Paleozoic • Carboniferous formation In GSP lexicon

Lupsuk Formation

Carboniferous

Karakoram-Hindukush Basin · Central Karakoram Batholith

Carboniferous in the time scale →

Cited in 6 sources Last reviewed Jul 30, 2026

Unit summary

Rank: formation
Status: Published
Age: Paleozoic · Carboniferous · Late CarboniferousCarboniferous
Named by: Gaetani et al. (2004)
Type locality: Lupsuk glacier, north of Karambar Pass36.9200°N, 73.7000°E
Thickness: ~250 m (Karambar sheet)
Lithology: Quartzarenite, microconglomerate, sandstone, siltstone and limestone, with a cliff-forming carbonate upper part.
Synonyms: Not recorded

A Carboniferous sandstone-and-limestone unit whose upper carbonate forms the Twin Valley Member.

Fossils

Not recorded

Contacts

In the Karakoram column

MetamorphicConglomerateLimestoneFossils 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.

Constituent units

Formations that make up this formation, in stratigraphic order (youngest at top, as in the column).

1 Twin Valley Member Carboniferous

Distribution & setting

Karakoram

Basin: Karakoram-Hindukush Basin
Region: Central Karakoram Batholith
Depositional environment: marine, shallow marine
Coordinates: 36.9200°N, 73.7000°E

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Correlation

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

Economic significance

Not recorded

Remarks

A Carboniferous clastic–carbonate unit of the upper Karambar region; its cliff-forming carbonate upper part is separately named the Twin Valley Member.

Sources (7)

Gaetani, M. et al. (2004); Angiolini, L. et al. (1999). Twin Valley Member, Late Carboniferous (Moscovian brachiopods).
Malkani, M. S. & Mahmood, Z. (2017). Stratigraphy of Pakistan. Memoir of the Geological Survey of Pakistan, Vol. 24.
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.
Zanchi, A. & Gaetani, M. (2011). The geology of the Karakoram range, Pakistan: the new 1:100,000 geological map of Central-Western Karakoram. Italian Journal of Geosciences, 130(2), 161-262.
Shah, S.M.I. (2009). Stratigraphy of Pakistan. Geological Survey of Pakistan, Memoir Vol. 22.
Gaetani, M., Zanchi, A., Angiolini, L., Olivini, G., Sciunnach, D., Brunton, H., Nicora, A. & Mawson, R. (2004). The Carboniferous of the Western Karakoram (Pakistan). Journal of Asian Earth Sciences, 23(2), 275-305.

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

BibTeX

@misc{stratigraphypk_lupsukformation,
  author    = {Qudsi, Lareb},
  title     = {{Lupsuk 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/lupsuk-formation (accessed August 30, 2026).

To cite the unit's original definition instead, see: Gaetani et al. (2004).