Geological Mapping and Structural Analysis of a Part of Kala-Chitta Range, Kahi Village, Nizampur Khyber Pakhtunkhwa

Abstract

The study area located in the vicinity of Kala-Chitta Range is intensely deformed, which along with the Attock-Cherat and Margala Hill Ranges represent the uplifted southern margin of the Peshawar-Campbellpur basins of northern Pakistan. The Kala-Chitta Range lies in the Upper Indus Basin. It is a part of the active Himalayan Foreland-Fold and Thrust Belt which has progressively been verged southwards in a series of top to the south thrust imbricates along Main Boundary Thrust (IVIBT), fabricating the regional fault system of North Pakistan. Sedimentary rocks assemblages of Jurassic to Paleocene age namely Datta, Shinawari, Samana Suk, Lumshiwal, Kawagarh, Lockhart and Patala are exposed in the study area. Complex structural geometry of the area entails a number of thrust faults and different folds in en-echelon manner, which imply intense deformation and shortening. The area is highly fractured and the fracture pattern of the area is indicative of Himalyan deformation