Quaternary • Quaternary group GSP memoir

Sakhi Sarwar Group

Pleistocene–Holocene

Balochistan Basin · Kakar-Khurasan Basin

Cited in 2 sources Last reviewed Jul 17, 2026

Unit summary

Rank: group
Status: Published
Age: Quaternary · Quaternary · Pleistocene–HolocenePleistocene–Holocene
Named by: Malkani (2012)
Type locality: Not recorded
Thickness: 2000m
Lithology: Conglomerate, mud and sandstone (molasse).
Synonyms: Boston Formation

The Pleistocene–Holocene Sakhi Sarwar Group — the Dada and Sakhi Sarwar formations — the youngest gravels and muds of the foreland.

The Sakhi Sarwar Group is a Pleistocene-Holocene unit of the Balochistan basin (Malkani 2014c), synonymous with the Bostan Formation. It comprises the Dada Formation and the Sakhi Sarwar Formation (mud and sandstone with poorly developed conglomerate, mud-dominant in valley centres), concealed at places in valleys and plains by Subrecent and Recent mud flows and fluvial, eolian and colluvial deposits. Malkani (2014c) placed it at the top of his revised stratigraphy of the Kakar Khorasan basin, above the Oligocene-Pliocene Vihowa Group (synonym of the Malthanai / Dasht Murgha group) and the Cretaceous-Eocene Nisai and Shagala groups.

Fossils

Not recorded

Contacts

In the Zhob-Muslim Bagh column

Shale / mudConglomerateSandstoneFossils 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.

Constituent units

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

Distribution & setting

Zhob-Muslim Bagh

Basin: Balochistan Basin
Region: Kakar-Khurasan Basin
Depositional environment: fluvial, alluvial
Coordinates: Not recorded

Correlation

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

Economic significance

Not recorded

Remarks

The youngest foreland succession of the Sulaiman/Kirthar region, comprising the Dada and Sakhi Sarwar formations; conglomeratic to muddy molasse capping the basin fill.

Research notes (2)

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 (1)

Current record lists Cretaceous–Holocene, which is too broad; Malkani defines the Sakhi Sarwar Group as Pleistocene–Holocene.

Malkani, M.S. & Mahmood, Z. (2017)

Constituent units (1)

Corroborated by USGS OFR 94-689: the group's molasse — the Dada Conglomerate (Pleistocene; ~1000 m in the Urak area, HSC 1961) and the Bostan Formation (= Boston) — is mapped in the Sibi-Urak trough, resting with angular unconformity on older strata. Lifts this record off the single (Malkani 2017) baseline.

Maldonado, F., Khan, S.H. & Mengal, J.M. (1994)

Sources (2)

Malkani, M.S. & Mahmood, Z. (2017). Stratigraphy of Pakistan. Geological Survey of Pakistan, Memoir Vol. 24.
Maldonado, F., Khan, S.H. & Mengal, J.M. (1994). Preliminary Geologic Map of Parts of Loralai, Sibi, Quetta, and Khuzdar Divisions, Balochistan Province, West-Central Pakistan. U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 94-689, 20 p., 1 sheet.

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.

Spotted an error? Suggest a sourced correction →

Cite this unit

APA

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

BibTeX

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

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