Mesozoic • Jurassic group In GSP lexicon

Surghar Group

Early–Middle Jurassic

Kohat-Potwar Basin

Cited in 3 sources Last reviewed Jul 18, 2026

Unit summary

Rank: group
Status: Published
Age: Mesozoic · Jurassic · Early–Middle JurassicEarly–Middle Jurassic
Named by: Shah (1980)
Type locality: Data Nala in Surghar range by Danilchik
Thickness: Not recorded
Lithology: Terrestrial sandstone, shale, fire-clay and glass sand (Datta), marl-shale-limestone (Shinawari) and the massive Samana Suk Limestone.
Synonyms: Not recorded

The Jurassic Surghar Group — the Datta (fire-clay and glass-sand), Shinawari and Samana Suk formations — spanning river plains to shallow Jurassic seas.

Named by Shah (1980) after the Surghar Range, the Surghar Group as used here comprises the Jurassic Datta, Shinawari and Samana Suk formations (the Cretaceous units of Shah's original five-formation group are placed in a separate group). The basal Datta Formation (Danilchik, 1961) is terrestrial sandstone, shale and fire clay of Early Jurassic age; the Shinawari Formation (Fatmi, 1977) is alternating marl, shale and limestone with an Early–Middle Jurassic fauna; and the Samana Suk Formation (Davies, 1930) is bedded limestone.

Fossils

Ammonites (Bouleiceras)Brachiopods Bivalves

Contacts

In the Kohat Basin column

Shale / 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.

Constituent units

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

Distribution & setting

Kohat Basin

Basin: Kohat-Potwar Basin
Region: Not recorded
Depositional environment: continental, shallow marine
Coordinates: Not recorded

Correlation

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

Economic significance

Building stone Metals & minerals

The Datta Formation is Pakistan's main source of refractory fire-clay and glass/silica sand; the Samana Suk Limestone is a building stone.

Remarks

The Jurassic succession of the Surghar, Salt Range and Trans-Indus ranges, comprising the Datta, Shinawari and Samana Suk formations; records the terrestrial-to-marine Jurassic of the Indian-plate margin, with economically important Datta fire-clay and glass sand.

Sources (3)

Malkani, M.S. & Mahmood, Z. (2017). Stratigraphy of Pakistan. Geological Survey of Pakistan, Memoir Vol. 24.
Kazmi, A.H. & Jan, M.Q. (1997). Geology and Tectonics of Pakistan. Graphic Publishers, Karachi.
Shah, S.M.I. (2009). Stratigraphy of Pakistan. Geological Survey of Pakistan, Memoir Vol. 22.

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

BibTeX

@misc{stratigraphypk_surghargroup,
  author    = {Qudsi, Lareb},
  title     = {{Surghar Group} --- 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/surghar-group (accessed August 30, 2026).

To cite the unit's original definition instead, see: Shah (1980).