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Spatial Biostratigraphy of NW Pakistan

Shafique, Naseer Ahmed
http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=miami991186162

Abstract Details

2001, Doctor of Philosophy, Miami University, Geology and Environmental Earth Science.
Mesozoic to Cenozoic biostratigraphy of NW Pakistan has been conducted in order to document the temporal and spatial relationship between different marine strata with the help of remote sensing and Geographic Information Systems (GIS). These relationships were then used to help distinguish different tectonostratigraphic units in the Waziristan and the Kurram areas located at the northwestern margin of the Indo-Pakistani craton. Extensive biostratigraphic work in the Waziristan and Kurram areas enabled to distinguish five tectonostratigraphic units and two significant unconformities in the study area. Different foraminiferal zones from Early Jurassic to Middle Eocenewere developed, although due to random samples these zones are not continuous in the sedimentary record. However continuous biozonation from the Late Paleocene P4 to the Early Eocene P9 (Bolli, 1985) biozone was observed. It is observed that the Santonian stage is generally missing in the sedimentary sequence, and it is only found in the olistoliths. This implies that during the Campanian stage there was instability in the shelf due to ophiolite obduction, which caused the displacement of the Santonian strata. The absence of Early Paleocene (Zone P1 - P3) microfauna is suggested by rapid subsidence of the NW Indian shelf beginning in the early Paleocene. Moreover, index fossils for the Pa, P1a, b, c, d, P2 and P3 biozones are absent in the mélange of the Thal area suggesting regional uplift during the Paleocene. The presence of Planorotalites pseudomenardii P4 zone microfauna above the unconformable Upper Cretaceous Kahi mélange strata suggest the India-Asia collision age between 58 Ma - 56 Ma. Foraminiferal biostratigraphy of upper Cretaceous olistoliths was conducted from the Mughal Kot gorge, Baluchistan, Pakistan in order to reveal the depositional history of Late Santonian aged (Dicarinella asymmetrica zone) olistoliths and associated upper Cretaceous to early Tertiary Indo-Pakistani shelf strata. These olistoliths a re embedded in uppermost Campanian strata of the Mughal Kot Formation. Similar olistostromes are found at approximately the same stratigraphic level across a broad region of NW Pakistan. These olistostromes are similar in age to radiometrically constrained deformation in the Zhob and Waziristan ophiolites 50 and 90 km to the west and northwest respectively and may record incipient underthrusting of the NW Indo-Pakistani craton beneath oceanic crust now in Waziristan and northern Baluchistan. This Campanian event precedes stratigraphically constrained Paleocene and Early Eocene deformation in Parachinar, Orakzai and the Attock-Cherat Ranges, which is interpreted as the collision of NW Indo-Pakistan with Asia and the Kabul Block. A turbiditic depositional environment of the Mughal Kot Formation was developed due to the regional collapse of the NW Indo-Pakistani shelf margin during the Late Campanian (G. calcarata zone ~ 80 74 Ma), possibly as a result of ophiolite obduction as the Indo-Pakistani plate moved beneath Tethyan oceanic crust.
Brian Currie (Advisor)
137 p.
Geology
Biostratigraphy; Geographic Information System; Ophiolite Obduction; Foraminifera

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Citations

  • Shafique, N. A. (2001). Spatial Biostratigraphy of NW Pakistan [Doctoral dissertation, Miami University]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=miami991186162

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • Shafique, Naseer. Spatial Biostratigraphy of NW Pakistan. 2001. Miami University, Doctoral dissertation. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=miami991186162.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • Shafique, Naseer. "Spatial Biostratigraphy of NW Pakistan." Doctoral dissertation, Miami University, 2001. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=miami991186162

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)

miami991186162
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This open access ETD is published by Miami University and OhioLINK.