Source provenance

Hemphill, W.R. & Kidwai, A.H. (1973). Stratigraphy of the Bannu and Dera Ismail Khan Areas, Pakistan. U.S. Geological Survey Professional Paper 716-B (Geological Investigations in Pakistan), 36 p.

Cited by 28 units (28 published) · 50 field-level citations · 31 revision notes.

USGS-GSP; full text reviewed (reviewer-supplied). Designates type sections for the Trans-Indus Bannu-D.I.Khan succession (Mianwali, Tredian and members, Kingriali, etc.).

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Units citing this source

• Paleozoic Amb Formation Permian
  • Lithology: Hemphill & Kidwai (1973, USGS PP 716-B), Paniala area (Zaluch Group): the Early Permian (Artinskian) Amb Formation is grey/brown thick-bedded calcareous micaceous sandstone with calcareous shale and subordinate argillaceous limestone, carrying fusulinids, bryozoans, brachiopods (athyrids/productids/spiriferids) and crinoids; ~170 ft SE of Paniala, conformable on the Nilawahan Group (= the old 'Lower Productus beds').
• Cenozoic Baska Formation Paleogene
  • Geological significance: Hemphill & Kidwai (1973, USGS PP 716-B) NAMED the Baska Shale (replacing the informal 'shales with alabaster' of Eames 1952), type section 1.5 mi ENE of Baska village (D.I. Khan area). Early Eocene (Cuisian?); green to greenish-grey claystone with alabaster (gypsum) nodules, veins and beds, gypsiferous limestone and marl bearing larger foraminifera (Cuneolina, Lockhartia hunti, Dictyoconoides vredenburgi); ~607-620 m [ft] thick near Domanda/Baska, thinning northward.
• Cenozoic Chaudhwan Formation Neogene
  • Geological significance: Hemphill & Kidwai (1973, USGS PP 716-B) NAMED the Chaudhwan Formation as the upper Siwalik unit, type section at Chaudhwan Zam. Pliocene to possibly Pleistocene; mostly hard massive boulder/cobble/pebble conglomerate (limestone, quartzite, sandstone clasts) in sandstone matrix, ~4,900-7,000 ft, coarsest near the Waziristan/N-Sulaiman highlands; an angular unconformity N of Chaudhwan Zam records late-Pliocene-Pleistocene movement on the Domanda fault. Equivalent to the Malagan + Dhok Pathan + upper Nagri of the eastern ranges.
• Paleozoic Chhidru Formation Permian
  Introduced by
  • Lithology: Hemphill & Kidwai (1973, USGS PP 716-B), Paniala area: the Chhidru Formation is mostly grey/brown friable calcareous micaceous sandstone with thin argillaceous limestone, carrying Bellerophon and abundant productid brachiopods; ~130 ft south of Paniala, disconformably overlain by the Triassic Mianwali Formation (the old 'Bellerophon / Upper Productus beds').
• Cenozoic Chitarwatta Formation Paleogene
  • Geological significance: Hemphill & Kidwai (1973, USGS PP 716-B) NAMED the Chitarwata Formation (for rocks previously questionably assigned to the Nari Formation), type section at Chitarwata Post. Late Oligocene to late Miocene (flora Croftiella escheri; Eames 1952 preferred early Miocene); red/grey/green claystone with variegated ferruginous siltstone and sandstone, carbonaceous beds and root fragments (fluvial/lacustrine), ~500-1,260 ft; disconformable on the Drazinda Shale Member. Possibly equivalent to the Mitha Khatak Formation and laterally to the Nari/Gaj.
• Mesozoic Datta Formation Jurassic
  Coordinates
  • Coordinates: Published type section: Datta Nala, Surghar Range (lat 33 deg 00' N, long 71 deg 19' E) — Danilchik & Shah (1973), in Hemphill & Kidwai (1973).
  • Age: Hemphill & Kidwai (1973, USGS PP 716-B): the Datta Formation is as old as Early Jurassic (late Lias) from an ammonite fauna (L.F. Spath in Heron 1937) ~1 mi SSE of Paniala; varicolored friable micaceous sandstone with subordinate siltstone/claystone and a distinctive pure-white basal sand near Paniala, ~1,470 ft SE of Shaikh Budin (thinning to ~263 ft). The name was introduced by Danilchik & Shah (1973), type section Datta Nala, Surghar Range.
• Cenozoic Domanda Formation Paleogene
  • Geological significance: Hemphill & Kidwai (1973, USGS PP 716-B) NAMED the Domanda Shale Member of the Kirthar Formation (replacing 'lower chocolate clays' of Eames 1952), type section just west of Domanda Post on the Fort Sandeman-D.I. Khan road. Middle Eocene; dark-brown to greenish-grey foraminiferal claystone with upper gastropod/lamellibranch sandstones and (southward) gypsiferous marls; ~1,020 ft north of Domanda, wedging out along the Spina Ghora ridge.
• Cenozoic Drazinda Formation Paleogene
  • Geological significance: Hemphill & Kidwai (1973, USGS PP 716-B) NAMED the Drazinda Shale Member of the Kirthar Formation (replacing 'upper chocolate clays' of Eames 1952), type locality east and NE of Drazinda. Middle to late? Eocene; dark claystone with fossiliferous marl (larger foraminifera, lamellibranchs, bryozoans, echinoids), a mid-unit crossbedded-sandstone marker, celestite nodules and a coaly zone near the top; up to ~1,250-1,837 ft.
• Cenozoic Dungan Formation Paleogene
  • Lithology: Hemphill & Kidwai (1973, USGS PP 716-B): the Paleocene Dunghan Formation (type near Harnai, Williams 1959) is ~625 ft of grey hard finely crystalline thick-bedded limestone (algae, foraminifera, corals, gastropods) becoming sandy/argillaceous downward, over basal dark micaceous silty claystone; its lower part may be Late Cretaceous. It wedges out ~2 mi south of the Zao River and is absent in Waziristan and the Shaikh Budin-Khisor area.
• Cenozoic Ghazij Group Paleogene
  • Lithology: Hemphill & Kidwai (1973, USGS PP 716-B): the early Eocene Ghazij Shale is up to ~9,000 ft thick in the Mughal Kot area - an upper half of soft red/maroon-weathering claystone (more calcareous, with larger foraminifera, eastward) over a lower half of green/grey to black fissile claystone with ripple-marked quartzitic sandstone; it is contiguous northward with the Panoba Shale.
• Mesozoic Kathwai Member Triassic
  EpochAgeLithologyThicknessThickness (m)Introduced byLower contact (overlies)Upper contact (underlies)
  • Lithology: Hemphill & Kidwai (1973, USGS PP 716-B), Paniala area: the basal Mianwali (Kathwai) Member is ~10 ft - a thin brown limestone over reddish-brown massive calcareous crossbedded dolomite that resembles sandstone in outcrop (dolomite confirmed in thin section by C. Teichert); its sharp, believed-disconformable base on the Zaluch Group (a lateritic red bed) marks a break in sedimentation.
• Mesozoic Khatkiara Sandstone Member Triassic
  EpochAgeLithologyThicknessThickness (m)Introduced byLower contact (overlies)Upper contact (underlies)
  • Lithology: Hemphill & Kidwai (1973, USGS PP 716-B): the Khatkiara Sandstone Member (upper Tredian; name of Danilchik & Shah 1973 replacing Gee's 'Kingriali sandstone') is ~150 ft of brown/white soft friable micaceous sandstone, dolomitic near the top with grey/black shale; its base is disconformable (a basal conglomerate with limonitized plant fragments).
• Mesozoic Kingriali Formation Triassic
  Introduced by
  • Type locality: Type locality is the Kingriali hills of the Khisor Range (Trans-Indus), not the Salt Range. ~465 ft thick at Paniala; upper contact with the Datta Formation disconformable (laterized top), lower contact with the Tredian Formation transitional.
  • Lithology: Hemphill & Kidwai (1973, USGS PP 716-B), Paniala area: the Kingriali Dolomite is ~465 ft of hard brown/grey fine-crystalline thin-to-massive dolomite (weathering tan), its upper part alternating soft green calcareous dolomitic shale and argillaceous dolomite, with pelecypods, gastropods and crinoid stems in the lower part; type in the Kingriali hills of the Khisor Range, disconformably overlain by the Datta Formation.
• Mesozoic Landa Member Triassic
  EpochAgeLithologyThicknessThickness (m)Introduced byLower contact (overlies)Upper contact (underlies)
  • Lithology: Hemphill & Kidwai (1973, USGS PP 716-B), Spinnagara Nala: the basal Tredian (Landa) Member is ~115 ft of fine greenish-grey sandstone, siltstone and shale with common plant fossils (and brachiopods near the top); the plant fragments (Sitholey 1943) suggest possible nonmarine deposition within the otherwise shallow-marine Triassic.
• Cenozoic Litra Formation Neogene
  • Geological significance: Hemphill & Kidwai (1973, USGS PP 716-B) NAMED the Litra Formation as the middle Siwalik unit, type section at Litra Nala. Late Pliocene (Hipparion cf. antelopinum horse tooth); friable light-grey/brown sandstone with upper conglomerates, ~5,560 ft; equivalent to the Nagri and Chinji formations of the eastern ranges. Hosts uraniferous sandstone near Raki Munh (speculatively tied to dispersed tuffaceous material).
• Mesozoic Mianwali Formation Triassic
  Introduced byMember units
  • Member units: Divided into three members (Kummel & Teichert 1966; Kummel 1966): the basal Kathwai Member (dolomite/limestone, ~10 ft, disconformable on the Zaluch Group), the Mittiwali Member (ammonite-bearing limestone/sandstone/shale, ~239 ft) and the Narmia Member (limestone/sandstone, ~249 ft) — measured at Spinnagara Nala.
• Mesozoic Mittiwali Member Triassic
  EpochAgeLithologyThicknessThickness (m)Introduced byLower contact (overlies)Upper contact (underlies)
  • Lithology: Hemphill & Kidwai (1973, USGS PP 716-B), Spinnagara Nala: the Mittiwali Member is ~239 ft - ammonite-rich brownish-grey brecciated sandy limestone (upper) over calcareous micaceous sandstone and green shale (middle) and finely crystalline argillaceous limestone (base); sharp contact on the Kathwai Member.
• Mesozoic Mughal Kot Formation Cretaceous
  • Geological significance: Hemphill & Kidwai (1973, USGS PP 716-B): the Late Cretaceous (mainly Maastrichtian) Mughal Kot Formation (type section 1-3 mi west of Mughal Kot Post, Williams 1959) is ~3,722 ft of calcareous argillaceous sandstone and claystone with oil seeps on joints, over shaly limestone with a basal conglomerate of Parh clasts; corals, orbitoids, mollusks and echinoids throughout (Keizer). Its top ~160 ft may be the Fort Munro Limestone Member.
• Cenozoic Nagri Formation Neogene
  • Age: Hemphill & Kidwai (1973, USGS PP 716-B): in the Marwat-Bhittanni ranges the Nagri Formation is early Pleistocene (mammalian fauna, Morris 1938) - younger than the late-Miocene-early-Pliocene Nagri of the Potwar, an example of Siwalik time-transgression - and is ~5,353 ft of grey sandstone with brown siltstone. It contains the contested 'Bain boulder bed' (~30 ft of unsorted boulders in a powdery matrix), read as glacial by Morris (1938) but as a volcanic/pumiceous mudflow by Danilchik and as a fanglomerate by Gansser; the authors saw no direct evidence of glaciation.
• Mesozoic Narmia Member Triassic
  EpochAgeLithologyThicknessThickness (m)Introduced byLower contact (overlies)Upper contact (underlies)
  • Lithology: Hemphill & Kidwai (1973, USGS PP 716-B), Spinnagara Nala: the upper Mianwali (Narmia) Member is ~249 ft of grey-brown crystalline argillaceous limestone and calcareous sandstone with abundant ammonites (in the limestone); transitional on the Mittiwali Member.
• Mesozoic Pab Sandstone Cretaceous
  • Depositional environment: Hemphill & Kidwai (1973, USGS PP 716-B): the Late Cretaceous (Maastrichtian) Pab Sandstone in the Sulaiman Range is quartzitic, commonly crossbedded sandstone (conglomeratic near the base) with burrows and plant roots and oil seeps ~125 ft below the top; crossbedding indicates westerly sediment transport; ~776 ft west of Mughal Kot, thickening southward. Keizer suggested its upper part may range up into the late Paleocene.
• Mesozoic Parh Limestone Cretaceous
  Coordinates
  • Coordinates: Published type section, upper Gaj River area (lat 26 deg 54' 45" N, long 67 deg 05' 45" E) — Williams (1959), in Hemphill & Kidwai (1973).
• Mesozoic Samana Suk Formation Jurassic
  • Age: Hemphill & Kidwai (1973, USGS PP 716-B): in the Khisor-Bhittanni-Marwat ranges the Samana Suk Limestone ranges as young as Late Jurassic (late Callovian) on a cephalopod fauna (Spath 1939) and rhynchonellid/terebratulid brachiopods (Sahni 1939); brown/grey crystalline limestone (oolitic, pyrite-coated near the top) with abundant ammonites, ~1,030 ft east of Shaikh Budin and absent in the Khisor Range south of Budh Banda.
• Mesozoic Sembar Formation Cretaceous
  CoordinatesIntroduced by
  • Coordinates: Published type section near Sembar Pass, eastern Quetta Division (lat 29 deg 55' 05" N, long 68 deg 34' 48" E) — Williams (1959).
  • Lithology: Hemphill & Kidwai (1973, USGS PP 716-B): the Early Cretaceous (Neocomian) Sembar Formation (named by Williams 1959, type near Sembar Pass) is soft black claystone with dark limestone concretions and ferruginous calcareous sandstone near the base, resting on a ~4-ft basal conglomerate of belemnitic-limestone clasts derived from the Sulaiman Limestone Group; ~931 ft in the gorge west of Mughal Kot; the western equivalent of the Chichali Formation.
• Paleozoic Tobra Formation Permian
  • Geological significance: Hemphill & Kidwai (1973, USGS PP 716-B): in the Khisor Range the Tobra Formation is the basal unit of the Early Permian Nilawahan Group (~822 ft SE of Paniala) - a lower conglomerate of striated ellipsoidal boulders (quartzite, granite, gneiss, mafics) grading up into siltstone and sandstone; its basal 'Talchir boulder bed' was argued to be of glacial origin (Gee 1945; B. Sahni 1939).
• Mesozoic Tredian Formation Triassic
  Introduced byMember units
  • Member units: Divided into the lower Landa Member (sandstone/siltstone/shale with plant fossils, ~115 ft) and the upper Khatkiara Sandstone Member (sandstone, ~150 ft, disconformable base); measured at Spinnagara Nala, south of Paniala.
• Cenozoic Vihowa Formation Neogene
  • Geological significance: Hemphill & Kidwai (1973, USGS PP 716-B) NAMED the Vihowa Formation as the lower Siwalik unit of the Sulaiman-Waziristan region, type section at Vihowa Rud. Probable Pliocene; grey/brown massive crossbedded sandstone with red sandy siltstone, derived-foraminifera fragments and basal pebble conglomerate, ~1,410-2,300 ft; disconformable on the Chitarwata (or, where absent, on the Drazinda Shale Member).
• Paleozoic Wargal Limestone Permian
  • Lithology: Hemphill & Kidwai (1973, USGS PP 716-B), Paniala area: the Wargal Limestone is brown/grey limestone (sandy/argillaceous/cherty and thin-bedded at top, massive nodular in the middle, sandy at base) with grey calcareous shale, its rich upper fauna including algae, corals, bryozoans, brachiopods, gastropods, cephalopods and crinoids; ~640 ft SE of Paniala (the old 'Middle Productus limestone').