Margala Hill Limestone
Early Eocene (Ypresian)
Kohat-Potwar Basin · Hazara and Kala Chitta ranges; Margalla Hills (Islamabad); Hazara-Kashmir Syntaxis
Paleogene in the time scale →- Rank
- formation
- Status
- Published
- Age
- Cenozoic · Paleogene · EoceneEarly Eocene (Ypresian)
- Named by
- Latif (1970); formalised in Shah (1977), Stratigraphy of Pakistan (GSP Memoir 12)
- Type locality
- Margalla Hills near Islamabad; described from southeastern Hazara and the Kala Chitta Range33.7300°N, 73.0500°E
- Thickness
- ~73 m (Battlian, Muzaffarabad) to ~136 m (Kohala-Bala, Haripur); locally thinner
- Lithology
- Grey to dark grey (weathering pale grey), nodular, medium- to thick-bedded and massive limestone with subordinate marl and shale.
- Synonyms
- Margalla Hill Limestone (alternative spelling); Sakesar Limestone (lateral facies equivalent; treated as a synonym in GSP Memoir Vol. 24)
The Margala Hill Limestone (also spelled Margalla Hill Limestone) is an Early Eocene (Ypresian) shallow-marine carbonate named after the Margalla Hills near Islamabad and described from southeastern Hazara and the Kala Chitta Range by Latif (1970); it was formalised in Shah (1977). It consists of grey to dark grey, nodular, medium- to thick-bedded and massive limestone with subordinate marl and shale, resting transitionally on the Patala Formation and passing up conformably into the Chorgali Formation. Reported thickness ranges from about 73 m (Battlian, Muzaffarabad) to about 136 m (Kohala-Bala, Haripur). Its larger benthic foraminifera (Nummulites, Assilina, Lockhartia, Operculina, Alveolina and miliolids) with dasycladalean algae, bivalves and echinoids indicate deposition on a gentle homoclinal carbonate ramp and support an age spanning shallow-benthic zones SBZ 8-11. Note on nomenclature: the Stratigraphic Committee of Pakistan tradition (Shah 1977, 2009; Latif 1970) treats it as a valid, distinct formation and the lateral facies equivalent of the Sakesar Limestone, whereas GSP Memoir Vol. 24 (Malkani and Mahmood, 2017) treats it as a synonym of the Sakesar Formation. Part of the Chharat Group.
Fossils
Contacts
Lower contact — conformable; upper contact — conformable.
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
- Kohat-Potwar Basin
- Region
- Hazara and Kala Chitta ranges; Margalla Hills (Islamabad); Hazara-Kashmir Syntaxis
- Depositional environment
- Shallow marine carbonate ramp, Homoclinal ramp (proximal outer to inner ramp), Mid-ramp to lagoonal
- Coordinates
- 33.7300°N, 73.0500°E
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
Fractured carbonate hydrocarbon reservoir and outcrop analogue in the Kala Chitta-Margalla-Hazara petroleum province; also one of the principal cement-rock (limestone) sources of the Potwar Plateau area, quarried in large quantity where close to markets or rail lines (Drewes and others, 2007); used locally as building and aggregate stone.
Remarks
The Hazara and Kala Chitta representative of the Early Eocene Tethyan carbonate shelf, laterally equivalent to the Sakesar Limestone; its larger foraminifera define shallow-benthic zones SBZ 8-11 and it caps the marine Paleogene of the northern Greater Indus Basin before molasse sedimentation.
Sources (8)
- Latif, M. A. (1970). Explanatory notes on the geology of south-eastern Hazara, and Micropalaeontology of the Galis Group of Hazara. Jahrbuch der Geologischen Bundesanstalt, Sonderband 15.
- Shah, S. M. I. (ed.) (1977). Stratigraphy of Pakistan. Memoir of the Geological Survey of Pakistan, Vol. 12.
- Afzal, J., Williams, M. & Aldridge, R. J. (2009). Revised stratigraphy of the lower Cenozoic succession of the Greater Indus Basin in Pakistan. Journal of Micropalaeontology. Margala Hill Formation; LBF zones SBZ 8-11.
- Biostratigraphy of Early Eocene Margala Hill Limestone in the Muzaffarabad area (Kashmir Basin, AJK). Pakistan Journal of Geology, 1(2), 16-20. Battlian section ~73 m; Patala and Chorgali contacts.
- Sedimentological and diagenetic analysis of Early Eocene Margalla Hill Limestone, Shahdara area, Islamabad: implications for reservoir potential. Carbonates and Evaporites. Homoclinal ramp; five microfacies.
- Depositional and diagenetic modeling of the Margala Hill Limestone, Hazara area: reservoir characterization using outcrop analogues. Margala Hill carbonates are the lateral facies equivalent of the Sakesar Limestone; mid-ramp.
- Drewes, H., Ahmad, Z. & Khan, R. (2007). Resource Evaluation of Selected Minerals and Industrial Commodities of the Potwar Plateau Area, Northern Pakistan. Chapter H of Regional Studies of the Potwar Plateau Area, Northern Pakistan (P.D. Warwick & B.R. Wardlaw, eds.), U.S. Geological Survey Bulletin 2078-H, 22 p.
- Malkani, M. S. & Mahmood, Z. (2017). Stratigraphy of Pakistan. Memoir of the Geological Survey of Pakistan, Vol. 24.
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
Qudsi, L. (2026). Margala Hill Limestone. In Pakistan Stratigraphy Dataset [Data set]. Zenodo. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.21363991
@misc{stratigraphypk_margalahilllimestone,
author = {Qudsi, Lareb},
title = {{Margala Hill Limestone} --- 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/margala-hill-limestone (accessed August 30, 2026).
To cite the unit's original definition instead, see: Latif (1970); formalised in Shah (1977), Stratigraphy of Pakistan (GSP Memoir 12).
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