Jijal Complex
Cretaceous
Cretaceous in the time scale →Cited in 2 sources Last reviewed Aug 20, 2026
- Rank
- Not recorded
- Status
- Published
- Age
- Mesozoic · Cretaceous · Early–mid CretaceousCretaceous
- Named by
- Characterised by Coward et al. (1984); high-pressure petrology by Jan & Howie (1981)
- Type locality
- Between Patan and Jijal, Indus valley, Kohistan (~200 km²).
- Thickness
- Not recorded
- Lithology
- Garnet-clinopyroxene-plagioclase granulites with relics of norite, passing southward through increasing clinopyroxene and hornblendites into a main ultramafic body of clinopyroxenites and dunites with lenses of layered chromitite up to 5 m thick.
- Synonyms
- Not recorded
The deep root of the Kohistan volcanic arc — garnet granulites and layered ultramafic rocks squeezed up along the Main Mantle Thrust — representing the high-pressure equivalent of the Chilas Complex.
The Jijal Complex is a roughly 200 km² tectonic wedge of high-pressure mafic granulites and chromite-layered ultramafics forming the deepest exposed level of the Kohistan island-arc, between Patan and Jijal in the Indus valley against the Main Mantle Thrust (southern suture). As described by Coward et al. (1984), its garnet-granulites (with norite relics) are the high-pressure metamorphic equivalents of the Chilas Complex, so the Jijal Complex is probably a tectonic fragment of the base of the Chilas Complex that was subducted or downthrust to great depth against the MMT.
Fossils
Not recorded
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
- Not recorded
- Region
- Not recorded
- Depositional environment
- magmatic arc (lower crust to uppermost mantle)
- Coordinates
- Not recorded
See it in the field
Geoheritage site where this unit is exposed at outcrop.
Correlation
Not recorded. Compare this unit against other basins on the correlation panel →
Economic significance
Not recorded
Remarks
The high-pressure (arc-root) equivalent of the Chilas Complex and the structurally lowest unit of the Kohistan sequence against the MMT. Jan & Howie (1981), cited by Coward et al. (1984), found the granulites equilibrated at 690–770 °C and 12–14 kbar and the associated dunites at 800–850 °C and 8–11 kbar, recording metamorphism/crystallisation at lower-crustal to uppermost-mantle depths of the island arc.
Sources (1)
- Coward, M.P., Jan, M.Q., Rex, D., Tarney, J., Thirlwall, M. & Windley, B.F. (1984). Geology of the South Central Karakoram and Kohistan. In: Miller, K.J. (ed.), The International Karakoram Project, Vol. 2, 71-84. Cambridge University Press.
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: Defined in journal or other literature; not found in a GSP memoir. There is no body currently ratifying unit status, so provenance is shown in place of a formal ruling.
Cite this unit
Qudsi, L. (2026). Jijal Complex. In Pakistan Stratigraphy Dataset [Data set]. Zenodo. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.21363991
@misc{stratigraphypk_jijalcomplex,
author = {Qudsi, Lareb},
title = {{Jijal Complex} --- 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/jijal-complex (accessed August 30, 2026).
To cite the unit's original definition instead, see: Characterised by Coward et al. (1984); high-pressure petrology by Jan & Howie (1981).
Related units
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