Author(s)

Muhammad Sadiq Malkani^1*, Muhammad Ilyas², Riffat Yasin³, Asghar Abbas³, Khizar Samiullah⁴, Tehreem Raza⁵, Syed Sibt E. Hassan⁴, Rana Mehrooz Fazal⁴, Aqsa Noor⁴, Aeman Malik⁶

¹Geological Survey of Pakistan, Muzaffarabad, Pakistan.
²University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China.
³Faculty of Veterinary and Animal Sciences, MNSUA, Multan.
⁴Department of Zoology, Ghazi University, Dera Ghazi Khan, Pakistan.
⁵Department of Zoology, GC University, Faisalabad, Pakistan.
⁶Institute of Pure and Applied Biology, Bahauddin Zakariya University, Multan, Pakistan.

Northern Koh Sulaiman foldbelt, Shirani, North and South Waziristan (South Punjab, Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa) comprised mostly PermoTriassic to Recent sediments with subordinate igneous and metamorphic rocks. These sedimentary strata folded and faulted by geodynamic and tectonic forces occurred during Late Cretaceous to Recent revealed through anticlinal and synclinal foldings and active faultings. The Northern Koh Sulaiman foldbelt, Shirani, North and South Waziristan areas host many economic minerals like copper and chromite, construction stones, marble limestones, gypsum and cement resources, uranium and other radioactive mineral resources, low-quality iron, phosphate and muddy coal, high-quality gemstones, petroleum potential and excellent water resources and many other rocks and minerals. High-quality window and faden quartz crystals deposited in fractures and fissures as vugs and veins deposited by high-temperature hypothermal solution created by the tectonic compression process. The area has economic chromite and magnesite deposits. The Northern Koh Sulaiman foldbelt, Shirani, North and South Waziristan areas have large cement raw materials/resources (limestones, gypsum and shale/clays available mostly on same sites) which vitally need to install many cement industries in these areas because the ideal central location and now only one cement industry (Dera Ghazi Khan cement industry) is in operation. The Northern Koh Sulaiman foldbelt, Shirani, North and South Waziristan consists of excellent surface water resources which need the construction of smaller and medium-sized dams on different rud kohi/streams/rivers for the development of the area. Sakhi Sarwar area of Dera Ghazi Khan (South Punjab) yielded fossil of new Tomistominae (False Gharial) Gavialidae and further its surroundings recently yielded fossils of famous vertebrates like reptiles (dinosaurs, crocodiles, pterosaur and snake), birds and mammals, and tracks/trackways of Late Cretaceous archosaurs like Sauropaonia, Ornithopaonia and Pteropaonia.

Stratigraphy, Tectonic Structures, Economic Minerals, New False Gharial, Northern Sulaiman Foldbelt, Shirani, North and South Waziristan, Pakistan

Malkani, M. , Ilyas, M. , Yasin, R. , Abbas, A. , Samiullah, K. , Raza, T. , Hassan, S. , Fazal, R. , Noor, A. and Malik, A. (2022) Geology of Northern Sulaiman Foldbelt, Shirani and Waziristan Regions (South Punjab, Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa): New Tomistominae (Miocene False Gharial) from Sakhi Sarwar Area of Dera Ghazi Khan (South Punjab), Pakistan. Open Journal of Geology, 12, 521-564. doi: 10.4236/ojg.2022.126025.