Babatag Fm

Includes in Khation Region, Darvaz district, Hisar-Zarafshan ranges

Upper substage of the Aptian stage and Albian stage in the Turkestan, Zarafshan-Gissar, South Gissar, Karategin, Dushanbe, Qafirnigan, Vakhsh, Zaalai and Darvaz districts includes five horizons: 1 – Karakuz (Upper Aptian - Lower Albian); 2 - Derbent (Lower Albian); 3 - Babatag (Middle Albian); 4 – Akkapchigay (Upper Albian); 5 - Shirabad (Upper Albian). Corresponding to these are variegated sandstones, argillites and clays containing layers of limestone, less often gypsum and conglomerates. Their total thickness is 100-800 m.

Synonym: Babatag horizon, Babatag suite, upper Mingbatman suite, lower Jetimtausk suite

In the South Gissar, Dushanbe, and Kafirnigan districts, this horizon is represented by the Babatag suite (Andreev, 1969b), consisting of limestones and shell-coquinas interbedded with gray and variegated clays, marls, and sandstones. The thickness is 20-120 m. In the Zeravshan-Gissar, Karategin, Vakhsh, Zaalaik, and Darvaz districts, the Babatag horizon is represented by red-colored sandstones and siltstones of the upper part of the Mingbatman suite, and possibly variegated sandstones, siltstones, and clays with rare layers of shell-coquinas from the lower part of the Jetimtausk suite. The thickness of the horizon is 25-100 m. The upper part of the Mingbatman suite contains a sharply impoverished fauna complex similar to that of the Babatag suite.

In the South Gissar, Dushanbe, and Kafirnigan districts, it contains a rich and diverse complex of marine and brackish water fauna, characteristic of the entire middle Albian - from the zone of Hoplites dentatus to the zone of Anahoplites rossicus (Andreev, 1969b).