Paleozoic • Silurian–Triassic group Literature

Sikaram Series

Siluro-Devonian to Triassic (uncertain; Triassic Lithodendroid fossils reported in eastern Spinghar by Griesbach 1892)

NW Indian plate margin · Spinghar (Safed Koh) Range

Cited in 2 sources Last reviewed Aug 2, 2026

Unit summary

Rank: group
Status: Published
Age: Paleozoic · Silurian–TriassicSiluro-Devonian to Triassic (uncertain; Triassic Lithodendroid fossils reported in eastern Spinghar by Griesbach 1892)
Named by: Badshah et al. (2000)
Type locality: Summit of Sikaram Sar (4755 m), western Spinghar (Safed Koh) Range, NW Pakistan.
Thickness: Not recorded
Lithology: Claystone and carbonaceous shale (lower) passing up into slate and graphitic schist; quartz-mica schist boudins with garnet porphyroblasts locally.
Synonyms: Not recorded

A thick, dominantly pelitic metasedimentary succession forming the summit of Sikaram Sar (4755 m) in the western Spinghar (Safed Koh) Range, introduced by Badshah et al. (2000). Claystone and carbonaceous shale below pass up into slate and graphitic schist (with garnet porphyroblasts at Hussain Mela). It is lithologically similar to the Landikotal Slate of the Khyber Agency and is bracketed between Siluro-Devonian and Triassic in age.

Fossils

Not recorded

Contacts

In the Khyber–Nowshera Belt column

LimestoneShale / mudMetamorphicFossils recordedUnconformityContact not recorded

Band colour = period; texture = dominant rock type. Lines between bands mark the contact type (wavy = unconformity inferred from a missing period); 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

Khyber–Nowshera Belt

Basin: NW Indian plate margin
Region: Spinghar (Safed Koh) Range
Depositional environment: marine
Coordinates: Not recorded

Correlation

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

Economic significance

Not recorded

Remarks

Several thousand metres thick in the west, thinning to a few metres in central Spinghar; has thrust contacts with the Daradar Dolomite and the Spinghar Crystalline unit (Badshah et al. 2000).

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.

Age & correlation (1)

Age remains unsettled: Rehman et al. (2022) assign a Precambrian age to the Sikaram Slate in the thrust basement, diverging from the Siluro-Devonian-to-Triassic correlation of Badshah et al. (2000). The value here retains the type-area correlation; the Precambrian alternative is recorded pending resolution.

Rehman, G., Ahmad, S., Ali, F., Khan, S.F., Faiz, M.I., Yaseen, M., Anjum, N., Ali, T.H. & Ali, F. (2022)

Geological significance (1)

Formally described among the Spinghar / South Waziristan lithostratigraphic units of the NW Indian-plate margin (Badshah et al. 2000).

Badshah, M.S., Gnos, E., Jan, M.Q. & Afridi, M.I. (2000)

Sources (1)

Badshah, M.S., Gnos, E., Jan, M.Q. & Afridi, M.I. (2000). Stratigraphic and tectonic evolution of the northwestern Indian plate and Kabul Block. In: Khan, M.A., Treloar, P.J., Searle, M.P. & Jan, M.Q. (eds) Tectonics of the Nanga Parbat Syntaxis and the Western Himalaya. Geological Society, London, Special Publications, 170, 467-476.

Reviewer confidence: low

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). Sikaram Series. In Pakistan Stratigraphy Dataset [Data set]. Zenodo. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.21363991

BibTeX

@misc{stratigraphypk_sikaramseries,
  author    = {Qudsi, Lareb},
  title     = {{Sikaram Series} --- 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/sikaram-series (accessed October 29, 2026).

To cite the unit's original definition instead, see: Badshah et al. (2000).