Mesozoic • Cretaceous formation Literature

Makai Limestone

Cretaceous (tentative)

NW Indian plate margin · Spinghar (Safed Koh) Range

Cited in 2 sources Last reviewed Aug 2, 2026

Unit summary

Rank: formation
Status: Published
Age: Mesozoic · CretaceousCretaceous (tentative)
Named by: Badshah et al. (2000)
Type locality: Spinghar (Safed Koh) Range, NW Pakistan.
Thickness: Not recorded
Lithology: Greenish-grey to dark grey, thinly bedded, siliceous limestone with basal conglomerate and grit; strongly folded, locally sheared to calcareous schist/mylonite.
Synonyms: Not recorded

A tentatively Cretaceous, several-hundred-metre-thick siliceous limestone of the Spinghar (Safed Koh) Range, introduced by Badshah et al. (2000). Greenish-grey to dark grey and thinly bedded, with basal conglomerate and grit marking a transgressive unconformity over older Spinghar units; its overturned top is sheared (calcareous mylonites) against the Miocene Murree Formation along the basal thrust of the Spinghar nappe.

Fossils

Not recorded

Contacts

In the Khyber–Nowshera Belt column

LimestoneShale / mudFossils recordedUnconformity

Band colour = period; texture = dominant rock type. Lines between bands mark the contact type (wavy = unconformity inferred from a missing period). 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: NW Indian plate margin
Region: Spinghar (Safed Koh) Range
Depositional environment: marine
Coordinates: Not recorded

Correlation

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

Economic significance

Not recorded

Remarks

Unconformably overlies the Sikaram Series, Spinghar Quartzite, Daradar Dolomite and Spinghar Crystalline unit (transgressive basal conglomerate); its sheared top against the Miocene Murree Formation marks the basal thrust of the Spinghar nappe (Badshah et al. 2000).

Sources (1)

Badshah, M.S., Gnos, E., Jan, M.Q. & Afridi, M.I. (2000). Stratigraphic and tectonic evolution of the northwestern Indian plate and Kabul Block. In: Khan, M.A., Treloar, P.J., Searle, M.P. & Jan, M.Q. (eds) Tectonics of the Nanga Parbat Syntaxis and the Western Himalaya. Geological Society, London, Special Publications, 170, 467-476.

Reviewer confidence: low

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.

Cite this unit

APA

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

BibTeX

@misc{stratigraphypk_makailimestone,
  author    = {Qudsi, Lareb},
  title     = {{Makai Limestone} --- 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/makai-limestone (accessed September 5, 2026).

To cite the unit's original definition instead, see: Badshah et al. (2000).