Lithofacies and Palynostratigraphy of Some Cretaceous and Paleocene Rocks, Surghar and Salt Range Coal Fields, Northern Pakistan

By Peter D. Warwick, Shahid Javed, S. Tahir A. Mashhadi, Tariq Shakoor, Asrar M. Khan, and A. Latif Khan

METHODS

Fieldwork was done between 1989 and 1991. Thirteen stratigraphic sections were measured in the Surghar Range, and one in the western part of the Salt Range (figure 1; appendix I). Sections 6 and 11 (figure 1; appendix I) contain complete sections through the Lumshiwal and Hangu Formations. Two bench (MK-HT-2, MK-HT-3) and four whole-coal (MKCT-6, MKD3-7, MK-NCN-4, MKE 3-5) samples of the Makarwal coal bed and one whole-coal sample (MK-HT-1) of the upper coal bed (appendix II, table II-1) were collected from five working mines (figure 1; appendix I) following guidelines for channel samples by ASTM (1986) and Golightly and Simon (1989). The results of the chemical and physical analyses of the coal samples are presented in appendix II (table II-2). Laboratory results from four additional whole-coal samples of the Makarwal coal bed from the Makarwal area, collected by M.I. Ghaznavi (1986-87) (appendix II, table II-1, 85-series field numbers), were incorporated into the coal sample data set for this study. Three of the four additional samples were previously described by Ghaznavi (1988).

Thirty-two claystone and mudstone samples were collected for pollen analysis (table 1). The results of palynological studies conducted by Khan are presented in appendix III. Palynological results from Frederiksen (1992) and Frederiksen and others (in press) also are summarized in table 1.

A generalized cross section of the Lumshiwal and Hangu interval is shown on figure 4. Stratigraphic correlations between the sections were made by using the best-fit method; the lower coal zone in the Hangu Formation served as a datum.

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