Paleozoic • Ordovician–Silurian formation Redefined In GSP lexicon

Landikotal Formation

Ordovician–Silurian

Northern Indus Suture

Ordovician–Silurian in the time scale →

Cited in 5 sources Last reviewed Jul 31, 2026

Unit summary

Rank: formation
Status: Published
Age: Paleozoic · Ordovician–SilurianOrdovician–Silurian
Named by: Stauffer (1968)
Type locality: Landi Kotal, Khyber Pass34.0988°N, 71.1411°E
Thickness: about 1,600 m
Lithology: Phyllite and slate with subordinate limestone, dolomite and quartzite, intruded by basic dykes and sills.
Synonyms: Not recorded

Nomenclature

Redefined. First defined by Stauffer (1968).

Browse all alternative & superseded names →

A thick Ordovician–Silurian phyllite-and-slate unit of the Khyber Pass, reaching into Afghanistan.

Landikotal formation is originally named by Stauffer (1968) as Landikotal slates while Shah (1969) renamed as Landikotal formation due to heterogeneous lithology like slate, phylite, limestone, quartzite, sandstone and in places dolomite, intruded by basic dykes and sills. 28

Fossils

Not recorded

Contacts

In the Khyber–Nowshera Belt column

MixedLimestoneMetamorphicFossils 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

Khyber–Nowshera Belt

Basin: Northern Indus Suture
Region: Not recorded
Depositional environment: marine
Coordinates: 34.0988°N, 71.1411°E

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Correlation

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

Economic significance

Not recorded

Remarks

A thick, unfossiliferous phyllite-and-slate sequence of the Khyber Agency that extends from Jamrud across the border into Afghanistan; part of it is correlated with the Afghan 'Lower Formation', whose conodonts indicate a Late Ordovician to Late Silurian (Middle Ludlovian) age, and its upper part is correlated with the upper Panjpir Formation of Nowshera.

Sources (5)

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.
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.

Reviewer confidence: low

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

BibTeX

@misc{stratigraphypk_landikotalformation,
  author    = {Qudsi, Lareb},
  title     = {{Landikotal 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/landikotal-formation (accessed August 30, 2026).

To cite the unit's original definition instead, see: Stauffer (1968).