Source provenance
Gaetani, M., Angiolini, L., Garzanti, E., Jadoul, F., Leven, E.Ya., Nicora, A. & Sciunnach, D. (1995). Permian stratigraphy in the Northern Karakorum, Pakistan. Rivista Italiana di Paleontologia e Stratigrafia, 101(2), 107-152.
Cited by 11 units (11 published) · 10 field-level citations · 14 revision notes.
Definitive formalization of the Permian succession of the Northern Karakorum (Pakistan) from four expeditions (1986, 1991, 1992a, 1992b). Formalizes nine formations subdivided into members and lithozones, with biochronology on fusulinids, brachiopods and conodonts: the basal terrigenous Gircha Formation (latest Asselian-Sakmarian); the Chapursan Group carbonate ramp (Lashkargaz, Lupghar, Panjshah formations) with the terrigenous Gharil Formation interlude (Kubergandian-?Murgabian); the platform Ailak Formation dolostones (?Midian) and Guhjal Dolomite; and the Late Permian pelagic Kundil Formation (?late Murgabian-Midian) and Wirokhun Formation (Dzhulfian-Dienerian, crossing the Permian-Triassic boundary). Interprets the succession as a passive-margin record of the Karakorum block rifting from Gondwana during the initial opening of Neo-Tethys.
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Units citing this source
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- Age: Gaetani et al. (1995): the Ailak Formation (>1,000 m of massive dolostones capping the western succession from Baroghil to Chillinji, correlated with the Guhjal Dolomite of Hunza) yielded no age-diagnostic fossils and is bracketed only on stratigraphic position between the Kubergandian and ?Midian; its Murgabian-Midian dolostone transgression is correlated across the Pamirs, Central Afghanistan and the Tethys Himalaya as a turning point in the initial opening of Neo-Tethys. A huge paleokarst (solution cavities up to ~100 m deep) at the Chitral/Wakhan boundary records emersions placed in the Mesozoic, consistent with the unit's Late Permian-Late Triassic span.
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- Geological significance: Gaetani et al. (1995): the Chapursan Group is introduced here for the mixed terrigenous-carbonate, shallow-water fossil-rich (fusulinids, brachiopods, bryozoans, corals, molluscs) units that make up the middle part of the Northern Karakorum Permian - comprising, from base to top, the Lashkargaz, Lupghar and Panjshah formations. It is kept distinct from the Darkot Group (Ivanac et al. 1956) despite possible affinity, and records a Sakmarian-onward carbonate ramp/platform above the terrigenous Gircha Formation.
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- Geological significance: Gaetani et al. (1995): in formalizing the Permian Chapursan Group (Lashkargaz-Lupghar-Panjshah formations) the authors kept it distinct from the Darkot Group (Ivanac et al. 1956) while noting a possible affinity between the two.
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- Geological significance: Gaetani et al. (1995): the Gharil Formation is a thin terrigenous-and-ironstone horizon at the Kubergandian-?Murgabian boundary, resting on a major, tectonically enhanced disconformity above the Lashkargaz Formation and sealed by the Ailak Formation dolostones. Its quartzarenites are compositionally mature (average Q97 F2 L1) and it carries a prominent ironstone / bauxite-laterite ooid horizon recording prolonged subaerial exposure at equatorial latitudes - evidence, with the overlying Ailak dolostones, of the significant northward (tropical) drift of the Northern Karakorum during the Permian.
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- Geological significance: Gaetani et al. (1995): the Gircha Formation (name introduced by Desio 1963, whose original ~6,000 m thickness is a large over-estimate from faulting/folding, and whose base is nowhere exposed in Hunza) is here clarified with reference sections at Ashtigar (Hunza) and East Baroghil (Yarkhun); thickness increases eastward from no more than ~600 m in the Upper Yarkhun/Baroghil to >1,000 m in Chapursan. The Pasu Slates (Schneider 1957) and Shimshal Slates (Casnedi & Nicora 1985) are treated as synonyms, and Desio's Kilik Formation is rejected (a tectonic juxtaposition of Permian and Jurassic slices). It is the basal terrigenous clastic wedge (arkoses to quartzarenites, continental-to-coastal with abrupt marine transgressions), passing up into the carbonate Chapursan Group.
- Age: Gaetani et al. (1995): the middle-upper Gircha Formation is dated latest Asselian-Early Sakmarian on a brachiopod assemblage (Trigonotreta lyonsensis, T. stokesi, Punctospirifer afghanus, Spirelytha petaliformis) with an Eurydesma bivalve fauna, correlated to Western Australia (Lyons/Callytharra), the Carnarvon Basin, Tasmania and SE Pamir; the base age is unknown and may reach into the Carboniferous. No Permo-Carboniferous glacigene deposits were found (warmer conditions), and the >800 m of inferred Sakmarian section implies a very high accumulation rate.
- AgeEraPeriodLithologyType localityFossilsLower contact (overlies)Introduced byGeological significancePlain summary
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- Age: Gaetani et al. (1995): the Kundil Formation (three members, up to ~190 m at its type section in the lower Kundil valley, Upper Hunza) is a pelagic cherty-limestone unit with a laterally thinning megabreccia body recording Midian-Dzhulfian block-faulting on a sinking NE slope. Conodonts date it ?late Murgabian to Midian - Gondolella phosphoriensis at the base, Sweetognathus cf. hanzongensis with G. bitteri and G. phosphoriensis in Member 2 (late Murgabian-Midian), and G. bitteri + G. phosphoriensis into Member 3 (early Late Guadalupian/Midian). It rests with a sharp base (reworked fusulinids) on the Panjshah Formation and is overlain by the Wirokhun Formation.
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- Geological significance: Gaetani et al. (1995): the Lashkargaz Formation is formally named here (Chapursan Group), with its type section at Lashkargaz in the Upper Yarkhun area (base missing beneath the Yarkhun braided plain; lowest part measured in the Baroghil East section). It exceeds ~1,000 m eastward and is arranged in four members: (1) siltstones with phosphatic nodules and crinoidal/marly interbeds (~300 m at Baroghil E); (2) a carbonate member with fusulinid-rich packstones and oncoidal wackestones (108 m at Baroghil E, 368 m at Lashkargaz); (3) a renewed terrigenous member of two quartzarenite horizons with oncoidal packstones (80-144 m); and (4) a fusulinid- and chert-bearing carbonate member (224 m at Baroghil, up to 450 m at Lashkargaz) capped by Tubiphytes-Porifera buildups. It overlies the Gircha Formation and is overlain by the Gharil Formation.
- Age: Gaetani et al. (1995): the Lashkargaz Formation spans the Sakmarian to the Kubergandian (possibly Murgabian at its top). Member 1 carries the Hunzina electa brachiopod range zone (Sakmarian, with the conodont Adetognathus paralautus); Member 2 a Chalaroschwagerina-Pamirina fusulinid assemblage suggesting Artinskian; the Orthothetina convergens-Aldina exilis zone (?Bolorian); and lower Member 4 the Waagenoconcha macrotuberculata-Callytharrella sinensis zone with Parafusulina (Skinnerella) fusulinids and Sweetognathus aff. whitei conodonts indicating the Kubergandian, with transitional Gondolella idahoensis/phosphoriensis forms near the top pointing to Kubergandian-Murgabian.
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- Geological significance: Gaetani et al. (1995): the Lupghar Formation is formally named here (Chapursan Group), separated from the lower part of the informal 'Panjshah fm.' of Gaetani et al. (1990) because of a probable hiatus between its members 2 and 3; the composite type section runs along both sides of Lupghar valley near Raminji (Upper Hunza/Chapursan). It comprises two members - a lower mixed terrigenous-carbonate Member 1 (cyclothems 7-20 m thick, max ~210 m) and a carbonate-dominated Member 2 (bioclastic and oolitic calcarenites passing up to peritidal dolostones and subtidal limestones, 150-280 m) - for a total of about 300-380 m.
- Age: Gaetani et al. (1995): the Lupghar Formation is mostly Sakmarian - Member 1 carries the Hunzina electa brachiopod range zone (with Permochonetes pamiricus, Cleiothyridina ailakensis, Trigonotreta paucicostulata) correlated to the Sakmarian of SE Pamir, Central Elburz and Western Australia; the base of Member 2 yields a Pseudofusulina plena-P. incompta fusulinid assemblage, and an early Artinskian age cannot be excluded for the upper part of Member 2. It overlies the Gircha Formation and is overlain by the Panjshah Formation.
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- Geological significance: Gaetani et al. (1995): the Panjshah Formation (Chapursan Group) is emended here to comprise only the former member 3 of the informal 'Panjshah fm.' of Gaetani et al. (1990), now subdivided into two members; the type section lies above the Panjshah Shrine in the lower Chapursan valley. Member 1 (70-100 m) is calcareous siltstones and marls with lenticular mature feldspathic quartzarenites; Member 2 (up to ~160 m in lower Chapursan, ~130 m in Shimshal) is a terrigenous-carbonate unit with three fossiliferous limestone horizons. Its sharp top is drawn at the first channelized calcarenites-rudites with reworked fusulinids of the overlying Kundil Formation.
- Age: Gaetani et al. (1995): the Panjshah Formation spans the Kubergandian to Murgabian and possibly Midian - Member 1 carries the Waagenoconcha (Gruntoconcha) macrotuberculata-Callytharrella sinensis brachiopod assemblage zone (C. sinensis indicating Kubergandian), and Member 2 the Stenoscisma armenica-Chapursania tatianae zone (suggesting Midian or younger), though conodonts at the base of the overlying Kundil Formation still indicate late Murgabian-early Midian. Solitary Paracaninia corals of cold-water Gondwanan affinity (shared with the Tethys Himalaya and Lhasa Plate) occur in Member 2.
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- Age: Gaetani et al. (1995): the Wirokhun Formation is a pelagic bathyal succession spanning the Dzhulfian to the Dienerian (Early Triassic), so that the Permian-Triassic boundary lies within it - specifically in its third, largely shaly lithozone, linked to a largely anoxic stratified oceanic event in the eastern Tethys. Four conodont assemblages track it upward: (1) Gondolella orientalis-Hindeodus minutus-G. subcarinata; (2) G. subcarinata subcarinata / changxingensis; (3) Iranognathus cf. unicostatus with the G. subcarinata group; and (4) Neospathodus dieneri-Gondolella carinata at the top confirming early Dienerian. It overlies the Kundil Formation and is overlain by the Borom Formation.