Precambrian group Redefined In GSP lexicon

Sharda Group

Middle Proterozoic to Archaean

Northern Indus Suture · Hazara Sub-Basin

Cited in 5 sources Last reviewed Aug 9, 2026

Unit summary

Rank: group
Status: Under review
Age: PrecambrianMiddle Proterozoic to Archaean
Named by: Ghazanfar and Chaudhry (1986)
Type locality: Upper Kaghan valley, north of the Batal Fault
Thickness: Not recorded
Lithology: High-grade garnetiferous calc-pelitic gneiss, pelitic gneiss (with kyanite and sillimanite), graphitic gneiss and marble, with sheet granites and amphibolite.
Synonyms: Not recorded

Nomenclature

Redefined. First defined by Ghazanfar and Chaudhry (1986).

Browse all alternative & superseded names →

The high-grade gneiss-and-marble basement of the Upper Kaghan valley, thrust over the lower-grade Kaghan Group.

Fossils

Not recorded

Contacts

In the Hazara Basin column

MetamorphicLimestoneContact 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

Hazara Basin

Basin: Northern Indus Suture
Region: Hazara Sub-Basin
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

The high-grade (upper-amphibolite-facies) basement–cover sequence of the Upper Kaghan valley, north of the Batal Fault (MCT?), assigned a Middle Proterozoic to Archaean age (Chaudhry and Ghazanfar, 1987) and previously called the Salkhala Formation. It is thrust southward over the lower-grade Kaghan Group, producing an inverted metamorphic sequence, and comprises the Naran and Burawai formations together with the Dadar Granite Migmatite Complex and Saiful Muluk Granite Gneiss.

Research notes (3)

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)

Geological significance (2)

Kazmi & Jan (1997): the Sharda Group (Ghazanfar & Chaudhry 1986; considered Middle Proterozoic to Archaean by Chaudhry & Ghazanfar 1987 — agreeing with the curated age) occupies the north-eastern Kaghan Valley and forms a Higher Himalayan crystalline nappe of garnetiferous calc-pelitic and pelitic gneisses (with kyanite and sillimanite), marbles, amphibolites and abundant sheet granites, metamorphosed to sillimanite grade. Along the Batal–Luat Fault (an MCT analogue) the high-grade Sharda Group is thrust southwards over the greenschist-facies Kaghan Group, producing a sharp inverted metamorphic gradient; it was previously lumped with the Salkhala Formation.

Kazmi, A.H. & Jan, M.Q. (1997)
Spencer, Ghazanfar & Chaudhry (1989): at Babusar Pass the Sharda Group is the Indian-plate footwall of the Main Mantle Thrust - amphibolite-facies marbles, amphibolites, quartz-feldspar gneisses and garnet-mica, graphitic and chloritic schists preserving a pre-collisional kyanite-sillimanite, upper-amphibolite metamorphism (retrogressed during obduction). It is structurally overridden, along the Babusar Thrust, by the Babusar Ultramafic Melange and then the Kohistan Arc (via the Tatabai and Kohistan thrusts) of the Indus Suture Melange Group, across a metamorphic break down to lower greenschist facies.

Spencer, D.A., Ghazanfar, M. & Chaudhry, M.N. (1989)

Sources (5)

Malkani, M.S. & Mahmood, Z. (2017). Stratigraphy of Pakistan. Geological Survey of Pakistan, Memoir Vol. 24.
Kazmi, A.H. & Jan, M.Q. (1997). Geology and Tectonics of Pakistan. Graphic Publishers, Karachi.
Shah, S.M.I. (2009). Stratigraphy of Pakistan. Geological Survey of Pakistan, Memoir Vol. 22.
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.
Spencer, D.A., Ghazanfar, M. & Chaudhry, M.N. (1989). Deformation on the Main Mantle Thrust Zone at Babusar Pass, NW Himalaya Pakistan. Geological Bulletin of the Punjab University, 24, 44-60.

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: 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.

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Cite this unit

APA

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

BibTeX

@misc{stratigraphypk_shardagroup,
  author    = {Qudsi, Lareb},
  title     = {{Sharda 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/sharda-group (accessed October 29, 2026).

To cite the unit's original definition instead, see: Ghazanfar and Chaudhry (1986).