Paleozoic • Devonian Redefined In GSP lexicon

Nowshera Formation

Early Devonian

Devonian in the time scale →

Cited in 9 sources Last reviewed Aug 10, 2026

Unit summary

Rank: Not recorded
Status: Published
Age: Paleozoic · Devonian · Early DevonianEarly Devonian
Named by: Stauffer (1968); redefined by Pogue and Hussain (1986)
Type locality: 3.5 km north of Nowshera34.0470°N, 71.9750°E
Thickness: 595 m
Lithology: Reef limestone rich in corals and stromatoporoids, surrounded by brecciated reef limestone and sparsely fossiliferous dolomite, with a middle carbonate-cemented sandstone unit.
Synonyms: Not recorded

Nomenclature

Redefined. First defined by Stauffer (1968); redefined by Pogue and Hussain (1986).

Browse all alternative & superseded names →

An Early Devonian coral-stromatoporoid reef complex at Nowshera, above the Panjpir Formation.

Exposed in Nowshera area. Contains conodonts and brachiopods indicating Ordovician-Silurian age.

Fossils

Corals Stromatoporoids Cephalopods Gastropods Brachiopods Conodonts

Contacts

In the Hazara Basin column

MetamorphicLimestoneIgneousFossils recordedConformableUnconformity

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

Hazara Basin

Basin: Not recorded
Region: Not recorded
Depositional environment: marine, reef
Coordinates: 34.0470°N, 71.9750°E

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See it in the field

Geoheritage site where this unit is exposed at outcrop.

Nowshera Devonian Reef

Khyber–Nowshera Belt

Correlation

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

Economic significance

Not recorded

Remarks

An Early Devonian reef complex at Nowshera, conformably overlying the Late Silurian Panjpir Formation; as redefined by Pogue and Hussain (1986) it includes a lower fossiliferous limestone/dolomite, a middle carbonate-cemented sandstone (the Misri Banda Quartzite of Stauffer) and an upper limestone/dolomite (the Pir Sabak Formation). Conodonts indicate an Early Devonian age.

Sources (9)

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.
Shah, S.M.I. (2009). Stratigraphy of Pakistan. Geological Survey of Pakistan, Memoir Vol. 22.
Molloy, P.D., Talent, J.A. & Mawson, R. (1997). Late Devonian-Tournaisian conodonts from the eastern Khyber region, north-west Pakistan. Rivista Italiana di Paleontologia e Stratigrafia, 103(2), 123-148.
Mawson, R., Talent, J.A. et al. (2003). Siluro-Devonian conodonts from Nowshera, Pakistan. [Journal details not machine-readable from the supplied scanned PDF.]
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.
Pogue, K.R., Harris, A.G. & Hussain, A. (1992). Paleozoic and Mesozoic stratigraphy of the Peshawar basin, Pakistan: Correlations and implications. Geological Society of America Bulletin, 104(8), 915-927.
Hussain, A., DiPietro, J.A. & Pogue, K.R. (1998). Stratigraphy and structure of the Peshawar basin, Pakistan. Journal of Nepal Geological Society, 18, 25-35.

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: 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.

Cite this unit

APA

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

BibTeX

@misc{stratigraphypk_nowsheraformation,
  author    = {Qudsi, Lareb},
  title     = {{Nowshera 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/nowshera-formation (accessed September 5, 2026).

To cite the unit's original definition instead, see: Stauffer (1968); redefined by Pogue and Hussain (1986).

Below · older

Panjpir Formation

Ordovician–Silurian

Above · younger

Shagai Limestone

Silurian–Devonian

Referenced in other successions

Overlain by Jafar Kandao Formation