Precambrian • Precambrian formation In GSP lexicon

Banna Formation

Precambrian–Triassic

Northern Indus Suture · Malakand

Cited in 5 sources Last reviewed Jul 18, 2026

Unit summary

Rank: formation
Status: Published
Age: Precambrian · PrecambrianPrecambrian–Triassic
Named by: Tahirkheli (1979)
Type locality: Banna village, east of Besham34.8300°N, 73.0600°E
Thickness: Not recorded
Lithology: Marble, slate, graphitic schist and chlorite schist.
Synonyms: Not recorded

The marble-and-schist sequence of the Banna Nappe, just below the Main Mantle Thrust east of Besham.

Named by Tahirkheli (1979) after Banna village east of Besham, the Banna Formation consists of marble with slate, graphitic schist and chloritic schist, exposed in a small syncline along the eastern side of the Indus syntaxis in Allai Kohistan (DiPietro et al., 1999). It has a thrust contact with the Indus Mélange to the north and is separated by the Banna Thrust from the underlying sillimanite gneisses of the Hazara nappe. Proposed correlations include the Precambrian Salkhala Formation (Kazmi & Abbasi, 2008), the Palaeozoic–Early Mesozoic Alpurai Group (Treloar et al., 1989), and the Triassic-or-younger Saidu Formation (DiPietro et al., 1999).

Fossils

Not recorded

Contacts

In the Swat–Malakand column

MetamorphicIntrusiveConformable

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

Swat–Malakand

Basin: Northern Indus Suture
Region: Malakand
Depositional environment: continental
Coordinates: 34.8300°N, 73.0600°E

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Correlation

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

Economic significance

Not recorded

Remarks

The metasedimentary sequence of the Banna Nappe in the immediate footwall of the Main Mantle Thrust, separated from the underlying sillimanite gneisses of the Hazara Nappe by the extensional Banna Thrust; it may correlate with the Alpurai Schists and the Sharda Group cover sediments (Treloar, 1989a).

Sources (4)

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.

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

BibTeX

@misc{stratigraphypk_bannaformation,
  author    = {Qudsi, Lareb},
  title     = {{Banna 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/banna-formation (accessed August 30, 2026).

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