Browse by rock type

Dolomite, limestone, sandstone and quartzite (the Sirban dolomite).

Grey and white limestone and dolomite.

Massive dolomite and limestone.

Alternating limestone and shale (Parh-like limestone near Mand).

Brownish-grey dolomite with chert lenses and shale layers; the upper part is more massive with stromatolitic laminations.

Clayey limestone At the type section, designated by Anwar et al. (1991), the lithology is composed of thin to thick-bedded limestone interbeded locally with partings of marl and calcareous shale. The limestone is grey to dark grey, weathers brownish grey, and is lithographic and fossiliferous. It is marly, shelly, mottled and muddy at places. The marl is grey to greenish grey, weathers brownish g…

Dolomite, limestone, shale, sandstone and marble.

Limestone and chert.

Thin- to medium-bedded (15-60 cm) grey, brownish-grey-weathering sub-lithographic limestone; slope-forming; unfossiliferous.

A thick, mainly carbonate succession (Karambar Unit, Shuinj Glacier): brownish well-bedded and massive limestones passing to platy black limestones (KCh1), massive white limestones with large fusulinids passing to grey-black well-bedded limestones (KCh2), slates and marls passing up to cyclic marlstones and massive limestones (KCh3), massive carbonates interfingering with KCh3 (KCh4), and undifferentiated black slates and marlstones at the top (KCh5).

Thick shelf carbonate — pisolitic to oolitic limestone with reefal development in the upper part.

Siliceous, white to greyish-white, hard dolomite (up to ~19 wt% MgO) with dolerite intrusions; talc/soapstone along fractures and intrusive contacts.

About 300 m of red and grey nodular limestone interbedded with conglomerate at the top.

About 150 m of dark limestone.

Cream-coloured limestone with dolomite, overlain by maroon argillite.

Grey limestone of the Kalam Group (Dir-Drosh area), overlying the Karandoki Slate and overlain by the Shon Quartzite; the Kalam Group is about 800 m thick and assigned a Middle Jurassic-Cretaceous age (Tahirkheli 1980).

Largely orange, pale-olive to greenish-grey limestone interbedded with subordinate shale.

Limestone with shale interbeds

Limestone and calcareous shale (Habib Rahi, Pirkoh) alternating with marl and shale (Domanda, Drazinda).

Dark-grey, hard, thick-bedded limestone with marly and shaly interbeds in the Sulaiman area; grey to cream, thin-bedded above and thick-bedded to massive, reefoid below in the Kirthar area.

Grey, massive limestone with coarsely crystalline marble (locally up to about 3 km thick) and a central zone of grey micaceous phyllite.

Green phyllites and limestone; intruded near the base by diorite.

Interbedded limestone, shale and siltstone; lower part shalier (thin-bedded light limestone with splintery grey-olive shale), upper part thin-bedded porcellaneous limestone; grades up into the Parh Limestone.

Massive grey platform dolostones and dolomitic limestones with peritidal cycles.

About 1000 m of limestone and slate.

Greyish-brown, thin- to thick-bedded or massive, hard argillaceous fossiliferous limestone with nodules and cherty beds.

Thin-bedded, yellowish- to greenish-grey crystalline limestone with common dendrites and stylolites.

The formation typically consists of thick bedded to massive limestone with minor shale intercalations. Limestone. At the type locality, the limestone is mostly dark grey to blue in color, and weathers to light grey and to brownish colors. At places, the limestone is thin to thick bedded, hard and contains some secondary calcite veins, chert nodules, ooides, pisolite and pellets. Its texture varie…

Argillite with subordinate limestone, quartzite and conglomerate; a discontinuous conglomerate marks the basal unconformity.

Shelly (coquinoid) limestone and littoral concretionary deposits.

Dolomite, dolomitic limestone, shale

Brown thin-bedded limestone (upper, ~3 ft) over reddish-brown massive calcareous dolomite (lower, ~7 ft), commonly crossbedded; base lateritic (a break in sedimentation).

Light grey to white limestone, marl, shale

Basal limestone with oysters and reptile bones, overlain by olive to grey ferruginous fossiliferous sandstone and gypsiferous shale with fossiliferous limestone interbeds; includes basaltic lava flows.

Reefoid, clay-rich limestone (medium to dark grey, fetid on fresh surface) with thin calcareous shale and calcareous sandstone intercalations.

Sandy limestone. Anwar et al. (1991) described the lithology to consist of limestone, dolomite, sandstone, siltstone and shale in the type locality. The sandstone is grey, light grey, purplish brown, weathering brownish grey, thin to medium bedded, fine to medium grained, well sorted, quartzose, micaceous, gritty, cross bedded, fragmentary and friable. The limestone is grey to brownish grey, weat…

Thick-bedded limestone, marble and massive dolomite with minor shale; limonite-rich arenaceous beds occur in the middle part.

Dolomite, dolomitic limestone with cellular (honeycomb) weathering

Thick grey, massive to thick-bedded, fossiliferous nummulitic limestone.

Alternating shelf limestone and shale (Habib Rahi and Pirkoh limestones; Domanda and Drazinda shales).

Limestone and Claystone. It consists of interbedded nummulitic limestone and shale, and is subdivided into two members:Kaladhand Member: It is composed predominantly of limestone, which is light grey, hard, compact and thin bedded with shale intercalations, particularly in the lower part. It contains abundant diagnostic Early Eocene forams, such as Orbitolites complanatus, Alveolina oblonga, Lind…

Massive platform-type limestone.

Grey, thin- to thick-bedded nodular, sandy and locally argillaceous fossiliferous limestone with sandstone and shale interbeds in the upper part.

Cream to grey limestone with subordinate marl, calcareous shale, sandstone and lateritic clay.

Limestone.

Dark grey nodular (rubbly) limestone

Limestone, shale, marl

Limestone.

Greenish-grey to dark grey, thinly bedded, siliceous limestone with basal conglomerate and grit; strongly folded, locally sheared to calcareous schist/mylonite.

Oolitic limestone. Anwar et al. (1991) described the lithology in the type section to be mainly composed of thick-bedded limestone with subordinate calcareous shale/marl as thin partings. The limestone is grey to greyish brown, weathering to brown, thick bedded to massive, biomicritic and hard, peletic, oolitic, coquinoidal and shelly with frequent bioturbated mottled beds. The shale is black, fi…

Grey to dark grey (weathering pale grey), nodular, medium- to thick-bedded and massive limestone with subordinate marl and shale.

Clayey limestone. It consists of light grey to dark grey, thin to medium-bedded limestone and greenish grey shale. In the lower portion, the limestone is micritic and arenaceous at places, and within the limestone alternate layers of light green shale are present, which are rich in belemnites. Ferruginous and calcareous sandstone is also present near the base.

Interbedded grey limestone and dark shale.

Grey limestone, dolomite, shale with thin-bedded appearance

Limestone (locally dolomitic).

Brownish-gray ammonite-bearing limestone (upper), greenish-brown calcareous micaceous sandstone with green shale (middle), argillaceous limestone (base).

Marine limestone and marl (Mianwali), fluvio-deltaic sandstone and shale (Tredian) and dolomitic limestone (Kingriali).

Gray-brown crystalline argillaceous limestone with abundant ammonites and interbedded fine- to medium-grained calcareous sandstone.

Black nummulitic limestone with conglomerate and subordinate clastics (includes the Nimargh, Wad, Wakabi and Wakai limestones of later workers).

Reef limestone rich in corals and stromatoporoids, surrounded by brecciated reef limestone and sparsely fossiliferous dolomite, with a middle carbonate-cemented sandstone unit.

Limestone with shale intercalations.

Very uniform, persistent, thin-bedded light-grey, white or cream porcellaneous limestone with a characteristic pink-purple-maroon band and interbeds of variegated shale and marl.

Limestone and dolomite.

Brown, grey to white, thin-bedded limestone with subordinate argillaceous limestone and dark-grey calcareous claystone.

Fossiliferous limestone and marl.

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.

Massive grey limestone

Limestone, shale, marl

Clayey limestone. The formation comprises a sequence of alternating limestone and shale. At the type locality, its lower part is predominantly limestone, while the upper part is shale. The limestone is thin bedded, occasionally thick bedded, micritic and grey to dark grey; it weathers to brownish grey and yellowish brown color. The limestone is very hard and forms ridges. It is fine crystalline t…

Grey to black, partly brown limestone, thin- to thick-bedded, locally dolomitic and highly fractured, with thinly laminated limestone and sheared shale at the top.

Limestone, argillite and shale, with a basal cherty limestone and thin discontinuous algal limestone in the upper part.

Thick-bedded fossiliferous limestone with marl, siltstone and sandstone; cherty nodules occur near the top.

Limestone and marble (locally oolitic, grey to light-brown and pink) with subordinate quartzite and shale; brecciated white marble is locally associated with igneous dykes.

Compacted, yellowish-grey, medium- to thin-bedded fossiliferous limestone with shale partings, plus subordinate shale and sandstone; micrite-dominated.

Dolostone (dolomite), locally altered to dolostone-hosted soapstone (talc/steatite) with brucite, magnesite, willemseite, montmorillonite, pyrite and hematite.

Limestone. In the type area, the formation consists of limestone with subordinate marl and shale. The limestone is thin- to thick-bedded, grey to dark grey, ash grey, weathers rusty brown to brownish grey, mottled, sub-lithographic, micritic to biomicritic with shelly, oolitic, peletic and pisolitic interbeds. It is also crinoidal, platy, flaggy, dolomitized and argillaceous at places. Coquina be…

Massive crinoidal dolomite in the lower part; bedded dolomite, fossiliferous limestone with corals and thin shale in the middle; and cross-bedded fine- to medium-grained quartzite with brachiopod-bearing limestone in the upper part.

Thin limestone unit overlying the Manki Formation near Tarbela Dam.

Interbedded grey to black crystalline limestone, oolitic and shelly in places, with calcareous shale and sandstone interbeds in the lower part.

Limestone and shale.

Limestone. At its type section Sui Main Limestone is composed entirely of limestone with minor dolomite, calcareous shales and marls. The limestone is creamy white to dirty white to off white in color. It is firm to moderately hard, occasionally soft, sub blocky to blocky, micro to cryptocrystalline and chalky in parts. The proposed formation represents a rich bioclastic limestone. It consists mo…

Crystalline and oolitic shelf limestone (Shirinab members and Chiltan) with an overlying ironstone (Dilband).

Reef limestone. It is typically a massive, thick to very thick bedded dark limestone that gives a fetid smell on broken surface. The color varies from dark to very light grey and brown to brownish grey; intraformational conglomerates have been found in the Takatu Range. The texture varies from fine grained, sub-lithographic to oolitic. At places the limestone is reefal or biohermal. The massive m…

Crystalline limestone (marble).

Cliff-forming carbonate with sharp lateral facies variations.

Limestone, argillite and shale; a lower stromatolite-bearing limestone is overlain by laminated argillite and shale, with an intraformational conglomerate carrying clasts of the Manki and Shahkot formations.

About 625 m in five lithozones: (1) grey slightly dolomitized limestone with crinoids, brachiopod and tabulate-coral fragments (~135 m); (2) light grey dolostones (~50 m); (3) grey carbonatic siltstones with nodular limestones and dolostone banks, capped by calcareous slates (~150 m); (4) grey nodular limestones rich in brachiopods, corals, crinoids and nautiloids (~120 m); (5) grey dolostones with massive mounds built by dendroid-to-phacelloid rugosans, tabulates and calcareous algae (~170 m).

Limestone, marl and shale (reefal in part).

Light grey to cream fossiliferous limestone

Massive black dolomitic limestone with a 6 m pisolitic ironstone bed.

Marine limestone, dolomite, sandstone and shale — the Amb, Wargal and Chhidru formations (formerly the lower, middle and upper Productus Limestone).

Limestone. It is mainly a limestone with interbedded shale. The limestone varies in color from brown to yellowish grey on fresh surface, and on weathered surface it is dull brown. It is fine grained and thin to thick bedded. On broken surface, the impurities of iron, oxide are visible as cementing material. The limestone is highly fossiliferous and worm burrows are also present. The shale is gree…

Dominantly greyish-green (subordinately reddish-brown) fine- to medium-grained sandstone with subordinate greenish-grey to maroon mudstone, siltstone and occasional pebbly conglomerate; large-scale trough cross-bedding; fluvial.

Fluviatile to paralic sandstone and shale with coal and carbonaceous beds.

300–500 m of sandstone, siltstone, slate, microconglomerate and thin limestone, with basal black shale and lenses of white dolomitic marble.

Coarse-grained sandstone. It is composed of bright and varicolored sandstones with common interbeds of ferruginous conglomerates and yellow and red sandy silts. Some of the sandstones are pure white and soft with no apparent bedding; such beds increase in number upwards. Conglomerates occur in lower section where lenticular beds of tuff and ash are also present.

Clastic facies — sandstone and shale — of the Eocene Kohat succession.

Clayey sandstone.

Mud, sandstone and conglomerate, becoming conglomerate-dominated upward.

Grey to greenish sandstone, siltstone, limestone

Dark greenish grey glauconitic sandstone, glauconitic shale

Red clay and sandstone

Sandstone, shale with speckled appearance

At the base, a few metres of thin grey-brown sandstones (locally present), overlain by medium-bedded grey limestone (wackestone to packstone) with seams of fragmentary bivalves, layers of turriculate gastropods and foraminifers; the upper part is medium- to thick-bedded recrystallized limestone spectacularly crowded with large to giant bivalves (up to 40 cm), including pernids and ostreids (some resembling Mytiloperna sp.) in Lithiotis-facies.

Interbedded sandstone (lithic arenite/sublitharenite), mudstone and conglomerate; fluvial.

Grey and brown sandstone with clay interbeds

Oolitic hematite ironstone with sandstone and shale.

Thick-bedded to massive arkosic and quartzarenitic sandstone with slate (argillite) intercalations, passing upward into dark argillites with thin limestone–dolomite beds; sandstones are rich in igneous rock fragments.

Sandstone, grey shale, coal, laterite

Dominantly sandstone with shale, subordinate shelly limestone and minor conglomerate; grey to brown, fine- to coarse-grained, gritty to pebbly, usually calcareous.

Purple-grey and dark brick-red, medium- to coarse-grained sandstone with hard purple shale interbeds and yellow/purple intraformational conglomerate; spheroidal weathering; heavy-mineral suite tourmaline-dominant (distinguishing it from the epidote-dominant Murree Formation).

About 800 m of slaty calcareous sandstone, phyllite and conglomerate.

Brown and white soft friable micaceous sandstone, fine to medium grained; dolomitic near the top with thin gray/black shale; disconformable conglomeratic base.

Purple to reddish-brown sandstone with cross-bedding

Cyclic sandstone and dominant brownish-red to maroon mudstone (gypsiferous in the upper part), with reddish-brown fine- to coarse-grained channel sandstone; fluvial.

Continental to paralic sandstone and mudstone (molasse).

Glauconitic and micaceous sandstone, siltstone, dolomite interbeds

Fine-grained greenish-gray sandstone, siltstone and green/gray shale; plant fossils common, brachiopods near the top.

Greenish-grey sandstone with subordinate conglomerate and mudstone.

White to grey quartzose sandstone

Thin coarse brown sandstone and conglomerate; the uppermost Trans-Indus Siwalik unit.

Sandstone (lithic arenite) with subordinate mudstone and conglomerate; fluvial.

Sandstone, clay, conglomerate (continental)

20–100 m of red sandstone and siltstone; the base has ostracod-bearing grey marl interbedded with red siltstone and overlain by polymict conglomerate, passing up into red shaly sandstone.

Thick brown channel sandstones of the paleo-Indus, devoid of siltstone units (the local equivalent of the Nagri sandstone facies); sediment-accumulation rates ~65-102 cm/1000 yr within the Matuyama chron.

Sandstone with subordinate shale (Mekhtar Sandstone).

Red to purple sandstone and shale (molasse)

Grey sandstone with red clay interbeds

Brown, fine- to coarse-grained sandstone in the upper part with shale and subordinate limestone below.

Gondwana glacial-to-fluvial clastics: Tobra tillite and diamictite, Dandot and Warchha sandstones, and Sardhai shale.

White, cream or brown, thick-bedded to massive, cross-bedded, medium- to coarse-grained quartzose sandstone with subordinate argillaceous limestone and shale.

Predominantly sandstone with marine shale; clastic turbidites deposited as stacked deep-sea fan sequences.

70° 04' 40'' E) where it consists of thick and resistant beds of sandstone with minor shale.

Sandstone, shale and limestone with coal, carbonaceous beds and basaltic lava flows.

Mud and sandstone with poorly developed conglomerate.

Sandstone, siltstone, shale with marine fauna

Sandstone and shale with local conglomerate and limestone; sandstone fine to coarse, gritty, grey-green to brown.

Sandstone with minor interbedded shale (lithic arenite); fluvial- to wave-dominated deltaic.

Sandstone with a higher siltstone/sandstone ratio than the underlying Marwat Formation (the local equivalent of the Dhok Pathan facies).

Terrigenous alternation of sandstone and pelite.

Sandstones with alternating argillaceous (mudstone/siltstone) bands — fluvial outwash molasse.

Lateritic clay and mud with subordinate sandstone.

Fine-grained sandstone. The formation consists of sandstone, siltstone and shale. The sandstone is light to dark grey and weathers to rusty brown color. It is fine to medium grained, thin to medium bedded and exhibit circular rims due to color variation called as liasegang. Slump structures and worm burrows are commonly found in the sandstone beds. The shale is greenish grey and weathers to brown…

Terrestrial sandstone, shale, fire-clay and glass sand (Datta), marl-shale-limestone (Shinawari) and the massive Samana Suk Limestone.

Clayey sandstone; sandstone, shale and mudstone.

Interbedded coarse, pebbly, cross-bedded sandstone and brown mudstone, siltstone, shale and conglomerate, with locally developed coal seams.

Red and purple sandstone with green mottling

Grey and brown sandstone with subordinate red to brownish-red sandy siltstone; mudstone-rich in the lower part.

Fluvial sandstone, mudstone and conglomerate (molasse).

Variegated sandstone, mudstone, conglomerate

Sandstone, shale with speckled appearance

About 170 m of arkosic sandstone interbedded with siltstone and black slate.

A lower unit of fine-grained, reddish, cross-laminated and ripple-marked sandstone with mud cracks and raindrop prints, overlain by pelite, marly limestone, oolitic calcarenite and oncoidal/cherty limestone.

Red shale alternating with siltstone, sandstone, quartzite and limestone, with thin conglomerates and lateritic beds marking repeated breaks in sedimentation.

Jurassic shelf-carbonate and shale succession comprising the Loralai Formation over the Spingwar Formation.

Dark grey to black shale with thin limestone interbeds

Red shale alternated with flaggy sandstone

Green to grey shale and claystone interbedded with alabaster (gypsum), gypsiferous limestone and marl.

Gypsiferous claystone to sandstone; lacustrine to playa deposits.

Several km of phyllites, shales and limestone with chlorite–epidote greenschists.

Thick shale with subordinate sandstone, limestone, coal, gypsum and laterite.

Belemnite-bearing shale.

Metasedimentary siltstone and quartzite intruded by granitic dykes, passing southward into schist, hornfels and migmatite.

Black, green, brown and red shale with thin beds of limestone, tuff and lava flows.

Red, grey and green claystone and siltstone with a sandstone-rich, ripple-marked lower part.

Shale, limestone, gypsum

Interbedded clastic and carbonate metasediments — shales, limestones and conglomerates passing along strike into slates, marbles and garnet-biotite schists as metamorphic grade increases northwestward.

Variegated shale, sandstone, laterite, fire clay

Dark-brown to greenish-grey claystone with limestone intercalations and subordinate calcareous sandstone in the upper part.

Variegated grey gypsiferous shale interbedded with calcareous, ferruginous, cross-bedded sandstone and fossiliferous argillaceous limestone.

Siltstone, sandstone and marl, with poorly sorted microconglomerate and dark red hematitic cross-bedded sandstone (ironstone) at its scoured base in the Baroghil region.

Shale, sandstone, coal, gypsum (deltaic to evaporitic)

Shale, sandstone, minor limestone

Sandy claystone. Combined Gwadar and overlying/coeval Ormara Fm are predominantly sandy clay, 60-900 m thick

It consists of variegated shale and thin bedded limestone and marl with rare mafic intrusion and diabase flow.

Phosphatic shale and siltstone with phosphorite beds.

Claystone and shale with subordinate sandstone, limestone and conglomerate; abyssal shale / flysch.

Variable: shale with calcareous sandstone, siltstone, thin-bedded limestone and volcanic conglomerate (lower); massive reefoid limestone (upper).

Mudstone and shale with alternations of thin marl and limestone beds.

Red-bed facies (mudstone-dominated), the local Trans-Indus equivalent of the Chinji lithofacies; sediment-accumulation rate ~60 cm/1000 yr.

Siltstones, schists, slates and phyllites with quartzitic sandstone intercalations (the Katzarah schists).

Dark-grey mudstone and shale with thin limestone, calcareous mudstone and sandstone.

Shale, sandstone and siltstone of mainly turbiditic and deltaic origin (Katawaz remnant ocean); locally carbonaceous with lignite lenses.

Dark grey to olive grey shale with traces of clayey, dark grey, fine-grained sandstone.

Shale, marl, sandstone, limestone, conglomerate, dolomite

Thick succession of shale with subordinate sandstone and limestone; in ascending order siltstone with phosphatic nodules, oncoidal limestone, shale, dolomite with fusulinids, and grey cherty limestone and dolomite.

Lower member of interbedded shale, mudstone and sandstone with phosphatic nodules; upper member of thick-bedded bioclastic and oolitic limestone and dolomite.

Marine alternating green shale and fine-grained sandstone.

Black shale (Sembar), limestone-shale-siltstone (Goru), sandstone (Mekhtar) and pelagic limestone (Parh).

Grey calcareous shale and mudstone with intercalations of arkosic sandstone and grey argillaceous limestone; sandier in the Sulaiman area, shalier in the Kirthar area.

Shale with minor sandstone and shelly limestone.

Shale, marl and limestone.

Sandy claystone; the combined Gwadar-Ormara succession is predominantly sandy clay.

Lower part of interbedded dark shale, siltstone and cross-laminated feldspathic quartzarenite; upper part of fossiliferous dark grey limestone and marl interbedded with marly limestone.

Shale, marl with gypsum interbeds

Predominantly mudstone (sandy claystone); massive upper-Miocene slope mudstones blanketing the Panjgur fan complex.

Light to dark grey, thin- to medium-bedded slaty shale, slate and phyllitic slate with subordinate calcareous and arenaceous partings; splintery weathering; sporadically intruded by granite, diorite, dolerite, aplite and vein quartz.

Shale, marl, limestone and sandstone, with coal in the lower part.

Dominantly red shales with subordinate sandstone and conglomerate.

Shale and sandstone with grey-black clayey limestone beds (lower); conglomerate, basaltic-andesitic lava flows, tuffs and volcanic agglomerates.

Interbedded shale, sandstone, limestone and minor volcanic conglomerate; fossiliferous; local pure gypsum beds in red shale.

Black, carbonaceous, pyritic shale with subordinate siltstone, sandstone and thin limestone; thins westward.

Flysch shale and sandstone with subordinate limestone (Murgha Faqirzai shale and Mina/Panjgur sandstone).

Grey to olive-green laminated shale with marl, locally with nummulite-, gastropod- and bivalve-bearing layers.

Siltstones, schists, slates and phyllites with quartzitic sandstone intercalations (Katzarah schists).

Marine shale with sandstone

Shale and slate with siltstone and sandstone (metamorphosed near the Washuk ophiolite thrust).

Claystone and carbonaceous shale (lower) passing up into slate and graphitic schist; quartz-mica schist boudins with garnet porphyroblasts locally.

Black, splintery shales and occasional siltstones; several hundred metres thick, passing upward into the Permian sandstone sequence.

Cyclic dark-red to maroon mudstone (intervals up to ~165 m) with subordinate coarse- to very-coarse-grained, pebbly, gritty sandstone (trough and low-angle cross-bedding); rare lateritic beds; fluvial.

Grey mudstone/wackestone with rare dark chert, oncolitic limestone and bioclastic packstone.

Dark shale and marl interbedded with grey mudstone, thin-bedded cherty limestone, tuff and black shale.

Indurated dark-grey mudstone and shale with intercalations of thin limestone, calcareous mudstone and sandstone.

Shale and sandstone (flysch).

Thick, dark grey marly shale interbedded with fine-grained turbidites, calcarenite and volcanic debris.

Marly sandstone and dark-coloured limestone.

Brown to grey clay with subordinate fossiliferous marl and limestone interbeds and, in the middle part, grey calcareous sandstone; locally with celestite nodules in the north.

Marl and shale (Mughal Kot), reefoid limestone (Fort Munro) and sandstone (Pab), with the Vitakri red beds.

Pelagic marl. It consists of grey, medium to thick bedded, grey to dark grey marl, dark grey to grey green calcareous shale and minor sandstone and volcanic conglomerate of mottled appearance (only in the lower part). Limestone is the dominant lithology in the Sulaiman Province where it contains chert lenses, while marl is dominant in Sanjawi area (Sulaiman Province) and the Axial Belt. In the Ki…

Conglomerate, dull rusty brown, with slate intercalations; pebbles of quartzite, slate and limestone in a calcareous matrix.

Polymictic conglomerate with clasts of dolerite and acid volcanics.

Conglomerate with subordinate mud and sandstone.

Conglomerate and coarse-grained sandstone.

A basal few metres of polymictic conglomerate with carbonate pebbles up to 15 cm (fining up, <15 m), overlain by coarse grey calcarenites in 20-50 cm beds with siltstone intercalations; the bulk is monotonous light grey sucrosic dolostone in massive beds with rare ghosts of thin-shelled bioclasts. Up to 370 m.

Conglomerate, mudstone and sandstone with unconsolidated gravel, sand, silt and clay (same facies as the Kech Formation).

Amphibolite-facies basic lavas (some pillowed), hyaloclastite and breccias intruded by gabbros and diorites; two suites — a Ti-rich, HFSE/HREE-enriched high-Ti oceanic-type MORB suite and a Ti-poor, calc-alkaline low-Ti arc suite with a negative Nb anomaly.

Conglomerate, mudstone and sandstone with an upper angular-unconformity surface.

Boulder conglomerate, coarse gravel, sandstone

Quartzarenite, microconglomerate, sandstone, siltstone and limestone, with a cliff-forming carbonate upper part.

Metasedimentary succession (conglomerate, quartzite, phyllite, slate) unconformably overlying the Hachi Volcanic Group.

The Reshun Conglomerate: a lower psammite/conglomerate (Awi Conglomerate) overlain by micritic limestone and maroon shale.

Conglomerate, mud and sandstone (molasse).

Pinkish-red, medium-textured conglomerate in a siliceous-argillaceous matrix; subangular to subrounded clasts (in ascending order of abundance) of limestone-dolomite (Guhjal Dolomite), slate and schist (Gircha Formation and Passu Slate), and quartzite (Pak-China Friendship Formation).

Boulder conglomerate, sandstone, silt

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.

Channelized red cobble–pebble conglomerates in amalgamated several-metre beds interbedded with sandstone and red shales; usually clast-supported with carbonate cement, clasts predominantly carbonate with subordinate terrigenous and few volcanic clasts. Basal rhyolitic ignimbrites (top of the Hidden Gorge) and a ~10 m dark red ignimbrite occur locally.

Conglomerate, sandstone and shale (molasse).

Rock salt, gypsum, shale

Gypsum, anhydrite, shale

Basal Jatta Gypsum overlain by the Habib Rahi, Domanda, Pirkoh and Drazinda limestone-and-shale formations.

Thick gypsum at base, shale in upper part

Rock salt (Billianwala Salt Member), gypsum (Bandar Kas Gypsum Member), marl (Sahwal Marl Member)

Biotite granite, muscovite granite, leucogranite

Volcanic metasediments metamorphosed to chlorite–epidote greenschist, interbedded with slate, phyllite, minor carbonate layers and conglomerate; the lower part comprises amphibolite, marble and metapelite basement.

Ultrabasic, basic and intermediate rocks — altered pyroxenite and serpentinized peridotite — with rare granite (only as conglomerate pebbles).

Two zones. Upper zone: thick volcanic-boulder conglomerate interbedded with ash beds and tuff, interfingering with coarse sandstone, argillaceous tuff and mudstone. Lower zone: interbedded agglomerate, tuff and basalt lava flows; its basal part is interbedded with the Parh Limestone.

Felsic volcanics and volcanogenic slates, often interbedded with rhyolite, rhyolitic tuff, andesite, dacite and dacitic tuff; intruded by swarms of dolerite sills and dykes.

A relatively thick, lava-dominated accumulation of high-Mg (MgO 6-15%) tholeiitic volcanic rocks — Mg-basalt to Mg-andesite and boninite (boninitic Si/Mg/Cr/Ni/Ti/Zr signatures, negative Nb anomalies, high LILE/HFSE), bimodal with volumetrically minor rhyolites; strongly deformed with stretched pillows.

Large mafic–ultramafic body — gabbronorite with serpentinized ultramafic rocks (dunite, harzburgite, pyroxenite), dolerite and gabbro; associated with the Babusar Pass mélange.

Pink biotite granite, aplite, pegmatite

Epidotised vesicular andesite with interbedded thin red shales.

About 0.5 km of volcaniclastics and massive to pillowed basalts (metavolcaniclastic, metavolcanic and metacalcareous rocks); conformable between the underlying Gilgit Formation and the overlying Thelichi Formation.

Granodiorite, tonalite, diorite

Basalt. These lava flows occur at the base of Khadro Formation and were originally included in the same formation. In the outcrops in Laki Range they have a small vertical extent, and are interbedded with mudstone and claystone. However, the wells drilled to the east of the Kirthar fold belt and those drilled in the Badin area encountered much larger thickness of basalts with lesser sedimentary i…

Rhyolite, rhyolitic tuff, andesite, granite, diorite, gabbro

Intercalated dacitic-andesitic lava flows and volcaniclastics.

Calc-alkaline gabbroic to granitoid plutons — tonalites (e.g. the Matum Das Stage-1 tonalite), diorites, granodiorites, granites and granite sheets (e.g. Parri, Indus Confluence).

Tourmaline-bearing leucogranite, two-mica granite

Ultramafic rocks (peridotite, dunite), gabbro, sheeted dykes, pillow lavas, chromite

Granite, rhyolite, basalt, granophyre

Quartz-bearing volcaniclastic (superficially greywacke-like) sediments with well-developed graded bedding; calc-alkaline arc-type provenance.

Crystalline basement (granite, gneiss — subsurface)

Granite, gneiss, schist, quartzite (subsurface)

Highly evolved calc-alkaline volcanics spanning basaltic andesite to rhyolite with strong LILE enrichment and high LILE/HFSE; includes the bimodal Western Volcanics and the Shamran and Drosh volcanics.

Agglomerate, volcanic conglomerate, tuff and basaltic-andesitic lava with subordinate shale, sandstone and limestone.

Mafic volcanics and volcaniclastics (basalts and basaltic andesite) interbedded with slates, graphitic slates, dolomites and quartzwackes.

Lavas, tuffs and agglomerates with lenses and beds of fossiliferous massive and shaly limestone.

Unfossiliferous siliceous schist, calcareous quartz-mica-garnet schist, marble and para-amphibolite.

Schist, phyllite, quartzite and extensive marble (metasediments up to lower-amphibolite facies).

Quartzite with subordinate quartz wackes/arenaceous slates, gritty quartzites and slates; often cross-bedded and ripple-marked.

Massive beds of marble, locally intruded by granite.

Slate, quartzite and crystalline limestone/marble (metasediments).

(1992) for the Girarai and Tursak formations exposed in the south of MCT in the Lesser Himalaya and consists of low-grade clac schist and marble and graphitic schist.

Marble, slate, graphitic schist and chlorite schist.

Fine-grained deep-marine siliciclastics — slate, mudstone, siltstone and fine sandstone with minor fossiliferous limestone; basal conglomerate/breccia (2–32 m); quartzite; low-grade chlorite–sericite metamorphism.

Granitic, biotite-rich orthogneiss together with metasedimentary gneiss, schist, metapsammite, marble and amphibolite, with komatiitic metavolcanics.

Metasedimentary schist, marble and paragneiss.

Dark-grey quartz–biotite schist with subordinate quartzite, marble and conglomerate.

Slate, dolomitic limestone and dolomite.

Fine-grained black slates with subordinate dark grey phyllite, quartzite and layers of limestone or marble; limestone dark grey to black, medium-grained, recrystallised.

White to greyish-blue, intensely folded marble interbedded with amphibolite; the impure marble carries diopside, phlogopite and grossular garnet, with calc-silicate layers and locally green tremolite.

Agglomeratic slate.

Marble that splits into hectometric lenses wrapped in schist.

A thick sequence of slate, limestone, quartzite, conglomerate, schist, marble, gneiss and volcanics.

Baraul Banda slate (shale, greywacke, calcareous beds and volcanics) and the Utror volcanic formation.

Garnet–staurolite schist, garnet–mica schist, garnet amphibolite, crystalline marble and micaceous quartzite, with lenses of biotite gneiss.

Metapelite with less common gneiss and amphibolite and thick beds of crystalline limestone and dolomite; pelites carry a kyanite–staurolite–garnet–biotite–muscovite–plagioclase–quartz assemblage.

Dark schist overlain by and interbedded with graphitic slate, phyllite, schist and marble; garnet-schist horizons are conspicuous, and intrusive rocks are abundant.

Interlayered schists, paragneisses and amphibolites (the Gilgit–Kachura gneisses of Le Fort & Pecher).

Quartzite, slates, phyllite, tuffs and lava flows (the Hachi volcanics).

Calcareous quartzite, dull rusty brown, fine-grained (shallow-marine to deltaic), with minor conglomerate beds and rare lava flows.

Amphibolite-grade biotite schist and gneiss, marble, calc-silicate gneiss and amphibolite.

Light-grey, partly phyllitic slate with a flysch-like character, with intercalations of sandstone, limestone, gypsum and graphite.

White-to-grey, fine-grained unfossiliferous quartzite with worm burrows and dark argillite beds in the middle.

Massive marble with aluminous schist, quartzite and dark amphibolite.

Augen gneiss, biotite-muscovite gneiss, migmatite

Schists and paragneisses (Gilgit Formation) overlain by the Gashu-Confluence Volcanics and the metavolcanic-bearing Thelichi Formation.

Grey to pinkish, cross-bedded feldspathic quartzite with subordinate argillite, a basal conglomerate, and crinoidal limestone with dark phyllite in the upper third.

Metapelite, schist, quartzite, marble, metaconglomerate and pegmatite (greenschist facies).

Greenish-grey and black, fine-grained, intensely fractured, splintery, thin- to thick-bedded slate.

Metamorphosed tholeiitic basalt (greenschist), identified on geochemical analyses.

Thick dark graphitic schist, marble, with subordinate non-schistose metapsammite and metaconglomerate; a basal conglomerate (the Amlo Conglomerate) rests on the Besham Group.

Calcareous schist and schistose marble with massive white-to-grey marble, about 4000 m thick.

Metasedimentary basement of the Indian plate (schist, quartzite and calc-silicate gneiss).

Phyllite and slate with subordinate limestone, dolomite and quartzite, intruded by basic dykes and sills.

Slate, phyllite, quartzite and dolomitic limestone (inferred).

Slates and shales with subordinate quartzarenites and limestones, structurally disrupted (a stratigraphic mélange)

Kamalban quartz-mica schist, quartzite, calc-schist and marble.

Biotite gneiss, quartzofeldspathic gneiss, amphibolite

Metamorphosed garnetiferous schist and micaceous quartzite, with thick interlayers of quartzite, feldspathic quartzite and tremolite marble near the top; minor graphitic schist, amphibolite and marble.

Granoblastic, locally mylonitised quartz-mica-garnet schist (feldspathised and tourmalinised), in three main varieties — quartz-feldspar schist, quartz-mica-kyanite schist and quartz-mica-garnet schist — with thin graphitic and hornblende schist.

Argillite, slate and phyllite, dark greenish-gray to dark gray (weathering olive-gray to reddish-brown); commonly with two cleavage sets giving a splintery texture, graded bedding the only sedimentary structure observed. Metamorphic grade increases northward, argillite/slate passing into phyllite with extensive quartz veining, chevron folds and kink bands.

About 200 m of slate, siltstone, sandstone and limestone.

Garnetiferous schist, amphibolite, hornblende schist, psammitic schist and phlogopite marble.

Black slate, phyllite, quartzite

Arenaceous and calcareous quartzite (fine- to medium-grained quartz with feldspar in a siliceous to calcareous matrix), cross-bedded and ripple-marked with vertical Skolithos burrows; dark-grey laminated argillite in the upper part.

Paragneiss, pelitic schist, calc-silicate, quartzite, marble

Metapelitic to metagreywacke gneiss.

Marble (the Nikanai Ghar Marble).

Quartzite and quartzitic sandstone with thin- to thick-bedded, medium- to fine-grained slates (weathering light yellowish-brown to brownish-grey); thin erratic conglomerate bands of sub-angular quartzite pebbles and slate chips in a siliceous matrix; locally intruded by granite, diorite and dolerite.

Moderately metamorphosed lava flows and tuffs ('greenstones'; the Panjal volcanics), together with black agglomeratic slate — Carboniferous shale, slate and phyllite with quartzose agglomeratic sandstone.

A thick sequence comprising the Chushal and Panjal formations (agglomeratic slate and Panjal volcanic greenstones).

Slate and phyllite with intercalations of limestone and quartzite, and a basal conglomerate carrying quartzite, dolomite, limestone and argillite clasts.

Batal and Rajwal quartzites, Paludaran graphitic schist, quartz-mica schist, gneiss, pegmatite, aplite and granite gneiss.

Slate, limestone, siltstone and quartzite.

Calcareous and pelitic schist (the Saidu Schist).

Schist, phyllite, quartzite, carbonaceous material, marble

Predominantly slates with occasional quartzitic elements and limestone beds; near Shogram, black shale and slate with minor limestone beds.

About 1000 m of schist, marl and conglomerate.

Green schist, micritic limestone, chert, dolomite, carbonate phyllite, sandstone and breccia.

Quartzites, slates, conglomerates and lava flows (includes the Hadda quartzite and the Sharban Formation).

High-grade garnetiferous calc-pelitic gneiss, pelitic gneiss (with kyanite and sillimanite), graphitic gneiss and marble, with sheet granites and amphibolite.

Amphibolite-grade biotite gneiss, amphibolite, calc-silicate gneiss, marble

Metasedimentary schists, slates, phyllites, quartzite and limestone.

White to grey-white, bedded quartzite with basal grit and conglomerate; locally imbricated.

Cross-bedded quartzites, phyllites and slates in the lower part; slates in the middle; phyllites and slates in the upper part. Overlain by the Asianwala quartzite.

Metaquartzite, metapsammite and garnet-mica schist (quartzite and schist).

Slates, marbles, metavolcanics and laminated sandstone.

Fine-grained slate and siltstone with fine sandstone intercalations.

Dark grey homogeneous slate, siltstone and quartzite with occasional calcareous schists; carbonaceous quartzitic slates with minor greenish sandstone (ripple marks) and white quartzite; grades northward into gneiss.

Medium- to thin-bedded greenish-grey and dark schists and phyllites; intensely folded (box and chevron folds, kink bands, crenulation cleavage, intrafolial quartz veins); low greenschist facies.

Slate, phyllite, quartzite and dolomitic limestone.

Basal chert-rich conglomerate and arkosic sandstone with brachiopods, overlain by slate with metadolomite and quartzite.

Upper Cenozoic fluvio-lacustrine intermontane-basin fill.

Quartzarenites, more heterolithic than the name implies (with subordinate finer clastics); deposited by turbidity currents.

Continental laterite, bauxite and pisolitic ironstone beds (best developed in the Kotli area of Azad Kashmir); partly marine northward near Muzaffarabad.

Garnet-clinopyroxene-plagioclase granulites with relics of norite, passing southward through increasing clinopyroxene and hornblendites into a main ultramafic body of clinopyroxenites and dunites with lenses of layered chromitite up to 5 m thick.

Cherty limestone with marl and fine tuff: a lower thick-bedded cherty limestone unit, a middle grey cherty limestone unit, and an upper unit, with a metabreccia up to 100 m thick between the middle and upper units.

A monotonous sequence (about 300 m) of dark grey, cherty mudstone and wackestone.

Cherty limestone.

Tillite, diamictite, boulder beds with striated clasts