Tanaki Boulder Bed
Late Neoproterozoic (Marinoan, ~605–595 Ma)
Neoproterozoic in the time scale →Cited in 1 source Last reviewed Aug 20, 2026
- Rank
- Not recorded
- Status
- Published
- Age
- Precambrian · NeoproterozoicLate Neoproterozoic (Marinoan, ~605–595 Ma)
- Named by
- Latif (1970)
- Type locality
- Southeastern Hazara, Hazara Fold-and-Thrust Belt, northern Pakistan (named by Latif 1970).
- Thickness
- Not recorded
- Lithology
- Very poorly sorted, matrix-supported conglomerate (diamictite) with angular to sub-rounded clasts 3–50 cm across — dark-grey siltstone, slate and shale and light-grey to brown quartzite reworked from the Hazara and Tanawal formations — in a matrix of fine pebbles, sand, silt and argillite.
- Synonyms
- Tanakki Boulder Bed; Tanakki Conglomerate
A jumbled glacial boulder bed in the Hazara hills marking a global ice age at the end of the Precambrian — the local record of the Marinoan 'snowball Earth' glaciation.
The Tanaki Boulder Bed is a glaciogenic diamictite of the Hazara Basin (Lesser Himalaya, northern Pakistan), named by Latif (1970), that overlies the Tanawal Formation and underlies the Cambrian Abbottabad Formation. As documented by Umar et al. (2015), its angular clasts, lack of fluvial features and preserved striations indicate a glacial origin, and it is interpreted as part of the terminal-Neoproterozoic Marinoan glaciation (~605–595 Ma). It forms an excellent regional marker horizon.
Fossils
Not recorded
Contacts
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
- Not recorded
- Depositional environment
- glaciogenic, glaciomarine
- Coordinates
- Not recorded
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
Not recorded
Remarks
A glaciogenic marker horizon recording the terminal-Proterozoic Marinoan glaciation in the Lesser Himalaya; correlated with the Blaini Formation of the Indian Lesser Himalaya and the Sinian diamictites (Changan/Fulu/Silikou formations) of South China, part of the globally correlative Neoproterozoic 'snowball Earth' glaciation (Umar et al. 2015).
Sources (1)
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: 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
Qudsi, L. (2026). Tanaki Boulder Bed. In Pakistan Stratigraphy Dataset [Data set]. Zenodo. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.21363991
@misc{stratigraphypk_tanakiboulderbed,
author = {Qudsi, Lareb},
title = {{Tanaki Boulder Bed} --- 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/tanaki-boulder-bed (accessed August 30, 2026).
To cite the unit's original definition instead, see: Latif (1970).
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