Sedimentology of Galdanian formation hazara basin lesser himalaya Pakistan: The signatures of Cambrian-Ordovician Pan-African orogeny

This research was focused on the lithofacies and petrography of sandstone rich Ordovician Galdanian Formation, Hazara basin part of Lesser Himalayan. Galdanian Formation was grouped into five lithofacies: parallel laminated sandstone facies, cross laminated sandstone facies, massive sandstone facies, shale facies and shale interbedded with sandstone facies. These lithofacies exhibit the deposition of galdanian sediments was occurred in shelf settings. The Formation comprises of fine-to coarse grained, moderately to well sorted, sub-rounded to well-rounded sandstone with high proportion of quartz, reflecting textural and compositional maturity. The sediments of the formation were sourced from southeast located Indian shield which is attested by QFL, QmFLt plots and paleoflow data. The presence of conglomerate at the base of the formation, exhibit the sedimentation was most probably controlled by Cambrian-Ordovician tectonic events such as Kurgiakh Orogeny.