Quaternary • Quaternary formation GSP memoir

Sakhi Sarwar Formation

Holocene

Kirthar Basin · Eastern Kirthar (Sindh)

Part of Sakhi Sarwar Group

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Cited in 2 sources Last reviewed Jul 17, 2026

Unit summary

Rank: formation
Status: Published
Age: Quaternary · Quaternary · HoloceneHolocene
Named by: Malkani (2012h)
Type locality: Not recorded
Thickness: Not recorded
Lithology: Mud and sandstone with poorly developed conglomerate.
Synonyms: Not recorded

A very young (Holocene) mud-and-sand molasse, one of the last foreland deposits of the region.

Sakhi Sarwar Formation It was named by Malkani (2012h) for the varicoloured clays, sandstone, siltstone and conglomerate. Its lower contact with Dada Formation and upper contact with subrecent at places is angular and at places transitional. Its age is Holocene.

Fossils

Not recorded

Contacts

In the Sindh Province column

SandstoneShale / mudFossils recordedContact not recorded

Band colour = period; texture = dominant rock type. Lines between bands mark the contact type; 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

Sindh Province

Basin: Kirthar Basin
Region: Eastern Kirthar (Sindh)
Depositional environment: fluvial, continental
Coordinates: Not recorded

Correlation

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

Economic significance

Not recorded

Remarks

A Holocene molasse unit of the Sakhi Sarwar Group (with the Dada Formation), among the youngest foreland deposits of the Sulaiman–Kirthar region.

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.

Lithology (1)

Second Malkani reference (2020, same author - not independent): the Sakhi Sarwar Formation is mud and sandstone with poorly developed conglomerate (mud-dominant in valley centres), Pleistocene-Holocene, of the Sakhi Sarwar Group (with the Dada Formation), concealed in places by Subrecent-Recent fluvial/eolian/colluvial deposits.

Malkani, M.S. (2020)

Sources (2)

Malkani, M.S. & Mahmood, Z. (2017). Stratigraphy of Pakistan. Geological Survey of Pakistan, Memoir Vol. 24.
Malkani, M.S. (2020). Revised Stratigraphy and Mineral Resources of Balochistan Basin, Pakistan: An Update. Open Journal of Geology, 10, 784-828.

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.

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Cite this unit

APA

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

BibTeX

@misc{stratigraphypk_sakhisarwarformation,
  author    = {Qudsi, Lareb},
  title     = {{Sakhi Sarwar 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/sakhi-sarwar-formation (accessed October 29, 2026).

To cite the unit's original definition instead, see: Malkani (2012h).

Below · older

Dada Formation

Quaternary