Mesozoic Literature

Korara Shale

Late Cretaceous (Maastrichtian) to Paleocene (Montian); locally into the Lower Eocene

Cited in 1 source Last reviewed Aug 29, 2026

Unit summary

Rank: Not recorded
Status: Published
Age: MesozoicLate Cretaceous (Maastrichtian) to Paleocene (Montian); locally into the Lower Eocene
Named by: Korara Shale of the Jakkher Group (HSC 1960); foraminiferal biostratigraphy by Khursheed (1972).
Type locality: Jakkher Lak (Map ref 35 O/2), Pab Range; measured reference section at Goth Allah Baksh, ~6 miles south of Jakkher Lak.
Thickness: 460 m (Goth Allah Baksh)
Lithology: Dark grey to olive grey shale with traces of clayey, dark grey, fine-grained sandstone.
Synonyms: Not recorded

The Korara Shale, part of the Jakkher Group (HSC 1960) and named after the Korara Pass in the southern Pab Range, is a dark shale succession that rests with apparent conformity on the Pab Sandstone and is overlain by a ~40 m limestone breccia (mixed Eocene-Oligocene fauna, interpreted as slumped). At Goth Allah Baksh it is ~460 m thick. Its foraminiferal fauna show it ranges from the Upper Cretaceous (Maastrichtian) through the Paleocene (Montian) and locally into the Lower Eocene, making it a transgressive facies that spans the Cretaceous-Paleogene boundary without an obvious depositional break, so the boundary can be placed only biostratigraphically (Khursheed, 1972).

Fossils

Globotruncana stuarti Globotruncana gansseri Pseudotextularia elegans Heterohelix navarroensis Guembelitria cretacea Zeauvigerina aegyptica

Contacts

In the Kirthar Range column

Shale / mudSandstoneLimestoneFossils 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

Kirthar Range Sulaiman Fold Belt

Basin: Not recorded
Region: Not recorded
Depositional environment: Not recorded
Coordinates: Not recorded

Correlation

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

Economic significance

Not recorded

Remarks

A rare continuous ("unbroken") Cretaceous-Paleogene boundary succession in Pakistan: the transgressive shale spans the Maastrichtian-Danian without an obvious depositional break, so the K-Pg boundary is detectable only through biostratigraphy (Khursheed, 1972).

Research notes (1)

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)

Khursheed (1972): foraminifera from the Korara Shale at Goth Allah Baksh (Pab Range) — basal 155 m Maastrichtian (Globotruncana stuarti, G. gansseri, Pseudotextularia elegans, Heterohelix spp., Guembelitria cretacea, Zeauvigerina aegyptica) ranging up into the Paleocene (Montian) and locally the Lower Eocene. ~460 m thick, apparently conformable on the Pab Sandstone, overlain by ~40 m limestone breccia; part of the Jakkher Group (type locality Jakkher Lak).

Khursheed, S.H. (1972)

Sources (1)

Khursheed, S.H. (1972). Foraminiferal Fauna of Korara Shale. Pakistan Journal of Scientific and Industrial Research, 15(6), 368-370.

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

BibTeX

@misc{stratigraphypk_korarashale,
  author    = {Qudsi, Lareb},
  title     = {{Korara Shale} --- 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/korara-shale (accessed October 29, 2026).

To cite the unit's original definition instead, see: Korara Shale of the Jakkher Group (HSC 1960); foraminiferal biostratigraphy by Khursheed (1972)..

Below · older

Pab Sandstone

Cretaceous