Paleozoic • Ordovician–Silurian In GSP lexicon

Panjpir Formation

Middle Ordovician(?) to Late Silurian

Cited in 7 sources Last reviewed Aug 10, 2026

Unit summary

Rank: Not recorded
Status: Published
Age: Paleozoic · Ordovician–Silurian · Middle Ordovician(?)–Late Silurian (Pridolian)Middle Ordovician(?) to Late Silurian
Named by: Pogue and Hussain (1986)
Type locality: Panjpir village, Mardan District34.1000°N, 72.5333°E
Thickness: 110–1,075 m
Lithology: Slate and phyllite with intercalations of limestone and quartzite, and a basal conglomerate carrying quartzite, dolomite, limestone and argillite clasts.
Synonyms: Not recorded

A slate-and-limestone unit above the Misri Banda Quartzite, dated by conodonts from the Ordovician to the Late Silurian.

Named after Panjpir village. Represents shallow marine to deltaic conditions during Early Devonian.

Fossils

Crinoids Pelecypods Cephalopods Nautiloids Conodonts

Contacts

In the Hazara Basin column

MetamorphicLimestoneIgneousFossils recordedConformableUnconformity

Band colour = period; texture = dominant rock type. Lines between bands mark the contact type (wavy = unconformity inferred from a missing period). 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

Hazara Basin

Basin: Not recorded
Region: Not recorded
Depositional environment: marine
Coordinates: 34.1000°N, 72.5333°E

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Correlation

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

Economic significance

Not recorded

Remarks

A slate-and-phyllite unit overlying the Misri Banda Quartzite (dataset Jobra Formation); its limestones carry crinoids, cephalopods and Ludlovian conodonts, and a crinoidal limestone at the top yields Late Silurian (Pridolian) conodonts, giving a Middle Ordovician(?) to Late Silurian age.

Research notes (4)

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 Panjpir Formation (type Panjpir Village, Mardan) is Middle Ordovician(?) to Late Silurian (Pogue & Hussain 1986; Ludlovian/Late Silurian conodonts, Talent & Mawson 1979) — it is conformably OVERLAIN by the Early Devonian Nowshera Formation. The previous 'Early Devonian' age was the Nowshera Formation's, mis-applied here; corrected (this also completes the Nowshera-area reconciliation: Misri Banda Qzt = Ordovician, Panjpir = Ord–Silurian, Nowshera = Early Devonian).

Kazmi, A.H. & Abbasi, I.A. (2008)
Pogue, Harris & Hussain (1992): extensive conodont faunas (Ozarkodina excavata, O. remscheidensis, Kockelella variabilis, Polygnathoides siluricus, Oulodus, Walliserodus, etc.) date the Panjpir Formation as Early to latest Silurian (Llandoverian to Pridolian) - the first documented evidence of Early and Middle Silurian rocks in Pakistan. About 875 m of dark argillite, phyllite and metasiltstone with an upper crinoidal-orthoceratid limestone; unconformable on the Misri Banda Quartzite and overlain by the Nowshera Formation.

Pogue, K.R., Harris, A.G. & Hussain, A. (1992)

Fossils & biostratigraphy (1)

Hussain, DiPietro & Pogue (1998): the Panjpir Formation (type section near Panjpir village, 34 deg 06' N, 72 deg 30' E, 4 km SE of Swabi; = the 'Kandar Phyllite' of Stauffer 1968) yielded, from a basal crinoidal-limestone lens NW of Misri Banda, Distomodus sp. of Llandoverian-early Wenlockian age - cited as the first evidence of Early and Middle Silurian rock in Pakistan; late-Silurian (Pridolian) conodonts occur in its upper crinoidal limestone.

Hussain, A., DiPietro, J.A. & Pogue, K.R. (1998)

Sources (7)

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.
OpenStreetMap contributors and GEOnet Names Server (public geographic gazetteers), used to geolocate named GSP type localities to approximate decimal coordinates.
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.
Pogue, K.R., Harris, A.G. & Hussain, A. (1992). Paleozoic and Mesozoic stratigraphy of the Peshawar basin, Pakistan: Correlations and implications. Geological Society of America Bulletin, 104(8), 915-927.
Hussain, A., DiPietro, J.A. & Pogue, K.R. (1998). Stratigraphy and structure of the Peshawar basin, Pakistan. Journal of Nepal Geological Society, 18, 25-35.

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). Panjpir Formation. In Pakistan Stratigraphy Dataset [Data set]. Zenodo. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.21363991

BibTeX

@misc{stratigraphypk_panjpirformation,
  author    = {Qudsi, Lareb},
  title     = {{Panjpir Formation} --- 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/panjpir-formation (accessed October 7, 2026).

To cite the unit's original definition instead, see: Pogue and Hussain (1986).

Below · older

Jobra Formation

Ordovician

Above · younger

Nowshera Formation

Devonian

Referenced in other successions

Underlain by Jafar Kandao Formation· Misri Banda Quartzite