Sakesar Formation
Early Eocene (Ypresian)
Salt Range and Surghar Range (Upper Indus Basin)
Paleogene in the time scale →- Rank
- Not recorded
- Status
- Published
- Age
- Cenozoic · Paleogene · EoceneEarly Eocene (Ypresian)
- Named by
- Gee in Fermor (1935); age-diagnostic larger foraminifera established by Davies and Pinfold (1937)
- Type locality
- Sakesar Peak, Salt Range32.5300°N, 71.9300°E
- Thickness
- ~30 to 150 m across the Salt Range (locally as thin as ~18 m at Nammal Gorge); up to ~220 m at Chichali Pass and over 300 m in parts of the Surghar Range
- Lithology
- Light grey to off-white, thin- to thick-bedded, nodular to massive limestone with subordinate marl and shale, and chert nodules common in the upper part.
- Synonyms
- Margala Hill Limestone (lateral facies equivalent; treated as a synonym in GSP Memoir Vol. 24)
Named after Sakesar Peak in the western Salt Range (Gee in Fermor, 1935), the Sakesar Limestone is a Lower Eocene (Ypresian) shallow-marine carbonate of nodular to massive limestone with subordinate marl, shale and chert. It rests conformably on the Nammal Formation and passes up conformably into the Chorgali Formation, together forming the Early Eocene carbonate succession of the Salt Range. Microfacies range from bioclastic mudstone through Lockhartia-nummulitic and Assilina-Alveolina packstones to nummulitic and Alveolina grainstones, indicating an inner-to-middle carbonate ramp. Thickness varies strongly along strike. The Margala Hill Limestone of the Potwar and Hazara areas is its lateral facies equivalent (and is treated as a synonym in GSP Memoir Vol. 24). Part of the Nammal 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
- Not recorded
- Region
- Salt Range and Surghar Range (Upper Indus Basin)
- Depositional environment
- Shallow marine, Subtidal, Inner to middle carbonate ramp
- Coordinates
- 32.5300°N, 71.9300°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
Cement raw material and construction aggregate; fractured carbonate reservoir and outcrop analogue in the Potwar-Salt Range petroleum system.
Remarks
One of the principal Early Eocene shallow-marine carbonate platforms of the Upper Indus Basin; forms the highest Salt Range topography and is an excellent larger-foraminifera (Nummulites-Assilina-Alveolina) locality recording the terminal Tethyan marine phase.
Sources (6)
- Malkani, M. S. & Mahmood, Z. (2017). Stratigraphy of Pakistan. Memoir of the Geological Survey of Pakistan, Vol. 24.
- Davies, L. M. & Pinfold, E. S. (1937). The Eocene beds of the Punjab Salt Range. Mem. Geol. Surv. India, Palaeontologia Indica, 24(1).
- Sedimentary facies and depositional environment of the Lower Eocene shallow-shelf carbonate, the Sakesar Limestone, Salt Range, Pakistan (Ypresian; 30-35 m; nine microfacies).
- Microfacies analysis and reservoir potential of Sakesar Limestone, Nammal Gorge, Western Salt Range, Upper Indus Basin. Pakistan Journal of Geology, 1(1).
- Resource assessment of Sakesar limestone as aggregate from the Salt Range based on geotechnical properties. International Journal of Hydrology (MedCrave). Thickness 70-150 m Salt Range, 220 m Chichali Pass, >300 m Surghar Range.
- Effect of diagenetic processes and depositional facies on reservoir quality of the Eocene Sakesar Limestone, Central Salt Range. Journal of Earth Science (Springer).
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). Sakesar Formation. In Pakistan Stratigraphy Dataset [Data set]. Zenodo. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.21363991
@misc{stratigraphypk_sakesarformation,
author = {Qudsi, Lareb},
title = {{Sakesar 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/sakesar-formation (accessed August 30, 2026).
To cite the unit's original definition instead, see: Gee in Fermor (1935); age-diagnostic larger foraminifera established by Davies and Pinfold (1937).
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