Over time, Neoproterozoic rocks in Pakistan have intermittently attracted the interest of oil and gas exploration companies. However, despite these rocks having been penetrated by nearly 40 wells and being exposed in various parts of Pakistan, no serious efforts have yet been made to investigate their reservoir potential. Neoproterozoic rocks are exposed along the outer periphery of the Salt Range and Nagar Parker in Pakistan and in Rajasthan (India). Surface and subsurface data suggest a good correlation between outcrops in Rajasthan and wells in the Punjab Platform. However, the Neoproterozoic of the Punjab Platform seems to be somewhat different from that in Potwar, suggesting the existence of a kind of barrier or palaeo-high, separating the two basins. Proterozoic stromatolite found in a number of Himalayan sequences seems to be correlatable with similar facies encountered in other parts of the world, such as in the Abalog-1 and Yarba-1 wells in the Toudeni Basin in Mauritania and Mali, respectively. Glacial Pokhran boulder beds (representing snowball Earth) in the Hazara Basin, and reportedly in Pokran and Lawan across the border in India, also correlate with similar Neoproterozoic facies found in other parts of the world. Neoproterozoic offers a complete petroleum system. Regional data demand that the Neoproterozoic reservoir potential be re-evaluated, and a proper understanding of basinal configuration may play a vital role in future exploration success in this region.

Microfacies analysis and ammonite biostratigraphy of the Mianwali Formation of the Kala China Range were worked out on the basis of stratigraphic sections from Chak Jabbi and Bagh. Four microfacies were identified from the Chak Jabbi section while amrnonite biostratigraphy was studied from both the sections. Filamentous bivalves in micrite deposited along a shelf margin below normal wave base represent the first microfacies. The second microfacies contains bioclastic wackestone deposited in an open marine environment of normal salinity. The third microfacies consists of lime mudstone formed in a stressed environment of lagoonal conditions, whereas the fourth microfacies of dolomitised carbonate mudstone was formed by the diagenetic dolomitisation of the third microfacies. The new collection of ammonites includes Arctoceras tuberculatum, Anakashmirites aff. evolutus, Meekoceras gracilitatis, Stephanites sp., Pseudoceltites sp., Subvishnuites aff. welteri, Arnautoceltites sp., Owemtes sp. indet, Subvishnuites aff. enveris, Pseudosageceras sp. indet, Paranannites sp., Subcolumbites sp., Anasibrites sp., and Pseudaspidites sp, confirming the already known Sctythian age of the Mianwali Formation.

The present structural framework of the Kala Chitta Range evolved through movement between two detachment surfaces. The Precambrian Attock Slates acted as a basal detachment surface above which large scale horizontal compression took place to produce the main structural framework of the Kala Chitta Range. The Middle Eocene argillaceous and gypsiferous Kuldana Formation behaved as the upper detachment surface giving rise to blind thrusts which were later exposed due to the intense erosion of the overlying folded Miocene strata.