Paleozoic • Permian formation GSP memoir

Mekhband Formation

Permian

Northern Indus Suture · Malakand

Cited in 3 sources Last reviewed Jul 17, 2026

Unit summary

Rank: formation
Status: Under review
Age: Paleozoic · PermianPermian
Named by: DiPietro and Isachsen (2001)
Type locality: Not recorded
Thickness: Not recorded
Lithology: Not recorded
Synonyms: Not recorded

A Permian unit of the Swat area.

Mekhband formation is named by DiPietro and Isachsen (2001). It is exposed as allochthonous slices on the flanks of Pinjkora anticline in Malakand area. It is similar to Marghazar formation in Malakand areas. It conformably overlies the Proterozic Pinjkora complex and intruded by 278Ma Chakdarra orthogneiss, showing earliest Permian or older.

Fossils

Not recorded

Contacts

In the Swat–Malakand column

MetamorphicMixedLimestoneUnconformityContact not recorded

Band colour = period; texture = dominant rock type. Lines between bands mark the contact type (wavy = unconformity inferred from a missing period); 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

A Permian unit of the Swat/Indus syntaxis area (DiPietro and Isachsen, 2001).

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)

Corroborated by DiPietro & Isachsen (2001, full text): the Mekhband formation (Malakand slice) unconformably overlies the Pinjkora complex and is INTRUDED by the ~278 Ma Chakdarra orthogneiss - so it predates the early Permian and lithologically resembles the Marghazar/Kashala (Alpurai Group) rocks. This implies the dataset s "Permian" age is TOO YOUNG; recommend reviewing toward pre-Late-Palaeozoic (author to confirm).

DiPietro, J.A. & Isachsen, C.E. (2001)

Sources (1)

Malkani, M.S. & Mahmood, Z. (2017). Stratigraphy of Pakistan. Geological Survey of Pakistan, Memoir Vol. 24.

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: 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.

Spotted an error? Suggest a sourced correction →

Cite this unit

APA

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

BibTeX

@misc{stratigraphypk_mekhbandformation,
  author    = {Qudsi, Lareb},
  title     = {{Mekhband 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/mekhband-formation (accessed October 29, 2026).

To cite the unit's original definition instead, see: DiPietro and Isachsen (2001).