Cenozoic • Neogene In GSP lexicon

Kamlial Formation

Middle to Late Miocene (Burdigalian-Tortonian; ~18.2-9.4 Ma)

Cited in 11 sources Last reviewed Aug 20, 2026

Unit summary

Rank: Not recorded
Status: Published
Age: Cenozoic · Neogene · Middle to Late MioceneMiddle to Late Miocene (Burdigalian-Tortonian; ~18.2-9.4 Ma)
Named by: Pinfold (1918)
Type locality: Southwest of Kamlial, Attock District
Thickness: 90 m at type locality (range 50-580 m; 68-718 m in subsurface)
Lithology: Purple-grey and dark brick-red, medium- to coarse-grained sandstone with hard purple shale interbeds and yellow/purple intraformational conglomerate; spheroidal weathering; heavy-mineral suite tourmaline-dominant (distinguishing it from the epidote-dominant Murree Formation).
Synonyms: Not recorded

The lowest of the 'Siwalik' river deposits on the Potwar Plateau - grey and reddish sandstones with pebbly lenses marking the Miocene rivers that drained the growing Himalaya.

Fluvial sequence with coarsening upward cycles. Increasing proximity to Himalayan source area. Part of Siwalik Group.

Fossils

Trilophodon cf. angustidens Dinotherium indicum Amphicyon cf. shahbazi Hyaenaelurus lahirii Anthracotherium sp.Hemimeryx blanfordi Listriodon cf. guptai Listriodon pentapotomiae Conohyus cf. sindiensis

Contacts

In the Potwar Basin column

ConglomerateSandstoneFossils 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

Potwar Basin Salt Range

Basin: Not recorded
Region: Not recorded
Depositional environment: fluvial, continental
Coordinates: Not recorded

Correlation

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

Economic significance

Not recorded

Remarks

The basal formation of the Siwalik Group (top of the Rawalpindi Group) in the Potwar Plateau; grey to reddish-brown sandstone with intraformational conglomerate and reddish clay, deposited by Miocene braided rivers. Its coarsening character records increasing proximity to the rising Himalayan source area.

Sources (11)

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.
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.
Johnson, N.M., Opdyke, N.D., Johnson, G.D., Lindsay, E.H. & Tahirkheli, R.A.K. (1982). Magnetic polarity stratigraphy and ages of Siwalik Group rocks of the Potwar Plateau, Pakistan. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology, 37, 17-42.
Iqbal, O., Baig, M.S., Pervez, S. & Siddiqi, M.I. (2018). Structure and Stratigraphy of Rumbli and Panjar Areas of Kashmir and Pakistan with the Aid of GIS. Journal of the Geological Society of India, 91, 57-66.
Gill, W.D. (1951). The stratigraphy of the Siwalik Series in the Northern Potwar, Punjab, Pakistan. Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society of London, 107, 375-394.
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.
Flynn, L.J., Pilbeam, D., Barry, J.C., Morgan, M.E. & Raza, S.M. (2016). Siwalik synopsis: a long stratigraphic sequence for the Later Cenozoic of South Asia. Comptes Rendus Palevol, 15(7), 877-887.
Munthe, J., Hussain, S.T., Lukacs, J.R., West, R.M. & Shah, S.M.I. (1979). Neogene Stratigraphy of the Daud Khel Area, Mianwali District, Pakistan. Milwaukee Public Museum Contributions in Biology and Geology, 23, 1-18.
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). Kamlial Formation. In Pakistan Stratigraphy Dataset [Data set]. Zenodo. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.21363991

BibTeX

@misc{stratigraphypk_kamlialformation,
  author    = {Qudsi, Lareb},
  title     = {{Kamlial 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/kamlial-formation (accessed August 30, 2026).

To cite the unit's original definition instead, see: Pinfold (1918).

Below · older

Murree Formation

Neogene

Above · younger

Chinji Formation