Petrography and Provenance of the Sub-Himalayan Kuldana Formation: Implications for Tectonic Setting and Palaeoclimatic Conditions

Abstract

In this paper, the depositional environment, age, and tectonic context of the Sub-Himalayan Kuldana Formation are discussed in detail. To determine the Kuldana Formation’s depositional environment, age, and tectonic setting, sedimentological, palaeontological, and petrographic investigations have been conducted accordingly. The Kuldana Formation lithologically consists of both siliciclastic and carbonate rocks. Petrographically, the Kuldana Formation’s sandstone is divided into litharenite and feldspathic litharenite petrofacies. The sandstone plots on the QtFL and QmFLt suggest that the sandstone of the Kuldana Formation derived from a recycled orogen provenance field that developed during the collision of the Indian and Eurasian plates in the Lesser and Higher Himalayas. The plots in the diamond diagram further demonstrate that the detritus of the Kuldana Formation was derived from low and middle-to-upper rank metamorphic rocks of the Himalayas. Throughout the deposition of sandstone, paleo-climate conditions were semi-humid to semiarid. Dolostone and limestone are the two main types of carbonate rocks found in the Kuldana Formation. According to Dunham’s Classification, the Kuldana Formation limestone is classified as mudstone, wackstone, and packstone. These petrofacies suggest that the limestone was deposited in an inner-outer ramp setting. The bioclasts include bivalves, brachiopods, crinoid, gastropods, Globigerinoides spp, Lockhartia pustulosa, miliolids, Nummulites atacicus, Nummulites discorbina, Nummulites mamillatus, Nummulites djodjokartae, Nummulites vascus, and ostracods suggesting that the age of Kuldana Formation is Middle Eocene- early Oligocene. The Kuldana Formation was deposited during the initial stages of the Himalayan Orogeny as a result of the Ceno-Tethys Ocean’s regression and transgression, as revealed by a succession of siliciclastic and non-clastic rocks.

Multiphase Diagenetic Processes and Their Impact on Reservoir Character of the Late Triassic (Rhaetian) Kingriali Formation, Upper Indus Basin, Pakistan

“…The late Triassic Kingriali Formation in the upper Indus Basin (Pakistan) represents an excellent outcrop analogue of such dolostone formed by multistage process resulted in pervasive to strata bound dolostone geobodies. In the Kingriali Formation, the grain deficient and mud dominated limestone beds are mostly unreplaced to partially replaced in all the studied sections of the Upper Indus Basin, explaining the role of texture and composition in the replacement process [17]. The late Triassic shallow marine carbonate depositional facies of the Kingriali Formation are almost similar to the carbonates of the northern margin of the Gondwana craton exposed in Libya, Tunisia, and Algeria.…”

“…65-61 Ma and at ca. 50 Ma with the Eurasian plate [7,17,19]. Complete defragmentation of Gondwanaland in response to the opening of a new ocean basin from the Middle Jurassic to the Early Cretaceous causes the northward drift of the Indian plate with respect to adjacent plates [25,26].…”

“…Based on syn-depositional features and lithological interpretation, the sedimentary successions of the Upper Indus Basin were interpreted to be deposited in different environments and were correlated with the Tethyan Himalayan Sequence, including: (a) the Precambrian Salt Range Formation and rocks of the Cambrian Jhelum Group were correlated with the Tethyan Himalayan Sequence's pre-rift successions; (b) the Lower Permian successions of the Nilawahan Group were correlated with the Tethyan Himalayan Sequence's syn-rift sequence; and (c) the Middle Permian to Late Cretaceous. This sedimentary succession of the Upper Indus Basin is broadly capped by a more than 3000 m thick pile of fluvial molasses sediments, which has caused extensive overburden pressure on the underlying sediments [17]. During uplifting, the Himalayan thrust sheets shed their erosional products in a southward direction into the Ganga Basin in India and the Punjab-Plain in Pakistan (i.e., active foredeep zones) and were further transported in a southward direction by fluvial systems [39,42,43].…”

Sedimentary and Diagenetic Controls across the Cretaceous—Paleogene Transition: New Paleoenvironmental Insights of the External Ionian Zone from the Pelagic Carbonates of the Gardiki Section (Epirus, Western Greece)

“…The microfacies' definition and textural characters analysis of the carbonate rocks were defined according to Dunham [41] classification scheme, which were later modified by Embry and Klovan [42] and Flügel [43], based on the Standard Microfacies Types (SMF) in the Facies Zone (FZ) of the rimmed carbonate platform model. Depositional paleoenvironments were reconstructed based on the observed sedimentological characteristics during fieldwork and interpreted sedimentary facies analysis, and through comparison with additional outcropped data known from the existing literature on time equivalent deposits of the Ionian basin [18][19][20]44,45], as well as other environmental studies [46][47][48][49][50][51][52][53][54]. The study part of Gardiki section consists of Late Cretaceous-Early Paleocene pelagic deposits, such as pelagic limestones and radiolarian chert horizons.…”

Composition, Texture, and Weathering Controls on the Physical and Strength Properties of Selected Intrusive Igneous Rocks from Northern Pakistan

“…The Chilas complex, a part of KIA, represents a late cretaceous magmatic body dominantly composed of gabbronorite with a minor amount of gabbros, quartz-diorite, and tarctolites frequently intruded by the mafic dykes. The Peshawar Plain Alkaline Igneous Province (PPAIP), a part of the Indian Plate that evolved during the Permian rifting, comprises various alkaline complexes of granitic composition, including the middle to late Paleozoic Ambela granitic complex (AGC), as well as mafic dykes [30][31][32][33]. The AGC is divided into three main groups.…”