Cenozoic • Paleogene group In GSP lexicon

Dir Group

Late Paleocene to Early Eocene

Kohistan-Ladakh Magmatic Arc · Northern Greenstone Belt

Cited in 6 sources Last reviewed Jul 31, 2026

Unit summary

Rank: group
Status: Published
Age: Cenozoic · Paleogene · Latest Cretaceous–PaleoceneLate Paleocene to Early Eocene
Named by: Tahirkheli (1979)
Type locality: Not recorded
Thickness: Not recorded
Lithology: Baraul Banda slate (shale, greywacke, calcareous beds and volcanics) and the Utror volcanic formation.
Synonyms: Not recorded

The Dir Group — the Baraul Banda slate and Utror volcanics — the latest-Cretaceous–Paleocene record of Kohistan-arc volcanism.

Dir group ( Latest Cretaceous-Paleocene) named by Tahirkheli (1979) which include the Baraul Banda slate and Ultor volcanic formation. Baraul Banda slate contains shale, wakes, calcareous beds and some volcanics.

Fossils

Not recorded

Contacts

In the Kohistan Arc column

MetamorphicIgneousFossils recordedConformable

Band colour = period; texture = dominant rock type. Lines between bands mark the contact type. True scale makes height ∝ recorded thickness; hatched = thickness not recorded. Ages approximate, for ordering.

This unit (highlighted) within its province column; faded ends continue above and below. Line style marks the contact type.

Distribution & setting

Kohistan Arc

Basin: Kohistan-Ladakh Magmatic Arc
Region: Northern Greenstone Belt
Depositional environment: volcanic-arc, marine
Coordinates: Not recorded

Correlation

Not recorded. Compare this unit against other basins on the correlation panel →

Economic significance

Not recorded

Remarks

The latest-Cretaceous–Paleocene arc succession of the Dir–Chitral region, comprising the Baraul Banda slate and the Utror volcanics; records the youngest, waning phase of Kohistan-arc volcanism before final collision.

Research notes (6)

Field-by-field findings drawn from the cited literature. Every statement is traced to a registered source — follow a citation for the full reference.

Name & nomenclature (1)

Attested in Shah (2009), Geological Survey of Pakistan Memoir 22 - the Stratigraphic Committee of Pakistan's compiled lexicon (listed in the memoir's contents). Adds the definitional GSP/SCP lexicon citation.

Shah, S.M.I. (2009)

Age & correlation (2)

Kazmi & Abbasi (2008) CORRECTION: the book assigns the Dir Group a late Paleocene to early Eocene age and does not extend it into the Cretaceous; the previous 'Cretaceous–Paleocene' start (from the GSP lexicon) is corrected to Late Paleocene–Early Eocene.

Kazmi, A.H. & Abbasi, I.A. (2008)
Shah & Shervais (1999): the Dir-Utror volcanics represent a Paleocene-Eocene 'successor arc' built on the accreted Mesozoic Kohistan arc; 40Ar-39Ar hornblende ages of 58-61 Ma (Treloar et al. 1989) and early Eocene microfossils in the underlying Baraul Banda slate bracket its age, close to the ~50-55 Ma initial closure of the Neo-Tethys.

Shah, M.T. & Shervais, J.W. (1999)

Lithology (2)

Shah & Shervais (1999): the Dir-Utror volcanic series is dominated by porphyritic basaltic-andesite and andesite with subordinate basalt, high-MgO basalt, dacite and rhyolite, metamorphosed to greenschist facies (chlorite-epidote-albite-actinolite); its calc-alkaline whole-rock trend and LILE-enriched, Nb-P-Ti-depleted trace-element patterns are typical of subduction-related arc magmatism.

Shah, M.T. & Shervais, J.W. (1999)
Ahmad et al. (2025): the Eocene Dir-Kalam (Utror) volcanics of the Dir Group extend westward through northern Kalam, Utror, eastern and central Dir and the Barawal Valley to the Afghan border, reaching a maximum width of 4-5 km near Utror and, near Bhan to the east, becoming interbedded with slates. Post-suturing arc volcanism mapped at 1:50,000.

Ahmad, T., Jan, M.Q. & Drüppel, K. (2025)

Stratigraphic contacts (1)

Shah & Shervais (1999): in the NW Kohistan arc the Dir Group comprises, from the base, the Baraul Banda slate (calcareous siltstone/slate — Fletcher's 1985 'tuffite' — up to ~4 km thick, with early Eocene microfossils), the Dir-Utror metavolcanic series, and the Panakot meta-arkose.

Shah, M.T. & Shervais, J.W. (1999)

Sources (5)

Malkani, M.S. & Mahmood, Z. (2017). Stratigraphy of Pakistan. Geological Survey of Pakistan, Memoir Vol. 24.
Kazmi, A.H. & Jan, M.Q. (1997). Geology and Tectonics of Pakistan. Graphic Publishers, Karachi.
Shah, S.M.I. (2009). Stratigraphy of Pakistan. Geological Survey of Pakistan, Memoir Vol. 22.
Kazmi, A.H. & Abbasi, I.A. (2008). Stratigraphy and Historical Geology of Pakistan. Department & National Centre of Excellence in Geology, University of Peshawar, Peshawar. 524 pp. ISBN 978-969-9119.
Shah, M.T. & Shervais, J.W. (1999). The Dir-Utror metavolcanic sequence, Kohistan arc terrane, northern Pakistan. Journal of Asian Earth Sciences, 17(4), 459-475.

Reviewer confidence: high

Every fact on this page is source-cited. This entry is part of the peer-archived Pakistan Stratigraphy Dataset (doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.21363991, CC‑BY‑4.0).

Lexicon status: Name attested in the Shah (1977/2009) Geological Survey of Pakistan compilation — the national stratigraphic lexicon. This records where the name is documented; it is not an endorsement of the unit’s definition, age or figures.

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Cite this unit

APA

Qudsi, L. (2026). Dir Group. In Pakistan Stratigraphy Dataset [Data set]. Zenodo. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.21363991

BibTeX

@misc{stratigraphypk_dirgroup,
  author    = {Qudsi, Lareb},
  title     = {{Dir Group} --- Pakistan Stratigraphy Dataset},
  year      = {2026},
  publisher = {Zenodo},
  doi       = {10.5281/zenodo.21363991},
  url       = {https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.21363991}
}

Archived dataset: doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.21363991 (CC‑BY‑4.0) · Direct link to this entry: https://stratigraphy.pk/formation/dir-group (accessed October 7, 2026).

To cite the unit's original definition instead, see: Tahirkheli (1979).