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Pakistan Stratigraphy

Karakoram-Hindukush Basin (Laurasia)

Hindukush-Chitral

Chitral District, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa · Asian plate margin, fold-thrust belt

Continuation of Asian plate rocks with Paleozoic sequences and crystalline basement. Contains diverse mineral deposits and unique geological heritage.

Units

21

Tectonic setting

Asian plate margin, fold-thrust belt

This reference records 21 units in the Hindukush-Chitral spanning 2 geological eras, most commonly metamorphic rocks, conglomerate, limestone.

At a glance

21
units
2
eras
8
georeferenced
13
with fossils
20
type localities
3,000 m
max thickness
20
sources

Rock types

  • metamorphic rocks (10)
  • conglomerate (6)
  • limestone (4)

Based on the primary lithology recorded for each unit; some units span more than one rock type.

Fossils recorded

  • Conodonts (Baltoniodus cf. medius)
  • Acritarchs
  • Trace fossils (Cruziana, Planolites)
  • Conodonts
  • Brachiopods
  • Ammonoids (rare)
  • Bivalves
  • Conodonts (Pandorinellina steinhornensis miae, Ozarkodina spp., Amydrotaxis spp.)
  • Crinoids
  • Tabulate corals
  • Rugosans
  • Calcareous algae
  • Nautiloids
  • Brachiopod moulds (poorly preserved)
  • Conodonts (in beds transitional to the Shogrâm Formation)
  • Rugose corals
  • Trilobites (Neocalmonia chitralensis, N. batillifera orientalis)
  • nautiloids (Devonian)
  • Orthoceras (nautiloid)
  • crinoid stem fragments
  • Bryozoans
  • Foraminifera
  • Corals
  • Gastropods

+16 more across the Hindukush-Chitral units.

Units in this province

21 units

Line these up against other basins on the correlation panel →

Era colours
  • Quaternary
  • Cenozoic
  • Mesozoic
  • Paleozoic
  • Precambrian
Hindukush-Chitral
ConglomerateLimestoneSandstoneShale / mudMetamorphicMixedFossils recordedUnconformityFaultContact not recordedConformable

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.