Quaternary • Quaternary formation Literature

Malagan Formation

Pleistocene (Brunhes chron)

Bannu Basin · Trans-Indus Ranges

Cited in 3 sources Last reviewed Jul 30, 2026

Unit summary

Rank: formation
Status: Published
Age: Quaternary · Quaternary · PleistocenePleistocene (Brunhes chron)
Named by: Munthe (1981)
Type locality: Trans-Indus ranges (Garhi Landa and other Bhittani/Marwat sections), NW Pakistan (Munthe 1981).
Thickness: Not recorded
Lithology: Thin coarse brown sandstone and conglomerate; the uppermost Trans-Indus Siwalik unit.
Synonyms: Not recorded

The Malagan Formation is the youngest (uppermost) Upper-Siwalik unit of the Trans-Indus ranges — a thin unit of coarse brown sandstone and conglomerate of Brunhes age, overlain by Quaternary alluvium across a marked angular unconformity (Khan et al. 1988; Javed Khan & Opdyke 1981).

Fossils

Not recorded

Contacts

Lower contact — not recorded; upper contact — unconformable.

In the Kohat Basin column

ConglomerateSandstoneFossils recordedConformableUnconformity

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

Kohat Basin

Basin: Bannu Basin
Region: Trans-Indus Ranges
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 youngest Siwalik molasse of the Trans-Indus, of Brunhes age; the angular unconformity beneath the overlying Bannu-plain alluvium constrains Trans-Indus folding to less than ~0.6-0.73 Ma (one of the world's youngest orogenic pulses, per the two papers).

Sources (1)

Khan, M.J., Opdyke, N.D. & Tahirkheli, R.A.K. (1988). Magnetic stratigraphy of the Siwalik Group, Bhittani, Marwat and Khasor Ranges. Journal of Geophysical Research, 93(B10), 11773-11790.

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

APA

Qudsi, L. (2026). Malagan Formation. In Pakistan Stratigraphy Dataset [Data set]. Zenodo. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.21363991

BibTeX

@misc{stratigraphypk_malaganformation,
  author    = {Qudsi, Lareb},
  title     = {{Malagan 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/malagan-formation (accessed August 30, 2026).

To cite the unit's original definition instead, see: Munthe (1981).

Below · older

Sheri Gasha Formation

Neogene-Quaternary