Age Assessment of the Chitarwata FormationHimalayan Geology, Vol. 21 (1& 2), 2000, pp. 99-107, Printed in India

Age Assessment of the Chitarwata Formation

EVERETT H. LINDSAY AND WILLIAM R. DOWNS
Deptt. Of Geosciences, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ 85721
Bilby Research Center, Northern Arizona University, Flagstaff, AZ 86011, U.S.A.

The Chitarwata Formation is a near-shore, primarily terrestrial, 400 m thick sequence of clastic fossiliferous sediments located in the Baluchistan and southwestern Punjab Provinces of Pakistan. It is underlain by the marine Kirthar Formation and is overlain by the terrestrial Vihowa Formation. The Chitarwata Formation represents a sedimentary record of the transistion from marine to terrestrial deposition along the passive southern margin of the Indio-Pakistan crustal block subsequent to its collision with the Asian continental crust. The Chitarwata Formation has produced the Bugti mammal and the Baluchimyine rodent faunas from the Dera Bugti area of Baluchistan, and the Zinda Pir Dome mammal fauna from the Dera Ghazi Khan area of southern Punjab.