Paleozoic • Carboniferous–Permian formation In GSP lexicon

Panjal Formation

Early Permian (~290 Ma)

Northern Indus Suture · Hazara-Kashmir Syntaxis, Kaghan Nappe And Nosehri Area Of Lower Neelum And Lamnian Area Of Upper Jhelum, Azad Kashmir

Part of Panjal Group

Carboniferous–Permian in the time scale →

Cited in 7 sources Last reviewed Aug 10, 2026

Unit summary

Rank: formation
Status: Published
Age: Paleozoic · Carboniferous–Permian · Early PermianEarly Permian (~290 Ma)
Named by: Calkins et al. (1969)
Type locality: Hazara-Kashmir Syntaxis (Nosehri, lower Neelum; Lamnian, upper Jhelum)
Thickness: Not recorded
Lithology: Moderately metamorphosed lava flows and tuffs ('greenstones'; the Panjal volcanics), together with black agglomeratic slate — Carboniferous shale, slate and phyllite with quartzose agglomeratic sandstone.
Synonyms: Panjal System; Panjal Traps; Panjal Volcanic Series; Agglomeratic Slate

The Carboniferous–Permian Panjal volcanics ('greenstones') and agglomerate slate of the Hazara-Kashmir Syntaxis.

Named by Chaudhry et al. (1986) for the upper volcano-sedimentary unit of the Panjal succession (Lydekker, 1878; Wadia, 1931), the Panjal Formation is exposed along the northern and eastern margins of the Hazara–Kashmir Syntaxis between the Murree and Panjal faults, and around Nosehri, Lamnian and Forward Kahota in Azad Kashmir. Associated Panjal-Trap dolerite dykes and gabbro–norite bodies intrude the older Proterozoic sequences.

Fossils

Not recorded

Contacts

In the Azad Kashmir column

LimestoneMixedMetamorphicFossils 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

Azad Kashmir

Basin: Northern Indus Suture
Region: Hazara-Kashmir Syntaxis, Kaghan Nappe And Nosehri Area Of Lower Neelum And Lamnian Area Of Upper Jhelum, Azad Kashmir
Depositional environment: volcanic, marine
Coordinates: Not recorded

Correlation

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

Economic significance

Not recorded

Remarks

The Panjal volcanic-and-agglomeratic-slate sequence exposed around the apex of the Hazara-Kashmir Syntaxis (the 'Panjal System' of Lydekker, 1878); Calkins et al. (1969) applied the name to both the greenstone lava flows/tuffs and the agglomerate slate, dated Carboniferous to Permian on rare fossils.

Sources (9)

Shellnutt, J. G. et al. (2011). U–Pb zircon ages constrain the Panjal Traps to the Early Permian (~288–289 Ma).
Malkani, M. S. & Mahmood, Z. (2017). Stratigraphy of Pakistan. Memoir of the Geological Survey of Pakistan, Vol. 24.
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.
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.
Calkins, J.A., Offield, T.W., Abdullah, S.K.M. & Ali, S.T. (1975). Geology of the southern Himalaya in Hazara, Pakistan, and adjacent areas. U.S. Geological Survey Professional Paper 716-C, 29 p. (Geological Investigations in Pakistan).
Chaudhry, M.N., Ghazanfar, M. & Hussain, M.S. (1989). Petrography, Metamorphism, Nature and Origin of Agglomeratic Slate in Kaghan Valley, District Mansehra, Pakistan. Geological Bulletin of the Punjab University, 24, 61-70.
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: 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.

Cite this unit

APA

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

BibTeX

@misc{stratigraphypk_panjalformation,
  author    = {Qudsi, Lareb},
  title     = {{Panjal 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/panjal-formation (accessed September 5, 2026).

To cite the unit's original definition instead, see: Calkins et al. (1969).