Paleozoic • Carboniferous formation GSP memoir

Marghazar Formation

Carboniferous

Northern Indus Suture · Malakand

Cited in 7 sources Last reviewed Aug 10, 2026

Unit summary

Rank: formation
Status: Published
Age: Paleozoic · CarboniferousCarboniferous
Named by: DiPietro (1990)
Type locality: Stream valley north and south of Marghazar village, Lower Swat.34.7000°N, 72.3600°E
Thickness: Not recorded
Lithology: Garnetiferous schist, amphibolite, hornblende schist, psammitic schist and phlogopite marble.
Synonyms: Not recorded

The lowest Alpurai-Group unit — garnet schist, amphibolite and marble — tentatively Carboniferous, above the Manglaur Schist.

Marghazar formation is named after the Marghazar locality near Saidu, in Swat for the biotite schist, psammitic schist, calcite –phlogopite marble and minor garnet schist and amphibolite, exposed in the flanks of Loe Sar dome in Swat and extends from near Manglaur southward up to Jawar, westward up to 7km east of Chakdarra. Its age is constrained by the underlying Cambrian Swat granite gneiss and overlying Triassic Kashala formation.

Fossils

Not recorded

Contacts

In the Swat–Malakand column

LimestoneMixedMetamorphicContact 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

Swat–Malakand

Basin: Northern Indus Suture
Region: Malakand
Depositional environment: Not recorded
Coordinates: 34.7000°N, 72.3600°E

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Correlation

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

Economic significance

Not recorded

Remarks

The basal formation of the Alpurai Group, resting unconformably on the Manglaur Formation and Swat Granite Gneiss and overlain by the Kashala Formation; tentatively assigned a Carboniferous age (Pogue et al., 1992), with the overlying part of the group being Mesozoic.

Research notes (6)

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 (3)

Baseline age 'Cambrian–Triassic' is over-broad; Kazmi & Jan (1997), after Pogue et al. (1992), tentatively assign the Marghazar Formation a Carboniferous age (the overlying Kashala Formation yields Late Triassic conodonts). Age needs review.

Kazmi, A.H. & Jan, M.Q. (1997)
CONFIRMED by DiPietro et al. (1993, full text): the Marghazar Formation (subunits Am1-Am4) of the Alpurai Group unconformably overlies the Ilam gneiss and Manglaur formation in central Lower Swat; Carboniferous or younger. Corroborates the Carboniferous age. Distinct from the Karakoram Margach Formation.

DiPietro, J.A., Pogue, K.R., Lawrence, R.D., Baig, M.S., Hussain, A. & Ahmad, I. (1993)
DiPietro et al. (1993): Late Carboniferous (Westphalian) or younger, constrained by conodont dating of the correlative Jafar Kandao Formation and Karapa greenschist.

DiPietro, J.A., Pogue, K.R., Lawrence, R.D., Baig, M.S., Hussain, A. & Ahmad, I. (1993)

Lithology (2)

DiPietro et al. (1993): the only Alpurai Group formation containing amphibolites — a phlogopite-bearing marble forms discontinuous layers at the base and a persistent 20-50 m amphibolite horizon caps the formation; interpreted as a rift facies correlated with the Panjal Traps of western India.

DiPietro, J.A., Pogue, K.R., Lawrence, R.D., Baig, M.S., Hussain, A. & Ahmad, I. (1993)
Anczkiewicz et al. (1998): the Marghazar Formation forms the lower part of the Alpurai Schists - amphibolites and metapelites with granitoid sills/dikes and metabasaltic amphibolites, intruded by tourmaline-garnet microgranites (e.g. the Amlukdarra granite); its Middle Carboniferous to Permian levels are intruded by the Early Permian Swat granite.

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

Geological significance (1)

Tahirkheli, Khan & Mian (1993): the amphibolite marker horizon in the upper part of the Marghazar Formation (Lower Swat) is correlated with the Warsak basic rocks and the Karapa Greenschist - i.e. with the Permo-Triassic Panjal volcanics - as part of an initial-rift-stage continental-tholeiite suite of the northern Indian plate margin.

Tahirkheli, T., Khan, M.A. & Mian, I. (1993)

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.
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. & 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.
Tahirkheli, T., Khan, M.A. & Mian, I. (1993). The Warsak basic rocks: Initial-rift stage continental tholeiites of Permo-Triassic 'Panjal' affinity. Geological Bulletin, University of Peshawar, 26, 17-33.

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: Appears in a single-author Geological Survey of Pakistan memoir (Malkani & Mahmood 2017), not cross-confirmed against the Shah lexicon. The Stratigraphic Committee of Pakistan is largely inactive, so documented provenance — not formal ratification — is the available signal.

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Cite this unit

APA

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

BibTeX

@misc{stratigraphypk_marghazarformation,
  author    = {Qudsi, Lareb},
  title     = {{Marghazar 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/marghazar-formation (accessed October 29, 2026).

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

Below · older

Manglour Formation

Above · younger

Kashala Formation

Triassic