Precambrian • Neoproterozoic-Cambrian GSP memoir

Misgar Slate

Late Precambrian-Cambrian

Neoproterozoic-Cambrian in the time scale →

Cited in 7 sources Last reviewed Aug 20, 2026

Unit summary

Rank: Not recorded
Status: Published
Age: Precambrian · Neoproterozoic-CambrianLate Precambrian-Cambrian
Named by: Not recorded
Type locality: Misgar, Upper Hunza, Gilgit-Baltistan36.7875°N, 74.7682°E
Thickness: 1500-2000 m
Lithology: Black slate, phyllite, quartzite
Synonyms: Not recorded

Black slates and phyllites of upper Hunza (Misgar area) representing deep-marine deposition on the southern edge of the Asian plate; its age is debated in the literature.

Exposed in Misgar area of upper Hunza. Low-grade metamorphic sequence representing deep marine conditions on the southern margin of the Asian plate.

Fossils

Not recorded

Contacts

In the Karakoram column

LimestoneMetamorphicContact not recordedUnconformity

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

Karakoram

Basin: Not recorded
Region: Not recorded
Depositional environment: Not recorded
Coordinates: 36.7875°N, 74.7682°E

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Correlation

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

Economic significance

Not recorded

Remarks

A low-grade metamorphic slate-phyllite succession of the upper Hunza (Misgar) area, on the southern margin of the Asian (Karakoram) plate. Baseline age is Late Precambrian-Cambrian; note that some Karakoram literature instead assigns the Misgar Slate a much younger (Paleocene) age, so the age is regionally debated and left at the baseline value here.

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)

Kazmi & Jan (1997): the Misgar Slate (Desio 1963/64) is ~3,500 m of monotonous dark grey slate and phyllite with siliceous/calcareous interbeds, intruded by dolerite/gabbro/pegmatite sills and dykes, in the uppermost Hunza Valley (thrust southward over the Sost Unit); unfossiliferous, so only tentatively referred to the Palaeozoic — consistent with the curated Late Precambrian–Cambrian assignment being uncertain.

Kazmi, A.H. & Jan, M.Q. (1997)
Kazmi & Abbasi (2008): the Misgar Slate is unfossiliferous and only tentatively referred to the Palaeozoic — differing from the curated 'Late Precambrian–Cambrian'. Both assignments are tentative; recorded as a note pending fossil/isotopic control, curated value retained.

Kazmi, A.H. & Abbasi, I.A. (2008)
Zanchi & Gritti (1996) treat the Misgar Slates as the 'Misgar Unit' — slates of unknown age forming the northern boundary of the Northern Sedimentary Belt, thrust southward against the Sost Unit along a transpressive fault zone. Their 'unknown age' is a structural caution; the Late Precambrian-Cambrian assignment used here rests on the regional lithostratigraphic sources.

Zanchi, A. & Gritti, D. (1996)

Lithology (1)

Coward et al. (1984) (after Tahirkheli 1979): the Misgar Slates of the northernmost Hunza Valley are a ~3,500 m monotonous sequence of slates and phyllitic slates with thin carbonaceous and quartzitic bands, intruded by an early phase of gabbros and diorites and a later, more abundant phase of quartz porphyry, granite, aplite and pegmatite - the siliceous intrusions forming a linear belt along the Pakistan-China border in the Khunjerab area - and are assigned a Palaeozoic age.

Coward, M.P., Jan, M.Q., Rex, D., Tarney, J., Thirlwall, M. & Windley, B.F. (1984)

Geological significance (2)

Tahirkheli et al. (1990): the Misgar Slate and Passu Slate of Desio & Martina (1972) are shown to be a single lithological unit bifurcated by the Sost Anticline - Passu Slate on the SW flank, Misgar Slate on the NE flank - so the name Misgar Slate is withdrawn in their Upper Hunza scheme in favour of Passu Slate. The slates (light-to-dark grey slaty shale, slate and phyllitic slate with subordinate calcareous/arenaceous partings, so far unfossiliferous) overlie the Pak-China Friendship Formation with a marked unconformity and are intruded by the Karakoram Axial Batholith (S) and the Khunjerab Igneous Complex (N).

Tahirkheli, R.A.K., Sun Dongli, Pan Yushang, Deng Wanming, Zhang Yuquan, Baqri, S.R.H. & Dawood, H. (1990)
The Misgar Unit (slates of the Northern Karakorum sedimentary cover) records multistage structural evolution north of the Karakorum batholith in the Hunza region (Zanchi & Gritti 1996).

Zanchi, A. & Gritti, D. (1996)

Sources (6)

Malkani, M.S. & Mahmood, Z. (2017). Stratigraphy of Pakistan. Geological Survey of Pakistan, Memoir Vol. 24.
OpenStreetMap contributors and GEOnet Names Server (public geographic gazetteers), used to geolocate named GSP type localities to approximate decimal coordinates.
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.
Coward, M.P., Jan, M.Q., Rex, D., Tarney, J., Thirlwall, M. & Windley, B.F. (1984). Geology of the South Central Karakoram and Kohistan. In: Miller, K.J. (ed.), The International Karakoram Project, Vol. 2, 71-84. Cambridge University Press.
Tahirkheli, R.A.K., Sun Dongli, Pan Yushang, Deng Wanming, Zhang Yuquan, Baqri, S.R.H. & Dawood, H. (1990). Review of stratigraphy of the Upper Hunza Valley (UHV), NW Karakoram, Pakistan. Geological Bulletin, University of Peshawar, 23, 203-214.

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

BibTeX

@misc{stratigraphypk_misgarslate,
  author    = {Qudsi, Lareb},
  title     = {{Misgar Slate} --- 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/misgar-slate (accessed October 29, 2026).

Above · younger

Gircha Formation

Permian