Mesozoic • Cretaceous–Paleogene group Superseded GSP memoir

Shigar Group

Cretaceous–Eocene

Kohistan-Ladakh Magmatic Arc · Ladakh Magmatic Arc

Cretaceous–Paleogene in the time scale →

Cited in 4 sources Last reviewed Aug 2, 2026

Unit summary

Rank: group
Status: Published
Age: Mesozoic · Cretaceous–Paleogene · Cretaceous–EoceneCretaceous–Eocene
Named by: Desio (1978)
Type locality: Not recorded
Thickness: Not recorded
Lithology: Siltstones, schists, slates and phyllites with quartzitic sandstone intercalations (Katzarah schists).
Synonyms: Not recorded

Nomenclature

Superseded name. First defined by Desio (1978).

Superseded by Skardu Group →.

Browse all alternative & superseded names →

The Shigar Group — Desio's name for the Katzarah metasediments between the Shigar and Indus rivers.

Named by Desio for a sequence of siltstone, schist, slate and phyllite with quartzitic sandstone intercalations exposed between the Shigar River and the Indus near Skardu (the high-grade Katzarah schists), the Shigar Group also includes the Tsordas and Skoyo gneisses and the Askore Amphibolite (Desio, 1963–1978). Cretaceous–Eocene.

Fossils

Not recorded

Contacts

In the Kohistan Arc column

MetamorphicShale / mudIgneousFossils recordedContact not recordedIntrusive

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).

1 Katzarah Formation Cretaceous–Paleogene

Distribution & setting

Kohistan Arc

Basin: Kohistan-Ladakh Magmatic Arc
Region: Ladakh Magmatic Arc
Depositional environment: marine, metamorphic
Coordinates: 35.4270°N, 75.7305°E

Google Maps ↗ OpenStreetMap ↗

Correlation

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

Economic significance

Not recorded

Remarks

Desio's original grouping of the high-grade metasediments between the Shigar and Indus rivers (the Katzarah schists); largely superseded by / overlapping the Skardu Group.

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.

Type locality & location (1)

Type-locality coordinate set from reviewer-supplied GPS (35.427046 N, 75.730494 E), Shigar valley, Skardu, Baltistan.

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

Geological significance (1)

Hanson (1989): the Shigar Valley is crossed by the Northern Suture (Main Karakoram Thrust), a large southwest-verging reverse fault carrying pods of serpentinised ultramafic rock that separates the Paleozoic Asian-plate Daltumbore Formation (northeast) from the Cretaceous Ladakh-Kohistan arc Bauma-Harel Formation (southwest). Metamorphic isograds are cut by the suture, showing regional (high-temperature, low-to-moderate-pressure) metamorphism predated Late Cretaceous–Early Eocene suturing.

Hanson, C.R. (1989)

Sources (4)

Malkani, M.S. & Mahmood, Z. (2017). Stratigraphy of Pakistan. Geological Survey of Pakistan, Memoir Vol. 24.
OpenStreetMap contributors and GEOnet Names Server (public geographic gazetteers), used to geolocate named GSP type localities to approximate decimal coordinates.
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.
Hanson, C.R. (1989). The northern suture in the Shigar valley, Baltistan, northern Pakistan. In: Malinconico, L.L. & Lillie, R.J. (eds) Tectonics of the Western Himalayas. Geological Society of America Special Paper 232, 203-215.

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.

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Cite this unit

APA

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

BibTeX

@misc{stratigraphypk_shigargroup,
  author    = {Qudsi, Lareb},
  title     = {{Shigar 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/shigar-group (accessed October 29, 2026).

To cite the unit's original definition instead, see: Desio (1978).