Lithostratigraphy and vertebrate biostratigraphy of the early Miocene Himalayan Foreland, Zinda Pir Dome, Pakistan

Lithofacies, depositional environments, regional biostratigraphy and age of the Chitarwata Formation in the Bugti Hills, Balochistan, Pakistan

“…The type section of the Chitarwata Formation is approximately 400 m thick at Chitarwata Post in the Northern part of the Sulaiman Range, approximately 120 km north of the Zinda Pir area (Hemphill and Kidwai, 1973). Downing et al (1993) recognized three distinct units (lower, middle, upper) in the Chitarwata Formation at Dalana, in the Zinda Pir Dome. Lindsay et al (2005) reinterpreted the magnetic sequence and biostratigraphic correlation of the formation benefiting from new biochronologic interpretations proposed by Welcomme et al (2001) for the Bugti area.…”

“…The Chitarwata Formation is widely exposed throughout the eastern part of the Sulaiman Range, and consists of coastal, deltaic, and fluvial sediments that have yielded numerous fossil vertebrates. The Chitarwata Formation is now considered as partly Oligocene in age Welcomme et al, 2001), although it was originally regarded as an early Miocene unit that underlay Siwalik-like deposits of the region based both on fossil assemblages (Downing et al, 1993) and magnetostratigraphic data (Friedman et al, 1992). The age of the lowermost part of the formation remains contentious .…”

The occurrence of bothriodontines (Artiodactyla, Mammalia) in the Paleogene of Asia with special reference to Elomeryx: Paleobiogeographical implications

“…As in Section 1, a fragmentary upper molar (z273) from the Z108 locality in Zinda Pir Dome, Pakistan (Downing et al, 1993) is attributed to Elomeryx because its paraconule is somewhat wider than in Sivameryx, and not born by the preprotocrista as in the latter, its longer postparacristule that reaches the transverse valley and by its more lingually compressed protocone ( Fig. 2A-C).…”

“…These scarce remains (an isolated P4 and m2), considered to belong to Parabrachyodus by Russell and Zhai (1987), need to be re-examined. Lihoreau (2003) has recently demonstrated the occurrence of the genus Elomeryx in the late Oligocene-Early Miocene of the Zinda Pir Dome, Pakistan (Downing et al, 1993) but we suspect that numerous anthracothere fossil remains from the Paleogene of Asia have been misinterpreted. Xu (1977) described dental material from the late Middle Eocene Bose Basin (Kwangsi Province, southern China) that he referred to two new species of Bothriodon, B. chyelingensis (Naduo Formation) and B. tientongensis (Gongkang Formation).…”

A new amphicyonid (Mammalia, Carnivora, Amphicyonidae) from the late middle Miocene of northern Thailand and a review of the amphicyonine record in Asia

“…It is important to note that the 'Gaj series' of Pilgrim now corresponds to the Chitarwata Formation (Downing et al, 1993). At Lundo Chur, known fossil-bearing layers range from the basal late Oligocene (fossiliferous level F; Welcomme et al, 2001, Figs.…”