Precambrian • Ediacaran formation Literature

Manglaur Formation

Late Neoproterozoic to Early Cambrian

Northern Indus Suture · Malakand

Cited in 4 sources Last reviewed Aug 10, 2026

Unit summary

Rank: formation
Status: Published
Age: Precambrian · EdiacaranLate Neoproterozoic to Early Cambrian
Named by: DiPietro (1990)
Type locality: Ridge north of Narbatawal, near Loe Sar, Lower Swat, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
Thickness: up to ~1500 m (maximum exposed, uncorrected for strain and folding)
Lithology: Metamorphosed garnetiferous schist and micaceous quartzite, with thick interlayers of quartzite, feldspathic quartzite and tremolite marble near the top; minor graphitic schist, amphibolite and marble.
Synonyms: Manglaur Schist

The oldest unit of the Lower Swat rock sequence (Indian plate, south of the Main Mantle Thrust). It comprises metasedimentary garnetiferous schist and micaceous quartzite, sandwiched within the Swat granitic gneiss and unconformably overlain by the Alpurai Group. Unfossiliferous, it is lithologically correlated with the Late Precambrian–Early Cambrian Tanawal Formation.

Fossils

Not recorded

Contacts

Lower contact — intrusive; upper contact — unconformable.

In the Swat–Malakand column

MetamorphicLimestoneContact not recordedUnconformityIntrusive

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

Swat–Malakand

Basin: Northern Indus Suture
Region: Malakand
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

The basal unit of the Lower Swat sequence; intruded by the Late Cambrian–Early Ordovician Swat granitic gneiss and unconformably overlain by the Alpurai Group, it represents the Precambrian basement beneath the Palaeozoic–Mesozoic Alpurai shelf.

Research notes (2)

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 Manglaur Schist (age uncertain, tentatively Precambrian; type near Manglaur village, Swat) is quartz-feldspar, quartz-mica-garnet, quartz-mica-kyanite and graphitic schist with amphibolite and calc-silicate (two garnet generations = ≥two metamorphic events), forming crystalline basement of the Swat Nappe intruded by the Swat Granite Gneiss and unconformably overlain by the Late Palaeozoic Alpurai Group. Corroborates the curated Late Neoproterozoic–Early Cambrian age (book flags it as uncertain).

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

Geological significance (1)

Anczkiewicz et al. (1998): in Lower Swat the Manglaur Schists (quartz-mica-garnet schists and micaceous quartzites, amphibolite/kyanite facies; believed Precambrian to Early Cambrian) are the structurally lowest Indian-plate unit and the pre-intrusion country rock of the Swat granite-gneiss (Early Permian, U-Pb ~276 Ma).

Anczkiewicz, R., Burg, J.-P., Hussain, S.S., Dawood, H., Ghazanfar, M. & Chaudhry, M.N. (1998)

Sources (5)

DiPietro, J.A., Pogue, K.R., Lawrence, R.D., Baig, M.S., Hussain, A. & Ahmad, I. (1993). Stratigraphy south of the Main Mantle Thrust, Lower Swat, Pakistan. Geological Society, London, Special Publications, 74, 207-220.
DiPietro, J.A., Pogue, K.R., Lawrence, R.D., Baig, M.S., Hussain, A. & Ahmad, I. (1993). Stratigraphy south of the Main Mantle Thrust, Lower Swat, Pakistan. In: Treloar, P.J. & Searle, M.P. (eds), Himalayan Tectonics. Geological Society, London, Special Publications, 74, 207-220.
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.
Anczkiewicz, R., Burg, J.-P., Hussain, S.S., Dawood, H., Ghazanfar, M. & Chaudhry, M.N. (1998). Stratigraphy and structure of the Indus Suture in the Lower Swat, Pakistan, NW Himalaya. Journal of Asian Earth Sciences, 16(2-3), 225-238.

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

BibTeX

@misc{stratigraphypk_manglaurformation,
  author    = {Qudsi, Lareb},
  title     = {{Manglaur 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/manglaur-formation (accessed October 29, 2026).

To cite the unit's original definition instead, see: DiPietro (1990).

Above · younger

Alpurai Group