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Nupra Formation
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Nupra Fm base reconstruction

Nupra Fm

Period: 
Jurassic

Age Interval: 
Late Jurassic


Province: 
Nepal Tethyan Himalaya

Type Locality and Naming

Named after Nupra in Thakkhola valley north of Annapurna and south of Tibet.

Synonym: Nupra Shale, Spiti Shale, Spiti Fm Spiti Shale Fm (projected regional facies from Spiti in NW India Himalaya). " The Spiti Shale is perhaps the most characteristic, well-known and long-established stratigraphic interval of the whole Tethys Himalaya (Stoliczka, 1866). The term "Nupra Shale'' – inopportunely introduced by Gradstein et al. (1989) for the tectonized Thakkhola Graben sections – is a local names that should be dropped as younger synonyms. (Garzanti, 1999)". [NOTE: The Spiti Shale in the type area is reported to extend through Valanginian – see upper contact below, whereas the lowest Cretaceous in Nepal is the Dangardzong Fm and lower part of the Kagbeni Fm, therefore Nupra Fm is temporarily retained in this Lexicon for the Nepal equivalent.]


Lithology and Thickness

Black shale, rich in pyritized ammonites. Ca. 150 m.


Lithology Pattern: 
Claystone


Relationships and Distribution

Lower contact

Overlies the Dangar Fm

Upper contact

Overlain by Dangardzong Fm. "The top of the Spiti Shale is markedly diachronous along the Tethys Himalaya: in the Spiti-Zanskar Synclinorium the locally arenaceous upper part of the unit ("Lochambel Beds'') has long been reported to reach into the Valanginian in the outer part of the continental terrace (e.g. Uhlig, 1910; Krishna, 1983; Garzanti, 1991a), whereas in S. Tibet it may have been locally replaced by volcaniclastics close and possibly even before the end of the Tithonian (G. Salvini in Jadoul et al., 1998)."

Regional extent

"The Upper Jurassic all along the Tethys Himalaya is represented by offshore, ammonoid-rich black mudrocks (Spiti Shale). Stratigraphic thickness varies laterally from a few tens to some hundred metres, with average accumulation rates remaining around 10 m/Myr at most, while India was gradually drifting towards middle southern latitudes characterized by more humid temperate climates. In Dolpo and from the Manang to the Burhi Gandaki/Shiar regions, the Spiti Shale represents the youngest exposed stratigraphic unit, commonly found at the core of tight synclines; Lower Cretaceous clastics are preserved only in the Thakkhola Graben."


GeoJSON

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Fossils

Ammonite-rich.


Age 

"The unit in Nepal is middle Oxfordian to latest Tithonian in age (Bordet et al., 1967; Nagy et al., 1995)."

Age Span: 

    Beginning stage: 
Oxfordian

    Fraction up in beginning stage: 
0.3

    Beginning date (Ma): 
159.51

    Ending stage: 
Tithonian

    Fraction up in the ending stage: 
1.0

    Ending date (Ma):  
143.10

Depositional setting


Depositional pattern:  


Additional Information


Compiler:  

Merger of Garzanti (1999, "Stratigraphy and sedimentary history of the Nepal Tethys Himalaya passive margin", Jour. Asian Earth Sci., 17: 805-827] and Gradstein et al. (1991, "Mesozoic Tethyan strata of Thakkhola, Nepal: evidence for the drift and breakup of Gondwana." Palaeogeogr. Palaeoclim. Palaeoecol 88, 193-218)