Cenozoic • Neogene group In GSP lexicon

Siwalik Group

Miocene–Pleistocene

Cited in 7 sources Last reviewed Aug 20, 2026

Unit summary

Rank: group
Status: Published
Age: Cenozoic · Neogene · Miocene–PleistoceneMiocene–Pleistocene
Named by: Not recorded
Type locality: Not recorded
Thickness: up to ~4,500 m in foredeep areas (Sulaiman Foredeep, Sibi and Karachi Troughs, Karachi Embayment)
Lithology: Sandstones with alternating argillaceous (mudstone/siltstone) bands — fluvial outwash molasse.
Synonyms: Not recorded

The Siwalik Group is the Miocene–Pleistocene fluvial molasse of the Himalayan foreland: sandstones with alternating argillaceous bands deposited by the river system draining between the rising Himalayan front and the Arabian Sea (Kadri, 1995). It reaches up to ~4,500 m in the foredeeps. Its lower contact is mostly conformable, but unconformable in the western Kirthar and eastern Sulaiman areas. In the Upper Indus (Potwar) it comprises the Chinji, Nagri, Dhok Pathan and Soan formations.

Fossils

Not recorded

Contacts

In the Potwar Basin column

SandstoneLimestoneFossils recordedContact 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.

Constituent units

Formations that make up this group, in stratigraphic order (youngest at top, as in the column).

Distribution & setting

Potwar Basin Sulaiman Fold Belt Kirthar Range Sindh Province

Basin: Not recorded
Region: Not recorded
Depositional environment: fluvial, continental
Coordinates: Not recorded

Correlation

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

Economic significance

Not recorded

Remarks

The classic molasse archive of Himalayan foreland-basin sedimentation and a world-renowned Neogene vertebrate-fossil succession; its fluvial sandstones are also important shallow aquifers and the youngest fill of the Indus foredeep.

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 as 'Siwalik Group'). Adds the definitional GSP/SCP lexicon citation.

Shah, S.M.I. (2009)

Economic significance (1)

Craig et al. (2018): the Middle Miocene-Early Pleistocene Siwalik Group (~6 km of fluvial sandstones, clays and conglomerates - Chinji, Nagri, Dhok Pathan and Soan formations plus the Lei Conglomerate in Kohat-Potwar) has poor reservoir quality and discontinuous seals, but its thick shales/clays form the ultimate regional overburden that matured the Palaeocene-sourced Potwar oils; most recent trap-forming compression was ~5-2 Ma.

Craig, J., Hakhoo, N., Bhat, G.M., Hafiz, M., Khan, M.R., Misra, R., Pandita, S.K., Raina, B.K., Thurow, J., Thusu, B., Ahmed, W. & Khullar, S. (2018)

Geological significance (3)

Kazmi & Jan (1997): the Siwalik Group is the Neogene molasse of the rising Himalaya (Chinji, Nagri, Dhok Pathan and Soan formations, capped by the Lei Conglomerate) — red/brown clays and thick cross-bedded sandstones passing up into conglomerate; it overlies the Rawalpindi Group in the Kohat-Potwar region and the Gaj Formation in the Kirthar/Sulaiman ranges, and carries a rich mammalian fauna including hominoid primates (earliest remains ~14.5 Ma).

Kazmi, A.H. & Jan, M.Q. (1997)
Flynn et al. (2016): the Siwalik Group of the Potwar Plateau is one of the world's longest continuous continental mammal records — dominantly fluvial floodplain silts and sands dated by palaeomagnetic reversal stratigraphy to a resolution of ~100,000 years. Its formations (Kamlial, Chinji, Nagri, Dhok Pathan, Tatrot, and the Indian Pinjor) are distinguished chiefly by sand-body proportion, with vertical lithologic variation primarily tectonically controlled.

Flynn, L.J., Pilbeam, D., Barry, J.C., Morgan, M.E. & Raza, S.M. (2016)
Gill (1951), northern Potwar: the Siwalik stages were founded on the vertical predominance of clay or sandstone and only afterwards adopted as vertebrate-faunal zones, which lack sharp definition and are not everywhere fossiliferous, so their boundaries are mapped largely on lithology; the succession also shows marked lateral facies variation across the Potwar — a coarse channel facies along the line of the present Indus grading eastward into flood-plain deposits — which makes correlation by comparative lithology unreliable.

Gill, W.D. (1951)

Sources (7)

Kadri, I.B. (1995). Petroleum Geology of Pakistan. Pakistan Petroleum Limited, Karachi.
Shah, S.M.I. (2009). Stratigraphy of Pakistan. Geological Survey of Pakistan, Memoir Vol. 22.
Kazmi, A.H. & Jan, M.Q. (1997). Geology and Tectonics of Pakistan. Graphic Publishers, Karachi.
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.
Flynn, L.J., Pilbeam, D., Barry, J.C., Morgan, M.E. & Raza, S.M. (2016). Siwalik synopsis: a long stratigraphic sequence for the Later Cenozoic of South Asia. Comptes Rendus Palevol, 15(7), 877-887.
Craig, J., Hakhoo, N., Bhat, G.M., Hafiz, M., Khan, M.R., Misra, R., Pandita, S.K., Raina, B.K., Thurow, J., Thusu, B., Ahmed, W. & Khullar, S. (2018). Petroleum systems and hydrocarbon potential of the North-West Himalaya of India and Pakistan. Earth-Science Reviews, 187, 109-185.
Gill, W.D. (1951). The stratigraphy of the Siwalik Series in the Northern Potwar, Punjab, Pakistan. Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society of London, 107, 375-394.

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.

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Cite this unit

APA

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

BibTeX

@misc{stratigraphypk_siwalikgroup,
  author    = {Qudsi, Lareb},
  title     = {{Siwalik 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/siwalik-group (accessed October 29, 2026).