How to use this site

1. Finding a unit

Several ways in — use whichever suits you. On any page, the quickest is the keyboard: press ⌘K / Ctrl K or / to jump anywhere.

Tip: hover any unit link and a small preview card shows its age, thickness and lithology without leaving the page.

2. Reading a unit page

Each unit has its own page that brings the scattered literature together in one place:

Age

The period, epoch and stage the unit belongs to, with its position on the geological time ribbon.

Lithology

What the rock is actually made of — its composition, grain size and character.

Thickness

Measured thickness, with the locality where it was measured where known.

Type locality

The reference place where the unit is formally defined, and its coordinates on the map where available.

Contacts

What the unit overlies and underlies — the units directly below and above it — so you can read the succession.

Constituent units

For groups, the member formations that make it up; for members, the formation they belong to.

Synonyms & naming

Historical and alternative names, and who first defined the unit.

Fossils & environment

Diagnostic fossils and the depositional environment the rock formed in.

Economic importance

Where the unit hosts oil, gas, coal, minerals, cement rock, gypsum, salt or building stone.

Sources & references

The published papers behind the unit, plus a per-fact citation and any revision notes.

3. Sources & review status

This is the part that matters most if you are verifying the data. Nothing is stated without a source. Every unit lists the published references it was built from, and individual facts carry the specific source they come from — so you can trace any age, thickness or contact straight back to the literature. The full list of everything cited lives on the Bibliography page.

Each unit is also marked with a review status:

• Published — confirmed against the sources and ready to rely on.
• Under review — recorded, but still being checked or resting on weaker evidence. These are flagged honestly so you know where a second look is needed.

Unfamiliar term? Many are glossary-linked in the text — hover (or tap) the dotted words for a one-line definition.

4. Comparing, correlating & analysing

Beyond the individual pages, several tools cut across the whole dataset:

5. Study tools

Save the units you are studying to Favourites, and keep your own Notes against any unit. Both are stored privately in your own browser — nothing is uploaded, and they stay with you offline. Section headings have a “#” permalink so you can copy a link straight to a specific fact for your notes or a group chat.

6. Downloading and citing the data

The whole dataset is free to download from the Data page as CSV, JSON or GeoJSON — ready for Excel, QGIS or your own analysis. It is released under an open CC-BY 4.0 licence — free to use, share and build on, the only condition being that you cite it. The Data page carries the formal citation and its DOI, so you can reference it directly in a thesis or paper.

7. Installing the app & using it offline

The site is a Progressive Web App — you can install it like a normal app, and it keeps working without a signal. Perfect for fieldwork in the north where there is often no network.

Before you head into the field: open the pages you will need (your Favourites, the relevant province, the units on your traverse) while you still have a signal — every page you visit is saved for offline use. Any page you have opened before will then load with no connection.

8. Articles & contributing

The Articles section carries long-form explainers on Pakistan’s geology — from the Salt Range to the India–Asia collision and the walking whales of the Eocene. Follow along with the RSS feed.

Students and researchers are welcome to write for us — a field note, a formation study or a review — with full credit to you as the author.