Mesozoic • Cretaceous-Paleogene complex Literature

Kohistan Batholith

Cretaceous to Oligocene (c. 104-26 Ma; Stage 1 c. 104 Ma pre-suturing, Stages 2-3 c. 85-26 Ma post-suturing)

Kohistan Arc · Kohistan Batholith

Cretaceous-Paleogene in the time scale →

Cited in 8 sources Last reviewed Aug 2, 2026

Unit summary

Rank: complex
Status: Published
Age: Mesozoic · Cretaceous-PaleogeneCretaceous to Oligocene (c. 104-26 Ma; Stage 1 c. 104 Ma pre-suturing, Stages 2-3 c. 85-26 Ma post-suturing)
Named by: Petterson & Windley (1985)
Type locality: Northern Kohistan (Gilgit-Chalt-Hunza belt), intruding the Jaglot and Chalt sequences.
Thickness: Not recorded
Lithology: Calc-alkaline gabbroic to granitoid plutons — tonalites (e.g. the Matum Das Stage-1 tonalite), diorites, granodiorites, granites and granite sheets (e.g. Parri, Indus Confluence).
Synonyms: Not recorded

The Kohistan Batholith is the calc-alkaline gabbroic-to-granitoid plutonic suite intruding the northern Kohistan arc, divided (Petterson & Windley 1985) into three stages: Stage 1 plutons (c. 104 Ma) predate suturing to Asia and are deformed with the Jaglot Group, while Stage 2 (from c. 85 Ma) and Stage 3 (to c. 26 Ma) plutons postdate suturing. Its isotopic evolution records a shift from mantle-derived to increasingly crust-derived magmas, interpreted as arc thickening and lower-arc melting after suturing.

Fossils

Not recorded

Contacts

Lower contact — not recorded; upper contact — intrusive.

In the Kohistan Arc column

Shale / mudMetamorphicIgneousMixedContact not recordedIntrusive

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

Kohistan Arc

Basin: Kohistan Arc
Region: Kohistan Batholith
Depositional environment: volcanic-arc, plutonic
Coordinates: Not recorded

Correlation

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

Economic significance

Not recorded

Remarks

The principal arc-plutonic record of Kohistan; the deformed Stage-1 (pre-suturing) versus undeformed Stage 2-3 (post-suturing) plutons provide the main relative-dating framework for the arc. Stage-2 plutonism (from c. 85 Ma) was driven by heat from Chilas Complex emplacement.

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.

Age & correlation (2)

Hanson (1989): in the Shigar-valley arc terrane two intrusive phases are exposed — a pre-tectonic, possibly tholeiitic phase about 100 Ma old, and a post-tectonic, calc-alkaline to subalkaline phase 40–60 Ma old — bracketing deformation along the Northern Suture. Madin et al. (1989) group the Mesozoic to middle-Cenozoic mafic metasedimentary and intrusive arc rocks obducted onto the Indian margin along the MMT as the 'Kohistan Sequence'.

Hanson, C.R. (1989)
Petterson & Windley (1985): Rb-Sr whole-rock isochrons date the arc-batholith in three stages — the deformed first-stage Matum Das tonalite at 102±12 Ma (intra-oceanic, pre-collision; initial 87Sr/86Sr 0.7039) and second-stage Gilgit granitoids at 54±4 Ma and 40±6 Ma (Andean-type, post-collision), with post-collisional Indus Confluence aplite-pegmatite sheets at 34±14 and 29±8 Ma; major deformation fell between 102 and 54 Ma. This is the primary source for the three-stage age model, reviewed and extended by Petterson (2010, 2018).

Petterson, M.G. & Windley, B.F. (1985)

Geological significance (1)

Khan et al. (1989): the Kohistan–Ladakh island arc formed by northward subduction of neo-Tethyan oceanic lithosphere in Late Jurassic to Cretaceous time and extends for at least 1,000 km across the western Himalaya, southern Karakoram and eastern Hindu Kush. It is juxtaposed against the Asian plate to the north along the Main Karakoram Thrust (MKT) and against the Indian plate to the south along the Main Mantle Thrust (MMT), and comprises calc-alkaline volcanics, intra-arc sediments (with Aptian–Albian fossils) and diorite–tonalite–granite plutons; the earliest tonalite–diorite plutons have isotopic ages of 110–95 Ma.

Khan, M.A., Jan, M.Q., Windley, B.F., Tarney, J. & Thirlwall, M.F. (1989)

Sources (6)

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: Defined in journal or other literature; not found in a GSP memoir. There is no body currently ratifying unit status, so provenance is shown in place of a formal ruling.

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Cite this unit

APA

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

BibTeX

@misc{stratigraphypk_kohistanbatholith,
  author    = {Qudsi, Lareb},
  title     = {{Kohistan Batholith} --- 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/kohistan-batholith (accessed October 29, 2026).

To cite the unit's original definition instead, see: Petterson & Windley (1985).

Referenced in other successions

Underlain by Chilas Complex