Source provenance

Talent, J.A., Gaetani, M., Mawson, R., Molloy, P.D. & Conaghan, P.J. (1999). Early Ordovician and Devonian conodonts from the Western Karakoram and Hindu Kush, northernmost Pakistan. Rivista Italiana di Paleontologia e Stratigrafia, 105(2), 201-226.

Cited by 6 units (6 published) · 14 field-level citations · 9 revision notes.

Full text now reviewed (user re-supplied as OCR'd Markdown; the earlier scanned PDF had no text layer). Independent primary Ordovician-Devonian conodont (and acritarch) biostratigraphy along ~200 km of the axial Western Karakoram/Hindu Kush, from Chillinji (Karambar valley) to SW Chitral. Key results: the Yarkhun Formation includes Early Ordovician (Arenig) horizons (acritarchs: late-early Arenig nitidus/gibberulus to late Arenig hirundo Graptolite Zone, Amerise et al. 1998; + Ordovician conodonts); the paper INTRODUCES the Vidiakot Formation (upper finer part of the former Yarkhun Fm) and restricts Yarkhun to the lower coarser part, the two plus the Chilmarabad Fm together = Tahirkheli's Baroghil Formation/Group. The Shogram Formation spans mid-Givetian to early Famennian (early-Frasnian lacuna) - type section designated at Kuragh Spur (~36 deg 13'N, 72 deg 10'E), ~230 m thick (the widely-cited ~800 m of Bender & Raza 1995 / Kazmi & Jan 1997 is unsupported: 180 m on the Yarkhun R., ~80 m at Chillinji). The Charun Quartzite (~100 m, heterolithic) is given its type section here (Kuragh Spur), passing gradationally up into the Shogram Fm, its uppermost beds mid-Givetian (Middle varcus Subzone). Describes new conodont Icriodus homeomorphus sp. nov. (early Famennian, Late triangularis-?Early crepida Zone). The 'Lun Shale' (Desio 1966) is documented as a PROBLEMATIC potpourri/melange of Silurian (monograptids at top of Mt Shogram) through Early Devonian (Emsian) and Late Devonian rocks - NOT Permian-Triassic.

This page is the reverse of each unit's per-field citations — it shows exactly what this reference supports, making the dataset's “no source, no fact” rule browsable both ways.

Units citing this source

• Paleozoic Charun Quartzite Devonian
  AgeEraPeriodEpochThicknessThickness (m)Type localityCoordinatesGeological significance
  • Type locality: Talent et al. (1999) designate the Kurâgh Spur section as the type section of both the Charun Quartzite and the overlying Shogrâm Formation. Coordinates (36°13'N, 72°10'E) are the paper's stated Kurâgh Spur locality, author-approved for promotion 2026-07-30.
• Paleozoic Chilmarabad Formation Devonian
  • Age: Talent et al. (1999): the Chilmarabad Formation (Gaetani et al. 1996) had no previously known fossils; a horizon with poorly-preserved stromatoporoids 'not younger than Middle Devonian' occurs above Lashkargaz, and a coral horizon further supports a Devonian age. It may be, in a general way, a lateral equivalent of the Charun Quartzite, and forms part of the Yarkhun-Vidiakot-Chilmarabad (Baroghil) assemblage. Corroborates the curated Devonian age.
• Paleozoic Lun Shale Silurian–Devonian
  AgeEraPeriod
  • Age: Talent et al. (1999) STRONG AGE FLAG (with Feist et al. 2001): the 'Lun Shale' (Desio 1966) is documented as a PROBLEMATIC stratigraphic potpourri / tectonic mélange of rocks of various ages — Silurian (monograptids at the top of Mt Shogram), Early Devonian (Emsian; this report) and Late Devonian — NOT a Permian-Triassic unit. Hayden (1915) and Desio (1966) had thought it Carboniferous; the name has also been applied inconsistently (Buchroithner 1998 mapped a 'Lun Shale' tract adjacent to the Cretaceous Krinj Limestone). This directly contradicts this record's curated 'Permian-Triassic (Mesozoic)' age and its 'Permo-Triassic extinction' description — two independent primary sources (Talent et al. 1999 conodonts/graptolites; Feist et al. 2001) place it in the Silurian-Devonian (Middle Palaeozoic). Given the unit's mélange character, no single clean age applies; strongly flagged for reclassification (Paleozoic, Siluro-Devonian) pending author decision — NOT auto-overwritten because it flips the era badge.
  • Age: RECLASSIFIED (author-approved 2026-07-30): age changed from 'Permian–Triassic' (Mesozoic) to Silurian–Late Devonian (Paleozoic), era badge flipped Mesozoic→Paleozoic, on two independent primary sources — Talent et al. (1999) conodonts/graptolites and Feist et al. (2001) — which document the Lun Shale as a Siluro-Devonian structurally disrupted mélange. The earlier 'Permo-Triassic extinction' description was a mis-correlation (partly a conflation with the Chitral Slates) and has been removed.
• Paleozoic Shogram Formation Devonian
  ThicknessThickness (m)
  • Thickness: Talent et al. (1999) THICKNESS CORRECTION: they designate the Kurâgh Spur section (~36°13'N, 72°10'E; ~7.5 km NE of Reshun) as the type section of the Shogrâm Formation — an ~230-m-thick shale-limestone-arenite succession into which the underlying Charun Quartzite passes gradationally upward. The often-quoted ~800 m (Bender & Raza 1995; Kazmi & Jan 1997) is explicitly stated to be unsupported by any known section (elsewhere ~180 m on the Yarkhun River, ~80 m at Chillinji). Thickness field refined accordingly.
  • Age: Talent et al. (1999): conodonts show the Shogrâm Formation at Kurâgh spans mid-Givetian (base, Middle varcus Subzone at the Charun-transitional beds; P. varcus, P. timorensis) through Frasnian (from ~18-20 m, interval 9A) to early Famennian (from ~51-53.5 m, intervals 17-19); a sedimentation lacuna may represent all or most of the earlier half of Frasnian time. The new conodont Icriodus homeomorphus sp. nov. occurs in early Famennian horizons (Late triangularis to ?Early crepida Zone). Corroborates and refines the curated Middle-Late Devonian age.
• Paleozoic Vidiakot Formation Ordovician
  • Age: Talent et al. (1999): the Vidiakot Formation is INTRODUCED here for the upper, finer-grained part of the former Yarkhun Formation (Gaetani et al. 1996) — shales, siltstones and arkosic sandstones of the Vidiakot section yielding Early Ordovician (Arenig) acritarchs (nitidus/gibberulus to hirundo Graptolite Zone; Amerise et al. 1998). It sits between the restricted (lower, coarser) Yarkhun Formation and the Chilmarabad Formation, the three together = Tahirkheli's Baroghil Formation/Group. Corroborates the curated Ordovician age and adds the definitional source.
• Paleozoic Yarkhun Formation Ordovician
  • Age: Talent, Gaetani, Mawson, Molloy & Conaghan (1999), 'Early Ordovician and Devonian conodonts [from the Karakoram Terrane], northernmost Pakistan' (RIPS) — the primary conodont study underpinning the Early Ordovician age of the Yarkhun Formation, cited by Perri et al. (2004) for the NE-Chitral stratigraphy. NOTE: the supplied PDF of this 1999 paper is a scanned image with no text layer and could not be machine-read in this environment (no OCR), so only its title-level content (Early Ordovician conodonts, Karakoram Terrane) is used here to corroborate the curated Early Ordovician age; its detailed zonation is not yet incorporated and the paper is flagged for re-supply as a text-layer PDF.
  • Age: Talent et al. (1999) — FULL TEXT (supersedes the earlier title-level note): the Yarkhun Formation includes Early Ordovician (Arenig) horizons, confirmed both by acritarch floras (late-early Arenig nitidus/gibberulus Graptolite Zone to late Arenig hirundo Zone; Amerise et al. 1998, from the Vidiakot section) and by a small Ordovician conodont fauna (2.5 km WNW of the Ishkarwaz bridge, upper Yarkhun valley). Importantly, this paper INTRODUCES the Vidiakot Formation for the upper, finer-grained part of the former Yarkhun Formation and RESTRICTS the Yarkhun Formation to the stratigraphically lower, coarser (terrigenous) part; together with the overlying Chilmarabad Formation these three correspond to Tahirkheli's (1982, 1996) Baroghil Formation and perhaps warrant group status (the dataset's Baroghil Group). Corroborates the curated Early Ordovician (Arenig) age.