Chitarwata Formation

The Chitarwata Formation is a geological formation in western Pakistan, made up of Oligocene and early Miocene terrestrial fluvial facies. The sediments were deposited in coastal depositional environments (estuarine, strandplain and tidal flats) when Pakistan was partly covered by the Tethys Ocean.

Chitarwata Formation
Stratigraphic range: Early Oligocene (Tabenbulakian)-Early Miocene
~28–17 Ma
TypeGeological formation
Sub-unitsBugti Member
Lithology
PrimarySandstone
OtherClaystone
Location
Coordinates29.0°N 69.0°E / 29.0; 69.0
Approximate paleocoordinates19.4°N 67.7°E / 19.4; 67.7
RegionBalochistan
Country Pakistan
Type section
Named forChitarwata
Chitarwata Formation (Pakistan)

Paleomagnetic data indicates an age range of around 28 to 17 million years ago, with its base in the Oligocene, and its upper boundary, where it meets the overlying Vihowa Formation, of the Early Miocene.

Together with the Vihowa Formation, the Chitarwata Formation records the sedimentation of the Himalayan foreland basin during the collision of the Indian and Asian tectonic plates, the transition from marginal marine to fluvial environments, and the rise of the Himalayas.

Fossil content

The Chitarwata Formation has provided a wealth of terrestrial mammal fossils of the late Paleogene and early Neogene, or Tabenbulakian; the last of the Asian land mammal ages (ALMA).

Among many others, the following fossils are reported from the formation:[1]

Mammals
  • Anthracotherium adiposum, A. bugtiense, A. silistrense
  • Asiadidelphis akbarbugtii
  • Atavocricetodon paaliense
  • Baluchimys barryi, B. chaudryi, B. ganeshapher
  • Brachypotherium fatehjangense
  • Bugtilemur mathesoni
  • Bugtimeryx pilgrimi
  • Bugtimys zafarullahi
  • Bugtipithecus inexpectans
  • Bugtitherium grandincisivum
  • Downsimys margolesi, D. margolisi
  • Fallomus ginsburgi, F. quraishyi, F. razae
  • Guangxilemur singsilai
  • Hodsahibia azrae, H. beamshaiensis, H. gracilis
  • Lindsaya derabugtiensis
  • Lophibaluchia pilbeami
  • Lophiomeryx kargilensis
  • Microbunodon silistrense
  • Nalameryx savagei, N. sulaimani
  • Paalitherium gurki
  • Parabrachyodus hyopotamoides
  • Paraceratherium bugtiense
  • Phileosimias brahuiorum, P. kamali
  • Primus cheemai
  • Prokanisamys arifi
  • Progiraffa exigua
  • Pseudocricetodon nawabi
  • Sivameryx palaeindicus
  • Spanocricetodon sulaiman
  • Zindapiria quadricollis
  • Deinotherium sp.
Reptiles
  • Astorgosuchus bugtiensis
Fish
  • Carcharhinus balochenisis, C. perseus
  • Cretolamna twiggensis
  • Hemipristis heteropleurus
  • Nebrius obliquum

References
  1. Chitarwata Formation at Fossilworks.org


Further reading
  • S. Adnet, P. -O. Antoine, S. R. Hassan Baqri, J. Crochet, L. Marivaux, J. Welcomme, and G. Métais. 2007. New tropical carcharhinids (chondrichthyes, Carcharhiniformes) from the late Eocene–early Oligocene of Balochistan, Pakistan: Paleoenvironmental and paleogeographic implications. Journal of Asian Earth Sciences 30(2):303-323
  • G. Métais, P.-O. Antoine, S. R. H. Baqri, M. Benammi, J.-Y. Crochet, D. Franceschi, L. Marivaux and J.-L. Welcomme. 2006. New remains of the enigmatic cetartiodactyl Bugtitherium grandincisivum Pilgrim, 1908, from the upper Oligocene of the Bugti Hills (Balochistan, Pakistan). Naturwissenschaften 93(7):348-355
  • E. H. Lindsay, L. J. Flynn, I. U. Cheema, J. C. Barry, K. Downing, A. R. Rajpar, and S. M. Raza. 2005. Will Downs and the Zinda Pir Dome. Palaeontologia Electronica 8(1):19A:1-18
  • L. Marivaux, P.-O. Antoine, S. R. H. Baqri, M. Benammi, and Y. Chaimanee. 2005. Anthropoid primates from the Oligocene of Pakistan (Bugti Hills): Data on early anthropoid evolution and biogeography. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 102(24):8436-8441
  • P.-O. Antoine, J.-L. Welcomme, L. Marivaux, I. Baloch, M. Benammi and P. Tassy. 2003. First record of Paleogene Elephantoidea (Mammalia, Proboscidea) from the Bugti Hills of Pakistan. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 23(4):977-980
  • J.-L. Welcomme and L. Ginsburg. 1997. Mise en évidence de l'Oligocène sur le territoire des Bugti (Balouchistan, Pakistan). Comptes Rendus de l'Académie des Sciences - Series IIA - Earth and Planetary Science 325(12):999-1004
  • L.J. Flynn, L.L. Jacobs, and I.U. Cheema. 1986. Baluchimyinae, A New Ctenodactyloid Rodent Subfamily from the Miocene of Baluchistan. American Museum Novitates 2841:1-58
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