Compiled BY:

Jawad Bas hir (T hu nder ).

Ma lik Shadi.
O mer is haq.

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A DAY TRIP TO KHEWRA GORGE:

Bahria university Islamabad campus (Earth environmental department)

arrange a field trip of one day for Bs-5 on April 16th 2009.The field trip is
related to the subject of GOP (geology of Pakistan).

The objective for that field trip is to study and observe the lithology,
depositional condition, sedimentary structures, rock types, contacts and
fossils of that area. Another purpose of that trip is to get the students
familiar with some unique characteristics of Khewra salt mine in Pakistan.

The Khewra Gorge is situated at about 165 km away from capital of

Pakistan (Islamabad).

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TABLE OF CONTENTS:

Chapter 1 Introduction to Field Trip 5-6

Chapter 2 Salt Range Formation 6-12

Chapter 3 Jhelum Group 13-15

Chapter 4 Khewra Salt Mine 19-22

Chapter 5 Conclusion 23

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 1) INTRODUCTION TO FIELD TRIP
1.1. OBJECTIVE:

The primarily objective of our field trip is to enhanced our knowledge and to
strong our grip on GOP subject, specially to concentrate on geology of
Khewra group.

To study the structures, lithology, depositional environments, rock types

and economical importance of different formations.

1.2. LOCATION:

The planned area which we have visited is about 165 kilometers from
Islamabad. It is located 33º 46΄ North and 73º 8΄ East.

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1.3. DATE AND TIME OF ARRIVAL

We have visited Khewra gorge on 16th of April 2009 and the time of arrival at
extraction point is 10:15 am.

1.4.Accessibility

The area is easily accessible and we went there through university bus
and it took about 3 hrs to reach the desired location as it is about 165
kilometers from Islamabad. The journey was pleasant and smooth,
because we went by motorway. The field which we visited was
unsteady; rocky and it was along the saline water channel among the
mountains

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1.5. CLIMATIC CONDITIONS:
The climate is hot and arid with very little precipitation. The sand and rocks show
signs of heavy rain falls about 1 to 3 days ago.

2. SALT RANGE FORMATION (PRE-CAMBRIAN ROCK

SEQUENCE)

2.1. History

The basement rocks of Indian shield are overlain by an unmetamorphosed

sequence of Salt, marl, gypsum and dolomite which was earlier designated
as “Saline Series” by Wynne (1870, 1878). The formation has been since
renamed after the Salt Range by Asrarullah (1967) and its type locality is
Khewra Gorge in the Eastern Salt Range. The Salt Range Formation is
widely distributed in Salt Range, between Jogi Tilla in the east and
Kalabagh in the northwest.

2.2.Lithology

The lower part of the formation comprises beds of marl and gypsum with
bituminous shales and dolomites. The base of the formation is not
exposed. The middle part of the formation contains an alteration of
gypsum, dolomite, shale, siltstone with oil-shale layers. The top of the
Formation is formed by gypsum layer containing high-grade-oil-shale or
a layer of highly altered volcanic rock known as Khewra Trap.

2.3. Thickness

The thickness of the Salt Range Formation is more than 800 m at type
locality (base not exposed). In the Kohat-Potwar region the thickness
locally exceeds 2,000 m as a result of secondary salt migration and
accumulation induced in the decollement* and southward-thrusting of
the overlying sedimentary sequence

2.4. Litho-stratigraphic Divisions

The Salt Range Formation has been divided into an upper Sahiwal Marl
Member, a middle Bhandar Kas Gypsum Member and a lower Billianwala Marl
Member (Asrarullah 1962, 1967; Alam and Khan 1982).

2.5.1 Billianwala Salt Marl Member

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It has been named after the Billianwala nala near Khewra and is largely
composed of hematitic, dull red, gypsiferous marly beds with thick seams of
salt. It is best exposed near Khewra, where it is more than 650 meters thick
and the base is not exposed. In the Khewra Salt Mine, salt is excavated from
this member. There are three main salt seams, mainly Buggy, Sujowal and
Pharwala. These seams are topped by Khallar (impure

Billianwala salt marl member(dull red color with gypsiferous marl beds)

Salt intercalations within Billianwala member

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 Open pit mining exposed in Billianwala member

2.5.2Bhandar Kas Gypsum Member

This unit is named after the Bhandar Kas nala and overlies the Billianwala
Member. It is composed of massive gypsum, dolomite and marl. It is 80 m
thick in the Khewra Gorge.,

Red marl beds with gypsum, dolomite beds

2.5.3 Sahiwal Marl Member

It is named after the Sahiwal Village near Khewra; this Member

overlies the Bhandar Kas Member and is comprised of an upper 3-100
m thick bright red marly unit and a lower unit containing dull red
marls. Theses units are easily mapable due to their tonal differences.

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 The upper bright-red marls are exposed throughout the Salt Range.
The marls are interlayered with gypsum, clay and thin seams of salt.
Higher up in the sequence, thin beds of gypsum, bituminous shales
and Khewra Trap are present. The oil shales found in this unit have a
kerosene odour and are considered a potential hydrocarbon source.

Red color marls are exposed

Red marls exposed

2.5.4 Khewra Trap (Sahiwal member)

The Salt Range Formation contains thin flows of an ultrapotassic rock

commonly known as Khewra Trap; the flow occurs in Late Proterozoic
or Eocambrian rocks consisting mainly of marly anhydrite, gypsum
and oil shales. Since it was first reported by Fleming (1953), the trap
has attracted the attention of several geologists because of its highly

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 unusual composition, texture and paragenesis. The trap occurs
throughout the Salt Range.

The petrology of the trap has been presented by Wynne (1878), Martin
(1956), Mosebech (1956), Shuaib et al. (1993) and Jan and Faruqi (1995).
The trap is purple, reddish brown, orange to buff, rarely dark green rock.
The phenocrysts are euhedral to skeletal spinifex, and commonly grown
radially. The Khewra Trap is so unique that Mosebech (1956) assigned it a
new name Khewrite.

2.5.5 Contacts and Age

The upper contact with the Khewra Sandstone appears to be

confirmable. Salt range formation is totally devoid of fossils and is
considered to be of late proterozoic

In red Sahiwal
member of salt range in grey to maroon Khewra

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 A
small water drainage path also marks contact

2.6. STRUCTURES OBSEREVED IN SALT RANGE FORMATION

2.6.1 Chert nodules

2.6.2 Stalactite

2.6.3 Stalagmite

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 2.6.4 Khewraite

3. JEHLUM GROUP (CAMBRIAN ROCK SEQUENCE)

The Cambrian sequence in Salt Range is Characterized by dominance

of terrigeonous red beds largely composed of red gypseous marl with
rock salt at the base; maroon sandstone, dolomite and dolomitic
sandstone in the middle; and blood-red shale, flaggy sandstone with
salt Pseudomorphs in the upper part. The Cambrian sequence of Salt
Range has yielded several fossils. These have been referred to as
Redlichia fauna. In Potwar, Salt Range and Trans-Indus Ranges, the
Cambrian sequence is collectively known as the Jhelum Group and is
comprised of the Khewra Sandstone, Kussak Formation, Jutana
Formation and Baghanwala Foramtion.

3.1.Khewra Sandstone

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 It is previously known as the “Purple Sandstone Series” (Waynne
1878), this formation was named “Khewra Group” by Noetling (1984)
after the Khewra gorge near Khewra Town. This name has been now
formalized as Khewra Sandstone (Fatmi 1973). The Khewra Sandstone
overlies the Proterozoic Salt Range Formation without any apparent
disconformity. The type locality is the Khewra Gorge in the Eastern
Salt Range. The Khewra Sandstone consists mainly of reddish-brown
to purple, thick-bedded to massive sandstone with few brown shale
intercalations. The sandstone is characteristically cross bedded. It is
150 m thick at type locality in eastern Salt Range, and 80 m in the
Khisor Range. Apart from rare trace fossils interpreted as trilobite by
Schindewolf and Seilacher (1955), the formation is devoid of fossils.

Khewra Sandstone (maroon) in between Sahiwal Marl member (red)&

Kussak Formation(top)

The formation was probably deposited in an arid continental

environment, possibly under near shore to Aeolian conditions as can
be seen from frequency of cross laminations, ripple marks, sun cracks
and such surface marks as rain drop prints, worm burrows and
fucoid’s impressions.

Sedimentary structures in Khewra:

3.1.1 Fold

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3.1.2 Faults

3.1.3 Ripple Marks:

3.2 Kussak Formation

It was first named as “Obolus beds”by Waynne (1878) and later

“Neobolus beds” (Waynne 1885), this formation was named ‘Kussak
group’ by Noetling (1894). This name has been formalized as Kussak
Formation by the Stratigraphic Committee. The Kussak Formation

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rests disconformity over Khewra Sandstone, marked by a widespread,
thin conglomerate developed at the base of the Kussak Formation.

Type locality is near Fort Kussak in the eastern Salt Range. The
Kussak Formation is well exposed in the Salt Range between Jogi Tilla
(320 51’ N; 730 27’ E) in the east and Chiddru (320 33’ N; 710 46’ E) in
the west.

The Formation only consists of grey, silty and sandy, glauconite shale
with some sandstone intercalations and few black shale layers. The
thickness of the formation is 75 m at type locality, and locally more
than 200 m in the southern Punjab plain.

The Kussak Formation contains brachiopods and trilobites.. The

fauna together with glauconite content indicates a marine
depositional environment.

Contact between Khewra and Kussuk formation(Kussuk with light

grey color).

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The Kussuk Formation is conformably overlain by Jutana Formation,
which is a sandy dolomite.

3.2.1 GLUCONITE:

3.3 SEDIMENTARY FEATURES IN KUSSAK

3.3.1Burrows:

3.3.2 Alternate Bedding:

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3.4 Jutana Formation

Previously named “Magnesian Sandstone beds” by Fleming (1853) and

“Jutana Stage” by Noetling (1894), respectively overlies the Kussak
Formation conformably. Type locality is near the village of Jutana in
the eastern Salt Range. The formation has a distribution similar to the
Kussak Formation in the Salt and Khisor Ranges as in the eastern
and southern Potwar Basins, in the Mianwali Re-entrant and in the
Southern Punjab Plain.

The Formation has yielded some brachiopods, gastropods and

trilobites, among the Redlichia noetlingi and Pseudotheca subrugosa
(Teichert 1964), as well as Cruziana sp. (A. Seilcher, pers.commun.).
The fossils indicate a late Early Cambrian to early Middle Cambrian
age.

juttana formation overlying

3.4.1 STRUCTURES FOUND IN JUTTANA

3.4.2 CROSS BEDDING:

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3.4.3 IRON INCLUSSIONS:

3.4.4 DISSRUPTED BURROWS:

4 KHEWRA SALT MINE

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4.1.Discovery of the mine

It is said that when Alexander the Great visited sub-continent, coming

across the Jhelum and Mianwali region, Khewra Salt Mines were
discovered. The discovery of the mines was however was not made by
Alexander nor his "allies", but by his horse. It is stated that when
Alexander's army stopped here for rest, the horses started licking the
stones. One of his soldiers took notice of it and when he tasted the
rock stone, it was salty thus leading to the discovery of the mines.

4.2.Production from Khewra Salt Mines

Salt has been mined at Khewra since 320 BC, in an underground area
of about 110 sq. km. Khewra salt mine has proven reserves of 300
million tons. This reserve could not be consumed in 600 years even at
the rate of 5 lakh tons production every day. Current production from
the mine is around 3 lakh tons.

4.3.Mining method

Room-and-pillar mining is a popular underground method for bedded

deposits of potash, rock salt, and talc. Room-and-pillar mining is a
means of developing a mine and, at the same time, retaining supports
for the roof. With this technique, rooms are developed from large,
parallel tunnels driven into the solid salt, and the intervening pillars
of Salt are used to support the roof. The percentage of salt recovered
from a seam depends on the number and size of protective pillars of
salt thought necessary to support the roof safely.

4.4.Shades of Salt

Salt is transparent, white, pink, reddish to beef-color red. There are

beautiful alternate bands of red and white color salt.

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4.5 Indoor Brine Ponds

Inside the mine there are certain chambers filled with saturated brine
solution. The salty water seeps through mine walls and roof and
collects into these chambers overtime. There are several such water-
filled chambers in the mine but they are very difficult to see in the
dark. Only two such ponds have been illuminated for tourism
purposes. The approximate density of these ponds is 2.6.

4.6 Khewra Salt Mines, an Attraction for Visitors

Khewra Salt Mines is a salt mine in Pakistan, about 160 kilometers from Islamabad and 260
kilometers from Lahore. It attracts up to 40,000 visitors per year and is the second biggest
salt mine in the world. Situated at the foothills of the Salt Range, Khewra Salt Mines are the
oldest in the salt mining history of the sub-continent.

Chaghi Mountain Light-House Salt Wall

Salt mine has been decorated to develop the interest in tourists e.g. Basdshai Mosque
and inner decoration lights the decorated bridge, the electric train for the tourists and
different salt walls.

SEDIMENTARY STRUCTURES OBSERVED IN

KHEWRA GORGE & SALT MINE

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 5.1 Fault

Fault is a displacement of rock layers in the Earth's crust in response to

stress, accompanied by a break in the continuity of the rocks on each
side of the fault line.

5.2 Joints

Fault is crack in the crust of the earth along which there has been
movement of the rocks on either side of the crack. A crack without
movement is called a joint.

5.3 Burrows

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 Well preserved burrow

Disrupted burrow

5.4 Fold

Fold is a bend formed in a rock layer in response to the stresses

produced within the rock

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5.5 Stalactite

Conical pillar hanging in cave: A conical hanging pillar in a limestone

cave that has gradually built up as a deposit from ground water
seeping through the cave's roof.

Stalactite

5.6 Stalagmite

Conical pillar rising from cave floor: a conical pillar in a limestone cave
that is gradually built upward from the floor as a deposit from ground
water seeping through the cave of wall

5.7 CHERT NODULES

Chert is impure granular variety of cryptocrystalline quartz. The stone is

similar to flint but is more brittle. It is commonly gray, white, yellow, or
brown

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 CONCLUSION

In the area of our visit sedimentary features are mostly exposed e.g. joints, ripple
marks, fault, fold, salt leeching etc. The formations dated from Pre-Cambrian to
Cambrian period. In pre-cambrian period Sahiwal Marl, Bhandar Kas Gypsum and
Billianwala Salt Marl were members of Salt Range Formation, whereas in Cambrian
period Jhelum group includes Baghanwala Formation, Jutana Formation, Kussak
Formation and Khewra Sandstone. We also visited the Khewra salt mine, where we
observed the indoor Brine Ponds and different shades of salt. Interior embossing of
the salt mine increase the interest of the visitors.

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