited literature. Every statement is traced to a registered source — follow a citation for the full reference.

Age & correlation (1)

Kazmi & Jan (1997): the Khewra Sandstone (Lower Cambrian; type locality Khewra Gorge) is 150 m (80 m in the Khisor Range) of reddish-brown to purple, cross-bedded thick sandstone with ripple marks and mud cracks, resting on the Salt Range Formation without apparent disconformity and overlain disconformably by the Kussak Formation; devoid of fossils apart from rare trilobite trace fossils.

Kazmi, A.H. & Jan, M.Q. (1997)

Stratigraphic contacts (1)

Qanit et al. (2025): the Khewra Sandstone has a disconformable contact with the overlying Kussak Formation. Corroborates the recorded upper contact.

Qanit, A.B., Iqbal, S., Kamran, A.H., Idrees, M., Sames, B. & Wagreich, M. (2025)

Economic significance (1)

Craig et al. (2018): the Lower Cambrian Khewra Sandstone is a producing oil reservoir in the Adhi, Chak Naurang and Rajian fields (Khan et al. 1986) - the oldest (Early Cambrian) of the ~11 clastic/carbonate plays of the Potwar-Kohat Province; charged mainly by Infra-Cambrian (Salt Range Formation) source rocks.

Craig, J., Hakhoo, N., Bhat, G.M., Hafiz, M., Khan, M.R., Misra, R., Pandita, S.K., Raina, B.K., Thurow, J., Thusu, B., Ahmed, W. & Khullar, S. (2018)

Geological significance (1)

Qanit et al. (2025), full text: facies and geochemistry of the Khewra Sandstone (lowermost unit of the Cambrian Jhelum Group) record deposition in fluvial-deltaic settings with fluvial and tidal processes under an overall arid to semi-arid palaeoclimate with poor-to-moderate chemical weathering (average Chemical Index of Alteration ~62); felsic continental-block provenance. Type locality: Khewra Gorge, eastern Salt Range.

Qanit, A.B., Iqbal, S., Kamran, A.H., Idrees, M., Sames, B. & Wagreich, M. (2025)

Sources (10)

Malkani, M.S. & Mahmood, Z. (2017). Stratigraphy of Pakistan. Geological Survey of Pakistan, Memoir Vol. 24.
OpenStreetMap contributors and GEOnet Names Server (public geographic gazetteers), used to geolocate named GSP type localities to approximate decimal coordinates.
Shah, S.M.I. (1977). Stratigraphy of Pakistan. Geological Survey of Pakistan, Memoir Vol. 12.
Qanit, A.B., Iqbal, S., Kamran, A.H., Idrees, M., Sames, B. & Wagreich, M. (2025). Sedimentary Facies and Geochemical Signatures of the Khewra Sandstone: Reconstructing Cambrian Paleoclimates and Paleoweathering in the Salt Range, Pakistan. Minerals, 15(8), 789.
Indian Plate Lexicon (indplex.geolex.org), Geological Society of India and international compilation.
Shah, S.M.I. (2009). Stratigraphy of Pakistan. Geological Survey of Pakistan, Memoir Vol. 22.
Kazmi, A.H. & Jan, M.Q. (1997). Geology and Tectonics of Pakistan. Graphic Publishers, Karachi.
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.
Gee, E.R. (edited by Gee, D.G.) (1989). Overview of the geology and structure of the Salt Range, with observations on related areas of northern Pakistan. In: Malinconico, L.L. & Lillie, R.J. (eds) Tectonics of the Western Himalayas. Geological Society of America Special Paper 232, 95-112.
Craig, J., Hakhoo, N., Bhat, G.M., Hafiz, M., Khan, M.R., Misra, R., Pandita, S.K., Raina, B.K., Thurow, J., Thusu, B., Ahmed, W. & Khullar, S. (2018). Petroleum systems and hydrocarbon potential of the North-West Himalaya of India and Pakistan. Earth-Science Reviews, 187, 109-185.

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.

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Cite this unit

APA

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

BibTeX

@misc{stratigraphypk_khewrasandstone,
  author    = {Qudsi, Lareb},
  title     = {{Khewra Sandstone} --- 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/khewra-sandstone (accessed October 29, 2026).

To cite the unit's original definition instead, see: Noetling (1894) as 'Khewra group'; Wynne (1878) 'Purple sandstone series'; formalized as Khewra Sandstone by the Stratigraphic Committee of Pakistan, Fatmi (1973).

Below · older

Salt Range Formation

Ediacaran

Above · younger

Kussak Formation

Cambrian