Paleozoic • Cambrian In GSP lexicon

Baghanwala Formation

early Middle Cambrian

Cited in 9 sources Last reviewed Aug 20, 2026

Unit summary

Rank: Not recorded
Status: Published
Age: Paleozoic · Cambrian · Miaolingianearly Middle Cambrian
Named by: Wynne (1878) 'Pseudomorph Salt Crystal Zone'; Noetling (1894) 'Baghanwala Group'; Holland (1926) 'Salt Pseudomorph beds'; Pascoe (1959) 'Baghanwala Stage'
Type locality: Baghanwala village, eastern Salt Range32.6611°N, 73.2556°E
Thickness: 50-80 m
Lithology: Red shale alternated with flaggy sandstone
Synonyms: Salt Pseudomorph Beds

A Cambrian sequence of red shale with flaggy sandstone, the youngest Cambrian unit of the Salt Range; it formed in arid, near-shore conditions and preserves trace fossils and salt-pseudomorph casts.

Named after Baghanwala village in eastern Salt Range. Terrigenous clastic sequence with trace fossils indicating near-shore conditions. Part of the Khewra Group.

Fossils

Trace fossils Trilobites (rare)

Contacts

In the Salt Range column

SandstoneLimestoneShale / mudGypsum / evaporiteFossils 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

Salt Range Kohat Basin Potwar Basin

Basin: Not recorded
Region: Not recorded
Depositional environment: marginal marine, arid coastal
Coordinates: 32.6611°N, 73.2556°E

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Correlation

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

Economic significance

Not recorded

Remarks

The uppermost Cambrian (Jhelum Group) unit of the Salt Range, recording arid, oxidising marginal-marine sedimentation; it is truncated above by a major unconformity beneath the Permian Nilawahan Group.

Sources (9)

Malkani, M.S. & Mahmood, Z. (2017). Stratigraphy of Pakistan. Geological Survey of Pakistan, Memoir Vol. 24.
OpenStreetMap contributors and GEOnet Names Server (public geographic gazetteers), used to geolocate named GSP type localities to approximate decimal coordinates.
Shah, S.M.I. (1977). Stratigraphy of Pakistan. Geological Survey of Pakistan, Memoir Vol. 12.
Indian Plate Lexicon (indplex.geolex.org), Geological Society of India and international compilation.
Shah, S.M.I. (2009). Stratigraphy of Pakistan. Geological Survey of Pakistan, Memoir Vol. 22.
Kazmi, A.H. & Jan, M.Q. (1997). Geology and Tectonics of Pakistan. Graphic Publishers, Karachi.
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.
Gee, E.R. (edited by Gee, D.G.) (1989). Overview of the geology and structure of the Salt Range, with observations on related areas of northern Pakistan. In: Malinconico, L.L. & Lillie, R.J. (eds) Tectonics of the Western Himalayas. Geological Society of America Special Paper 232, 95-112.
Craig, J., Hakhoo, N., Bhat, G.M., Hafiz, M., Khan, M.R., Misra, R., Pandita, S.K., Raina, B.K., Thurow, J., Thusu, B., Ahmed, W. & Khullar, S. (2018). Petroleum systems and hydrocarbon potential of the North-West Himalaya of India and Pakistan. Earth-Science Reviews, 187, 109-185.

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.

Cite this unit

APA

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

BibTeX

@misc{stratigraphypk_baghanwalaformation,
  author    = {Qudsi, Lareb},
  title     = {{Baghanwala 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/baghanwala-formation (accessed August 30, 2026).

To cite the unit's original definition instead, see: Wynne (1878) 'Pseudomorph Salt Crystal Zone'; Noetling (1894) 'Baghanwala Group'; Holland (1926) 'Salt Pseudomorph beds'; Pascoe (1959) 'Baghanwala Stage'.

Below · older

Jutana Formation

Cambrian

Referenced in other successions

Overlain by Nilawahan Group· Tobra Formation