Paleozoic • Devonian In GSP lexicon

Shogram Formation

Middle–Late Devonian

Cited in 8 sources Last reviewed Jul 30, 2026

Unit summary

Rank: Not recorded
Status: Published
Age: Paleozoic · Devonian · Middle–Late DevonianMiddle–Late Devonian
Named by: Desio (1966)
Type locality: Shogram village (mount), Yarkhun valley, Chitral
Thickness: ~230 m at the Kurâgh Spur type section (180 m on the Yarkhun R.; ~80 m at Chillinji); the widely-cited ~800 m (Bender & Raza 1995; Kazmi & Jan 1997) is unsupported (Talent et al. 1999)
Lithology: Massive crinoidal dolomite in the lower part; bedded dolomite, fossiliferous limestone with corals and thin shale in the middle; and cross-bedded fine- to medium-grained quartzite with brachiopod-bearing limestone in the upper part.
Synonyms: Sewakht Formation; Owir Formation

The main Devonian limestone-and-quartzite unit of Chitral (~230 m thick at its Kurâgh Spur type section), rich in corals and brachiopods, now thrust over much younger Cretaceous rocks.

Named after Shogram village. Contains glaciomarine diamictites indicating Permo-Carboniferous glaciation on Asian plate.

Fossils

Rugose corals Brachiopods Conodonts Trilobites (Neocalmonia chitralensis, N. batillifera orientalis)

Contacts

In the Hindukush-Chitral column

MetamorphicLimestoneFossils 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

Hindukush-Chitral Karakoram

Basin: Not recorded
Region: Not recorded
Depositional environment: marine, shallow marine
Coordinates: Not recorded

Correlation

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

Economic significance

Not recorded

Remarks

The principal Devonian carbonate of the Chitral-Hindukush sequence, recording a marine-shelf environment; it is thrust south-eastward over the Cretaceous Reshun Formation along the Reshun Thrust and undergoes rapid lateral facies changes that have long complicated local correlation.

Research notes (9)

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 (5)

Baseline age 'Devonian–Jurassic' is over-broad: it bundles the overlying Sarikole/Lun Shales, which range up to the Jurassic. The Shogram Formation proper is Middle to Late Devonian. Flag for Phase-6 cleanup.

Malkani, M.S. & Mahmood, Z. (2017)
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.

Zanchi, A. & Gaetani, M. (2011)
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.

Zanchi, A. & Gaetani, M. (2011)
Gaetani et al. (2008): the Shogrâm Formation begins with basal alluvial arenite and fine conglomerate, overlain by alternating marine bioclastic limestones and litharenites with one or two coral bafflestones; its lowermost part is Givetian, extending through the Frasnian and seemingly into the Famennian (the last poorly documented in the Karambar sections, contrasting with the classic Shogrâm/Kurâgh sections of Chitral). Gaetani et al. (2004) give the range as mid-Givetian to mid-Famennian. Corroborates the curated Middle–Late Devonian age.

Gaetani, M., Mawson, R., Sciunnach, D. & Talent, J.A. (2008)
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.

Talent, J.A., Gaetani, M., Mawson, R., Molloy, P.D. & Conaghan, P.J. (1999)

Thickness (2)

Baseline thickness '6m' is a migration artifact: it is the 6 m pisolitic ironstone bed of the nearby Zait Limestone, not the Shogram Formation, which is about 800 m thick near its type locality. Flag for Phase-6 cleanup.

Malkani, M.S. & Mahmood, Z. (2017)
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.

Talent, J.A., Gaetani, M., Mawson, R., Molloy, P.D. & Conaghan, P.J. (1999)

Fossils & biostratigraphy (1)

Feist, Talent & Mawson (2001): Late Devonian trilobites from near the Frasnian–Famennian boundary in the Shogrâm Formation on the SW flank of the Kurâgh Spur (~230 m shale-limestone-arenite succession) — a new asteropygine Neocalmonia chitralensis sp. nov. and Neocalmonia batillifera orientalis subsp. nov. (from unit KUR 9B), extending the Asteropyginae eastward from Iran and southern Afghanistan; an earlier Reed (1922) form (Dalmanites (Asteropyge) koraghensis) is reassignable to Heliopyge. The Upper Kellwasser Event is located within unit KUR 19 (Talent et al. 1999).

Feist, R., Talent, J.A. & Mawson, R. (2001)

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.
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.
Shah, S.M.I. (2009). Stratigraphy of Pakistan. Geological Survey of Pakistan, Memoir Vol. 22.
Gaetani, M., Mawson, R., Sciunnach, D. & Talent, J.A. (2008). The Devonian of Western Karakorum (Pakistan). Acta Geologica Polonica, 58(3), 261-285.
Feist, R., Talent, J.A. & Mawson, R. (2001). Devonian trilobites from the Shogrâm Formation, Kurâgh, Chitral (NW Pakistan). Alcheringa, 25(2), 107-115.
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.

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

BibTeX

@misc{stratigraphypk_shogramformation,
  author    = {Qudsi, Lareb},
  title     = {{Shogram 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/shogram-formation (accessed October 7, 2026).

To cite the unit's original definition instead, see: Desio (1966).

Below · older

Chilmarabad Formation

Devonian

Above · younger

Lun Shale

Silurian–Devonian

Referenced in other successions

Overlain by Margach Formation

Underlain by Charun Quartzite