ABSTRACT

A four day field trip was arranged by Earth & Environmental Sciences Department of Bahria
University, Islamabad to Hazara Basin which extended from 22nd of April 2011 to 25th of April
2011. Field trip was arranged to conduct mapping and to study the rocks of southern Hazara,
which range in age from Pre-Cambrian to Miocene.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
It is great satisfaction and we are grateful to Allah almighty who is always
with us and gave us the courage to complete this fieldwork successfully. We
are extremely thankful to our Holy Prophet Muhammad (S. A. W), for being a
perpetual source of guidance for us in all aspects of life.
We are grateful to our teachers Prof. Dr. Sajjad Khan, Mr. Anwar
Qadir and Mr. Hammad Ghani (Lec. Department of earth and environmental
sciences Bahria university Islamabad) who were very kind and helpful to us
at every moment of our field work. Through their guidance and kind advice
we have completed this task successfully.
We are thankful to Prof. Dr.zafar, head of Department of earth and
environmental sciences of Bahria University for providing us the transport
facility for our field work.

CHAPTER 1:
1.1) INTRODUCTION:
The field trip was a four day field excursion to the Hazara basin
in vicinity of Abottabad approximately 130 km away from Islamabad. We left for the trip at
09.30am from university on 22nd April 2011 and came back at 7.00pm on 25th of April 2011. The
areas which are under study are mainly consists of Jabri area, Nathia Gali and Balakot Fault
Region of the Hazara district.

1.2) PROCEDURE USED:

We applied different procedures in the field
which are as follows:
a) Brunton compass was used for measuring dip and strike of rocks
and bearing of different formations in the field.
b) Dilute HCL was used to differentiate between dolomite and
limestone as limestone fizzes on applying HCL.
c) Geological hammer was used for collecting samples of different
rocks.
d) Hand lens was used for studying fossils present in various rocks.
e) Global positioning system (GPS) was used to find the location of the
area (latitude, longitude and elevation).
f) Measuring tape to measure bed thickness.

1.3) OBJECTIVE:
The field trip was held in order to observe practically,
theoretical work which we have studied so far in our course subjects to get
familiar with different lithologies of different formations and sedimentary
structures, how to take bearing and make cross section of the exposed
strata.
3

1.4) PREVIOUS WORK:

The first publication of any significance on
the geology of Hazara is ALBERT VERCHERES paper read before Asiatic
Society in 1866. This gives a brief outline of the north eastern end of the
Sirban Mountain near Abbottabad. He recognized Carboniferous limestone
resting upon volcanic rocks the beds above these he referred in a general
way to the Jurassic Formation and the highest strata to the Nummulitic
Limestone.
WAGGEN AND WAYNE in 1872 put an order for the first time to the
structurally complex rocks of monotonous similarity. They also produced a
map of the Sirban Mountain, on a scale of one inch to a mile covering an
area of 20 square miles. They suggested the presence of rocks from Triassic
to Eocene based on fossil evidence and found similarities of some with those
from the Cambrian of the Salt Range. This information coupled with series of
Papers during the late seventies of the last century, is still considered the
soundest basis of rock classification in the area.
MIDDLEMISS, 1896, pieced together all the available information,
published or unpublished, from all over Hazara on a scale of inch to a mile,
together with a detailed account of geology.
The present study was initially suggested, in 1956, by N.R. Martin, then
a UNESCO advisor and Head of the Geology Department, University of the
Punjab, Lahore. A few roadside reconnaissance trips were made by the
author in his company during the summer months of 1956, followed by a few
independent trips in 1957. Following the footsteps of ALBERT VERCHERE, the
Sirban Mountain was selected as a starting point, and a beginning was made
in July, 1959. The main purpose of the study was to:
a)

Revise the stratigraphy.

b)

Bring the unit names in line with modern stratigraphic nomenclature.

c)

Produce a new geological map, on a scale of one inch to a mile.

4

Through some short publications to advance the knowledge of geology

of Hazara have recently appeared from Lahore, this is the first of its kind
since 1896, in which;
a)

An attempt has been made to bring the rock units in order, to suit the

requirements of the stratigraphic nomenclature.

b)

Revise the ages of units based on faunal assemblages.

c)

Correlate the units with the adjoining areas.

d)

Produce a new map of the south eastern Hazara, on a scale of one inch

to one mile. Publication of this map with short account of the stratigraphy
marks the centenary of the first investigations started in the area by ALBERT
VERCHERE, in 1986.

1.5) POPULATION:
The population of the Hazara region was estimated to be over 881,000 in
2008. The total area of Hazara is 969 km2 (760.2 sq mi): See table below.

District

Area (km)

Population
(Millions)

Abbottabad

1802

Batagram

1310

1.5

Haripur

1763

Kohistan

7581

0.8

Mansehra

5957

2.4

Table1: population and area of Hazara District.

1.6) GEOGRAPHY:
Hazara is bounded on the north and east by the Northern
Areas and Azad Kashmir. To the south are the Islamabad Capital Territory and the province
5

of Punjab, whilst to the west lies the rest of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. The river Indus runs through
the division in a north-south line, forming much of the western border of the division. The total
area of Hazara is 18,013 km.

1.7) LOCATION OF THE AREA:

The area of field work is to the North East of Islamabad. The area has high relief, which ranges
from 610m above sea level near Islamabad to 2982m at Miranjani near Nathiagali.

Figure 1: location of study area

1.8) CLIMATE:
At Abbottabad, annual rainfall averages around 1,200 millimetres (47 in)
but has been as high as 1,800 millimetres (71 in) , whilst in parts of Mansehra District such
as Balakot the mean annual rainfall is as high as 1,750 millimetres (69 in) . Due to its location on

the boundary between the monsoonal summer rainfall regime of East Asia and the winterdominant Mediterranean climate of West Asia, Hazara has an unusual bimodal rainfall regime,
with one peak in February or March associated with frontal southwest cloud bands and another
monsoonal peak in July and August. The driest months are October to December, though in the
wettest parts even these months average around 40 millimetres (1.6 in) . Due to the high altitude,
temperatures in Hazara are cooler than on the plains, though Abbottabad at 1,200m still has
maxima around 32C (90F) with high humidity in June and July. Further up, temperatures are
cooler, often cooler than the Northern Areas valleys due to the cloudiness. In winter,
temperatures are cold, with minima in January around 0C (32F) and much lower in the high
mountains. Snowfalls are not uncommon even at lower levels.

1.9) ACCESSIBILITY:
The area is accessible through a carpeted road and is
well known for tourism, so logistics and support are well developed.

CHAPTER 2
2.1.1) REGIONAL GEOLOGICAL SETTINGS:
The area
under discussion constitutes a part of the western Himalayas in Pakistan. It
8

has been formed due to collision of Indian and Eurasian plates. Due to
collision prominent regional structural elements have been developed along
the consuming plate boundaries. The geology and structure of the western
Himalayas has been well documented by several workers. Mujtaba, G.,
(1991) has shown that in western Himalayas, the Indus Suture Zone (ISZ)
bifurcates into two structural zones, the Main Mantle Thrust (MMT) and the
Main Karakoram Thrust (MKT). These sutures surround the obducted Kohistan
Arc. The MKT, the northern suture, separates the intrusive and high grade
metamorphic rocks of Eurasian Plate from the Kohistan Arc terrane. The
Kohistan Arc terrane has, on the northern edge, deformed gabbros, volcanics
and greywacke (Rakaposhi Volcanics Complex) that are intruded by tonalite,
diorite and pegmatite. To the south, the rocks are composed of a deformed,
layered

igneous

complex

metamorphosed

to

granulite

facies.

The

southernmost rocks of the Kohistan Arc are metasediments, amphibolites

and granites. The MMT, the southern suture, separates the Kohistan Arc from
the metasediments on the northern edge of the Indian Plate. It is the
extension of the Indus-Tsangpo suture.

Figure 2: Regional Geological settings.

The northern edge of the MMT is marked by sporadic occurrences of
ultramafic rocks. The Indian Plate rocks are late Precambrian to early
Paleozoic schists, marbles, gneisses and granitic gneisses that have been
thrust southward over the Tertiary molasse sediments of the Rawalpindi and
Siwalik

Groups.

Southward

thrusting

continues

within

the

molasse

sediments, which is the evidence of continued convergence of the Indian and

Eurasian plates. As a result of tectonic activities several discontinuities in the
stratigraphic record have been recorded. Since Jurassic more than 670 m of
marine

sediments have been deposited against more than 7500 m thick

molasse from Miocene onwards ( Sheikh, M. Iqbal et al., 1993). Since then
intense deformation, erosion and subsidence dominated and thick deposition
of coarse clastic continental sediments took place. During the uplift and
structural deformation for the last 1.5 million years (Plio-Pleistocene), erosion

10

remained more pronounced than deposition, so the preserved sediments are

thin and discontinuous bodies of alluvium and Eolian silts are seen.

2.1.2) MAJOR STRUCTURAL FEATURES:

Hazara fold-thrust belt is
a part of the Lower Himalayas and formed due to collision of Indo-Pakistan
Plate with the Asian Plate during post-Eocene oroginic phase. Structurally,
Hazara fold-Thrust belt represents a mega-synclinorium which is, along the
Murree-Abbottabad road, is divisible into at least two synclinoria (Ghazanfar,
1990), i.e., the Nawashahr synclinorial complex towards Abbottabad and the
much larger Kuza Gali synclinorial complex towards Murree. The two
synclinorial complexes comprise a large number of NE-SW trending smaller
structures. On the Murree-Abbottabad road, the Kuza Gali synclinorial
complex bounded in the northwest by the Nathia Gali fault against the
Hazara slates near the locality of Kalabagh. Rocks older than Mesozoic,
however, are not exposed in the south-east, suggesting that the depositional
axis of the basin was systematically shifting towards the southeast and south
As mentioned earlier, Hazara fold-thrust belt is bounded by Punjal
(Khairabad) thrust fault in the north and that of Murree Fault in the south.
Along the Punjal fault Precambrian sequence has been pushed over the
Paleozoic and Mesozoic rocks; whereas, Murree faults abuts the Mesozoic and
earlier rocks against the Murree formation. To the east and then north the
two faults comes closer and finally coalesce for a time near Balakot. Very
little structural studies have done in this part of northern Pakistan, due to
generally thick vegetation cover, high relief and lack of subsurface data.

11

STRATIGRAPHY OF HAZARA AREA

2.2.1) INTRODUCTION:
Hazara range is the northern most extremity of sedimentary
succession of the North-western margin of the Indian plate. It is bounded by its north by the
Panjal thrust on its southern side, by the main boundary thrust. The main highway from
Rawalpindi to Peshawar is the dividing line between western limit of the Hazara range and the
Kalachita Range.The staratigraphy of the hazara range start form Precambrian age(hazara
formation) and ends at Miocene age (Murree formation).
The stratigraphic succession of Hazara fold-thrust belt ranges in age from EoCambrian to Pleistocene/Recent, interrupted by seven unconformities, with major absence of
Middle and Upper Paleozoic sequence. Latif (1970) has divided the lithostratigraphic units into
seven groups, each separated by an unconformity. He has further subdivided these groups into
twenty one formations. (Mujtaba, 2010)

12

Table 2: Stratigraphic Sequence in lower Hazara as described by various authors (Abbasi, 2008)

13

Table 3: Generalized Stratigraphic Column of Hazara Area, NWFP, Pakistan

(Iqbal, et al., 2007)

14

2.2.2) PREVIOUS WORK:

The project area has remained a site of deep interest for
the geologists working on stratigraphy and tectonics since a long time. A brief summary of the
previous work is given below: Lydekker (1876, 1883) and Middlemiss (1896) carried out their
work in Kashmir and Hazara.
They established the broad outline of the geology in this region and named some of
the rock units. Wadia (1931) explained the syntaxis of the northwest Himalaya on the basis of
geosynclinals group of deposits laid down on the bed of Tethys against the northern shores of
Gondwana land. Qureshi and Imam (1960) did the geological mapping of the area for iron and
manganese ore deposits. Calkins, Offield, Abdullah and Ali (1975) mapped Balakot area at
1:125,000 and discussed its geology. They delt the stratigraphy and structure of a sequence of
rocks that range in age from Precambrian to Miocene. Structurally the area lies on the western
flank of the Hazara Kashmir Syntaxis and contains iron, manganese, high alumina, clays,
gypsum, dolomite and graphite. This work was done jointly by the Geological survey of Pakistan
and U.S. Geological Survey. The main interest of field of Thakur and Gupta (1983) was the
regional staratigraphy, paleontology and structure of Kashmir and Ladakh Himalayas. The Swiss
geologists Bossart, Dorthe, Dietrich, Greco, Ottiger and Ramsay (1984) in collaboration with
Institute of Geology Azad Jammu& Kashmir University described the lithological, Stratigraphic
and structural features of Hazara Kashmir Syntaxis. Ottiger (1986) did his work on the geology
of Hazara-Kashmir Syntaxis. He reviewed the lithological Formations and rhythmic
sedimentation in Lower Murree Formation in detail. Ghazanfar, Chuadry and Latif (1987)
established three different sets of Stratigraphic sequences which occur close together in the
region of Hazara-Kashmir Syntaxis.

15

PRE-CAMBRIAN Formations
Following formations belongs to Precambrian age in hazara range:
(1) Hazara Formation
(2)Tanawal Formation

2.2.3) HAZARA FORMATION:

The name Hazara Formation
has been formalized by Calkin and Ali (1969) for the slate series of Hazara of
Middlemiss (1896), and Hazara Slates Formation of Marks (1961), and Attok slates of
Waagen and Wynne (1872) , and Hazara Group of Latif (1970). The Formation has its type
locality near Hazara District. Exposure around Baragali along Abbottabad-Nathiagali Road can
be regarded as its type section.

Lithology:
The Formation consists of slate, phyllite and shale with minor occurrences of
limestone and graphite layers. Slate and phyllite are green to dark green and black in
color.

Figure 3: Hazara Slates.

16

Thickness:
Limestone beds with maximum thickness of 150 m and calcareous phyllite gypsum
from 30 to 120m thick are found in southern most Hazara.

Fossils:
Latif (1970) has reported fossils from the Formation similar to Protobolella.

Age:
Calkin (1969) correlated the Formation with Dogra Slates and assigned a late
Precambrian age to Hazara Formation. Latif (1970) reported fossils showing that it may be
lower Paleozoic in age. Crawford and Davies (1975) determined the age of the Formation by the
Rb-Sr method. This age determination places the Formation in the Precambrian.

2.2.4) TANAWAL FORMATION:

Wynne (1878) used the name Tanol group for the rocks of
this formation. Middlemiss (1896) called them Tanol quartzite. Marks and Ali (1962) and
Latif (1970) named them Tanol formation Calkins, Offield and Ali (1969) used the name
Tanawal formation for this unit of rocks. The formation is well exposed in the north and south
of Mansehra granite.

Lithology:
T he formation consists of Quartoze schist, quartzite and schistose
conglomerate. The south of Mansehra granite the formation consists of medium grained
quartzite and fine grained mica-quartz schist. To the north of Mansehra granite the formation
mainly consists of granite and biotite muscovite-quartz schist.

Thickness:
Ali (1962) estimated the thickness as 1666 m.

Contacts:
Tanawal formation underlies Abbotabad formation and overlies Hazara formation in
the area between Abottabad and Indus river. The upper contact with Abottabad formation in
this area is unconformable.
17

In the area between Abottabad and Garhi Habibullah the lower contact of the
Tanawal formation with the Hazara formation is gradational.

Age:
The presence of Tanaki conglomerate between Tanawal and Abottabad formation shows
that the age of Tanawal formation is late Precambrian.

CAMBRIAN FORMATIONS
2.2.5) ABBOTABAD FORMATION:
Waagen and Wynne (1872) used the name
below the trias for this unit of rocks. Middlemiss called it infra-trias. Latif (1970)
named this unit as Abbottabad Group. Calkin, offield and Ali suggested the name Abbottabad
Formation. Type locality of the formation is near Abbottabad town.

Lithology:
The Formation mainly consists of dolomite, quartzite and phyllite, with many
lithologic changes from place to place. In Abbottabad area the formation contains beds of thick
marble with phosphate deposit.

Contacts:
In Sherwan area the Formation has an unconformable lower contact with
Tanawal Formation marked by the presence of a boulder bed or by lithologic change.

Thickness:
The thickness of the Formation is about 660 m at the type locality, 900 m in
Tanol area, 833 m in Muzaffarabad area and 100 to 130 m in Garhi Habibullah syncline.

Fossils:
Calkin (1969) examined the fauna of carboniferous to Permian age from the
formation. Recently Ikramuddin Ali and David examined the fossils of Hyolithes spp. in
the formation which has been reported from the Cambrian of North America, Sweden and
Russia.

Age:
18

According to Calkin (1969) the formation is carboniferous to Permian in age. On

the basis of Hyolithes spp the formation placed in lower Cambrian.

JURASSIC FORMATIONS
2.2.6) SAMANA SUK FORMATION:
Middlemiss (1896)
proposed the name Kioto limestone for the rocks of Samana Suk Formation in Hazara range.

Lithology:
In Hazara area the limestone of the formation is thin to thick-bedded and includes
some dolomitic, ferruginous, sandy and oolitic beds.

Thickness:
The thickness of the formation is 366 m in Bagnotar section of Hazara area.

Contacts:
The lower contact is transitional with Shinawari Formation and upper contact is
disconformable with Chichali Formation.

Fossils:
Calkins (1968) reported fossils of gastropods from northern Hazara. Latif (1970)
reported fossils of Stylina sp., Corbula sp., Nucula sp. and Protocardia sp. from different parts of
Hazara.

Age:
Age of the formation is Middle Jurassic indicated by its fauna.

Cretaceous formations
2.2.7) KAWAGARH FORMATION:
The name Kawagarh
Formation was approved by Stratigraphic committee of Pakistan, against
the older name Kawagarh Marls. Sattu Limestone of Calkines and Matin

19

(1968) and Chanali Limestone of Latif (1970) in Hazara Area were

formalized into Kawagarh Formation.

Lithology:
The Nara sandstone member in the upper part is grey, brownish grey to dark grey,
thick bedded, calcareous sandstone with some limestone interbeds. In northern Hazara Nara
member was not developed and Kawagarh formation consists of grey, olive grey, light grey
sublithlogic limestone with subordinate marl and calcareous shale.

Figure 4: Kawagarh Limestone.

Thickness:
In Hazara the thickness of the formation varies from 45 m to 200 m, south
to middle area.

Contacts:
The formation has disconformable contact with overlying Hungu Formation of
Paleocene age and underlying Lumshiwal formation of mainly Early Cretaceous.

Fossils:
20

Latif (1970) has reported following foraminifers from southern Hazara:

Globotruncana lapparenti, G.fornicata, G. concavata carinata, G. etc.

Age:
On the basis of fauna the age of formation is regarded as Late Cretaceous

2.2.8) LUMSHIWAL FORMATION:

The name Giumal Sandstone was given to the
rocks of Lumshiwal Formation in Hazara area by Middlemiss (1896). Cotter (1933) used the
name Main Sandstone Series for the same rocks. Wuch Khwar section in Nizampur area and
Jhamiri village on Haripur Jabrian Road in Hazara are the reference sections of Lumshiwal
Formation.

Lithology:
In Hazara area the formation is mostly of marine origin consisting of
quartose, ferruginous sandstone and dark rusty brown sandy limestone.

Thickness:
In southern Hazara its thickness is 50m in northern Hazara its thickness
varies from 20m to 10m.

Contacts:
The lower contact with Chichali formation is transitional and upper contact
with Kawagarh formation of upper cretaceous is disconformable.

Fossils:
The upper most part of formation in northern Hazara has abundant fossil casts
of brachiopods, gastropods and Ammonoids.

Age:
The age of the formation in Hazara area is lower cretaceous.

21

2.2.9) CHICHALI FORMATION:

Middlemiss (1896) called the
rocks of Chichali Formation as Spiti Shale in Hazara. In southern Hazara the Formation is
divided into three folds with almost type section lithology.

Lithology:
In the lower part it consists of glauconitic sandstone with nodular silty,
calcareous, phosphatic base. In the middle part it consists of glauconitic, sandy shale and dark
pyritic unfossiliferous shale in the upper part. In northern Hazara the formation shows a facies
change consisting of dark silty shale with some ferruginous calcareous and phosphatic nodules
and is similar to Spiti Shale of Himalayas.

Figure 5: Belmenites

Thickness:
In southern Hazara it is 33m thick while in northern Hazara its thickness is
34m to 64m.

22

Contacts:
The lower contact with Samana Suk Formation is disconformable while the
upper contact with Lumshiwal Formation is gradational.

Fossils:
Ammonoids and belemnites of late Jurassic age have been recorded from
Chichali Formation in Hazara area.

Age:
In northern Hazara the age of the formation is Late Jurassic while in southern Hazara
the age of the formation is Late Jurassic to Early Cretaceous.

Paleocene Formations:
2.2.10) PATALA SHALES:
T he term Patala formation was formalized by
Stratigraphic Committee of Pakistan for the Patala Shale of Davies and Pinfold (1937) and
its usage was extended to other parts of the Kohat-Potwar and Hazara areas.

Lithology:
It contains shale of brown and green color with interbeds of nodular
limestone and carbonaceous material in Hazara area.

Figure 6: Patala Shale

23

Thickness:
The thickness of formation is 182 m in Hazara area.

Contacts:
Throughout its extent Patala Formation conformably overlies Lockhart
Limestone.

Patala Formation has shale with grayish color having thin beds of limestone.

Contact between Margalla hill limestone and Patala Formation has been marked along Changla
Gali road section.

Fossils:
Latif 1970 reported smaller foraminifers from Hazara which includes
Globorotalia

elongata, Globigerina primitive, Triloculina trigonula. The larger foraminifers

recorded by Raza and Cheema includes Assilinadandotica, a.granulosa, a. Spinosa.

Age:
The age of formation is late paleocene in Hazara area.

2.2.11) LOCKHART LIMESTONE:

Davies (1930) introduced the term Lockhart
limestone for a Paleocene limestone unit in Kohat area and usage has been extended by
Stratigraphic committee of Pakistan to similar units in Hazara area.

Lithology:
In the Hazara area limestone is dark grey and black in color and contains
intercalation of shale and marl. The limestone is generally bituminous and gives feted smell on
fresh surface.

24

Figure 7: Nodular Lokhart Limestone.

Thickness:
The thickness of unit is 242m in Hazara area.

Contacts:
The formation conformably and transitionally overlies and underlies the
Hungu Formation and Patala Formation respectively. The contact between Lockhart
Limestone and Patala Formation has been marked in Changla Gali road section.

Fossils:
Raza (1967), Cheema (1968), and Latif (1970) have reported a number of foraminifer
from Hazara area including Lockhartia, Conditi, Globorotalia uncinata, Globigerina
tringularis, Texularia sinithvillensis etc.

Age:
The above mentioned fossils indicated Paleocene age of unit.

Eocene Formations
25

2.2.12) MARGALLA HILL LIMESTONE:

The term Margalla Hill
Limestone of Latif has been formally accepted by Stratigraphic committee of Pakistan for
the Nimmulitic formation of Waagen and Wynee (1872), the upper part of Hill limestone of
Wynne(1873) and Cotter (1933), and part of Nummlitic Series of Middlemiss .The name is
derived from the Margala Hills in Hazara.

Lithology:
The formation consists of limestone with subordinate marl and shale. The
limestone is grey, weathering pale grey, fine medium grained, nodular, medium to thick
bedded and rarely massive. The marl is grey to brownish grey while the shale is greenish brown
to brown in color.

Contacts:
The lower and upper contacts with the Patala Formation and Chorgali Formation
are conformable.

Fossils:
Foraminiferas, mollusks and echinoids are common in the formation. Raza (1967),
Cheema (1968) and Latif (1970) recorded number of foraminifers from the formation,
including Assilina graulosa, A.laminosa, A.Lokhartia Conditi, L.Opercoloia jiwani, O.etc

Age:
The above listed Foraminiferes indicate the Early Eocene Age of the formation

2.2.13) CHORGALI FORMATION:

The term Chorgali b e d s
(1920) has been formalized as Chorgali formation

of Pascoe

by the Stratigraphic Committee of

Pakistan. Latif (1970) used the name Lora Formation for the rocks of Chorgali formation in the
Hazara area.

Lithology:

26

In Hazara area the formation is

a n d marl which are light to
the formation consists thin

composed of thinly inter-bedded limestone

pale grey and weather light yellow to cream. In the KalaChitta,

to medium bed grey limestone

with subordinate marl. The

limestone is light lynodular and contains chert lenses.

Fossils:
A rich fossil assemblages including foraminiferas, mollusks and ostracodes has been
Reported by Davies and Pin fold(1 9 37 ),Eames(1 9 5 2),Gill(1953) and Latif (1970c).

Age:
The age of the formation is Early Eocene

2.2.14) KULDANA FORMATION:

Middlemiss (1896) used the name Kuldana
series, Latif called Kuldana beds to the rocks of Kuldana formation.

Type section:
The type section is near Kuldana village in Hazara District.

Lithology:
The formation is composed of shale and marl with occasional beds of
sandstone, limestone, conglomerate and bleached dolomite. In Hazara area shale and marl are
dominant. The shale is brown, gypsiferous and arenaceous. The marl is brown with few beds of
fibrous gypsum.

Thickness:
The thickness of the formation is 150 m in Hazara area.

Contacts:
In Hazara area the Formation has a conformable contact with underlying
Chorgali Formation and upper contact with Murree Formation is disconformable.

Fossils:
Remains of foraminifers, gastropods, bivalves have been reported from the
formation.

Age:
The age of the formation is Middle Eocene.

Miocene FORMATIONs
27

2.2.15) MURREE FORMATION:

The name Murree formation has been formalized
by the Stratigraphic committee of Pakistan for the Mari group of Wynne (1974) and Murree beds
of Lydekker (1876). A type section has been designated to the north of Dhok maiki in the
Campbellpur Distric.

Lithology:
The formation is composed of a monotonous sequence of dark red clay and grey
sandstone with subordinate intraformational conglomerate. Calcareous sandstone is present at the
base of the formation. This section has been designated as fatehjang member, after the fatehjang
zone" of pilgrim (1918).

Thickness:
The formation is 180 to600 m thick in the northern salt range. It is 3,030 m thick
in northern potwar.

Contacts:
The lower contact of the formation is with various formations of the Eocene age.
The upper contact is transitional with Kumlial formation.

Fossils:
The formation is poorly fossiliferous and contains only few plant remains but from the
fatehjang member fossils of mammals are recorded.

Age:
The age the formation is early Miocene on the basis of above mentioned fossils

CHAPTER 3
28

GENERAL STRUCTURES:
3.1) FOLDS:
The term fold is used in geology when one or a stack of originally flat and
planar

surfaces,

such

as sedimentary strata,

are

bent

or

curved

as

result

of

permanent deformation.
Folds are commonly formed by shortening of existing layers, but may also be formed as
a result of displacement on a non-planar fault (fault bend fold), at the tip of a propagating fault
(fault propagation fold), by differential

3.2) FOLD TERMINOLOGY IN TWO DIMENSIONS:

Looking at a fold
surface in profile the fold can be divided into hinge and limb portions. The limbs are the flanks
of the fold and the hinge is where the flanks join together. The hinge point is the point of
minimum radius of curvature for a fold. The crest of the fold is the highest point of the fold
surface, and the trough is the lowest point. The inflection point of a fold is the point on a limb at
which the concavity reverses, on regular folds this is the mid-point of the limb.

3.3) FOLD TERMINOLOGY IN THREE DIMENSIONS:

The hinge points along an entire
folded surface form a hinge line, which can be either a crest line or a trough line. The trend and
plunge of a linear hinge line gives you information about the orientation of the fold. To more
completely describe the orientation of a fold, one must describe the axial surface. The axial
surface is the surface defined by connecting all the hinge lines of stacked folding surfaces. If the
axial surface is a planar surface then it is called the axial plane and can be described by the strike
and dip of the plane. An axial trace is the line of intersection of the axial surface with any other
surface (ground, side of mountain, geological cross-section).
A fold axis is the closest approximation to a straight line that when parallel to itself moved,
generates the form of the fold. (Davis and Reynolds, 1996 after Donath and Parker, 1964;
Ramsay 1967). A fold that can be generated by a fold axis is called a cylindrical fold.

29

Figure 8: terminologies of fold.

3.4) FOLD SHAPE:

It is necessary to convey a sense of the shape of the fold. A fold can
be shaped as a chevron, with planar limbs meeting at an angular axis, ascuspate with curved
limbs, as circular with a curved axis, or as elliptical with unequal wavelength

Figure 9: Cylindrical fold with axial surface not plane.

30

3.5) FOLD TYPES:

Anticline: linear, strata normally dip away from axial center, oldest strata in center.

Figure 10: Anticline.

Syncline: linear, strata normally dip toward axial center, youngest strata in center.

Figure 11: Syncline.

Chevron: angular fold with straight limbs and small hinges

Recumbent: linear, fold axial plane oriented at low angle resulting in overturned strata in
one limb of the fold.

31

Parasitic: short wavelength folds formed within a larger wavelength fold structure normally associated with differences in bed thickness

Disharmonic: Folds in adjacent layers with different wavelengths and shapes

Z-FOLD:
Z-fold In a parasitic fold, an asymmetric fold whose profile is Z-shaped,
reflecting its location on the respective limb of a major fold

Figure 12: Z and S fold.

S-FOLD:
An asymmetrical parasitic fold whose approximately S-shaped profile, when
observed down the plunge of the fold axis, indicates its position on the right limb of the
major anticline, but not on the syncline.

Figure 13: some types of folds.

32

3.6) FAULT:
In geology, a fault is a planar fracture or discontinuity in a volume of rock,
across which there has been significant displacement. Large faults within the Earth's crust result
from the action of tectonic forces. Energy release associated with rapid movement on active
faults is the cause of most earthquakes.
A fault line is the surface trace of a fault, the line of intersection between the fault plane and the
Earth's surface. The two sides of a non-vertical fault are known as the hanging wall and footwall.
By definition, the hanging wall occurs above the fault and the footwall occurs below the fault.

Figure 14: hanging wall and foot wall.

3.7) FAULT TYPES:

Geologists can categorize faults into three groups based on the sense of
slip:

DIP SLIP FAULT:

Dip-slip faults can occur either as "reverse" or as "normal" faults. A
normal fault occurs when the crust is extended. Alternatively such a fault can be called
an extensional fault. The hanging wall, which got its name from miners hanging their lanterns on
this wall, moves downward, relative to the footwall, which gets its name from the miners who
33

walk on this wall. A downthrown block between two normal faults dipping towards each other is
called a graben. An upthrown block between two normal faults dipping away from each other is
called

a horst.

Low-angle

normal

faults

with

regional tectonic significance

may be

designated detachment faults.

Figure 15: Dip slip fault.

REVERSE FAULT:
A reverse fault is the opposite of a normal fault the hanging wall
moves up relative to the footwall. Reverse faults indicate shortening of the crust. The dip of a
reverse fault is relatively steep, greater than 45.

NORMAL FAULT:
Fault in which the hanging wall has moved downward relative to
the footwall.

Figure 16: Normal and reverse fault.

34

STRIKE SLIP FAULTS:

The fault surface is usually near vertical and the footwall
moves either left or right or laterally with very little vertical motion. Strike-slip faults with leftlateral motion are also known as sinistral faults. Those with right-lateral motion are also known
as dextral faults.

Figure 17: Schematic illustration of strike slip fault.

OBLIQUE SLIP FAULTS:

A fault which has a component of dip-slip and a
component of strike-slip is termed an oblique-slip fault. Nearly all faults will have some
component of both dip-slip and strike-slip, so defining a fault as oblique requires both dip and
strike components to be measurable and significant.

35

Figure 18: Oblique slip fault.

CHAPTER 4:
Day 1, stop 1:
4.1.1) INTRODUCTION:
On the first day of our trip we went to the Jabri area of Hazara.
We were standing at the lesser Himalayas. There we observe the Hazara slates of Pre Cambrian
age.
The main Hazara thrust fault is passing through the area. We were standing on the fault
zone. The road was in between the fault zone. Fault is moving from north. The movement of
fault is in both horizontal and vertical directions.
Here we observed the Hazara slates which is discussed above in the portion of stratigraphy.

4.1.2) FAULT ZONE INDICATION:

Breccia
Intense fracturing
Drag fold
There the rocks of Eocene age were present and the rock of Paleocene, Cretaceous and Jurrasic
age were missing.
Present
Missing
Missing
Missing

Eocene
Paleocene
Cretaceous
Jurassic

Then we draw the rough diagrams of the outcrop. We observe faults and folds there which are
attached with the report.

4.2.1) Day 2nd

36

On this day we observe the following formations.

Formations

Description

Kuldana Formation

Shale with Gypsum with interbeds of limestone

Limestone with inter-layers of
shale/marl
Limestone with shale/marl interbeds
Marly shale with few thin
limestone beds
Limestone with occasional
marl/shale layers
Limestone, wilt shale in lower
part
Sand, siltstone with shale interlayers
Shale beds

Chorgali Formation
Margala Hills Limestone
Patalla Shal
Lockhart Formation
Kawagarh Formation
Lumshiwal Formation
Chichali Formation

Limestone with intra-formational

conglomerate

Samana suk Formation

The overall details of the formations are mentioned in the portion of stratigraphy.

4.2.2) GET A BEARING:

A bearing is a measurement of direction between two points. Bearings
are generally given in one of two formats, an azimuth bearing or a quadrant bearing.
An azimuth bearing uses all 360 of a compass to indicate direction. The compass is
numbered clockwise with north as 0, east 90, south 180, and west 270. So a bearing of 42
would be northeast and a bearing of 200 would be southwest, and so on.
For quadrant bearings the compass is divided into four sections, each containing 90. The
two quadrants in the northern half of the compass are numbered from 0 to 90 away from
north (clockwise in the east, counterclockwise in the west). In the southern half of the compass,
37

the two quadrants are numbered away from south (counterclockwise in the east, clockwise in
the west).

Figure 19: Quadrant Bearing.

Quadrant bearings are given in the format of N 40E (northeast), S 26W (southwest), etc.
Whenever you measure a quadrant bearing, it should always be recorded with north or south
listed first, followed by the number of degrees away from north or south, and the direction (east
or west) away from north or south. In other words, you would never give a quadrant bearing as
E 40N or W 24S.
Your compass may be an azimuth compass or it may be divided into quadrants. If you have
an azimuth compass and are given a quadrant bearing, youll have to divide it into quadrants in
your head, and the same goes for quadrant compasses if you are given an azimuth bearing.

4.2.3) MEASURING A BEARING:

So, youre in the field with your map at point A and
want to get to point Bhow do you accomplish this? The first thing you need to do is
determine the bearing from point A to point B. There are two ways to go about this.
The easiest way, is to carry a protractor with you when youre in the field. If you have a
protractor with you, place it on the map so it is oriented parallel to a north-south gridline, with

38

the center of the protractor on point A (or on a line drawn between points A and B). Once you
have done this, you can simply read the bearing you need to go off of the protractor.
If you dont happen to have a protractor with you, you can determine the bearing you need
using your compass. To do this, place your compass on the map so that the edge of your
compass is oriented parallel to a north-south gridline and the center of your compass is on the
line between points A and B.

Figure 20: Map Bearing.

Now rotate the map and compass together until the north arrow on the compass points to 0
on the graduated circle. You can then approximate the bearing you need by estimating where
the line between A and B crosses the graduated circle.
It is probably at about this point that, if you are using a Brunton compass (and some others
as well), you are probably noticing that the east label is on the wrong side of the compass
(west of north).

39

Day 3rd, Stop 1:

4.3.1) INTRODUCTION:
Here we observed the extension of Mansehra granites. They had a uniform
texture and represented Augen gneisses of quartz and feldspar composition. Some of it
was converted to milonite and represented shear zone. The gneissosity was shown by
gneiss banding.

Figure 19: Mansehra granites fine grained with light colored augen
gneisses

Here we observed
Dolerite dykes intrusion.
White feldspar.
Quartzite intrudes in the granite.

40

4.3.2) Stop 2:
INTRODUCTION:
Here on one side of the road, we could see all variety of schists.
On the other side, it was a landscape. On the back side of the mountain, there was
Balakot Bagh fault where there was a displacement of 5 m in 2005 Earthquake. The red
colored formation was Murree Formation on top and white color formation showed
Abbottabad formation. Also there were some fault scars which were the geomorphic
indicators of the faults.

Abbotabad
formation

Murree
formation

Figure 20: Murree and Abbotabad formations

In the foot of the mountains, there were Alluvial fans in which finer particles were at the top and
coarser are at the bottom.

41

Figure 21: Alluvial fan..kunhar river.

4.3.3) Stop 3:
Then we went to the balakot area. There we observe the Balakot Fault zone.

BALAKOT FAULT REGION:

Balakot tectonic ridge lie on the active hanging wall
(anticline) imbigrated between southern and northern segments of muzafarabad thrust.this active
anticline is form because of the active folding of the hanging wall of muzaffarabad fault.the
Holocene terraces is tilted,uplifted and folded in andi anticline and also in balakot hanging wall
anticline.

COORDINATES:
34 33 27N
73 21 22E.
Fault is in NS trend. Fault is vertical steeply dipping. In the north there is red valley stuff. On
the west lies the Hanging wall which is the older rocks (shale, clay)
In the east lies the foot wall there the rocks are carbonate rocks.

42

DAY 4
4.4.1) RESISTIVITY SURVEY
INTRODUCTION:
The purpose of electrical surveys is to determine the subsurface
resistivity distribution by making measurements on the ground surface. From these
measurements, the true resistivity of the subsurface can be estimated. The ground resistivity is
related to various geological parameters such as the mineral and fluid content, porosity and
degree of water saturation in the rock. Electrical resistivity surveys have been used for many
decades in hydrogeological, mining and geotechnical investigations. More recently, it has been
used for environmental surveys.
The resistivity measurements are normally made by injecting current into the ground
through two current electrodes (C1 and C2 in Figure 1), and measuring the resulting voltage
difference at two potential electrodes (P1 and P2). From the current (I) and voltage (V)
values, an apparent resistivity (pa) value is calculated.

pa = k V / I

Figure 22: Resistivity method

43

Figure 23: concept of Resistivity Measurement.

where k is the geometric factor which depends on the arrangement of the four electrodes. In a
later section, we will examine the advantages and disadvantages of some of these arrays.
Resistivity meters normally give a resistance value, R = V/I, so in practice the apparent
resistivity value is calculated by

pa = k R
The calculated resistivity value is not the true resistivity of the subsurface, but an apparent
Value which is the resistivity of a homogeneous ground which will give the same resistance
Value for the same electrode arrangement. The relationship between the apparent resistivity
and the true resistivity is a complex relationship. To determine the true subsurface resistivity,
an inversion of the measured apparent resistivity values using a computer program must be
carried out. The distance between two current and potential electrodes is changed and readings
are taken.

4.4.2) TRADITIONAL RESISTIVITY SURVEYS:

The resistivity method has its
origin in the 1920s due to the work of the Schlumberger brothers. For approximately the next 60
years, for quantitative interpretation, conventional sounding surveys (Koefoed 1979) were
44

normally used. In this method, the centre point of the electrode array remains fixed, but the
spacing between the electrodes is increased to obtain more information about the deeper sections
of the subsurface.

Figure 24: the Conventional four electrode

array

The measured apparent resistivity values are normally plotted on a log-log graph paper.
To interpret the data from such a survey, it is normally assumed that the subsurface consists of
horizontal layers. In this case, the subsurface resistivity changes only with depth, but does not
change in the horizontal direction. A one-dimensional model of the subsurface is used to interpret
the measurements. Despite this limitation, this method has given useful results for geological
situations (such the water-table) where the one dimensional model is approximately true.
The most severe limitation of the resistivity sounding method is that horizontal (or
lateral) changes in the subsurface resistivity are commonly found. Lateral changes in the
subsurface resistivity will cause changes in the apparent resistivity values that might be, and
frequently are, misinterpreted as changes with depth in the subsurface resistivity. In many
engineering and environmental studies, the subsurface geology is very complex where the
resistivity can change rapidly over short distances. The resistivity sounding method might not be
sufficiently accurate for such situations.
Despite its obvious limitations, there are two main reasons why 1-D resistivity sounding
surveys are common. The first reason was the lack of proper field equipment to Copyright (1999)
M.H.Loke carry out the more data intensive 2-D and 3-D surveys. The second reason was the
lack of practical computer interpretation tools to handle the more complex 2-D and 3-D models.

45

However, 2-D and even 3-D electrical surveys are now practical commercial techniques
with the relatively recent development of multi-electrode resistivity surveying instruments
(Griffiths et al. 1990) and fast computer inversion software (Loke 1994).

4.4.3) APPLICATIONS:
Electrical resistivity of soils and rocks correlates with other soil/ rock
properties which are of interest to the geologist, hydrogeologist, geotechnical engineer and/or
quarry operator. Several geologic parameters which affect earth resistivity (and its reciprocal,
conductivity) include:

clay content,
groundwater conductivity,
soil or formation porosity,
Degree of water saturation.

4.4.4) READINGS COLLECTED IN FIELD:

current

potential

AB/2

MN/2

Resistivity(oh
m.m)

Standard
Deviation

21.439

0.157%

10

19.640

0.178%

10

19.770

0.077%

15

17.892

0.563%

20

19.132

0.414%

25

20.764

0.823%

4.4.5) STOP 1:
46

The first stop we made was at a place called Khota Kabr. It has now been
renamed to Muslimabad. Mainly we observed Hazara slates, dark brown in color. Hazara
formation is oldest sequence and is equivalent to salt range formation in age. It consisted of
Precambrian and Paleozoic sequences.
Medium-corse grained sandstone especially of the greywacke variety was also seen. Other
lithologies present were phyllites, schists, argillite, clays and metasediments.

Figure 25: Hazara slates.

Moving further we saw a sequence showing chaotic channel fill deposits which were
overlain by uniform sediments. The top of the uniform sequence marked the terrace which
represented the maximum level of the stream at the time of formation. The uniform sequence
was formed in a fluvial environment and the chaotic fill indicated hill slope deposits with no
internal organization.
Then we observed Tannaki boulder bed which marked a major unconformity and was at the
base of Abottabad formation.
Tannaki boulder bed consisted of conglomerates at the base and massive boulders at top.
The conglomerates were blackish in color and both clast supported and matrix supported variety
was observed. There was no consistency in grain size.

47

Tanaki boulder
bed

Hazara Slates

Figure 26: Hazara slates over lain by Tannaki boulder

bed

48