Magnetic polarity maps and time maps in the eastern Potwar Plateau; Applications of magnetic polarity stratigraphy
Keywords:
Siwaliks, Paleomagnetism, stratigraphy, Potwar Plateau, Pabbi, ManglaAbstract
The use of magnetic polarity stratigraphy has allowed Upper Miocene and Plio-Pleistocene Siwalik
sediments in the eastern Potwar Plateau to be dated precisely by direct correlation to the world-wide magnetic
polarity time scale. Three examples are illustrated where measured sections calibrated by paleomagnetics
allow geologic time to be extrapolated across broad areas to create new time maps based on the ability to see
stratigraphic strike line patterns on Google Earth imagery. These maps allow precise dating of fossils as well
as robust interpretations of the influence of growing folds and faults on the evolving fluvial geomorphology
and depositional patterns of the region.
References
Abbas, S.G., Khan, M. Akbar, Babar, M. Adeeb, and Akhtar, M., 2019. New remains of Elephantidae from the Upper Siwalik subgroup (Plio-Pleistocene of Pakistan). Quaternary Science Reviews, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quascirev.2019.105967
Abid, A.I., Abbasi, I.A., Khan, M.A, and Shah, M.T., 1983. Petrography and geochemistry of the Siwalik sandstone and its relationship to the Himalayan orogeny. University of Peshawar Geological Bulletin, 16, 65-83.
Ali, S.T., Abdullah, S.K.M., and Rashid, M.R., 1962. Bentonite deposits of Azad Kashmir. Geological Survey of Pakistan, Information Release no. 31, 20 pp.
Arif, M., 1985. Stratigraphy and chronology of vertebrate fossil localities in the Mirpur area, Azad Kashmir. Geological Survey of Pakistan Information Release, no. 264, 1-13.
Bakr, A., 1969. A new genus of large cat from the Upper Siwaliks. Pakistan Journal of Zoology, 1, 135-140.
Bakr, A. and Quershi, R.A., 1966. Three new elephantids from the Siwaliks. Journal of Scientific Research, Panjab University (Pakistan), 1, 93-103.
Barndt, J., Johnson, N.M., Johnson, G.D., Opdyke, N.D., Lindsay, E.H., Pilbeam, D., and Tahirkheli, R.A.K., 1978. The magnetic polarity stratigraphy and age of the Siwalik Group near Dhok Pathan village, Potwar Plateau, Pakistan. Earth and Planetary Science Letters, 41, 355-364.
Barry, J.C., Lindsay, E.H., and Jacobs, L.L., 1982. A biostratigraphic zonation of the middle and upper Siwaliks of the Potwar Plateau of northern Pakistan. Paleogeography, Paleoclimatology, Paleoecology, 37, 95-130.
Barry, J.C., Johnson, N.M., Raza, S.M., and Jacobs, L.L., 1985. Neogene mammalian faunal change in southern Asia: correlations with climatic, tectonic, and eustatic events. Geology, 13, 637-640.
Barry, J. C., Behrensmeyer, A. K., Badgley, C. E., Flynn, L. J., Peltonen, H., Cheema, I.U., Pilbeam, D., Lindsay, E. H., Raza, S. M., Rajpar, A. R., Morgan, M. E., 2013. The Neogene Siwaliks of the Potwar Plateau, Pakistan, In Wang, Xiao-ming, Flynn, Lawrence J., Fortelius, Mikael, (Eds.), Fossil Mammals of Asia: Neogene Biostratigraphy and Chronology, New York: Columbia University Press, 353- 399.
Behrensmeyer, A.K., and Tauxe, L., 1982. Isochronous fluvial systems in Miocene deposits of northern Pakistan. Sedimentology, 29, 331-352.
Burbank, D.W., Beck, R.A., and Mulder, T., 1996. The Himalayan foreland basins, In: Yin, A., and Harrison, T.M., (Eds.), Tectonic Evolution of Asia; Cambridge University Press, 149-188.
Cerveny, P.F., Naeser, N.D., Zeitler, P.K., Naeser, C.W., and Johnson, N.M., 1988. History of uplift and relief of the Himalaya during the past 18 Ma: evidence from fission-track ages of detrital zircon from sandstones of the Siwalik Group, In: Kleinspehn, K.L, and Paola, C., (Eds.), New Perspectives in Basin Analysis: New York, Springer Verlag, 43-61.
Chaudhri, R.S., 1972. Heavy minerals from Siwalik formations of the northwestern Himalayas. Sedimentary Geology, 8, 77-
Chirouze, F., Dupont-Nivet, G., Huyghe, P., van der Beek, P., Charkraborti, T., Bernet, M., and Erens, V., 2012. Magnetostratigraphy of the Neogene Siwalik Group in the far eastern Himalaya: Kaming section, Arunchal Pradesh, India. Journal of Asian Earth Sciences, 44, 117-135.
Clift, P.D., Zhou, P., Stockli, D.F., Blusztajn, J., 2019. Regional Pliocene Exhumation of the Lesser Himalaya in the Indus Drainage. Solid Earth, 10, 647–661. doi:10.5194/se-10-647-2019.
Cotter, G.P., 1933. The geology of the part of the Attock District west of longitude 72 degrees, 45 minutes. Geological Survey of India Memoires, 55, 63-156.
Critelli, S. and Ingersoll, R.V., 1994. Sandstone petrology and provenance of the Siwalik Group (northwestern Pakistan and west- southwestern Nepal). Journal of Sedimentary Research, 64, 815-823.
Dennell, R.W., 2004. Early Hominin landscapes in Northern Pakistan, investigations in the Pabbi Hills. British Archeological Reports, International Series 1265, 454 pp.
Dennell, R.W., 2007. “Resource-rich, stone- poor” early hominin land use in large river systems of northern India and Pakistan. In M. Petraglia and B. Allchin (Eds.) The evolution and diversity of Humans in South Asia, Springer, p. 41-68.
Dennell, R. W., 2008. The taphonomic record of Late Pliocene and Early Pleistocene landscapes in the Pabbi Hills, northern Pakistan, and its implications on the preservation of hominin remains. Quaternary International, 192, 62-77.
Dennell, R., Coard, R., Beech, M., Anwar, M., and Turner, A., 2005a. Locality 642, An Upper Siwalik (Pinjor Stage) fossil accumulation in the Pabbi Hills, Pakistan. Journal of the Palaeontological Society of India, 50, 83- 92.
Dennell, R., Coard, R., Beech, M., Anwar, M., and Turner, A., 2005b. Two Upper Siwalik (Pinjor Stage) fossil accumulations from localities 73 and 362 in the Pabbi Hills, Pakistan. Journal of the Palaentological Society of India, 50, 101-111.
Dennell, R., Coard, R., and Turner, A., 2006. The biostratigraphy and magnetic polarity zonation of the Pabbi Hills, northern Pakistan: an Upper Siwalik (Pinjor Stage) Upper Pliocene-Lower Pleistocene fluvial sequence. Paleogeography, Paleoclimatology, Paleoecology, 234, 168- 185.
Dennell, R.W., Coard, R., and Turner, A., 2008. Predators and scavangers in Early Pleistocene southern Asia. Quaternary International, 192, 78-88.
De Terre, H., and Teilhard de Chardin, P., 1936. Observations on the Upper Siwalik Formation and later Pleistocene deposits in India. American Philosophical Society Proceedings, 76, 791-822.
Drewes, H., 1995. Tectonics of the Potwar Plateau region and the development of syntaxes, Punjab, Pakistan. US Geological Survey Bulletin 2126, 22 pp.
Fatmi, A.N., 1973. Lithostratigraphic units of the Kohat-Potwar Province, Indus Basin, Pakistan. Memoires of the Geological Survey of Pakistan, 20, 1-80.
Frost, Carol D., 1979. Geochronology and depositional environment of a late Pliocene age Siwalik sequence enclosing several volcanic tuff horizons, Pind Savikka Area, Eastern Salt Range, Pakistan. Unpublished Bachelor's thesis, Dartmouth College. 82 pp. and maps.
Ghaffar, A., Akhtar, M., Khan, M.A., Babar, M.A., 2019. Comments on Percrocuta carnifex (Carnivora, Percrocutidae) based on new fossil material from the Nagri Formation (Middle Siwaliks) of Hasnot, Pakistan. Geologica Acta, 17, 1-9.
Ghaffar, A., Akhtar, M., Khan, M.A., Babar, M.A., 2019. Comments on Percrocuta carnifex (Carnivora, Percrocutidae) based on new fossil material from the Nagri Formation (Middle Siwaliks) of Hasnot, Pakistan. Geologica Acta, 17, 1-9.
Gill, W.D., 1952a. The stratigraphy of the Siwalik Series in the northern Potwar, Punjab, Pakistan. Quarterly Journal Geol. Soc. London, 107, 375-394.
Gill, W.D., 1952b. The tectonics of the sub- Himalayan fault zone in the northern Potwar region and in the Kangara District of the Punjab. Quarterly Journal Geology Society of London, 107, 395-421.
Graham, S.A., Dickinson, W.R., and Ingersoll, R.V., 1975. Himalayan-Bengal model for flysch dispersal in Appalachian-Ouachita system. Geological Society of America Bulletin, 86, 273-286.
Hussain, S.T., 1971. Revision of Hipparion (Equidae, Mammalia) from the Siwalik Hills of Pakistan and India. Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften, 147, 1- 68.
Hussain, S.T., van den Bergh, G., Steensma, K.J., de Visser, J.A., de Vos, J., Arif, M., van Dam, J., Sondaar, P.Y., and Malik, S.B., 1992. Biostratigraphy of the Plio- Pleistocene continental sediments (Upper Siwaliks) of the Mangla Samwal anticline, Azad Kashmir, Pakistan. Proceedings Kon. Ned. Akad, 95, 65-80.
Ingersoll, R.V. and Suczek, C.A., 1979. Petrology and provenance of Neogene sand from Nicobar and Bengal fans, DSDP sites 211 and 218. Journal of Sedimentary Petrology, 49, 1217-1228.
Jenkinson, R.D.S., Rendell, H.M., Dennell, R.W., Jah, M.A., and Sutherland, S.A., 1989. Upper Siwalik paleoenvironments and paleoecology in the Pabbi Hills, Northern Pakistan. Zeitschrift fur Geomorphologie N.F., 33, 417-428.
Johnson, G.D., and Vondra, C.F., 1972. Siwalik sediments in a portion of the Punjab reentrant: the sequence at Haritalyangar, District Bilaspur HP. Himalayan Geology, 2, 118-144.
Johnson, G.D., Johnson, N.M., Opdyke, N.D., and Tahirkheli, R.A.K., 1979. Magnetic reversal stratigraphy and sedimentary tectonic history of the Upper Siwalik Group Eastern Salt Range and Southwestern Kashmir, In: Farah, A., and DeJong, K.A., (Eds.), Geodynamics of Pakistan, Geological Survey of Pakistan,149-165.
Johnson, G.D., Zeitler, P., Naeser, C.W., Johnson, N.M., Summers, D. M., Frost, C.D., Opdyke, N.D., and Tahirkheli, R.A.K., 1982. The occurrence and fission- track ages of Late Neogene and Quaternary volcanic sediments, Siwalik Group, northern Pakistan. Paleogeography, Paleoclimatology, Paleoecology, 37, 63-93.
Johnson, N., Opdyke, N.D., Johnson, G.D., Lindsay, E. H., and Tahirkheli, R.A. K., 1982. Magnetic polarity stratigraphy and ages of Siwalik Group rocks of the Potwar Plateau, Pakistan. Paleogeography, Paleoclimatology, Paleoecology, 37,17-42.
Karunakaran, C. and Rao, A.R., 1976. Status of exploration for hydrocarbons in the Himalayan region–contributions to stratigraphy and structure. Geological Survey of India Himalaya Geology Seminar (1976 New Delhi) Pamphlet, 72 pp.
Keller, H.M., 1975. The magnetic polarity stratigraphy of an Upper Siwalik sequence in the Pabbi Hills of Pakistan. Unpublished Master's thesis, Dartmouth College, 110 pp.
Keller, H.M., Tahirkheli, R.A.K., Mirza, M.A., Johnson, G.D., Johnson, N.M., and Opdyke, N.D., 1977. Magnetic polarity stratigraphy of the Upper Siwalik deposits, Pabbi Hills, Pakistan. Earth and Planetary Science Letters, 36, 187-201.
Khan Akbar M., Akhtar, M., and Iliopoulos, G., 2014. Cervid remains from the Middle Siwaliks of Hasnot (Late Miocene), Pakistan. Journal Geological Society of India, 84, 352-360.
Khan, Akbar M., and Flynn, L.J., 2017. New small mammals from the Hasnot-Tatrot area of the Potwar Plateau, northern Pakistan. Palaontologische Zeitschrift, 91, 589-599.
Khan, Akbar M., Dar. F. Y., Flynn, L. J., Abbas, S. G., Babar, M. A., Akhtar, M., Zahra, H. and Amanat, H., 2020. The Upper Siwaliks east of Jhelum, Pakistan: A New Large Quaternary Mammal Assemblage from the Pabbi Hills and Reconnaisance near Bhimbar. Quaternary International, 568, 20-35.
Khan, M. Javed, 1983. Magnetostratigraphy of Neogene and Quaternary Siwalik Group sediments of the Trans- Indus Salt Range, northwestern Pakistan. Unpublished Ph.D. thesis, Columbia University, 217 pp.
Krynine, P.D., 1937. Petrography and genesis of the Siwalik series. American Journal of Science, 34, 422-446.
Kumaravel, V., Sangode, S.J., Kumar, R., and Siddaiah, N.S., 2005. Magnetic polarity stratigraphy of Plio- Pleistocene Pinjor Formation (type locality), Siwalik Group, NW Himalaya, India. Current Science, 8, 1453- 1461.
Mallik, T.K., 1978. Mineralogy of deep-sea sands of the Indian Ocean. Marine Geology, 27,161-176.
McMurtry., M. G., 1980. Facies changes and time relationships along a sandstone stratum, Middle Siwalik Group, Potwar plateau, Pakistan. Unpublished Bachelor's thesis, Dartmouth College, 43 pp.
Meigs, A., Burbank, D.W., and Beck, R.A., 1995. Middle-late Miocene (less than 10 MY) formation of the Main Boundary Thrust in the western Himalaya. Geology, 23, 423-426.
Najman, Y., Garzanti, E., Pringle, M., Bickle, M., Stix, J., and Khan, I., 2003. Early Middle Miocene paleo drainage and tectonics in the Pakistan Himalaya. Geological Society America Bulletin, 115, 1265-1277.
Najman, Y., Johnson, K., White, N., Oliver, G., 2004. Evolution of the Himalayan foreland basin, NW India. Basin Research, 16, 1-24.
Najman, Y., Burley, S.D., Copley, A., Kelly, M.J., Pander, K., and Mishra, P., 2018. The Late Eocene-Early Miocene unconformities of the NW Indian intraplate basins and Himalayan foreland: a record of tectonics or mantle dynamics?. Tectonics, 37, 1-16.
Nanda, A.C., Sehga, R.K., Abhishek Pratap Sing, and Ningthoujam Premjit Singh, 2022. Mammalian fauna of the Siwalik Group of Indian Subcontinent : biostratigraphic analysis. Himalayan Geology, 43, 17-39.
Opdyke, N.D., 1972. Paleomagnetism of deep- sea cores. Rev. Geophysics and Space Physics, 10, 213 pp.
Opdyke, N.D., Lindsay, E., Johnson, G.D., Johnson, N., Tahirkheli, R.A.K., and Mirza, M.A., 1979. Magnetic polarity stratigraphy and vertebrate paleontology of the Upper Siwalik subgroup of northern Pakistan. Paleogeography, Paleoclimatology, Paleoecology, 27, 1-34.
Parkash, B., Sharma, R.P., and Roy, A.K., 1980. The Siwalik Group (molasse) – sediments shed by collision of continental plates. Sedimentary Geology, 25, 127-159.
Patnaik, R., 2013. Indian Neogene Siwalik mammalian biostratigraphy: an overview. In: Fossil mammals of Asia, X. Wang, L.J. Flynn and M. Fortelius (Eds.), Columbia University Press, 423-444.
Patnaik, R., 2016. Neogene-Quaternary mammalian paleobiogeography of the Indian Subcontinent: an appraisal. Comptes Rendus Palevol. 15, 889-902.
Pennock, E.S., 1988. Structural interpretation of seismic reflection data from the eastern Potwar Plateau, Pakistan. Unpublished Masters thesis, Oregon State University, 78 pp.
Pilbeam, D., Barry, J., Ibrahim Shah, S.M., Pickford, M.H.L., Bishop, W.W., Thomas, H., and Jacobs, L.L., 1977. Geology and paleontology of Neogene strata of Pakistan. Nature, 270, 684-689.
Pilbeam, D.R., Rose, M.D., Badgley, C., and Lipschutz, B., 1980. Miocene hominoids from Pakistan. Postilla,181, 1-94.
Pilgrim, G.E., 1913. The correlation of the Siwaliks with the mammalian horizons of Europe. Geological Survey of India Records, 43, 264-325.
Pivnik, D. A., and Khan, M. J., 1996. Transition from foreland to piggyback–basin deposition: Plio–Pleistocene Upper Siwalik Group, Shinghar Range, NW Pakistan. Sedimentology, 43, 631–646.
Ranga Rao, A., Nanda, A.C., Sharma, U.N., and Bhalla, 1995 . Magnetic polarity stratigraphy of the Pinjor Formation (Upper Siwalik) near Pinjore, Haryana. Current Science, 68, 121-123.
Raynolds, R.G.H., 1980. The Plio-Pleistocene structural and stratigraphic evolution of the eastern Potwar Plateau, Pakistan. Unpublished PhD thesis, Dartmouth College, 265 pp.
Raynolds, R.G.H., and Johnson, G.D., 1985. Rates of Neogene depositional and deformational processes, north-west Himalayan foredeep margin, Pakistan. In: The chronology of the geological record, Snelling, N.J., (Ed.), Geological Society of London, Memoir 10, 297-311.
Sangode, S.J., Kumar, R., and Gosh, S.K., 1996. Magnetic polarity of the Siwalik sequence of Haripur area (HP), NW Himalaya. Journal of the Geological Society of India, 47, 683-704.
Suczek, C.A. and Ingersoll, R.V., 1985. Petrology and provenance of Cenozoic sand from the Indus Cone and the Arabian Basin, DSDP sites 221, 222, and 224. Journal of Sedimentary Petrology, 55, 340-346.
Tandon, S.K., Kumar, R., Koyama, M., and Nitsuma, N., 1984. Magnetic polarity stratigraphy of the Upper Siwalik Subgroup, east of Chandigarh, Punjab Sub-Himalaya, India. Journal of the Geologic Society of India, 25, 45-55.
Theobald, W., 1881. The Siwalik Group of the sub–Himalayan region. Geological Survey of India. Records, 14. Pt. 1, 66p.
Visser, C.F., 1976. Lateral variation in late Pliocene molasse sedimentation within the Jhelum re- entrant Pakistan. Unpublished Bachelor's thesis, Dartmouth College, 32 pp and maps.
Visser, C.F., and Johnson, G.D., 1978. Tectonic control of Late Pliocene molasse sedimentation in a portion of the Jhelum re-entrant, Pakistan. Geol. Rundschau, 67, 15-37.
Wensink, H., 1972. A note on the paleomagnetism of the Lower Siwaliks near Choa Saiden Shah, Potwar Plateau, West Pakistan. Pakistan Journal of Science and Industrial Research, 15, 89-91.
Wynne, A.B., 1877. Note on the Tertiary zone and underlying rocks in the northwest Punjab. Geological Survey of India Records, 10, 107-132.
Zeitler, P.K., Meltzer, A.S., Koons, P.O., Craw, D., Hallet, B., Chamberlain, C.P., Kidd, W.S.F., Park, S., Seeber, L., Bishop, M. L., Shroder, J., 2001. Erosion, Himalayan geodynamics, and the geology of metamorphism. GSAToday, 11, 4-8.
