Mesozoic • Cretaceous formation GSP memoir

Burji Formation

Cretaceous

Kohistan-Ladakh Magmatic Arc · Ladakh Magmatic Arc

Part of Skardu Group

Cretaceous in the time scale →

Cited in 4 sources Last reviewed Jul 30, 2026

Unit summary

Rank: formation
Status: Published
Age: Mesozoic · Cretaceous · CretaceousCretaceous
Named by: Desio (1978)
Type locality: Burji La (Burjila), south of the Indus35.1600°N, 75.6300°E
Thickness: Not recorded
Lithology: Several km of phyllites, shales and limestone with chlorite–epidote greenschists.
Synonyms: Not recorded

A thick phyllite-shale-limestone unit near Skardu — the eastern continuation of the Kohistan arc's metasediments.

Burji formation (Burji La or Burjila formation) named by Desio (1978) consists of several km thick phyllites, shales, limestone and chlorite-epidote greenschists exposed south of Indus River, is the eastward extension of upper metasedimentary, volcanic and detritial sequence of Kohistan magmatic arc (Bard et al. 1980) just south of Karakoram Suture.

Fossils

Not recorded

Contacts

In the Kohistan Arc column

IgneousMixedShale / mudLimestoneConformable

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

Kohistan Arc

Basin: Kohistan-Ladakh Magmatic Arc
Region: Ladakh Magmatic Arc
Depositional environment: marine, metamorphic
Coordinates: 35.1600°N, 75.6300°E

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Correlation

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

Economic significance

Not recorded

Remarks

A metasedimentary–metavolcanic unit south of the Indus near Skardu, the eastward extension of the upper metasedimentary and volcanic sequence of the Kohistan–Ladakh arc.

Sources (3)

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.
Kazmi, A.H. & Jan, M.Q. (1997). Geology and Tectonics of Pakistan. Graphic Publishers, Karachi.

Reviewer confidence: medium

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: Appears in a single-author Geological Survey of Pakistan memoir (Malkani & Mahmood 2017), not cross-confirmed against the Shah lexicon. The Stratigraphic Committee of Pakistan is largely inactive, so documented provenance — not formal ratification — is the available signal.

Cite this unit

APA

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

BibTeX

@misc{stratigraphypk_burjiformation,
  author    = {Qudsi, Lareb},
  title     = {{Burji 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/burji-formation (accessed August 30, 2026).

To cite the unit's original definition instead, see: Desio (1978).