Paleozoic • Permian group In GSP lexicon

Nilawahan Group

Permian

Kohat-Potwar Basin

Cited in 6 sources Last reviewed Aug 2, 2026

Unit summary

Rank: group
Status: Published
Age: Paleozoic · Permian · Early Permian (Cisuralian)Permian
Named by: Gee (in Pascoe 1959)
Type locality: Tobra
Thickness: ~350 m (Salt Range)
Lithology: Gondwana glacial-to-fluvial clastics: Tobra tillite and diamictite, Dandot and Warchha sandstones, and Sardhai shale.
Synonyms: Not recorded

The Early Permian Nilawahan Group of the Salt Range — Tobra (glacial tillite), Dandot, Warchha and Sardhai — recording the Gondwana ice age and its aftermath.

Nilawahan Group was proposed by Gee (in Pascoe 1959). It consists of following 3 formations. Tobra Formation: It was named after the Tobra village in the eastern Salt Range (Shah, 1977) for the Talchir boulder bed of Gee (in Pascoe, 1959). It consists of Tillitic facies in eastern Salt Range, fresh water facies of siltstone and shale with pollen and spore flora, and a complex facies of diamictite, sandstone and boulder beds increase in westernsalt range and Khisor range. The lower part of the formation in Zaluch Nala contains pollen and spores such as Punctatisporites cf. P. gretensis, Leiotriletes spp., Acanthotriletes cf. A. tereteangulatus, Apicnlatisporites sp., Protohaploxypinus sp., Striatopodocarpitrs sp., Potonieisporites sp. Kraeuselisporites sp., Nuskoisporites sp . On the basis of Protohaploxypinus sp. and Striatopodocarpitrs sp., the age is considered to be Early Permian deduced by Balme (in Teichert 1967). Warcha Sandstone: Warcha group was named after the Warcha gorge in the Salt Range by Noetling (1901) and Warcha Formation was named by Hussain (1967). It consists of speckled sandstone with some shale. It is lateral variation of Dandot formation exposed only in limited areas of eastern Salt Range while Warcha has vast exposure, so Warcha name is adopted here for Dandot Formation. Now Dandot is being considered junior synonym of Warcha formation. The basal p

Fossils

Protohaploxypinus sp Chonetes sp Eurydesma Conularia

Contacts

In the Kohat Basin column

LimestoneSandstoneFossils recordedContact 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.

Constituent units

Formations that make up this group, in stratigraphic order (youngest at top, as in the column).

Distribution & setting

Kohat Basin

Basin: Kohat-Potwar Basin
Region: Not recorded
Depositional environment: glacial, fluvial, paralic
Coordinates: Not recorded

Correlation

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

Economic significance

Coal & lignite Building stone

The Warchha Sandstone is a dimension/building stone; the group carries Gondwana fire-clay and coal locally.

Remarks

The Lower Permian Gondwana succession of the Salt Range, comprising the Tobra, Dandot, Warchha and Sardhai formations; records Gondwanan glaciation (the Tobra tillite) and post-glacial clastic deposition, with cool-climate palynofloras.

Research notes (5)

Field-by-field findings drawn from the cited literature. Every statement is traced to a registered source — follow a citation for the full reference.

Name & nomenclature (1)

Attested in Shah (2009), Geological Survey of Pakistan Memoir 22 - the Stratigraphic Committee of Pakistan's compiled lexicon (listed in the memoir's contents). Adds the definitional GSP/SCP lexicon citation.

Shah, S.M.I. (2009)

Stratigraphic contacts (1)

Ghazi et al. (2012): the Nilawahan Group unconformably overlies the Cambrian sequence (uppermost Cambrian = Baghanwala Formation) after a prolonged Palaeozoic non-deposition, and is unconformably overlain by the Tethyan shallow-marine carbonates of the Zaluch Group (basal unit Amb Formation).

Ghazi, S., Mountney, N.P., Butt, A.A. & Sharif, S. (2012)

Constituent units (3)

Comprises four formations: Tobra, Dandot, Warchha and Sardhai (Kazmi & Jan 1997). Dandot is sometimes treated as a junior synonym / lateral equivalent of the Warchha Sandstone.

Kazmi, A.H. & Jan, M.Q. (1997)
Ghazi et al. (2012), full text: the Nilawahan Group (~350 m, Early Permian, Salt Range) comprises FOUR formations in ascending order — Tobra (Asselian), Dandot (Sakmarian), Warchha Sandstone (Artinskian), Sardhai (Kungurian). Adds the Dandot Formation, which was missing from the members list.

Ghazi, S., Mountney, N.P., Butt, A.A. & Sharif, S. (2012)
Gee (1989): the Early Permian Nilawahan Group of the Salt Range comprises, in ascending order, the Tobra, Dandot, Warchha and Sardhai formations — glacial to shallow-marine and continental clastics deposited after the base-Permian unconformity.

Gee, E.R. (edited by Gee, D.G.) (1989)

Sources (6)

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.
Ghazi, S., Mountney, N.P., Butt, A.A. & Sharif, S. (2012). Stratigraphic and palaeoenvironmental framework of the Early Permian sequence in the Salt Range, Pakistan. Journal of Earth System Science, 121(5), 1239-1255.
Shah, S.M.I. (2009). Stratigraphy of Pakistan. Geological Survey of Pakistan, Memoir Vol. 22.
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.
Gee, E.R. (edited by Gee, D.G.) (1989). Overview of the geology and structure of the Salt Range, with observations on related areas of northern Pakistan. In: Malinconico, L.L. & Lillie, R.J. (eds) Tectonics of the Western Himalayas. Geological Society of America Special Paper 232, 95-112.

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: Name attested in the Shah (1977/2009) Geological Survey of Pakistan compilation — the national stratigraphic lexicon. This records where the name is documented; it is not an endorsement of the unit’s definition, age or figures.

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Cite this unit

APA

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

BibTeX

@misc{stratigraphypk_nilawahangroup,
  author    = {Qudsi, Lareb},
  title     = {{Nilawahan Group} --- 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/nilawahan-group (accessed October 29, 2026).

To cite the unit's original definition instead, see: Gee (in Pascoe 1959).

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