Source provenance

Zanchi, A. & Gaetani, M. (2011). The geology of the Karakoram range, Pakistan: the new 1:100,000 geological map of Central-Western Karakoram. Italian Journal of Geosciences, 130(2), 161-262.

Cited by 32 units (32 published) · 75 field-level citations · 52 revision notes.

Landmark open-access Italian-survey geological map + memoir of the Central-Western Karakoram; the definitive independent framework for the Karakoram Palaeozoic-Mesozoic units. Full text reviewed (reviewer-supplied PDF). Confirms the Atark Unit (Permian-Triassic), Gum Fm (Permian-aspect fauna), Rawat Fm (Permian fusulinids), Margach Fm (~150 m, ?Famennian-earliest Tournaisian), Ribat Fm (Lower Carboniferous), Vidiakot Fm (Lower Ordovician), Yarkhun Fm (Ordovician-Devonian) and the Twin Valleys Member (Late Carboniferous, within the Lupsuk Fm). NOTE: does NOT cover the Staghar Cherty Limestone (Shaksgam Valley — a different area).

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Units citing this source

• Mesozoic Aghil Limestone Triassic–Jurassic
  • Age: Zanchi & Gaetani (2011): the Aghil Formation is Late Triassic — deformed megalodontids and dasycladacean fragments indicate a Late Triassic age, and at the top (south of Reshit, Chapursan) reworked scleractinian corals and ammonoids suggest a latest Triassic age. Total thickness may exceed 1500 m of massive peritidal-to-subtidal carbonate. Name from the 'Aghil Limestone' of Auden (1938), resumed by Desio (1963) and adopted as a formation by Gaetani et al. (1990a); unconformably covered by the Cretaceous Tupop Formation.
• Mesozoic Ailak Formation Triassic
  Fossils
  • Age: CONFIRMED against Zanchi & Gaetani (2011, Fig. 19): the Ailak Formation is Triassic, 0->150 m (Lasht/Siru) to 500-600 m (Lashkargaz/Baroghil). Consistent with the dataset's Late Permian-Late Triassic span.
  • Age: Zanchi & Gaetani (2011): the type section of the Ailak Formation is the ridge of the continental divide between the Baroghil and Darwaz passes (introduced by Gaetani et al. 1996); >550 m of peritidal dolostone whose lower grey part is Late Permian (fusulinids Nankinella and Sphaerulina, Tubiphytes, Permocalculus) and whose lighter upper part is Triassic — the dolostone contains the Permian/Triassic boundary, with internal gaps in the Triassic part. Huge palaeokarst cavities (up to 100 m deep) at the Baroghil Pass record Cimmerian-age emersion; transgressively overlain by the Lower Jurassic Darwaz An Formation.
  • Fossils: Surfaced from the age notes into fossils[]: the lower grey (Late Permian) part of the Ailak dolostone yields fusulinids Nankinella and Sphaerulina with the dasyclad alga Permocalculus and Tubiphytes (Zanchi & Gaetani 2011; Gaetani et al. 2013, after Leven et al. 2007). These fix the Permian/Triassic boundary within the unit.
• Paleozoic Arkari Formation Permian–Jurassic
  • Age: Zanchi & Gaetani (2011): the Arkari Formation (Leake et al. 1989; Arkari Valley west of the Tirich Mir) is a medium-grade metamorphic complex (micaschist, phyllite, marble, quartzite, feldspathic gneiss) possibly derived from the Wakhan Slates; belemnite remains (Pascoe 1924) suggest a Mesozoic age for at least part of the protolith.
• Mesozoic Ashtigar Formation Jurassic
  • Age: Zanchi & Gaetani (2011): in the regional synthesis the arenaceous Ashtigar Formation is placed in the Jurassic (Cimmerian), above the latest-Triassic drowned carbonate platform and below the Yashkuk Formation — consistent with the curated Early Jurassic (Liassic) assignment. Quartz-lithic sandstones with clasts of serpentinite/chlorite schist, basalt and radiolarite record erosion of an oceanic subduction complex near an arc–trench system.
• Paleozoic Atark Formation Permian
  PeriodAgeType locality
  • Age: CONFIRMED against Zanchi & Gaetani (2011, full text): the Atark Unit is a severely deformed succession of Permian to TRIASSIC shallow-water carbonate and slates (Gaetani & Leven 1993), East Hindu Kush-Wakhan domain. Age conflict confirmed — the dataset lists Permian only; extend to Permian-Triassic (author to confirm).
  • Age: Age corrected from "Permian (Sakmarian–Midian)" to "Permian to Triassic" per Zanchi & Gaetani (2011, Fig. 19, North Karakoram Terrain correlation chart); author-approved 2026-07-17.
  • Age: Zanchi & Gaetani (2011): the Atark unit (Buchroithner 1978, 1980; emended Gaetani & Leven 1993) records evolution from an Early Permian continental/marine terrigenous plain and carbonate ramp (Early Permian fusulinids in the lower part) to a wide Late Triassic carbonate platform bearing large bivalves (megalodontids, dasycladacean algae in the Atark Dolostone). Mapped as three facies — Atark Slates (?Permian), Atark Black Limestone (?Permian, >100 m) and Atark Dolostone (Triassic).
• Paleozoic Baroghil Group Ordovician–Silurian
  • Age: Zanchi & Gaetani (2011): the Baroghil Group (Ordovician–Silurian) comprises two formations — the Yarkhun Formation (Arenig, below) and the Vidiakot Formation (Arenig–Llanvirn to ?Silurian, above). Its lower formation rests with a preserved basal non-conformity on the pre-Ordovician Karakoram crystalline basement; the mechanically weak Ordovician slates act as the detachment level from which many floor thrusts propagate.
• Paleozoic Barum Formation Paleozoic (undifferentiated)
  EraPeriodGeological significancePlain summaryDescriptionAgeIntroduced by
  • Age: Reviewer reconciliation (2026-07-30): the Barum Formation is a single unit — the Darkot-Group clastic formation of Le Fort & Gaetani (1998), not a distinct Cretaceous–Eocene unit. The prior 'Cretaceous–Eocene' age (from the GSP Memoir 24 compilation, uncited on the age field and inconsistent with the unfossiliferous Paleozoic Darkot Group, whose Gum and Rawat formations are Permian–Triassic and Late Palaeozoic) is superseded by the definitional Italian-survey work (Le Fort & Gaetani 1998; Zanchi & Gaetani 2011), which assigns a Paleozoic age by analogy with Northern Karakoram terrigenous successions.
• Paleozoic Chapursan Group Permian–Triassic
  ThicknessThickness (m)LithologyDepositional environment
  • Thickness: CONFIRMED against Zanchi & Gaetani (2011, Fig. 19): the Chapursan Group is Permian, ~400-500 m in the Karambar sheet. Thickness gap-filled.
  • Age: Zanchi & Gaetani (2011): the Chapursan Group is a thick mainly-carbonate Permian succession overlying the Gircha Formation, with large fusulinids in the massive white limestones (KCh2); its upper part (massive carbonates, Kmc) may be Triassic in age. Detailed only in the remote Karambar Unit.
• Paleozoic Chilmarabad Formation Devonian
  ThicknessThickness (m)Type localityIntroduced byFossils
  • Thickness: CONFIRMED against Zanchi & Gaetani (2011, Fig. 19): the Chilmarabad Formation sits at the Silurian-Devonian level, max ~145 m (Axial) to ~300 m (Karambar). Corroborates the Devonian age; thickness gap-filled.
  • Age: Zanchi & Gaetani (2011): the Chilmarabad Formation is Eifelian to ?Givetian — the upper dolostone member yields algae and tabulate corals (Pseudopalaeoporella, Thamnopora, Pachycanalicula; Hubmann & Gaetani 2007). Two members: a lower doloarenitic member (~125 m) with terrigenous input and an upper monotonous light-grey stromatolitic dolostone member (~110 m); deposited on a wide peritidal flat. In the Karambar Unit it overlies the Vandanil Formation and is covered upward by the Shogram Formation.
  • Fossils: Surfaced from the age notes into fossils[]: the upper dolostone member yields algae and tabulate corals — Pseudopalaeoporella, Thamnopora, Pachycanalicula (Hubmann & Gaetani 2007, in Zanchi & Gaetani 2011). Talent et al. (1999) add poorly-preserved stromatoporoids 'not younger than Middle Devonian' and a coral horizon above Lashkargaz — the first fossils reported from a formation previously without any.
• Mesozoic Darband Formation Cretaceous
  • Age: Zanchi & Gaetani (2011): the Darband Formation is cited as Campanian (Late Cretaceous) red/pinkish nodular marls (Gaetani et al. 1993) that unconformably cover the Tupop Conglomerate in the Sost Unit (Koz Yaz Glacier area) — consistent with the curated Cretaceous age. (A separate 'Darband Fm.' of Pudsey & Gupta 1985 is treated by this paper as a member of the Rawat Formation in the Darkot-Gazin belt.)
• Paleozoic Darkot Group Carboniferous–Permian
  • Age: Zanchi & Gaetani (2011): the Darkot Group (Ivanac et al. 1956) is subdivided by Le Fort & Gaetani (1998) into the Gum, Barum and Rawat formations and spans the Upper Palaeozoic (bryozoans, brachiopods, Permian fusulinids, Upper Carboniferous conodonts) to the Mesozoic (Late Triassic megalodontids in the Gum Fm.); the paper introduces the term 'Darkot-Gazin Metasedimentary Belt' for it. NB: broader than the curated 'Ordovician–Devonian' age — flagged for reconciliation.
• Mesozoic Darwaz An Formation Jurassic
  AgeLithologyThicknessType localityFossilsDepositional environmentIntroduced by
• Paleozoic Gharil Formation Permian
  ThicknessThickness (m)
  • Thickness: CONFIRMED against Zanchi & Gaetani (2011, Fig. 19): the Gharil Formation is a thin Permian unit, ~5 m (Lasht/Siru) to ~20 m (Lashkargaz/Baroghil). Thickness gap-filled.
  • Age: Zanchi & Gaetani (2011): the Gharil Formation is unfossiliferous; a latest Middle Permian to earliest Late Permian age is proposed from its stratigraphic position at the end-Guadalupian regression. It is the 'Ironstone Horizon' of Hayden (1915) — red fining-upward conglomerate/arenite cycles capped by lateritic Fe-enriched siltstones, recording subaerial exposure at near-equatorial palaeolatitude (Muttoni et al. 2009).
• Paleozoic Gircha Formation Permian
  ThicknessThickness (m)
  • Thickness: CONFIRMED against Zanchi & Gaetani (2011, Fig. 19): the Gircha Formation is Lower Permian, ranging from >50 m (Axial) to >500 m (Karambar) across the thrust sheets. Corroborates the Permian age; thickness gap-filled.
  • Age: Zanchi & Gaetani (2011): most of the Gircha Formation was deposited during the earliest Permian — bracketed below by the Tournaisian Ribat Formation (gentle angular unconformity) and above by the Sakmarian brachiopod assemblage at the base of the overlying Lashkargaz Formation; an Asselian brachiopod-packed siltstone occurs in the Karambar Unit (Angiolini et al. 2005), so a latest-Carboniferous start cannot be excluded. Redefined by Gaetani et al. (1990a) with a ~1000 m type-area thickness (Desio 1963); marine, storm-dominated shallow-water passing up to fluvio-deltaic.
• Paleozoic Gum Formation Permian
  Introduced by
  • Lithology: CONFIRMED against Zanchi & Gaetani (2011, full text): massive light limestone/dolostone (named after the Qalandar Gum Glacier) with a Permian-aspect bryozoan-brachiopod fauna. Supports a Permian age; the Cretaceous extension in the dataset is NOT confirmed by this map.
  • Age: Zanchi & Gaetani (2011): the Gum Formation (Le Fort & Gaetani 1998; Darkot Group) is Permian to Triassic — Member 1 carries a Permian-aspect bryozoan/brachiopod fauna, Member 2 Late Triassic megalodontids. Well-bedded recrystallized limestones and dolostones (Mb 2 >700 m; Mb 1 ≥300 m). NB: the curated top age 'Cretaceous' is not supported by this paper (Triassic top) — flagged for reconciliation.
• Paleozoic Ini Sar Formation Permian
  AgeLithologyThicknessType localityIntroduced byFossilsDepositional environment
  • Geological significance: The type section and depositional environment of the Ini Sar Formation are described in the 1:100,000 geological map of the Central-Western Karakoram (Zanchi & Gaetani 2011).
• Mesozoic Krinj Limestone Cretaceous
  • Age: Zanchi & Gaetani (2011): the Krinj(i) Limestone (Desio 1959) is Early Cretaceous — late Aptian orbitolinids (Mesorbitolina) and small rudist fragments occur at Krinji and at Nal near Reshun; it covers the Chitral Slates and lies below the Reshun Conglomerate.
• Paleozoic Lashkargaz Formation Permian
  • Age: CONFIRMED against Zanchi & Gaetani (2011, Fig. 19): the Lashkargaz Formation is Permian, ~150-200 m (Lasht/Siru) to ~400 m (Lashkargaz/Baroghil). Corroborates the Permian age.
  • Age: Zanchi & Gaetani (2011): the Lashkargaz Formation ranges from the Sakmarian (Member 1) to the Kungurian–Roadian (Member 4), i.e. late Early to earliest Middle Permian. Five members (Gaetani et al. 1995, emended Leven et al. 2007) totalling >1000 m, dominated by fusulinid-rich packstones — one of the richest fossil units of the Western Karakoram — deposited on a progressively deeper carbonate ramp. Type area SW of Lashkargaz; former Member 5 is now part of the Ini Sar Formation.
• Paleozoic Lupsuk Formation Carboniferous
  ThicknessThickness (m)EpochMember units
  • Member units: CONFIRMED against Zanchi & Gaetani (2011, Fig. 19): the Lupsuk Formation is Upper Carboniferous, ~250 m in the Karambar sheet, and CONTAINS the Twin Valleys Member (bioclastic limestone) — now wired as a member. Thickness and Late-Carboniferous epoch gap-filled.
  • Age: Zanchi & Gaetani (2011): the Lupsuk Formation carries two brachiopod assemblages — a basal spiriferid-dominated Serpukhovian fauna and an upper assemblage referred to the latest Carboniferous. About 400 m of fine arenites, siltstones, slates, hybrid calcarenites and thin conglomerates (Karambar Unit; Gaetani et al. 2004b), recording renewed coarse terrigenous input in shore-face to fore-delta settings; contains the Twin Valleys Member and sulphate nodules at the top.
• Paleozoic Margach Formation Devonian–Carboniferous
  • Lithology: CONFIRMED against Zanchi & Gaetani (2011, full text, Fig. 19): dark grey-black splintery siltstone/shale of a muddy shelf, Lower Carboniferous; thickness ~100 m (Lashkargaz/Baroghil sheet) to 200-300 m (Karambar sheet) - NOT the ~300 m single figure from the earlier snippet; age ?Famennian-earliest Tournaisian. Corroborates the Devonian-Carboniferous age.
  • Age: Zanchi & Gaetani (2011): the Margach Formation is ?Famennian–earliest Tournaisian; a small brachiopod assemblage in the third lithozone of the Karambar type section (Ribat Valley; Gaetani et al. 2004b) suggests an early–middle Tournaisian age, with no Famennian evidence. About 294 m in three lithozones (siltstones/slates with rare bioclastic limestones and a Receptaculites bed, passing up to progradational arenites); a muddy shallow-marine flat, gradational above the Shogram Formation.
• Paleozoic Rawat Formation Permian
  Introduced by
  • Lithology: CONFIRMED against Zanchi & Gaetani (2011, full text): splintery dark slates and dark limestones with silty/arenitic interbeds, upper Darkot Valley S of the Karakoram Batholith; Permian fusulinids reported nearby (Hayden 1915); includes the Darband Fm as a member. Corroborates the Permian age.
  • Age: Zanchi & Gaetani (2011): the Rawat Formation (Le Fort & Gaetani 1998; Darkot Group) is Late Palaeozoic — dark slates and limestones with bryozoan/brachiopod fragments and, in the Darkot area, Permian fusulinids (Hayden 1915). Several hundred metres of splintery dark slates and dark limestones with silty/arenitic interbeds; the Darband Fm. of Pudsey & Gupta (1985) is here included as a member of the Rawat Formation.
• Mesozoic Reshit Formation Jurassic
  • Age: Zanchi & Gaetani (2011): the Reshit Formation yields Aalenian–Bajocian nannofossils (Gaetani et al. 1993); introduced by Gaetani et al. (1990a). About 300 m of dark grey oncolitic–oolitic packstone and mudstone/wackestone of an open carbonate shelf with evaporitic episodes and restricted lagoons (gypsum and thin coal seams occur in the Chapursan Valley); it aggraded onto the previously emerged area during the Aalenian.
• Mesozoic Reshun Formation Cretaceous
  PeriodAgeEpoch
  • Age: Age corrected from "Triassic-Jurassic" to Late Cretaceous per Zanchi & Gaetani (2011, Fig. 19: Reshun Conglomerate, Upper Cretaceous, 0-600 m) and the well-known mid-to-Late Cretaceous Reshun Formation of Chitral; author-approved 2026-07-17.
  • Age: Zanchi & Gaetani (2011): the Reshun Formation is Late Cretaceous — a post-Aptian age is required because it unconformably overlies late-Aptian orbitolinid (Mesorbitolina) limestones and contains reworked Orbitolina-bearing clasts; no pollens were recovered. A >500 m (locally >1000 m) fluvial red conglomerate/sandstone succession of high-energy fans passing to a braided plain, unconformably (low-angle) overlying Palaeozoic–Triassic units of the Axial Unit; records two deformational events related to the Kohistan–Karakoram collision.
• Paleozoic Ribat Formation Carboniferous
  ThicknessFossils
  • Lithology: CONFIRMED against Zanchi & Gaetani (2011, full text, Fig. 19): Lower Carboniferous crinoidal-to-marly limestones overlying the Margach Fm; thickness 70-120 m (Lashkargaz/Baroghil) to >350 m (Karambar). Corroborates the Early Carboniferous age.
  • Age: Zanchi & Gaetani (2011): the Ribat Formation spans the late Tournaisian–Bashkirian in the Karambar type section (conodonts Gnathodus spp., Siphonodella lobata; a rich spiriferid–productoid brachiopod fauna), reduced to middle–late Tournaisian along the Yarkhun River. Grey crinoidal limestones and marls of a fully marine, high-productivity carbonate shelf; overlain with a gentle angular unconformity by the Gircha Formation.
  • Fossils: Surfaced from the age/lithology notes into fossils[]: the Ribat Formation's grey crinoidal limestones carry conodonts (Gnathodus spp., Siphonodella lobata) and a rich spiriferid–productoid brachiopod fauna dating the late Tournaisian–Bashkirian span (Zanchi & Gaetani 2011; Gaetani et al. 2004). Crinoids are the rock-forming bioclasts of the crinoidal limestone.
• Paleozoic Sewakht Formation Devonian
  • Age: Zanchi & Gaetani (2011): the Sewakht Formation (Leake et al. 1989; Arkari Valley) comprises greenschists, limestone/dolomite carbonates and sandstones, defined north of the Cretaceous Krinj Limestone; it may correlate with the western continuation of the Devonian Owir Series.
• Paleozoic Shogram Formation Devonian
  • Age: CONFIRMED against Zanchi & Gaetani (2011, Fig. 19): the Shogram Formation is Middle-Late Devonian, ~75 m (Axial sheet) to 250-300 m (Karambar); a clean match to the dataset's Middle-Late Devonian age.
  • Age: Zanchi & Gaetani (2011): the Shogram Formation is Givetian at the base and Frasnian for the overlying lithozones (Middle–Late Devonian; no Famennian evidence here). Dated by corals (Schröder 2004), tabulates (Hubmann & Gaetani 2007) and conodonts (Icriodus alternatus alternatus, Polygnathus decorosus). The most fossiliferous Devonian unit of Karakoram — five lithozones from basal terrigenous conglomerates/arenites through brachiopod–crinoid calcarenites and coral bafflestones to a fine terrigenous top with Rhizocorallium; records a Givetian rifting event.
• Mesozoic Tupop Formation Cretaceous
  AgeLithologyType localityIntroduced byDepositional environment
• Paleozoic Twin Valley Member Carboniferous
  PeriodAgeThickness
  • Age: CONFIRMED against Zanchi & Gaetani (2011, full text, Fig. 19): the Twin Valleys Member is a 30-100 m bioclastic limestone WITHIN the Lupsuk Formation (~250 m, Karambar sheet), UPPER CARBONIFEROUS (above a Moscovian/Kasimovian fauna; Angiolini et al. 1999). Age/rank conflict confirmed - reconcile the dataset s Devonian-Carboniferous to Upper Carboniferous, member of the Lupsuk Fm (author to confirm).
  • Age: Age corrected from "Devonian–Carboniferous" to "Late Carboniferous (Pennsylvanian)" per Zanchi & Gaetani (2011, Fig. 19, North Karakoram Terrain correlation chart); author-approved 2026-07-17.
  • Age: Zanchi & Gaetani (2011): the Twin Valleys Member (within the Lupsuk Formation) is inferred Late Carboniferous because it lies above a Moscovian/Kasimovian brachiopod fauna (Angiolini et al. 1999); no macrofossils occur in the member itself. 30–100 m of massive bioclastic limestone (bryozoans, crinoids, brachiopods, corals), capped by terrigenous beds ascribed to the Gircha Formation.
• Paleozoic Vandanil Formation Devonian
  AgeLithologyThicknessType localityIntroduced byFossilsDepositional environment
• Paleozoic Vidiakot Formation Ordovician
  Type localityIntroduced byDepositional environmentThicknessThickness (m)
  • Age: Zanchi & Gaetani (2011): the Vidiakot Formation (upper Baroghil Group) begins near the Arenig–Llanvirn boundary (acritarch assemblage VK3) and is supposed to span the rest of the Ordovician and at least part of the Silurian — poorly preserved orthoceratid cephalopods in upper carbonate lenses tentatively suggest a Silurian age (evidence poor). At least 400–500 m of black splintery slates with dolostone lenses; an outer-shelf mud with reappearing carbonate toward the top.
  • Thickness (m): Thickness surfaced from the age note: the Vidiakot Formation is ~500 m in the Axial sheet — at least 400–500 m of black splintery slates with dolostone lenses (Zanchi & Gaetani 2011).
• Paleozoic Yarkhun Formation Ordovician
  PeriodAgeType localityIntroduced byDepositional environmentFossils
  • Age: Age corrected from "Silurian" to "Ordovician (Early Ordovician)" per Zanchi & Gaetani (2011, Fig. 19, North Karakoram Terrain correlation chart); author-approved 2026-07-17.
  • Age: Zanchi & Gaetani (2011): the Yarkhun Formation (lower unit of the Baroghil Group) is restricted to the Arenig (Early Ordovician) — acritarch assemblages VK1–VK2 and conodonts (Baltoniodus sp. cf. B. medius) span the nitidus to hirundo graptolite zones, with an overlying conodont level reaching the latest Arenig–lower Llanvirn. About 180 m of grey subarkoses/litharenites with Cruziana and Planolites, recording transgression on a peneplaned crystalline basement.
  • Fossils: Surfaced from the age notes into fossils[]: the Yarkhun Formation carries Early Ordovician (Arenig) conodonts (Baltoniodus sp. cf. B. medius) and acritarch assemblages VK1–VK2 (Zanchi & Gaetani 2011; Talent et al. 1999, after Amerise et al. 1998). Cruziana and Planolites are kept explicitly labelled as trace fossils (ichnofossils), not body fossils.
• Mesozoic Yashkuk Formation Jurassic
  • Age: Zanchi & Gaetani (2011): the Yashkuk Formation is Toarcian–Aalenian (Gaetani et al. 1993), its base dated to the latest Pliensbachian; introduced by Gaetani et al. (1990a). Fine-grained red and green litharenites, siltstones and shales, 10–300 m thick, deposited on continental distal alluvial fans recording dismantling of the Cimmerian orogenic belt.