GEOLOGY OF NORTHERN PAKISTAN: A REVIEW

BY

Abdul Qadir
Waqar Ahmad
Supervised by:
Dr. Anwar Qadir
DEPARTMENT OF EARTH AND ENVIRONMENTAL
SCIENCES, BAHRIA UNIVERSITY ISLAMABAD
2015

Acknowledgements:
Uncountable Praise for Almighty ALLAH and uncountable Darood upon MUHAMMAD
(S.A.W.W).
We are thankful to our supervisor Mr. Anwar Qadir (Faculty: Bahria University,
Islamabad) for helping us throughout this research work with his valuable knowledge in this
subject. We are also thankful to Mr. Asif Khan (Director National centre of Excellence in
Geology, University of Peshawar) for sharing his map on this area.

Abstract:
Pakistans most exotic geomorphic features are indeed the mountains. They are consisting
of some of the most impressive examples of geomorphic architecture sculptured by glacial,
fluvial and mass-movement. Northern Pakistan is comprised of spectacular mountains caped by
some of the highest peaks on earth (K-2 8611m , Nanga Parbat 8126m, Broad Peak 8047m,
Gasherbrum-1 8068m etc.). This region is traversed by some of some of the longest glaciers
(Siachen 72 km, Biofo 2 km, Baltoro 60 km, Hispar 58 km etc.). The northern Pakistan still
contains un-treversed glaciers, unconquered peaks and sizeable un-serveyed areas. Northern area
is lying on northern part of Indian plate and Eurasian plate. Rocks from Precambrian to Tertiary
are present in northern Pakistan. From north to south, the northern Pakistan represents all type of
rocks i-e igneous, metamorphic and sedimentary. It is having a best example of collisional
orogeny in form of Himalayas. The area is having complex structural and tectonic history. The
area comprises of seismically high sensitive localities. Several GPS are installed in the area to
look for the seismic activity. Several Thrust faults including MKT, MCT, and MBT are identified
by the researchers. In the south of the northern Pakistan, several oil fields are producing mainly
heavy oils in areas including Kaal, Chakwal and Balkassar. While in Kohat area many light oil
fields as well as gas fields are producing hydrocarbons. These fields include Chanda, Mela,
Nashpa, Manzalai, and Makori.

Brief History:
From north to south Eurasia was composed of three geological divisions which were
Laurasian,Tethyan and Gondwanian domains. These domains drifted in late Paleozoic from super
continent of Pangaea. Pangaea was surrounded by a universal ocean called as Panthalasa.
Pangaea then split to Laurasia to the north and Gondwanaland to south (Fig 1). These two
domains were separated by Tethyan seaway.From 80 ma to approximately 53 ma Indian plate moved
rapidly north at an average rate exceeding 15 cm per year and drifted northward for about 5 thousand km
to Eurasian before the two collide during the early tertiary (Fig 2) ( Wadia, et.al, 1957)..

Fig 1 Supercontinent Pangaea began to break in Triassic, resulted in Gondwanaland and Laurasia. (USGS
illustrations, 1969)

Gondwanian domain is characterized by continental crust and crystalline basement rocks

consolidated in the Precambrianand platform type development in the Paleozoic. This domain is
represented by Arabian and Indian shields. Indian plate was separated from the Gondwana continent
about 120 ma ago in cretaceous (Powell 1979) Indo-Pak is comprised by Indian Shield and its

northern margin comprises the crystalline thrust sheets of Himalayan orogenic belt.

Fig 2 Northward movement of Indian plate and collision with Eurasian Plate resulted in formation of Indian-Ocean
and Himalayas (USGS illustrations, 1989)

Evidences of collision:

According to a research by Crawford et. At (2009), the Cretaceous to Miocene

Karakoram Axial Batholith running E-W across the middle Hunza valley in north Pakistan
separates a dominantly sedimentary terrain to the north from a regional metamorphic terrain to
the south. A strong phase of deformation and metamorphism associated with the c.65-50 Ma
collision of India with Asia affected the area. The southern part of the batholith and the
metamorphic rocks to the south are affected by strong south-vergent thrusting which has brought
deeper level, hotter rocks over higher level, cooler rocks so that metamorphic grade increases
with structural height. In contrast, the northern part of the batholith is relatively undeformed and
shows an intrusive contact with an andalusite-bearing thermal aureole.
Two groups of post-collisional magmatic rocks can be recognized in the area. The first
group, the Hunza dykes, occurs as a massive dyke complex intruding the early phase of the
batholith as well as the sillimanite-bearing gneisses to the south. These dykes consist of a cogenetic suite of granodiorites, monzogranites and leucogranites which appear to be related by
feldspar-biotite fractionation. They are volatile-depleted, non-minimum melts with unevolved
crustal isotopic ratios and enriched Sr and Ba signatures similar to the Miocene Baltoro pluton

further east. They are considered to represent lower-crustal magmas derived by dehydration
melting of metasediment, probably promoted by intrusion of mantle-derived magmas. The
second group is represented by the Sumayar pluton which intrudes the staurolitegrade
metamorphic rocks and is a homogeneous, water-saturated minimum-melt leucogranite, with a
major element composition similar to that of the Manaslu leucogranite of central Nepal.
Abundant tourmaline and evolved Sr isotope ratios indicate a metapelitic source. (Shahid and
Lipps 2009)
Researchers have traditionally divided the Indo-Pak subcontinent into three
physiographicand geologic divisions (Wadia 1957).. These three include

The Peninsular region

The Himalayan foredeep
The Himalayas

The Peninsular region comprises the series of metamorphosed plutonic volcanic and
sedimentary rocks of Archean to late Paleozoic age. Wide planes of the Indus and Ganges are in
the northern margin of peninsular region. Further northwards, Himalayas and its subsidiary
ranges have been formed on the subducted margin of the Indo-Pak crustal plate.
The Himalayan foredeep consists of the gentlysloping continental platform. The age of its
basement rocks is Archean and Proterozoic which are metamorphic and plutonic in nature. Series
of upwarps , intervening depressions and horst and grabben structures are marked in this zone by
geophysical surveys.
The Himalayas form a 2500 km long, 160 400 km wide belt, having wide mountain belts
comprised of series on en-echelon mountain ranges with extensive intervening valleys. The
Himalayas have formed along the northern margin of the Indo-Pak crustal plate, age being
Phanerozoic to Eocene.
The collision between India and Eurasia was the cause of formation of this vast mountain
ranges having thick Proterozoic basement, intruded by series of magmatic rocks and affected by
various metamorphic events.

Along the Indus Tsangpo Suture (ITS) zone, the Himalayas terminate in the north.
Geophysical data
indicates 50- 80 km thickness of the continental crust in this zone, which is twice the
thickness of the normal continental crust. This is due continued under thrusting of Indian plate
beneath the Asian plate. The rear block of the Indian plate has continued to be subducted. This
collision has resulted in an obducted block having wide spread masses of mlanges and
ophiolites in the suture zone, south verging folds and thrust belts, southward the crystalline rocks
form an extensive thrust, the Main Central Thrust (MCT).
The rocks of the lesser Himalaya have been thrusted southwards and overlie the Neogene
Siwalik molasse. This thrust zone in marked as Main Boundary Thrust (MBT). In the further
south, there is another fault, the Himalayan Frontal Fault (HFF) which is represented by folded
Siwaliks having a faulted contact against the less deformed Siwalik sequence of Ganga Basin
(Nakata 1972, 1989).
Structural Geology and Tectonostratigraphic zones of northern Pakistan
Tectonostratigraphic zones of northern Pakistan include following in north to south
sequence.
Tectonostratigraphic zones
Ladakh/Tibet Block

Features encountered
Indus Thangpo Suture (ITS) Zone

Tethyan Himalayas

----Fault---

High Himalayas

Main central thrust (MCT)

Lesser Himalayas

Main Boundary Thrust (MBT)

Sub Himalayas
Himalayan foredeep
Sub Himalayas

Himalayn Frontal Fault (HFF)

Tab 1 Tectonostratigraphic zones of northern Pakistan.

Sub Himalayas represent the foot-hills of Himalayas and this zone is comprising of the narrow
belt of folded Neogene molasse type sediments. An active fault (HFF), cuts the alluvium in the

foothill region. In the north, this zone is terminated by the MBT, forming a boundary between
Sub Himalayas and lesser Himalayas.
Lesser Himalayas:
MCT bounds this zone in the north and MBT in the south. This zone is having
Precambrian to late Paleozoic metasedimesnts and Paleozoic sedimentary and volcanic rocks.
Due to difficulties in stratigraphic correlations and highly complicated structure of Lesser
Himalayas, researchers have different interpretations about this zone as shown by Hangen
(1959), Lombard (1958) and Bordet (1961) in the three cross-sections of the Himalaya.
Main Boundary Thrust
The Main Boundary Thrust (MBT) extends northeast to southwest along the front of the
northern fold and thrust belt around Hazara-Kashmir Syntaxes. The MBT zone is comprised of a
series of parallel faults dividing the northwest Himalayan sequence into a deformed sedimentary
southern zone or foreland and a deformed and metamorphosed northern zone or the hinterland
zone (Abbasi 1989). Increased shortening took place by tight folding of the hanging wall of
MBT. This could be the main reason of folds found in the Margalla Hills. The hanging wall
stratigraphy of MBT in the three sections is consistent and is comprised of Samanasuk Formation
of Jurassic age is unconformably overlain by Paleocene Hangu, Lockhart and Patala formations
that, in turn, are overlain by Margalla Hill Limestone, Chorgali and Kuldana formations of
Eocene age. However the hanging wall cut offs along MBT progressively become younger in
north-eastward direction of the Ramli section.The footwall stratigraphy of the MBT varies from
Chorgali, Kuldana and Murree formations of Eocene and Miocene ages, respectively.
Main Central Thrust (MCT)
Initially defined by Auden (1937) and Heim et. al (1939) as a thrust fault that that brought
the high grade crustalline rocks in faulted contact with lower drade meta-sediments.
According to Valdiya (1980a), MCT lies at higher level then originally proposed, and
forms a ductile zone due to main phase of the Himalayan deformation.

According to Pecher (1978), this zone was indicated as Main Central Thrust Zone as
MCT is not only a thrust plane but a whole column of the rocks having ductile deformation on
both sides of the MCT.
According to a research conducted by Deniel et. al (1987), some of the Himalayan
leucogranites are contemporaneous with MCT and have formed 14-25 Ma. MCT is believed to
be involved in active faulting for atleast 10 million years before the movement shifted to MBT
(Le Fort 1989)
High Himalayas
The Himalayas were resulted during collision of the Indian and Eurasian plates in middle
to late Eocene age (Stoneley 1974). High Himalayas represent the infracrustal thrust sheet of
Pre-cambrian crustal crystallines having 10-15 km thick slab of high-grade metamorphic rocks
overlying the Lesser Himalayan sequence.Precambrian gneisses with ages of 1500 1800 m.y
form the basal part of this zone. Pelitic schistes, marble, paragneisses, orthogneisses,
amphibolites and migmatites are formed due to medium pressure metamorphism during
southward thrusting (Burg et. al 1987).

Fig 2 A Simplified model illustrating the tectonic evolution of Kohistan Paleo Island arc over a
span of > 130 40 Ma (Khan et. al 2007)
Kohistan Island Arc
Kohistan-Ladakh terrain was generated as a result of intra-oceanic subduction during
cretaceous (Treloar 1989). General trend of KIA is east west. North-South trending Nanga Parbat
divided KIA into Ladakh and Kohistan Arc. Kohistan Island Arc is composed of variety of
deformed intrusive, extrusive and subordinate sedimentary rocks which are metamorphosed to
varying degrees. It is bounded by Main Mantle Thrust (MMT) and Main Karakoram Thrust
(MKT) in the south and north respectively.
Indus Tsangpo Suture

The collisional boundary in southern Tibet is traceable along the Indus tsangpo suture (ITS)
which bifurcates further west into the MKT also called northern or Shyok suture and MMT also refers as
Indus suture. The two suture have been regarded to enclosed an ancient cretaceous island are terrain
(ladah-kohistan) which was welded to Karakorum plate along the MKT some 85 to 102 million year ago
(petrason and wandley)and Indian plate along MMT about 55 million year. Both suture is characterized
by association of ophiolites melange and in the case of MMT blue schist and high pressure granotite. The

Indus suture is comprised of a complex sequence of imbricated melamges whicj are comprised of
tectonic blocks of ophiolites, blueschists, greenschists, metavolcanics and metasediments (Jan
and Kazmi 1980). At places the granitic rocks of the Ladakh Batholith intrude the mlanges. In
Tibet zone the zone of suturing is comprising of flysh, conglomerates and ophiolites in several
thrust slices (Burg et. al 1987). The ophiolites nappes include the Spontang nappe in Zanskor and
the Jungwa nappe in south west Tibet (Gansser 1981)
MMT and MKT extend east west in northerly convex arc terminates in the eastern
Afghanistan by north-south bela,zohb,wazirastan suture.MKT and MMT enclosed 36000 sq km
Kohsitan terrane which according to previous model can divide into three tectonic zone.
(1) South Kamila arc zone composed of princepley kamila volcanic, ampibolite underplated
by basal cumulates of sapat gali and jijal complex. These complex comprised of
ultramafic at the base and gabbros at top occupying the hanging wall of Indus suture or
MMT.
(2) The central zone comprises of gabbronorites, pyroxene, diorites and ultramafic rock
forming about 8000 sq km coherent chilas complex.
(3) Northern gilgit zone comprises the jaglot group containing ,gilgit formation mainly paragnesis at the base followed by the chilt volcanic and finally the telache formation
comprising turbities and marble metamorphosed into green facies equivalent to yaseengroup. The gilgit zone was welded to the Karakorum plate about 90 ma ago along
MKT.Gilgit zone and the central zone are complexly folded and imbricated with a
persistant principely southward vergence. Much of Kohsitan batholiths in PaleoceneEocene across the structure in the gilgit zone.

Previous tectonic model for Karakorum is considered the southern 2-zone is the base crust and
northern zone is the upper crust is of a cretaceous Island arc. Subsequently it was suggested by
Khan et.al in 1989 that the chilas complex was probably placed during episode of back arc
rifting.
In the gilgit zone a recognizable 2-stage of turbidities deposition interved by basaltic
volcanism in assemblages formed very likely in back arc basin. These findings have resulted in a
completely new interpretation for the Kohsitan terrain (Fig 3). In summary it suggest that the
southern kamila zone is represent an island arc crust while the assemblages to the north of jijal
shear zone including chilas complex and overlying sequence of metamorphosed turbidities and
basaltic volcanic of (jaglot group) represents a folded and imbricated back arc basins.

Fig. 3 Generalized tectonic map of northern Pakistan, showing subdivisions of the Himalayan Mountains (modified
after Kazmi and Rana 1982)

Fig 3 a: A generalized map of northern Pakistan showing different areas present in northern Pakistan and their
boundaries relative to other locations along with particular features specific to the areas. (courtesy:
www.pakimag.com)

Igneous and Metamorphic Petrology of northern Pakistan:

Pakistan is collage of several terranes each of which has had its own tectonic, metamorphic and
magmatic history. Northern Pakistan is essentially comprising of
1
2
3

The Northern margin of Indian Plate

One or more central Asian microcontinets in its north and north west.
Series of island arcs and ophiolites between northern margin of Indian plate and
Asian microcontinents

In northern Pakistan the Indian plate is separated from Karakoram plate by Kohistan magmatic
arc which was welded to the Karakoram plate during the late Cretacious (85 95 Ma) and to the

Indian plate during during Paleocene ( 65 55 Ma). This this collisional process resulted to an
episode of magmatism, deformation metamorphism and and formation of Igneous rocks,
blueschists and mlanges with the shaley matrix. Locally, here the suture lithologies consist of
fault bounded blocks and slices of the Kohistan arc and Indian Plate.
The northern Pakistan displays a prolongrd and complex metamorphic history starting before
Shyok suture zone ( Searle and Treloar 1993)and the tectonometamorphic evolution of the
Kohistan arc can be related to the Shyok and Indus sutures. The Chillas vomplex may heve
suppleied sufficient thermal energy to drive regional metamorphism in Kohistan. Metamorphism
occurred soon after and in response to, thrusting of Kohistan arc and Indian plate.
Indus Suture:
Indus suture is tectonic mlanges trapped between kohistan arc and the Indian plate,
including Mohmand-Malakand, Mingora-Shangla and Allai areas thet consist of Plutonic
Volcanic and Sedimentary Neo- Tethys, together with some blocks torn from Kohistan and
Indian Plate.
Malakand-Mohmand ophiolites and mlanges
The laege ophiolite zone consists predominantly of ultramafic rocks with a subordinate
amount of maffic cumulate and dolerite dikes. Other melandes contains extensive outcrops of
metacolcanic rocks. Volcanic rocks and maffic-ultramafic

lenses occur further west with

magniferous sediments in Bajaur. Petrographic data suggests that these rocks have been widely
affected by widespread low grade metamorphism.
Mingora-Shangla-Allai Mlanges:
A number of mlanges are associated with Indus suture in these areas, Mingora-Shangla
Mlange zone is divided into blueschist, green schist and ophiolitic mlange units (Kazmi et. Al
1984). The blueschist consists of blocks of metacolcanis, serpentinite, metagabbro, dolerite and
marble etc (Jan 1991). The mlange zone in Allai is composed of Ultramaffic rocks, metagabbros
and green stones, greenschists, metagrawake, phyllite, limestone, metachert and blueschist.

U-Pb dating of metamorphic and igneous rocks from the Hunza Valley and Baltoro
regions of the Karakoram Mountains in northern Pakistan addresses the thermal and magmatic
evolution of the thickened Asian plate crust before, during, and after the collision of the Kohistan
arc and the Indian plate. Crustal thickening and hightemperature, sillimanite-grade
metamorphism in the southern Karakoram Mountains followed the collision and accretion of the
Kohistan arc during the Late Cretaceous. Miocene culminated with emplacement of the Baltoro
Plutonic Unit in the Karakoram batholith that cuts deformation fabrics in the high-grade gneisses
to the south. The youngest magmatic phase dated is the 9.3 6 0.2 Ma Sumayar leucogranite
pluton. On the basis of detailed structural field studies combined with U-Pb geochronology,
sillimanite-grade metamorphism was either a protracted event lasting as long as 20 m.y. (6444
Ma) or peaked at different times within the lower crust following collision of first, the Kohistan
arc, and later, the Indian plate. Prior to the India-Asia collision, the southern margin of Asia
comprised the Hindu Kush and Karakoram terranes, which are geologically equivalent to
portions of the Lhasa block of south Tibet (e.g., Searle and Khan, 1996) within the Tibetan
Plateau. The Tibetan Plateau is a large area of thickened crust (6570 km; Molnar, 1988) and
high average elevation (5023 m; Fielding et al., 1994) that exposes mainly upper crustal
sedimentary and volcanic rocks in its surface geology. The Karakoram Mountains comprise
similarly thick crust, but have extreme topography, including peaks rising to more than 8 km and
valleys deeply incised to ;2 km, and extremely high erosion rates (e.g., Searle, 1991).
The India-Asia collision, which occurred ca. 5450 Ma (Searle et al., 1987, 1988), was
complicated in the western Himalaya by the presence of the intervening Kohistan island arc, now
preserved within the Tethyan suture zone (Tahirkheli and Jan, 1979). The Kohistan arc is bound
to the north by the Shyok suture zone, which closed between ca. 102 and 75 Ma (Petterson and
Windley, 1985; Pudsey, 1986; Treloar et al., 1989). To the south, it is bound by the Main Mantle
thrust, the westward continuation of the Indus suture zone in Ladakh (Searle et al., 1987), which
closed by 50 Ma (Fig. 1).
The age of the India-Asia collision is best defined by the stratigraphic age of the youngest
marine sediments, early Eocene Nummulitic limestones, within the Indus suture zone (e.g.,
Searle et al., 1988; Rowley, 1996). Prior to the collision of the Kohistan arc with the Indian plate,

the southern margin of Asia was an Andean- type continental margin dominated by biotite 1
hornblende2bearing granodiorites, tonalites and granites, calc-alkaline andesites, and subaerial
redbed sediments (Crawford and Searle, 1992). Following collision and accretion, first of the
Kohistan arc, then of the Indian plate, crustal thickening along the south Asian margin created
the approximately double normal crustal thickness beneath the Karakoram Mountains and the
Tibetan Plateau (Molnar, 1988).
Kohistan Magmatic Arc
Kohistan is an intraoceanic island arc bounded by the Indus sture zone(MMT) to the
south and the Main Karakoram Thrust (MKT ) to the north. The north and south part of the arc
along MKT is covered by the sequences of late Cretaceous to Paleocene volcanic and
sedimentary rocks. This sequence is comprised of several formations. The central part of the arc
terrain is mainly composed of Kohistan Batholith which comprises an early (110-85Ma) suite of
gabbro and diorite which are followed by ,more extensive intrusion of gabbro,diorite and
granodiorite (85-40Ma) which are intrude by much younger dykes and sills of leucogranite(3026Ma).
The southern part of Karakoram is comprised of a thick sequence of mafic and ultramafic
rocks. These rocks may be divided into three tectonometamorphic complexes separated by major
thrust zones. The Chilas complex forms the northern and upper unit .It comprises layered norites
and gabbros metamorphosed to granulite facies. It is characterized by series of south-verging
folds. It has been thrust southward over the Kamila Amphibolites. The latter consist of
amphibolites,meta-gabbro and orthogneisses.This sequence comprises an highly tectonised shear
zone.Southward,it is thrust over the Jijal Complex which forms a tectonic wedge between the
Kamila, shear zone and the MMT.The Jijal complex is largely comprised of garnet-pyroxene
granulites and ultramafic (Tahirkhlei and jan1979,Coward et al.1989.Khan et al.1993,Treloar et
al.1990,Miller et al.1991).
Karakoram Block
Karakoram block is located between the Rushan-Pshart suture in the north and the Shyok
suture in south. This zone is 70 to 120 km wide and 1,400 km long comprised the Karakoram

crustal plate which is one of the part of the Cimmerian derived from Gondwana land and
accreted to Eurasia .In the north, the south Pamir fault (Desio 1979) separates it from the
Southern Pamir Block. To the east it is terminated by the Karakoram Fault and to the west by the
Sarobi Fault. The MKT forms its southern margin.Parts of Karakoram have been mapped by
many

workers

noteably

Ivanac

et

al.(1981),

Desio

(1964),Zanettin

(1964),Stauffer

(1991),Gamerith (1982) ,Calkins et al.(1981).Pudsey et al.(1985).Leake et al.(1989) and

Searle(1991). The Karakoram

plate is divided into 4 units, The northern Chitral, The

sedimentary zone of north of Karakoram batholiths, Karakoram batholiths and Karakoram

metamorphic complex in south of Karakoram batholiths.
Northern Chitral area is located to the north of Shyok suture. It is divided into two geological
domains. Among these two, one is located to the south and other to the north of Reshun fault The
southern domain consists of the Chitral slate, Koghozi Greenschist, Krinj and Gahiret limestone.
Karakoram Batholith
Axial Batholith is the most ubiquitous features in the karakoram(Desio 1979), which
forms the central part of this belt and the host the tallest mountains peaks of the region, including
K2.It consist of number of large parallel or en echelon plutons .Form wet to east these are Buni
Zom,Zagar Umalsit-Ghamu Bar,Dobargar-Darkot,Hunza and Baltoro Plutons. This range in the
age of Jurassic to Miocene(Searle 1991).Along the northern margin of the Karakoram
Batholith,near Baroghil Pass,there are small outcrops of pre-Ordovician granites. The granitic
rocks and the surrounding sedimentary sequences have been metamorphosed to varying extent
during at least three main thermotectonic events and a later retrograde phase .The karakoram
Batholith divides the region into the northern and southern sedimentary belt. The western part of
the region ,the Tirich Mir zone is separated from the main body of the karakoram belt by the
Tirich Mir fault.
Hunza Velly:
There is a progressive increase in metamorphism towards the north of Shyok suture at
Chalta. Prolonged and complex history of deformation and metamorphism can be observed
through the rocks of this area. This zone is divided into several units, including. Ganchen unit,
Askole Amphibolite Unit, Pamah ultramafic Unit, Dassu Granits. Thin bands of marble, graphitic

schists, granite-biotite, amphibolites, gneisses, pelites, almandine-rich garnets, epidote, blocks of

gabbro basalt, magnisite are the rocks found in these units.
Himalayas region:
During Tertiary Himalayan orogeny the main metamorphic recrystallisation took place in
Precambrian rocks of the Himalayas (Greco and Spencer 1993). Kazmi and Rana (1982) were
the first to recognize Precambrian magmatism, metamorphism and orogeny in southern Hazara.
Rocks below the Cambrain unconformity in Abbotabad area show low grade metamorphism
which indicated that the rocks were deformed during late pre-cambrian (Baig et. al 1987, 1988).
An episode of deformation and metamorphism is related to the late Paleozoic when extensive
plutonism and volcanism took place during Carboniferous to Permian. Regional and widespread
metamorphism occurred during the Tertiary. This metamorphism ranges from very low grade
(anchli zone) in the Himalayan foothills to high grade (grannulite) facies in the central
Himalayas. This metamorphism has three charecteristics,
1

Peak metamorphism was short lived and occurred soon after Paleocene-Early

collision i-e, within 5 to 15 Ma

Metamorphism was high to medium high pressure Barrvian (Kyanite-Sillimanite)-

type
Metamorphism was generally inverted i-e higher grade rocks, formed at great depths,
structurally overlie lower grade rocks mainly because of the stacking of thrust slices.

Tirich Mir Zone

This zone is largely comprised of the highly deformed and imbricated metasediments of
the Arkari Formation which may Jurassic not conform mainly consist of dark grey phylites with
subordinate quartzites and marbles. Southward it is intruded by numerous stocks and sills of
leucogranites and metamorphic grade increases to the amphibolites facies. The Kafiristan ,Garam
Chasma and Tirich Mir plutons are largest batholiths in the region having K-Ar biotite ages of 48
Ma,20 1 to 19 5 Ma respectively (Searle 1991).They mainly consist of biotite granodiorite
and augen geneiss
Magmatism

From age of early Proterozoic to Quaternary, Pakistan contains good records of Magmatism
and all types of common igneous rocks have been recognised.In Pakistan most of igneous rock
has been divided into three major paleographic regimes.
(1) Late Mesozoic associated with hot spot and spreading
(2) Pre-Jurassic related to various rifting processes in the Gondwanaland and orogenic
crustal thinning.
(3) Cretaceous to Quaternary which related to convergent processes in the Tethys and at the
edge of the Asiatic continent.
Precambrian magmatic rocks of Pakistan are divided into two groups.
(1) Early Proterozoic granitic rocks with minor amphibolites in the Himalaya region which
are probably an extension of those of the Indian and Nepal Himalaya
(2) Late Proterozoic bimodal magmatic rocks in the northern Punjab and Southeastern Sindh
and latter extension of those of Rajasthan and the Ultrapotassic Volcanics in the Salt
Range. Several granitic plutons were emplaced in the Himalayan foothills during early
Paleozoic.
In the northern and western Pakistan the cretaceous-Tertiary period is marked by increase in
magmatic intrusions and outpouring of volcanic material. The origin of this Magmatism is
mostly closer to the Neo-Tethys and ultimate collision of India with Asiaand this result
(1) Subdcution releated magmatism in island arcs, continental margins and possibly marginal
basin
(2) Obduction of several ophilotic complexes onto the Indian plate.

Late Archean to Early Proterozoic

In Nanga Parbat-Haramosh Massif (NPHM) ,Besham area in northern Pakistan igneous
rocks of Late Archean to early Proterozoic have been recently reported and Kaghan area contains

Proterozoic rocks which may be coeval with these. There is also possibility about Koh-i-Sufaid
crystalline in Kurram and Tirah may be this age.
Naga Parbat-Haramosh Massif
According to (Wadia 1933) the N-S extending NPHM was considering as a promontory
and by (Madin et al 1989) its the edge of west-facing embayment of the Indian plate. The
northern part of Indian plate at NMPH is controlled is by an anticlinal fold structure (Coward et
al.1987).The unroofing rapid rise is massif accommodated initially along ductile shears and
subsequently by cataclastic by faulting along with Shahbatot strike-slip zone. The northern part
of the massif forms N-S trending antiform.
Naga Parbat-Haramosh Massif (NPHM) is a half window of high grade Precambrian
basement gneisses that have been overprinted by Himalayan metamorphism.Terloar et al.(1991)
has been discuss the correlation of deformation histories with Hazara area.Ahmad and Shams
(1979) reported that massif is made up of magmatic gneisses with interwoven micaceous folia
and gneisses consists of two feldspar, quartz ,biotite,muscovite.chlorite.Kyanite and staurolite of
metamorphic origin. Rock of the northwest part of the massif is divided into three units by
Madin et al.(1989).
-Shengus Gneiss
-Iskere Gneiss
-Structurally high Haramosh schist unit.
Very young granitic rocks of Pliocene-Pleistocence age reported from the NPHM and they are
related to very rapid uplift and denudation which are accelerated over the past 10 m.y to
maximum 7 mm/year (Zeitler et al.1993).
Besham antiform
In Besham area to the south of the Indus suture a window of early Proterozoic basement which is
bounded by the steep N-trending faults both on its eastern and western side is exposed. The
detailed geochemistry, petrography has described by La Fortune et al.(1992) of Besham area and
divided rocks into five groups from oldest to youngest.

(1) Besham group which consist of metasediments, quartzo-feldsphatic gneisses and sodic
quartzo-feldspathic gneisses formed in situ which forms variable composition of
sedimentary protolith and all these form the basement sequence.
(2) Mafic dykes which form the lenses and concordant layers which is less than 2m in width.
Metamorphosed to epidote-bearing amphibolites, these are tholeiitic and have island arc
geochemical affinities.
(3) The third group of rock consists of cogenetic,small granitic intrusion and associated
pegmatites. The rocks of this group is younger than Besham group and older than Karora
group .
(4) The conglomerate, calcareous and carbonaceous metasediments of Karora group, which
form the cover sequence and for more than one metamorphic event in area provide
evidence.
(5) Undeformed leucogranites intrude both the Karora group and the Besham group in two
places in the form of small sills, up to 25 m thickness. They made up of
oligoclase,quartz,microcline,biotite and sphene which are medium to equigranular.
For some rocks of the Besham group radiometric ages have been determined. According to
Treloar et al.(1989c) Ar-Ar age of 1,920 24 Ma on hornblende from an amphibolites sheet or
pod within a granitic body near Duber.Aditional Ar-Ar ages has interpreted as suggestive of one
or more metamorphic episodes in the range of 2,031 6 to 1,865 3 Ma. They also report that
sodic gneisses were emplaced about 1,500 Ma ago.
Kaghan area
Precambrian basement of the Kaghan Valley and adjacent are of Azad Kashmir has been
studied by most of the researchers like Ghazanfar, Greco and Spencer 1993.Chanduray and
Ghazanfar (1987)divided the Kaghan basement into
(1) Archean to Proterozoic Sharda group
(2) Proterozoic Kaghan group

According to Greco (1991) Kaghan group is referred as the lesser Himalaya Salkhala
formation, occur in a band around the Hazara-Kashmir Syntaxis and consist of unfossiliferous
mica schists ,calcareous rocks with marble ,siliceous rocks and amphibolites.
Sharda group of consist of predominantly of garnetiferous cal-pelites and marbles with
subordinates pasmmitic,peltic and concordant amphibolitic bands metamorphosed up to
sillimanite grade. East Kaghan is entirely occupied by the Sharda group. According to Greco and
Spencer(1993) this group of rocks represents a Higher Himalayan crystalline nappe comprising a
basement of Cambrian ,older granites overlain by the lower Paleozoic and a cover of Paleozoic
and Mesozoic metasediments. On field and petrographic grounds,chaudhry (1987)and Ghazanfar
concluded that the granitic rocks are S-type ,derived from the associated metasediments by the
partial melting and no radiometric dates are available to compare the granites with those of the
neighbouring area, but they may belong to Proterozoic ,Cambrian and Himalayan(Tertiary).
Koh-i-Sufaid
In the gently flexuring Parachinar re-entrant a basement of early Proterozoic rocks occurs
and basement is truncated on its north by the Indus suture and its west by the Chaman Transform
Fault. According to Meissner et al.(1975) most of the basement occurs across the border of
Afghanistan but its southern margin which is thrust over the Mesozoic sedimentary rocks occurs
as a thin strip in Kurram and Tirah. According to butt the basement is an imbricate zone containg
NW-trending ,NE-dipping high angle reverse faults which separates various rocks units and
rocks in the adjoining fault blocks show the extreme variations form augen gneisses and
migmatites displaying ductile deformation to amphibolites ,schist, phyllites and dolomites some
of which show brittle deformation.
According to Badshah and (1983a) and Ahmed (1985a) the basement consists of prePaleozoic migmatites,gneisses.schist,calcareous rocks and amphibolites.Biotites gneisses of
granitic to granodiorite composition and showing various deformation textures are most common
rocks. Minor bodies of amphibolites are closely associated with the gneisses ,but the
amphibolites may be of two generation
(1) Precambrian

(2) Permian rift-related

Basement also consist of younger group of fine-to-medium grained ,porphyritic to nonporphyritic granites and granodiorites which are commonly sheared and occur in small bodies.
Late Proterozoic
Stratigraphic sequence of salt range contains thin flows of an Ultrapotassic rock in its
base.Khewra trap which occur in the top of the very late Proterozoic or Eocambrain rocks
consisting of marly anhydrites, gypsum and oil shales overlying evaporates. Trap occur
throughout the salt range .Drill core at Dulmial which is located 20 km NE of the khewra ,shows
the two zones of mostly altered trap separated by 23.8m of rock salt,dolomite,anhydrites and
bitumen(Faruqi 1986) The trap is purple to reddish brown ,orange to buff, rarely dark green rock.
It is very fine grained, porphyritic and vesicular to amygdaloidal. According to (Jan and Faruqi
1995) Preliminary geochemistry shows that the rocks are made up of 60 wt% Sio 2,0.7%Tio2,11%
Al2o3,9%K2O and 0.04%P2O5.Mosebach give name it Khewraite in (1954) and rock of the same
texture, mineralogy and compositions have not been reported from the elsewhere in the region
indeed the trap is so unique. The salt range rocks and Ultrapotassic rocks are closely associated
in space and time ,and it is tempting to relate them also to rifting.
Cambrian Ordovician
According to Le fort et al.(1980)The lesser Himalaya granitic plutons of the lower
Ordovician and Cambrian age occurs in a belt from Kathmandu to the Indus covers 1,600 km
area. The Manshera Plutons with well-defined whole rocks Rb-Sr isochron age of 516 16 Ma is
an extension of this belt in Pakistan. Similar granitic rocks occur in the other parts of Himalaya
of Pakistan like Sawat,Besham and Azad Kashmir. These granitic rocks are characterize by a
strong gneisses fabric and generally porphyritic aspects, with feldspar megacrysts up to 15 cm
long.
Manshera Granites
It covers about more than 2,000 km area and these granites have been studied in details by
the Shams and associates in (1961a,1966,1969,1980).According to Calkins they constitute a
sheet tightly folded along with country rocks and ranges from granite and granodiorites ,arc

calac-alkaline in chemistry and composed of quartz ,albite-oligoclase ,K-feldspar and also some
quantity of garnet. Shams(1969) classified the rocks into Susalgali gneisses Manshera
porphyritic granite

and andalusite granite and associated minor bodies of pegmatites

,aplites,albites

granites

and

porphyrites

.Weak

porphyritic

tourmaline

granite

with

albite,microcline,garnet,intruding schists on its western margins is considered by the Shams

(1969) to be a younger derivatives. The Largest outcrop of this type covers 20km area and
occurrence of cordierite ,silimanite and andalusite in the granites on one hand and off garnet on
the others ,coupled with staurolite and kyanite in the nearby rocks is interesting. According to
Jan et al.(1981b) it is not clear whether the granites have passed through an earlier episode of
low -Pressure metamorphism or the minerals cordierite ,andalusite and Silimanite are the result
of contamination contact metamorphism.
Swat Granitic Gneisses
Martin et al (1962) briefly describe these rocks are very similar to those of Mansehra and
their 515 Ma Ar-Ar biotite age confirms that the two are of the same age. its also appear to
emplaced in a sheet and tightly folded like those of Mansehra.Gelogical map prepared by the
DiPietro et al which show that eastern bodies of these granites pass into those of Mansehra
across Indus. They are composed of quartz, two feldspars, two micas, opaques,epidote and
according to shams plot in the quartz rich granitoid filed with two pronged extension towards
granite and quartz monzonite field. A younger tourmaline bearing granite is a minor marginal
variant of the Swat granitic gneisses. The biotite gneisses at Chakdarra, north of Malakand ,were
considered to be the extension of the swat granitic gneisses. The genisses shows a tectonics
fabrics and probably an extension of those of swat while the Malakand granite is undeformed
and possibly belongs to the alkaline province.
Granitic rocks of the Lower Swat is divided into
(1) Porphyritic calc-alkaline granodiorite gneisses with white microcline megacrysts
(2) Equigranular to Porphyritic biotite of probable alkaline affinity and displaying of local
rapakivi texture
(3) Equigranular ,subsolvus, tourmaline-muscovite granites.

Nanga Parbat and Besham

The two mica Shingus Gneisses in the Nanga Parbat Massif is a fine grained ,finely
laminated unit comprising a range of lithologies. It has a U-Pb zircon age of 400-500 Ma, and is
considered as a metamorphic equivalent of the Mansehra granite. There are small granitic
intrusion of Cambrian age in early Proterozoic basement in Besham area. Shang and Duber
bodies of these associated with pegmatites and these are coarse grained ,with up to a centimeter
long feldspar phenocrysts,deformed and locally banded. And these ranges from granodiorite to
adamellite and consist of K-feldspar, quartz,medium plagioclase ,hornblende, opaque oxide
,zircon and local garnet. In the north of Duber has an Ar-Ar biotite age of 550 20 Ma of the
granite.
Western Karakoram
According to Le fort et al (1994) reported that pre-Ordovician granitoids occurring in the
north of the Karakoram Axial Batholith in the upper Yarkhun Valley in Chitral. The principle
plutons at Ishkarwaz is an altered and deformed biotite-hornblende adamellite, forming an
alumino-cafemic associations with calc-alkaline affinity. It intrude low grade quartzite and
migmatites and is covered transgressively by fossiliferous litharenite and slate of early and slate
of early Ordovician age.
The Ishkarwaz granite has low Mg/(Mg+Fe) ratio and resembles closely the darkest
member of the Bumburet Pluton of Kafiristan in western Chitral. This area also contains a
variety of pegmatites but their relation to early Paleozoic granites in the Karkoram range
suggests that the Karkoram plate is Gondwanic in origin.
Seismicity in Northern area:
Pakistan is located on the western edge of the Indian plate which is bordered to the west
and north by the Eurasian plate and to the southwest by the Arabian plate. All these three plates
are mutually converging and mechanisms are differ from north to southwest. In the Himalayas in
the north, the collision is typically south to north head-on, translating into dip-slip faults and to
the west, the collision is oblique-slip transpressional, as reflected in the Chaman Fault Zone and
the western thrust-fold belt. To the west the Arabia-Eurasia convergence is taking place along the

north-dipping active Makran subduction zone (Jacob and Quittmeyer, 1979; McCall and Kidd,
1982).
Pakistans northern contact with the Asian plate is characterized by a1500 km wide zone
of deformation that includes the Pamir, Hindu Kush, Karakoram, Kohistan and the Himalaya.
This deformation zone owes its origin to successive accretion of several microcontinents of
Gondwanic affinity and Neotethyan island arcs at the southern margin of Asia between Triassic
and Late Cretaceous, culminating at Early Tertiary India Asia collision (Beck et al., 1995). As
much as 2000 km of crustal shortening is attributed to post-collisional indentation of the Indian
plate into Eurasia (Molnar and Tapponier, 1977), with the present-day convergence rates being
37-42 mm yr-1 (Chen et al., 2000; Shen et al., 2000). The southern part of this deformation zone
is manifested in the Hindu Kush, Karakoram, Kohistan and Himalayan ranges in northern
Pakistan.
GPS geodesy is ideally suited to the determination of strain rates near and within a plate
boundary. Following the 2001Bhuj earthquake, NCEG initiated a GPS Geodesy survey in
Pakistan in collaboration with University of Colorado, Boulder (USA) by measuring three points
in the Nagar Parker, in addition to establishing several new points in northern Pakistan from Salt
Range to Hunza. Shortly after the 2005 Kashmir earthquake scientists from three Pakistan
Universities (NCEG-University of Peshawar, NED University, Karachi and Baluchistan
University, Quetta) joined together to establish a GPS geodesy network in Pakistan termed
TriGGnet (the Tri-University GPS Geodesy network) to monitor seismotectonic deformation and
crustal velocities in Pakistan. Twelve GPS receivers have been installed at key locations in
Pakistan, with some locations monitored continuously and others for a week once each year. To
date, more than 80 points have been measured with various periods of longevity (Fig 3).

Fig 3 Summary map of TriGGnet activity in Pakistan, showing outlines of the five regions. Red arrows indicate GPS
velocities 2006-2009 in Pakistan relative to the Indian plate. White triangles indicate points that have been measured
but not remeasured. The five white circles indicate sites where velocities are less than 3 mm yr-1. Early post seismic
relaxation velocities have been removed from the Kashmir 2005 earthquake region and from the Pishin October
2008 earthquakes region of Baluchistan.

Typical accuracies in determining crustal velocities through GPS geodesy are 3 mm yr-1
for 3-7 day annual occupations at a point, and 1 mm yr-1 for continuous data. The procedure we
adopt for annual occupations is to cement a bolt into rock, or into the parapet of a flat-roofed
concrete-frame building, to which is attached an antenna, and to operate a GPS receiver
continuously from solar panels for 4-7 days. We return to the site after an interval of a year and
compare the former and present positions to determine a velocity. Where a bolt is impractical we
install a stainless steel screw and occupy the point with a bipod, a low profile device that assures
vertical offsets are uniform throughout the TriGGnet array and that centering accuracy is better
than 1 mm.
Kashmir and Karakoram (NCEG, University of Peshawar)

The final area under investigation concerns the mountains in the northern provinces of
Pakistan and the western edge of the Tibetan Plateau. We note that convergence with India
resulting from convergent Eurasian velocities from the north (Indian plate fixed frame of
reference) occurs at rates of up to 20 mm yr-1 (Mohadjer et al., 2009). These convergence rates
have slowed to less than 5 mm yr-1 near Malakand and Srinagar, and hence the principle
convergence must lie in the mountains north of the Peshawar and Kashmir basins. Here we seek
to address the important question whether elastic locking exists beneath the mountains. There is
no evidence for great earthquakes in this part of the Himalaya (north or NW of the 2005 Kashmir
main shock), but it is possible that the historical record here is sufficiently fragmentary for these
to have escaped detection. We have yet to re-measure most of the northern sites shown in (Fig 4).

Fig. 5. Relief map of the Karakoram, Kashmir and the northern areas of Pakistan. A continuous receiver (CONV) is
operated at Srinigar by the Univerity of Kashmir, and at Manshera (SW of the 2005 Kashmir rupture) by the
University of Peshawar. Note the large velocities at Gilgit and Leh compared to the subdued velocities measured at
Malakand and Srinagar (CONV) indicating long recurrence intervals for earthquakes in the Pir Panjal and the
possibility of significant events in the Zanskar region.

Pakistan is characterized by extensive zone of

high seismicity and contains several

seismotectonic features generated by an integrated network of active faults, the earliest

indications of an active fault associated with earthquakes came in 1982, when the town of
Chaman was destroyed and great Chaman fault was noted for the first time(Griesbach 1983).
Epicenters location is pointed out on the bases of modern instrumental recording. Seismic
activity is the result of movement along various active faults, folds in different regions. It may be
seen that collisional mountains, where active fault are common faces high seismicity while the
more stable Indus platform zone has low seismicity. Some of the seismic zones of the northern
area are as follows.
Hindu Kush-west Karakoram Seismic zone
This zone consists of Tirch Mir region and adjacent Afghan territory. It is seismically
hyper active with frequent earthquakes of magnitude 5-7 and focal depth of 100-200 km (Kazmi
1979b).Spatial distribution of earthquakes and their hypocenters indicates that there is fault plane
down to about 200 km depth and 25km thick contorted Benioff zone within the upper mantle.
According to Billington et al.(1977),these features are typical of regions of active lithospheric
subduction. This zone coincides with the Akbaytal fault which is the eastward extension of Heart
fault. Focal mechanism solution indicates that the thrust in strike slips movements are equally
prevalent in the Hindu Kush in addition to the Akbaytal fault characterized by strike slip
movement.
Yasin Seismic zone
The region around the town of Yasin is active seismically. A cluster of several earthquake
epicenters of magnitude 3-5km and having focal depth less than 50km.The main Karakoram
thrust passes through this zone and its consider that it may be the source of seismic activity for
Yasin seismic zone.
Hamran Seismic zone
This zone located at the south of Gupis, along the Hamran Valley which is the center of
the Ghizar Range. In this area there are particularly active seismic zones with frequent
earthquakes of 3 to 5 magnitude and with hypocenters which are ranging from less than 50km to

100km depth. No active fault has yet been marked in this region. Seismic data collected by the
intentional Karakoram projects shows that in this area seismic deformation is confined to the
upper 20km of the crust during important earthquakes and background activity (Yielding et
al.1984).
Indus-Kohistan Seismic Zone (IKZS)
Telemetered seismic network has been operated from 1973-1977 in the northern of
Pakistan. From about 10,000 earthquakes data has recorded which cover the area between
longitude 69 and 75 and latitude 30 300 and 35 300 (Seeber and Armruster 1979). This study
shows that the northwestern margin of the Indian plate at the north of the MBT, comprises zone
of high seismicity while the Salt Range and the Trans-Indus Ranges reflect moderate seismicity.
Stratigraphy of northern Pakistan:
Lower Hazara
There are different Paleozoic sequence is exposed in the southern Himalayan foothills of
Hazara which consist of Abbottabad and Hazira formation of Cambrian age.
Abbottabad formation:
Its located in the Sirban Hill near Abbottabad having thickness about 660m at the type
locality and and 900m elsewhere. This formation is describe by previous authors as below the
Trias(Waagen and Wynne 1872) and infra-Trias(Middlemiss 1896).It overlies the
Precambrian Tanawal formation unconformably. It extend form Tarbela area (Indus River) in the
west through Abbottabad to Muzaffarabad and Balakot is located in the east and northerneast.
Abbottabad Group name is given by Latif (1970a,1970b) to the Abbottabad formation in the
Abbottabad area. It consist of thick bedded sand stone ,with some shale ,siltstone and dolomite
intercalation in the lower part.(Kakul formation).Basal unconformity is marked by the Tanakki
Conglomerate.Lithology of Abbottabad formation shows great lateral variations.Phyllites as
well as dolomite,quartzite and conglomerate reported by (Calkins et al.(1986).Hyolithes spp and
Hyolithellus ssp fossils are found in formation of Cambrian age (Shah 1977).
Hazira Formation

It is located in the village of Hazira and the main area of distribution is southern Hazara
having thickness of about 300m.Latif (1970a)describe the lower part of formation as Haematite
Formation or Galdanian formation which are characteristically developed near Galdanian
northeast of Abbottabad.This formation is overlies the Abbottabad formation with an apparently
conformable contact(Gardezi and Ghazanfar 1965).locally volcanic rock have been observed in
this formation and the upper part is mainly composed of grey and yellowish-brown ,calcareous
siltstone and sandstone with earthy concretions and some quartzite beds. The basal part is
glaucontic and the middle part is phosphatic.A small fauna of porifera, Hyolithids and Annelida
indicative of an early Cambrian age (Fuchs and Mostler 1972).
Peshawer Basin
In the Paleozoic complex of Nowshera area, Ordovician rock have been identified.
Ordovician-Silurian sequence is comprised of Misri Banda Quartzite, Hisartang formation and
Panjpir formations in this region. Misri Banda Quartzite (Stauffer 1968a, Hussain et
al.1989.1990) consists of trace fossils Cruziana rugosa indicating an early to middle Ordovician
age.Quartzites is cross-bedded, display ripple marks and worm burrows. Conglomerate layer
make the base and the upper third of the sequence contains limestone layers with crinoids
fragments, as well as thin beds of dark-grey to black phyllite.
Hisartang formation
In the Attock-Cherat Range a series of unfossiliferous quartzites. With argillite beds in
the middle, has been named Hisartang formation by Hussain et al.(1989,1990).The quartzite is
white to grey and fine-grained and contains impressions of worm burrows. The argillite is darkgrey to black and laminated. This formation has a conformable gradational contact with the
underlying .Darwaza formation and is overlain conformably by the (Devonian) Inzari
Limstone.Owing to the lithologies similarities the Hisartang formation is correlated with the
Early to middle Ordovician Misri Banda Quartzite.Its minimum thickness is 650m.
Panjpir formation
The Misri Banda Quartzite is overlain unconformably by the Panjpir formation (Hussain
et al.1989.1990).The type locality is the Panjpir village in Mardan District .At the base there is

conglomerate with clasts of quartzite dolomite,limestone and argillite.This formation is largely

comprised of slate and Phyllite with intercalations of limestone and quartzite.It is up to 1,075m
thick.The limestone in the lower part contains crinoids,pelecypods.cephalopods and Ludlovian
conodonts(Hussain et al.1990).Nautiloid fragments have been found in the limestone in the upper
part of Panjpir formation. A crinoidal limestone at the top has yielded conodonts of late Silurian.
The age of the formation has been interpreted as Middle Ordovician.
Landikotal formation
It is located in the Landikotal (Khyber Pass) ,Stauffer (1968b) give name Landikotal
formation. Thickness of formation is given by different geologist but 1600m reported by Shah
et al.(1970) is more realistic. Its exposed in Khyber agency near Afghan border and comprised of
thick series of phyllites and slates with subordinates limestone, dolomite and quartzite,which is
intruded by basic dykes and sills. Landikotal formation has not yielded by any fossils.Age of
formation is Late Ordovician to late Silurian due to presence of conodonts (Shah et al 1970).
Glacial deposits in the Himalayas and the karakoram
In the upper reaches of the Chitral, Swat, Hunza and Indus valleys Pleistocene to recent
glacial moranines,loess,glacial lake deposit, ancient rock terraces as well as fluvial terraces are
found.Shroder et al.(1989) describe the three major sequence of Pleistocene glaciations between
Darel and Gilgit in the Indus valley. At altitude of 2,280m the morphology of the valley floor is
largely attribute to glacial erosion and remnants of ancient valley floor are preserved as high
level bedrock in form of benches near Kolalai, Laikot,Kalam and Utrot in the Upper swat region.
Glacial deposit have been differentiate into three drift sheets on the bases of moraine and terrace
morphology, weather characteristics and degree of soil development .(Poter 1970) give name
Laikot which is the older one ,Gabral,Kalam drifts.All these drifts are subdivided into (Kalam
I,Kalam II,Kalam III),(Gabral I, Gabral II, Gabral III),Laikot.(Poter 1970).
Cronin (1982) described an early Pleistocene sequences ,the Bunthang sequences from
the Skardu Valley of Baltistan, which consists of a till at the base ,overlain by deformed fluvial to
glacio- lacustrine conglomerate and sandstone. Bunthang sequence is 1200m thick and its
overlies by the alluvial terrace deposits. The middle Bunthang sequence comprised of three
wedge-shaped units of boulder conglomerates. Upper Bunthang sequence is fine grained

sandstone and massive mudstone interpreted as braided stream deposits. The upper age limit
which is based on Magnetic Polarity studies is 0.73m.y (Cronin et al).
According to (Derbyshire et al.1984,Shroder et al.1989) the Quaternary deposits of the
upper Indus Valley between Darel ,Gilgit and Hunza valley include tills,lake deposits,glacial
moraines and fluvial deposits age range is from Pleistocence to the recent.The Shanoz (earliest
glacial deposits ) are found on some of the Pre-Pleistocene surface at altitude of about 2600>5000m.These depsoits are also reported in Haramosh,Nanga Parbat,Deosai and Skardu
regions.A sequence of folded alluvial and indurated sediments with till at the base named as
Jalipur Sequence which occur in the Indus Valley between Bunji and Chilas. According to
Owen(1989a) this sequence is younger and a lodgement till and induration may be due to glacial
pressure. If this sequence is earliest ,so its traces should occur higher up on valley sides.
Middle glaciations(Yunz stage) occurs on the rock terraces

in hunza valley and

According to Derbyshire et al.(1984) shows that these deposits are older than 139,000 Tl year BP
and at that time this was a period of extensive glaciations with glaciers advancing into Gilgit
valley.According to Shroder et al.(1989) a lacustrine silt overlying consolidated lodgement till
has been dated>100,000 TL year BP near Gilgit.
Tills form the Borit Jheel (last Glaciations)occur extensively in the upper Hunza Valley
below at altitude of 3,000m and are Predominantly of lodgement and Subglacial melt out origin
(Derbyshire et al.1984,Shroder 1992).Glaciolacustrine silts overlie lodgement tills of Batura
Glacier,Minapin Glacier and at other places. According to Derbyshire et al.1984 the
Glaciolacustrine silts in Batura area give data of nearly 50,000 3,300 Tl year BP.
Derbyshire et al.(1984) identified younger and minor glacial deposits which have been
named as Ghulkin II,Barura,Pasu II of largely Holocene age in the upper valley of hunza.
Stratigraphy of upper Indus and platform and the Himalaya fold-and-Thrust Belt
The northern part of the Indus Plateform,the Salt Range and the Trans-Indus Ranges,
Kohat-Potwar Plateau and the Kalachitta-Margalla fold and thrust belt, contains the Jurassic
sequence which are comprised of Datta,Shinwari,Samana Suk formation, and the lower part of
the Chichali formation. According to (Fatmi 1977) by comparison the lower part of the basin

,Jurassic sequences in the Upper Indus Basin is thinner about 820m and mainly consist of
arenaceous and argillaceous sediments of continental origin which grades upward into marine
calcareous and argillaceous rocks. Jurassic unconformably overlies the Triassic Kingriali
formation and within the Jurassic there is an Upper Bathonian-Middle Callovian-disconformity.
Datta Formation
This formation is previously known as variegated stage by (Danilchik 1961)and
according to Gee 1945.this formation contains the earliest Jurassic rocks in the region and largely
consist of variegated sandstone,shale,siltstone and mudstone at a places which is interbedded
with fire clay. Datta formation is located in the Datta Nala in the Surghar range and thickness
ranges form150m to 400m and in northward hazara region it is reduced to 10 m.This formation
overlies the Kingriali formation unconformably while in Hazara region it resets on the
Precambrian ,Paleozoic or Triassic rocks unconformably.
Shinwari Formation
According to (Fatmi 1977) this formation has a transitional contact with the underlying
Datta formation and comprised of thin bedded grey limestone, shale, Nodular Marl and
Sandstone. Thickness of formation varies from 12m in Kalachitta to 400 m in Samana range and
ripple

marks

and

current

bedding

is

also

reported

here.

Some

fossils

like

Bouleiceras,Terebratula,Spiriferina,Montivaltia and Lima are found in the Shinwari formation

and believed that its belong to Early Jurassic to Middle Jurassic.
Samana Suk Formation
According to Davies(1930) it consist of medium to thick bedded ,grey oolitic Shelly or
dolomitic limestone with interbedded marl and calcareous shale. Fossils of this formation is
Bivalve ,gastropods.criniods,brachiopod and ammonites Reineckela ancepto,Choffatia sp. And
Kimkeliniceras sp(Fatmi 1977).Age of formation is Middle Jurassic ,its thickness ranges from
66m in Chichali Pass to 336m and its overlain by Chichali formation disconformably.
Petroleum Geology:

Several reported oil seepages and many hydrocarbon producing fields in Potwar-Kohat Basin
make this area prospective for exploration at several locations. Complex structural style present
in area may provide proper trapping mechanism for hydrocarbon storage. Nature of the presumed
Main Boundary Thrust (MBT) of the central and eastern Himalaya is considered to have
significant implications on hydrocarbon assessment the area. Geological investigations have
revealed that the molasse sediments of the northern Potwar, at many places, are in normal
stratigraphic contact with the underlying calcareous sediments of the Indo-Pakistan Plate. These
factors coupled with the occurrence of oil seepages suggest likely generation, migration and
accumulation of hydrocarbon in the Kalachitta-Margala Hills Range and adjoining PeshawarHazara Basins (Khan et. al 2012)

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