Kala Chitta Range (in Punjabi and Urdu: کالا چٹا Kālā Chiṭṭā) is a mountain range in the Attock District of Punjab, Pakistan. Kala- Chitta are Punjabi words meaning Kala the Black and Chitta means white. The range thrusts eastward across the Potohar plateau towards Rawalpindi.[1][2][3]
| Kala Chitta | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Highest point | |
| Elevation | 841 m (2,759 ft) |
| Coordinates | 33°43′N 72°10′E / 33.717°N 72.167°E |
| Naming | |
| Native name | کالا چٹا (Punjabi) |
| Geography | |
  Kala Chitta | |
| Country | Pakistan |
| Provinces | Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa |
Pakistan's Kuldana Formation is best known for its fossil Eocene mammals, including primitive cetaceans such as Pakicetus, Ambulocetus and Attockicetus. Kuldana mammals have been considered in different studies as coming from the early Lutetian (early Middle Eocene), late Ypresian (late early Eocene) or, more recently, encompassing much of Ypresian up to early Lutetian time (early part of the early Eocene to early Eocene medium).[4]
Kuldana Formation
editThe Kuldana Formation is located in the Kata Chita hills and is a thin, 20-120 m thick tongue of low-lying continental red beds that lie within a much thicker sequence of foraminifera-rich marine formations. Shallow planktonic and benthic foraminifera limit the age of the Kuldana Formation to the late early or early middle Eocene, and the current interpretation of global sea level stratigraphy favours the latter.[5]
The short duration of the low-water interval when Kuldana mammals were discovered means that differences between samples likely represent differences in local living environments, deposition sites, and sampling, rather than a substantial difference in age.[5]
Kohat formation
editThe Kohat formation consists of calcareous shale and light grey limestone. It lies on top of the Kuldana formation and intermingles with the Murree formation of the Rawalpindi group.[6] Formation in the middle Eocene.[7]
Notes
edit- ^ "The Salt Range and Potwar Plateau". Plains and Plateaus of Pakistan. Pakistan Paedia. Retrieved 6 August 2012.
- ^ "Kala Chitta Range".
- ^ "Map of the study area (Kala Chitta hills, District Attock, Pakistan). | Download Scientific Diagram". Retrieved 11 May 2023.
- ^ Arshad, M.; Ahmad, M.; Ahmed, E.; Saboor, A.; Abbas, A.; Sadiq, S. (2014). "An ethnobiological study in Kala Chitta hills of Pothwar region, Pakistan: Multinomial logit specification". Journal of Ethnobiology and Ethnomedicine. 10: 13. doi:10.1186/1746-4269-10-13. PMC 3914733. PMID 24467739.
- ^ a b Gringerich, Philip (2003). "Stratigraphic and micropaleontological constraints on the middle Eocene age of the mammal-bearing Kuldana Formation of Pakistan". Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology. 23 (3): 643–651. Bibcode:2003JVPal..23..643G. doi:10.1671/2409. S2CID 131407382. Retrieved 10 September 2020.
- ^ Hamid, Hussein (2018). "Structural Evolution of the Kohat Fold and Thrust Belt in the Shakardarra Area (South Eastern Kohat, Pakistan)". Geosciences. 8 (9): 311. Bibcode:2018Geosc...8..311H. doi:10.3390/geosciences8090311.
- ^ Geology of the Lower Jurassic Datta Formation, Kala Chitta Range, Pakistan pu.edu.pk