Paleozoic • Permian In GSP lexicon

Sardhai Formation

Early Permian (Kungurian)

Cited in 11 sources Last reviewed Aug 2, 2026

Unit summary

Rank: Not recorded
Status: Published
Age: Paleozoic · Permian · CisuralianEarly Permian (Kungurian)
Named by: Not recorded
Type locality: Sardhai Gorge, central Salt Range32.6500°N, 72.4500°E
Thickness: 50-100 m
Lithology: Sandstone, siltstone, shale with marine fauna
Synonyms: Sardhai; Sardhi Formation (OCR/alternative spelling)

The uppermost unit of the Permian Nilawahan Group: sandstone, siltstone and shale recording a return to shallow-marine conditions before the overlying Zaluch Group carbonates.

Named after Sardhi in Salt Range. Post-glacial marine sequence with increasing marine influence. Upper unit of the Nilawahan Group. Transitional to overlying Zaluch Group.

Fossils

Brachiopods Bryozoans Crinoids

Contacts

In the Salt Range column

SandstoneShale / mudLimestoneFossils 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

Salt Range Kohat Basin Potwar Basin

Basin: Not recorded
Region: Not recorded
Depositional environment: shallow marine, marginal marine
Coordinates: 32.6500°N, 72.4500°E

Google Maps ↗ OpenStreetMap ↗

Correlation

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

Economic significance

Salt & evaporites Metals & minerals

Gypsum-bearing (worked locally, chiefly for agricultural use) and — with the Warchha Sandstone — a sedimentary host of the sub-economic 'speckled sandstone' base-metal shows near Sanwans and Ghundi in the Mianwali area, where copper and tin minerals occur in sandy shale beds. Concentrations are low and erratically distributed; potential rated low.

Remarks

A shallow- to marginal-marine clastic unit capping the Nilawahan Group and marking the transition to the fully marine Zaluch Group carbonate deposition.

Research notes (7)

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 (2)

Name corrected from 'Sardhi Formation' (an OCR truncation in the baseline) to 'Sardhai Formation', the spelling used by both Shah (2009) GSP Memoir 22 and Kadri (1995). Same unit: Early Permian Nilawahan Group clay unit, transitional on the Warcha Sandstone and conformable below the Amb Formation / Zaluch Group.

Shah, S.M.I. (2009)
Gee (1989): the Sardhai Formation was formerly the 'Lavender Clays' — dark purple and lavender clays with subordinate sandstones, the uppermost formation of the Early Permian Nilawahan Group.

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

Age & correlation (2)

CORRECTION — Ghazi et al. (2012), full text: the Sardhai Formation is KUNGURIAN, the uppermost unit of the Nilawahan Group, not Sakmarian-Artinskian as previously recorded. Shallow-marine grey/greenish-grey/lavender shale with thin siltstone and glauconitic sandstone. Unconformably overlies the Warchha Sandstone and is unconformably overlain by the Amb Formation (Zaluch Group). Correlates with the Barren Measures and Motur formations (India).

Ghazi, S., Mountney, N.P., Butt, A.A. & Sharif, S. (2012)
Kazmi & Jan (1997): the Sardhai Formation (Early Permian; type Sardhai/Sohal Nala) is 40–60 m of bluish-grey to reddish claystone (dark-violet/black westward), with fossiliferous limestone in the Khisor Range — mainly terrestrial/lagoonal with westward marine incursions, transitional on the Warchha and disconformably overlain by the Amb Formation; plant remains, fish scales and Khisor-Range brachiopods/bryozoans.

Kazmi, A.H. & Jan, M.Q. (1997)

Lithology (1)

Shah (2009) and Kadri (1995) describe the Sardhai as bluish/greenish-grey (lavender) clays with minor sand and siltstone, passing laterally in the Khisor Range into black shale and brownish argillaceous limestone; largely unfossiliferous. Recorded for review against the existing 'sandstone, siltstone, shale with marine fauna' characterisation.

Kadri, I.B. (1995)

Type locality & location (2)

Ghazi et al. (2012): type section at Sardhai Gorge, central Salt Range (name proposed by Hussain 1967; accepted as the SCP type section, Fatmi 1973).

Ghazi, S., Mountney, N.P., Butt, A.A. & Sharif, S. (2012)
Geocoded (low confidence) from the published type locality "Sardhai Gorge, central Salt Range" via public gazetteer (OpenStreetMap / GEOnet Names Server). Named-place point of ~km accuracy for regional screening, not a surveyed section; author-reviewed in the coordinate-verification pass. Basis: Sardhai Gorge, central Salt Range.

OpenStreetMap contributors and GEOnet Names Server (public geographic gazetteers), used to geolocate named GSP type localities to approximate decimal coordinates.

Sources (11)

Malkani, M.S. & Mahmood, Z. (2017). Stratigraphy of Pakistan. Geological Survey of Pakistan, Memoir Vol. 24.
Shah, S.M.I. (1977). Stratigraphy of Pakistan. Geological Survey of Pakistan, Memoir Vol. 12.
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.
Indian Plate Lexicon (indplex.geolex.org), Geological Society of India and international compilation.
Drewes, H., Ahmad, Z. & Khan, R. (2007). Resource Evaluation of Selected Minerals and Industrial Commodities of the Potwar Plateau Area, Northern Pakistan. Chapter H of Regional Studies of the Potwar Plateau Area, Northern Pakistan (P.D. Warwick & B.R. Wardlaw, eds.), U.S. Geological Survey Bulletin 2078-H, 22 p.
Shah, S.M.I. (2009). Stratigraphy of Pakistan. Geological Survey of Pakistan, Memoir Vol. 22.
Kadri, I.B. (1995). Petroleum Geology of Pakistan. Pakistan Petroleum Limited, Karachi.
Kazmi, A.H. & Jan, M.Q. (1997). Geology and Tectonics of Pakistan. Graphic Publishers, Karachi.
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.
OpenStreetMap contributors and GEOnet Names Server (public geographic gazetteers), used to geolocate named GSP type localities to approximate decimal coordinates.

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.

Spotted an error? Suggest a sourced correction →

Cite this unit

APA

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

BibTeX

@misc{stratigraphypk_sardhiformation,
  author    = {Qudsi, Lareb},
  title     = {{Sardhai 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/sardhi-formation (accessed October 29, 2026).

Your notes

Saved on this device only.