Fort Munro Formation
Cretaceous
Sulaiman Basin
Part of Fort Munro Group
Cretaceous in the time scale →Cited in 7 sources Last reviewed Aug 2, 2026
- Rank
- formation
- Status
- Published
- Age
- Mesozoic · Cretaceous · Late Cretaceous (Maastrichtian)Cretaceous
- Named by
- Williams (1959)
- Type locality
- Fort Munro, in the hills along the Fort Munro–Dera Ghazi Khan road, eastern Sulaiman Range (Rakhi Nala designated as reference section)29.9539°N, 70.1772°E
- Thickness
- 100m
- Lithology
- Dark-grey, hard, thick-bedded limestone with marly and shaly interbeds in the Sulaiman area; grey to cream, thin-bedded above and thick-bedded to massive, reefoid below in the Kirthar area.
- Synonyms
- Not recorded
A Maastrichtian reef-and-shelf limestone forming the top of the Cretaceous limestones, just below the Pab Sandstone.
Introduced by Williams (1959) as the upper limestone member of the Mughal Kot Formation (type section on the western flank of the Fort Munro anticline) and raised to formation rank by Fatmi (1977), the Fort Munro Formation is grey-to-brown, thin-to-thick-bedded limestone with minor greenish-grey shale, about 100–150 m thick. Its lower contact with the Mughal Kot Formation and upper contact with the Pab Formation are transitional and conformable. Larger foraminifera (Omphalocyclus, Orbitoides, Siderolites) indicate a Late Campanian–Maastrichtian age (Williams, 1959; HSC, 1961).
Fossils
Contacts
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
- Basin
- Sulaiman Basin
- Region
- Not recorded
- Depositional environment
- shallow marine, reef
- Coordinates
- 29.9539°N, 70.1772°E
Correlation
Not recorded. Compare this unit against other basins on the correlation panel →
Economic significance
Building-limestone source.
Remarks
A Maastrichtian shelf-and-reef limestone capping the Cretaceous carbonates of the Sulaiman–Kirthar belts; conformably overlying the Mughal Kot Formation and overlain by the Pab Sandstone.
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.
- Malkani, M.S. (2010). Updated Stratigraphy and Mineral Potential of Sulaiman Basin, Pakistan. Sindh University Research Journal (Science Series), 42(2), 39-66.
- Shah, S.M.I. (2009). Stratigraphy of Pakistan. Geological Survey of Pakistan, Memoir Vol. 22.
- 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.
- Zaman, B.U., Mohibullah, M., Manan, R.A., Kassi, A.M. & Rizwan, M. (2024). Detailed sedimentological investigation of the late Cretaceous Fort Munro Formation, western Sulaiman Range, Pakistan. Carbonates and Evaporites, 39, 55.
- 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.
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: 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
Qudsi, L. (2026). Fort Munro Formation. In Pakistan Stratigraphy Dataset [Data set]. Zenodo. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.21363991
@misc{stratigraphypk_fortmunroformation,
author = {Qudsi, Lareb},
title = {{Fort Munro 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/fort-munro-formation (accessed August 30, 2026).
To cite the unit's original definition instead, see: Williams (1959).
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