Source provenance
Umar, M., Kassi, A.M., Jamil, M., Kasi, A.K. & Khan, A.S. (2024). Cretaceous stratigraphic framework and sedimentary architecture, Pakistan: signatures of rift-drift tectonics and submarine volcanism along the western continental margin of the Indian Plate. In: Hart, M.B. et al. (eds) Cretaceous Project 200 Volume 2: Regional Studies. Geological Society, London, Special Publications, 545.
Cited by 13 units (13 published) · 25 field-level citations · 15 revision notes.
Region-by-region synthesis of the Cretaceous of Pakistan (Kirthar-Sulaiman-IESZ and Salt-Surghar-Kala Chitta-Hazara). Lithostratigraphy, contacts, thicknesses, biostratigraphy and depositional environments for Dilband, Sembar, Goru, Parh, Hanna Lake, Mughal Kot, Bibai, Fort Munro, Pab, Moro, Jamboru, Chichali, Lumshiwal and Kawagarh units; unconformities tied to India-Madagascar-Seychelles rift-drift and India-Kohistan collision.
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Units citing this source
- Lower contact (overlies)Upper contact (underlies)Fossils
- Member units: Umar et al. (2024, after Kassi et al. 2009; Shah et al. 2021): the Bibai Formation of the Kach–Chinjun area (IESZ, western SFTB) is divided into four members — Chinjun Volcanics (>500 m in-situ mafic volcanics with pillow structures and dolerite dykes), Kahan Conglomerate (>1000 m), Ahmadun (volcanic breccia/conglomerate/sandstone/mudstone with basaltic flows) and Kach Mudstone (fossiliferous turbiditic mudstone). The in-situ basalts conformably overlie the Parh Limestone and underlie the Pab Formation.
- Age: Umar et al. (2024, after Mahoney et al. 2002; Siddiqui et al. 1996): radiometric dating places the Bibai submarine volcanism in the Late Campanian–Early Maastrichtian (73.4±2.0, 72±2.1 and 71.4±3.4 Ma); geochemistry indicates a hotspot-related (Deccan-linked) origin.
- Lower contact (overlies)Upper contact (underlies)
- Age: Umar et al. (2024, after Hallam & Maynard 1987; Pandey & Pathak 2017): the Chichali Formation is Late Oxfordian–Berriasian to Aptian and is the northern lateral equivalent of the Sembar Formation. Its glauconitic, phosphate-nodule-bearing, belemnite-rich shales record middle-to-outer ramp, transgressive, anoxic deposition; it is 12–70 m thick across the Surghar, Kohat, Kala Chitta and Hazara basins and rests disconformably on the Samana Suk Formation.
- Upper contact (underlies)
- Upper contact (underlies): Umar et al. (2024): the Chiltan Limestone (and equivalent Jurassic carbonates) is overlain disconformably by the Cretaceous Sembar Formation, the contact marked by a lateritic interval; it overlies the Jurassic Shirinab Formation (Razzaq Manan et al. 2024).
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- Age: Umar et al. (2024, after Malkani 2021): the Dilband ironstone member carries Phylloceras and Lyticeras ammonites, giving a Neocomian–Valanginian age along the Jurassic–Cretaceous boundary; it lies disconformably on the Chiltan Limestone and at the base of the Sembar Formation. Deposited in a small, sediment-starved, tectonically unstable shallow-marine sub-basin during extensional normal faulting.
- Economic importance: Umar et al. (2024, after Abro et al. 2011; Malkani 2020b): the Dilband oolitic-hematite iron deposits of the Mastung district (south of Quetta) run up to 60% iron (average ~35%), with ~200 million tonnes of reserves discovered along the Jurassic–Cretaceous boundary — Pakistan's principal sedimentary iron resource.
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Listed as a corroborating source for this unit.
- Lower contact (overlies)Upper contact (underlies)
- Age: Umar et al. (2024): the Goru Formation is dated Albian–Cenomanian at its type section and in NW Pakistan (Shafique 2001) but Aptian–Coniacian in the southern Kirthar Fold-Thrust Belt (Smewing et al. 2002), on planktonic/benthic foraminifera and nannofossils. Deposition was open-marine, deeper-shelf/ramp; it is much thicker in the south (~536 m) than the north (50–100 m).
- FossilsLower contact (overlies)
- Age: Umar et al. (2024, after Munir & Baig 2006; Rehman et al. 2021): the diverse planktonic-foraminifera assemblage affirms a Coniacian–Campanian age. The Kawagarh Formation was deposited only in the Kala Chitta and Hazara ranges (absent in the Surghar, Salt Range and eastern Kohat) as inner–outer-ramp argillaceous/dolomitic limestone during a transgressive open-marine phase; an unconformity at its top records uplift from the India–Kohistan Island Arc collision. It is laterally equivalent to the Parh and Mughal Kot formations.
- FossilsLower contact (overlies)Upper contact (underlies)
- Age: Umar et al. (2024, after Kennedy & Fatmi 2014): the Lumshiwal Formation is Aptian–Turonian — a prograding, texturally mature, felsic-sourced deltaic sandstone (foreshore–inner-shelf to prodelta facies) sourced from the Indian Craton. It is transitional above the Chichali Formation and is overlain by the Kawagarh Formation in the Kala Chitta and Hazara ranges (where Kawagarh is developed); it thins out and disappears in the Salt Range.
- Lower contact (overlies)Depositional environmentFossilsGeological significance
- Lower contact (overlies)Upper contact (underlies)
- Thickness: Umar et al. (2024): the Mughal Kot Formation is up to ~1000 m at its type locality but thins markedly (600 m Siazgai, 360 m Dabbo Creek, ~200 m Urghargai–Mazu Ghar) and pinches out towards Kach, being absent at Murree Brewery and Duki — tectonically induced bathymetric change through the Coniacian–Santonian. Distal sections (Pab Range, Urghargai) are turbiditic (Bouma Tabc/Tde, sole marks; WNW palaeoflow). Campanian–Maastrichtian on benthic/planktonic foraminifera.
- Lower contact (overlies)Upper contact (underlies)
- Lower contact (overlies): Umar et al. (2024): the Pab Formation conformably overlies the Fort Munro, Mughal Kot and/or Bibai formations (SFTB, KFTB and IESZ respectively) and is conformably overlain by the Moro Formation in the Spera Ragha–Chinjun area. It is 490 m thick at its type locality (SKFTB) but as thin as 2–7 m in the Quetta Syntaxis and is entirely absent between Khuzdar and Quetta.
- Fossils: Umar et al. (2024, after Vredenburg 1908; Malkani 2006): the Pab Formation carries the foraminifer Lepidorbitoides and a Maastrichtian vertebrate fauna including mesoeucrocodylian baurusuchids, abelisaurian theropods and titanosaurian sauropods; deposited in fluvio-deltaic (proximal) to submarine-slope/turbidite (distal) settings.
- Lower contact (overlies)Upper contact (underlies)
- Upper contact (underlies): Umar et al. (2024): the Parh Limestone rests conformably on the Goru Formation and is conformably overlain by the Mughal Kot Formation (SKFTB) and the Bibai Formation, but is disconformably overlain by the Fort Munro Formation or the Hanna Lake Limestone in other sections; a thin red gypsiferous shale marks an uplift-induced unconformity at its top in some sections. It is laterally equivalent to the Kawagarh Formation of the northern basins.
- Lower contact (overlies)Upper contact (underlies)
- Upper contact (underlies): Umar et al. (2024): the Sembar Formation lies disconformably on Jurassic carbonates (Chiltan Limestone), marked by a lateritic interval, and passes transitionally upward into the Goru Formation. It is the lateral equivalent of the Chichali Formation of the Salt–Surghar–Kala Chitta–Hazara region.
- Thickness: Umar et al. (2024): the Sembar Formation is thin in the Quetta–Ziarat areas but reaches ~900 m in the Pab Range (Fatmi & Zeiss 1994), 877 m in the Sann well (Lower Indus Basin) and 262 m at Mughal Kot — the main depocentres. The curated thickness is retained; these figures are noted as regional maxima.