Silurian of the Indian subcontinent and adjacent regions

An overview of the Silurian of the Indian subcontinent and adjacent regions, illustrated by ten statigraphic columns, underscores uncertainties in precise correlation. Silurian sequences with some biostratigraphic control are documented from the Dasht-e-Nawar region, Afghanistan; the Peshawar Basin, Pakistan; central Nepal; southernmost Tibet; and Shan State, Myanmar (Burma). Near-shore, primarily siliciclastic sequences with reef developments in the western Himalaya, that range from Late Ordovician to Middle and, conceivably, younger Silurian, are not tightly constrained biostratigraphy. Similar sequences in the central Himalaya, often referred to as the Muth Quartzite and regarded as broadly Devonian, are largely Silurian, but need renewed study. The Paleozoic of Bhutan, assumed by some to include Silurian rocks, appears to have a Middle Cambrian-late Devonian hiatus. There is urgent need for a multi-pronged re-investigation of these Silurian and associated late Ordovician and Devonian sequences, particularly if transgression-regression patters and changes in paloegeography are to be documented adequately.