Paleozoic • Devonian Literature

Sarikol Shale

Devonian

Cited in 3 sources Last reviewed Aug 29, 2026

Unit summary

Rank: Not recorded
Status: Published
Age: Paleozoic · DevonianDevonian
Named by: Not recorded
Type locality: Sarikol Range; exposed near Shogram village, Chitral.
Thickness: Not recorded
Lithology: Predominantly slates with occasional quartzitic elements and limestone beds; near Shogram, black shale and slate with minor limestone beds.
Synonyms: Not recorded

The Sarikol Shale (Hayden, 1915), named after the Sarikol Range, is a slate-dominated sequence extending from Chinese Turkistan into Chitral. It is fossiliferous, with nautiloids indicating a Devonian age (Tipper, 1924), and is well exposed near Shogram village in Chitral.

Fossils

nautiloids (Devonian)Orthoceras (nautiloid)crinoid stem fragments

Contacts

In the Hindukush-Chitral column

LimestoneMixedMetamorphicFossils recordedConformableContact 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

Hindukush-Chitral

Basin: Not recorded
Region: Not recorded
Depositional environment: Not recorded
Coordinates: Not recorded

Correlation

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

Economic significance

Not recorded

Remarks

Not recorded

Research notes (5)

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 (3)

Mujtaba et al. (2024) (after Hayden 1915; Tipper 1924): the Sarikol Shale, named after the Sarikol Range, extends from Chinese Turkistan to Chitral — predominantly slates with occasional quartzite and limestone beds, notably fossiliferous with nautiloids indicating a Devonian age; well exposed near Shogram village (black shale and slate with minor limestone).

Mujtaba, A., Gilani, S.N., Hafeez, M., Khan, I., Shah, A., Khan, S., Gillani, S.A.A. & Gul, M.A. (2024)
Assigned to the Devonian on nautiloid faunas within the Chitral-Tirich Devonian sequence of the Central Hindu Kush (Buchroithner & Gamerith 1986).

Buchroithner, M.F. & Gamerith, H. (1986)
Stauffer (1975): could not assign the Sarikol Shale a definite age, bracketing it as Devonian to Carboniferous — Tipper (in Pascoe 1924) collected Orthoceras and crinoid stem fragments and Devonian fossils from a limestone band within the shale, and in the Mastuj Valley the formation is overlain by Carboniferous-Permian fossiliferous limestone. The Devonian assignment used here follows the modern nautiloid dating (Mujtaba et al. 2024); Stauffer's wider range is retained as historical context.

Stauffer, K.W. (1975)

Type locality & location (1)

Stauffer (1975, after Hayden 1915): the name Sarikol Shale derives from the Sarikol Range; the type area lies near the top of Mintaka Pass (lat 37 deg 01' N, long 74 deg 50' E). Its metamorphic equivalent is the Wakhan Slate of Afghanistan. No reliable thickness of the Sarikol has been measured.

Stauffer, K.W. (1975)

Geological significance (1)

Mapped within the Devonian-to-Tertiary sedimentary succession of the central Mastuj Valley, Chitral, in USGS reconnaissance work (Stauffer 1975).

Stauffer, K.W. (1975)

Sources (1)

Mujtaba, A., Gilani, S.N., Hafeez, M., Khan, I., Shah, A., Khan, S., Gillani, S.A.A. & Gul, M.A. (2024). Geochemical and Petrographic Analysis of Hydrothermal Mineralization in the Chitral Region, Northern Pakistan. Advancements in Mining & Mineral Engineering, 1(3), AMME.MS.ID.000513.

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: Defined in journal or other literature; not found in a GSP memoir. There is no body currently ratifying unit status, so provenance is shown in place of a formal ruling.

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Cite this unit

APA

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

BibTeX

@misc{stratigraphypk_sarikolshale,
  author    = {Qudsi, Lareb},
  title     = {{Sarikol Shale} --- 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/sarikol-shale (accessed October 29, 2026).