Cenozoic • Paleogene

Saindak Formation

Early to Late Eocene

Stratigraphic position

In the Chagai Hills column

ConglomerateIgneousShale / mudLimestoneSandstoneFossils 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.

An Eocene volcanic-and-sedimentary unit of the Chagai arc — the host rocks of the Saindak copper–gold mine, in the same belt as the giant Reko Diq deposit.

Named after Saindak Fort. Contains volcaniclastics indicating continued arc activity. Host rock for Saindak copper-gold deposit.

Significance. An Eocene volcano-sedimentary unit of the Chagai magmatic arc; quartz-diorite to tonalite stocks intruding it and the adjacent Amalaf Formation host the Saindak porphyry copper–gold orebodies, part of the ~300 km Chagai porphyry copper belt on the Tethyan metallogenic belt.

Lithology: Shale, siltstone, sandstone, marl and limestone with volcanic intercalations.
Thickness: 500-1000 m
Type locality: Saindak Fort syncline
Environment: marine, volcanic-arc
Introduced by: HSC (1961)
Economic importance: A wall-rock unit of the Saindak porphyry copper–gold deposit; the surrounding Chagai magmatic arc hosts world-class porphyry Cu–Au–(Mo) systems including the giant Reko Diq deposit (~5.9 Gt at ~0.41% Cu plus gold) and the Saindak mine.

Fossils

AssilinaFasciolitesEchinolampasGastropods (Velates)

Provinces

Chagai Hills

References

Malkani, M.S. & Mahmood, Z. (2017). Stratigraphy of Pakistan. Geological Survey of Pakistan, Memoir Vol. 24.
Perelló, J., Razique, A., Schloderer, J. et al. (2008). The Chagai Porphyry Copper Belt, Baluchistan Province, Pakistan. Economic Geology, 103(8), 1583-1612.

Reviewer confidence: high

Related units

Below · older

Nisai Limestone

Cretaceous–Paleogene