Paleozoic Period
The Ordovician in Pakistan
485 – 444 Ma
From 485 to 444 million years ago — a great diversification of marine life, ended by an ice-age extinction.
In Pakistan
Ordovician rocks are sparse on the Indian plate but present in the northern terranes: the basal Karakoram succession of the Baroghil area (the Yarkhun and Vidiakot formations) carries Early Ordovician conodonts and acritarch floras that fix its age.
This reference records 10 units assigned to the Ordovician across 2 basins, most commonly metamorphic rocks, conglomerate, igneous rocks.
At a glance
- 10
- units
- 2
- basins
- 4
- provinces
- 7
- georeferenced
- 5
- with fossils
- 10
- type localities
- 1,600 m
- max thickness
- 21
- sources
Rock types
- metamorphic rocks (6)
- conglomerate (3)
- igneous rocks (1)
Based on the primary lithology recorded for each unit; some units span more than one rock type.
Fossils recorded
- Acritarchs
- Conodonts
- Brachiopods
- Cruziana rugosa
- Cruziana rugosa (trace fossils)
- Skolithos burrows
- Crinoids
- Pelecypods
- Cephalopods
- Nautiloids
- Conodonts (Baltoniodus cf. medius)
- Trace fossils (Cruziana, Planolites)
Units of the Ordovician
- Baroghil Group Karakoram-Hindukush Basin
- Hisartang Formation Northern Indus Suture
- Jobra Formation Northern Indus Suture
- Landikotal Formation Northern Indus Suture
- Mansehra Granite
- Misri Banda Quartzite Early-Middle Ordovician
- Panjpir Formation Middle Ordovician(?)–Late Silurian (Pridolian)
- Thalle Limestone Karakoram-Hindukush Basin
- Vidiakot Formation Karakoram-Hindukush Basin
- Yarkhun Formation Karakoram-Hindukush Basin
Provinces — Hazara Basin · Hindukush-Chitral · Karakoram · Khyber–Nowshera Belt.