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Saidi Khola Formation
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Saidi Khola Fm base reconstruction

Saidi Khola Fm

Period: 
Calymmian

Age Interval: 
early Calymmian


Province: 
Nepal Lesser Himalaya

Type Locality and Naming

Tansen and lower Kali Gandaki region


Lithology and Thickness

"The Saidi Khola Formation is represented mainly by a rhythmic interbedding of sandstones and shales. It is 180 m thick at its type section in the Saidi Khola. The beds of the Saidi Khola Formation gradually become thinner upwards, and finally at the top appear bioturbated rhythmites."


Lithology Pattern: 
Clayey sandstone


Relationships and Distribution

Lower contact

"A 2–3 m thick basal bed of the Saidi Khola Formation rests conformably over the last stromatolitic dolomite bed of the Khoraidi Fm. The basal bed comprises a 1–4 mm (exceptionally up to 1 cm) thick interlaminated sequence of quartzose sandstone and black shale."

Upper contact

Underlies the Ramdighat Fm black claystone then dolomite at the base of the Upper Kali Gandaki Gr.

Regional extent


GeoJSON

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Fossils


Age 

Martin (2017) schematically suggests early Calymmian (ca. 1570 Ma)

Age Span: 

    Beginning stage: 
Calymmian

    Fraction up in beginning stage: 
0.15

    Beginning date (Ma): 
1,570.00

    Ending stage: 
Calymmian

    Fraction up in the ending stage: 
0.2

    Ending date (Ma):  
1,560.00

Depositional setting

"The rhythmites of the Saidi Khola Formation were deposited in an intertidal environment (Sakai 1985, p. 363)."


Depositional pattern:  


Additional Information


Compiler:  

Descriptions from Megh Raj Dhital (2015, Geology of Nepal: Regional Perspective of the Classic Collided Orogen, Springer Publ., 499 pp.). Age spans estimated from correlation diagrams in Martin, A.J. (2017, "A review of Himalayan stratigraphy, magmatism, and structure", Gondwana Research, 49: 42-80; http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.gr.2017.04.031), but these are often controversial.