Kulikhani Fm

Katmandu region (Tethyan sequence)

"The Kulikhani Formation consists of fine-grained quartz (10–70 %) and mica in various proportions, resulting in the bands of micaceous quartzite and quartzitic schist. In the rock, biotite always predominates over sericite, whereas sporadically occurring fine-grained garnet is rather exceptional and not characteristic of this formation. The Kulikhani Formation exhibits dark green-gray lustrous colors, which become subdued in more quartzitic bands. The beds are generally tens of centimeters thick, but there are also varieties of thin beds as well as laminated sequences of schist and quartzite. Some quartzite beds are graded, and others display cross-lamination. As in the Kalitar Fm, the foliation in the schist is oblique to its bedding, but such an arrangement is less characteristic of this formation. On the other hand, there is a well-developed crenulation cleavage in the schist and a strong lineation in the quartzite of the Kulikhani Formation. Some exceptionally rare bands of carbonate rocks (coarse crystalline marble) and thin dikes and sills of amphibolite are observed at a few places. The Kulikhani Formation is about 2,000 m thick and passes conformably and transitionally into the overlying Markhu Formation (Stöcklin and Bhattarai 1977, p. 28)."