Sarobi Formation
Early to Middle Jurassic (Pliensbachian-Bajocian; ~192.9-168.17 Ma)
Jurassic in the time scale →Cited in 3 sources Last reviewed Jul 18, 2026
- Rank
- formation
- Status
- Published
- Age
- Mesozoic · Jurassic · Early to Middle JurassicEarly to Middle Jurassic (Pliensbachian-Bajocian; ~192.9-168.17 Ma)
- Named by
- Ahmad et al. (2000)
- Type locality
- North of Sarobi village, along Isha-Razmak road32.9056°N, 70.1097°E
- Thickness
- 400+ m
- Lithology
- Clayey limestone. The formation comprises a sequence of alternating limestone and shale. At the type locality, its lower part is predominantly limestone, while the upper part is shale. The limestone is thin bedded, occasionally thick bedded, micritic and grey to dark grey; it weathers to brownish grey and yellowish brown color. The limestone is very hard and forms ridges. It is fine crystalline t…
- Synonyms
- Not recorded
Clayey limestone. The formation comprises a sequence of alternating limestone and shale. At the type locality, its lower part is predominantly limestone, while the upper part is shale. The limestone is thin bedded, occasionally thick bedded, micritic and grey to dark grey; it weathers to brownish grey and yellowish brown color. The limestone is very hard and forms ridges. It is fine crystalline to fairly coarse grained, with shelly, oolitic, peletic and pisolitic interbeds. The shale is flaky, slaty, splintery, papery and black on fresh surface and weathers to greenish grey, dark grey and bro…
Fossils
Not recorded
Contacts
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
- Basin
- Not recorded
- Region
- Not recorded
- Depositional environment
- Not recorded
- Coordinates
- 32.9056°N, 70.1097°E
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.
Name & nomenclature (1)
-
Attested in Shah (2009), Geological Survey of Pakistan Memoir 22 - the Stratigraphic Committee of Pakistan's compiled lexicon (listed in the memoir's contents). Adds the definitional GSP/SCP lexicon citation.
Shah, S.M.I. (2009)
Type locality & location (2)
-
PROPOSED type coordinate (author to confirm): the Sarobi Formation (alternating limestone and shale) is exposed N of Sarobi village on the Isha-Razmak road, ~35 km SE of Miran Shah; Sarobi village lat 32 deg 54' 20" N, long 70 deg 06' 35" E = 32.9056, 70.1097 (Ahmad et al. 2000). Jurassic; corroborates the age. North Waziristan, not Zhob.
-
Ahmad et al. (2000): type section north of Sarobi village along the Isha-Razmak road, ~35 km SE of Miran Shah — 32°54'20"N, 70°06'35"E (= 32.9056, 70.1097).
Stratigraphic contacts (1)
Distribution (1)
-
Province corrected from zhob-muslim-bagh to sulaiman: Ahmad et al. (2000) place this unit in NORTH WAZIRISTAN (Mirali-Miran Shah-Razmak), part of the western Axial/Sulaiman belt - not the Zhob-Muslimbagh area. (A dedicated Waziristan province could be added later.)
Sources (3)
- Indian Plate Lexicon (indplex.geolex.org), Geological Society of India and international compilation.
- Ahmad, S., Ali, F., Rehman, N. & Gul, J. (2000). Lithostratigraphy of the Kurram Group along the Mirali-Miran Shah Road, North Waziristan Agency, NWFP, Pakistan. Geological Bulletin, University of Peshawar, 33, 79-86.
- Shah, S.M.I. (2009). Stratigraphy of Pakistan. Geological Survey of Pakistan, Memoir Vol. 22.
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.
Cite this unit
Qudsi, L. (2026). Sarobi Formation. In Pakistan Stratigraphy Dataset [Data set]. Zenodo. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.21363991
@misc{stratigraphypk_sarobiformation,
author = {Qudsi, Lareb},
title = {{Sarobi 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/sarobi-formation (accessed October 29, 2026).
To cite the unit's original definition instead, see: Ahmad et al. (2000).
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