Paleozoic • Permian formation In GSP lexicon

Kundil Formation

Permian

Karakoram-Hindukush Basin · Central Karakoram Batholith

Cited in 8 sources Last reviewed Aug 20, 2026

Unit summary

Rank: formation
Status: Published
Age: Paleozoic · Permian · Late PermianPermian
Named by: Gaetani et al. (1990a)
Type locality: Kundil valley36.7100°N, 74.7700°E
Thickness: cherty limestone about 100–120 m (Wirokhun Saddle / Borom gullies west of Sost), with a laterally thinning megabreccia body in the middle–upper part
Lithology: Cherty limestone with marl and fine tuff: a lower thick-bedded cherty limestone unit, a middle grey cherty limestone unit, and an upper unit, with a metabreccia up to 100 m thick between the middle and upper units.
Synonyms: Not recorded

The Late Permian cherty-limestone top of the Chapursan Group in upper Hunza.

Kundil formation is named after Kundil valley, south of Darband post about 10km NW of Sost (Shimshal and Chapursan Valleys of upper Hunza) by Gaetani et al. (1990a), presented 3 members of marl, limestone and fine tuffs of Late Permian age.

Fossils

Conodonts (Lopingian: Clarkina, Iranognathus)

Contacts

In the Karakoram column

SandstoneLimestoneMixedShale / mudFossils 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

Karakoram

Basin: Karakoram-Hindukush Basin
Region: Central Karakoram Batholith
Depositional environment: marine
Coordinates: 36.7100°N, 74.7700°E

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See it in the field

Geoheritage site where this unit is exposed at outcrop.

Khunjerab Pass & National Park

Karakoram

Correlation

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

Economic significance

Not recorded

Remarks

Uppermost Permian formation of the Chapursan Group in the Upper Hunza region; conformably overlies the Panjshah Formation.

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.

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 (3)

Gaetani et al. (2013): conodonts refine the Kundil Formation to the Lopingian — late Wuchiapingian (Iranognathus sosioensis, Clarkina liangshanensis, C. orientalis) through early–mid Changhsingian (C. changxingensis, C. subcarinata) to late Changhsingian, with the very top yielding C. abadehensis + C. hauschkei (the last two Changhsingian conodont zones). The deep-water cherty limestone was formerly assigned to the latest Permian only (Gaetani et al. 1995) and is here emended; CAI 5. The Permian–Triassic boundary is drawn at the Kundil–Wirokhun contact.

Gaetani, M., Nicora, A., Henderson, C., Cirilli, S., Gale, L., Rettori, R., Vuolo, I. & Atudorei, V. (2013)
Gaetani et al. (1995): the Kundil Formation (three members, up to ~190 m at its type section in the lower Kundil valley, Upper Hunza) is a pelagic cherty-limestone unit with a laterally thinning megabreccia body recording Midian-Dzhulfian block-faulting on a sinking NE slope. Conodonts date it ?late Murgabian to Midian - Gondolella phosphoriensis at the base, Sweetognathus cf. hanzongensis with G. bitteri and G. phosphoriensis in Member 2 (late Murgabian-Midian), and G. bitteri + G. phosphoriensis into Member 3 (early Late Guadalupian/Midian). It rests with a sharp base (reworked fusulinids) on the Panjshah Formation and is overlain by the Wirokhun Formation.

Gaetani, M., Angiolini, L., Garzanti, E., Jadoul, F., Leven, E.Ya., Nicora, A. & Sciunnach, D. (1995)
Gaetani (1997): the Kundil Fm. cherty limestones carry huge megabreccia bodies up to 100 m thick whose clasts contain reworked Sakmarian fusulinids, recording block-faulting and erosion of strata lying ~600 m lower in the Chapursan sequence; the unit passes up from late Murgabian-Midian ash-grey siltstones (bryozoan-brachiopod, reworked fusulinids, rare conodonts) and its upper part yields late Midian conodonts. Constrains the age to the late Middle-Late Permian and documents the syn-depositional extensional tectonics.

Gaetani, M. (1997)

Sources (7)

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.
Shah, S.M.I. (2009). Stratigraphy of Pakistan. Geological Survey of Pakistan, Memoir Vol. 22.
Gaetani, M., Nicora, A., Henderson, C., Cirilli, S., Gale, L., Rettori, R., Vuolo, I. & Atudorei, V. (2013). Refinements in the Upper Permian to Lower Jurassic stratigraphy of Karakorum, Pakistan. Facies, 59, 915-948.
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.
Gaetani, M., Angiolini, L., Garzanti, E., Jadoul, F., Leven, E.Ya., Nicora, A. & Sciunnach, D. (1995). Permian stratigraphy in the Northern Karakorum, Pakistan. Rivista Italiana di Paleontologia e Stratigrafia, 101(2), 107-152.

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

BibTeX

@misc{stratigraphypk_kundilformation,
  author    = {Qudsi, Lareb},
  title     = {{Kundil 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/kundil-formation (accessed October 29, 2026).

To cite the unit's original definition instead, see: Gaetani et al. (1990a).

Below · older

Panjshah Formation