Regional Geology and Oil Potential of the Guajira Peninsula NW Venezuela and Aruba

Coastal View of NW Venezuela

EGI

E nergy & Geoscience Institute at the University of Utah

I00204

Energy & Geoscience Institute at the University of Utah

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EGI

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presence of arenaceous forms (assemblageof Valvulina flexilis). These faunas are interpreted to have inhabited a bathyal environment below carbonate compensation depth (CCD) (possibly over 1000 m). The upper interval also indicates very deep water deposition (1000-1500 m), although somewhat shallower in the uppermost portion of the formation (Diaz de Gamero, 1977a). The Pedregoso Formation is mostly limited to the southern and southwestern margins of the Serrania de San Luis (Fig. 30). Lithologically, it is characterized by shales interbedded with sandstonesand bioclastic limestones in beds less than one meter thick. The sandstone and limestone intercalations have been interpreted as proximal turbidites (Diaz de Gamero, 1977a). The PedregosoFormation is 124 meters thick at the type section in the Rio Mitare (Fig. 24). The formation thickens to the west as it grades into the __CastilloFormation and a maximum thickness of 938 meters is found in

Fig. 31.

Typical landscape resulting from exposures of the Pecaya Shale in the central portion of the Falc6n Basin.

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Fig. 33.

Erosional contact between underlying shales of the Agua Clara Fro and well bedded sandstones of the Cerro Pelado Fm exposed along the Coro-Barquisimeto road near the Rio Coro. This contact marks the passage from Cycle C to Cycle B.

Fig. 34.

Closer view of Fig. 33 showing the erosional contact betwen Cycles C and B and iron-stained crossbeddedsandstones at the base of the Cerro Pelado Fm. Large-scale channels are observed above this contact. The outcrop is -10m high.

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Fig. 35.

Close-up of Figs. 33 and 34 showing marked facies change between shales of the Agua Clara Fro and crossbeddedsandstonesof the Cerro Pelado Fm.

Formation, and in the sandstone-conglomerate facies of the Guarabal Formation (Gonzalez deJuana et al., 1980)(Figs. 29, 30, 32). The San Luis Formation consistsof massive,denseto finely crystalline, gray reef limestones. These rocks contain large foraminifera, algae, and, locally, large brain corals and bivalves (Wheeler, 1963). The maximum growth of the reef is restricted to the eastern portion of the Serrania de San Luis where someof these bodiesare more than 100 meters thick (Diaz de Gamero,1977a). To the west,the individual reefs are smaller and are intercalatedwith shales,marls, and few thin coalbeds. The northern portion of the reefal complex contains more clastic facies. Here, the reefal faciesdeveloped on top of a sandy to conglomeraticunit rich in detrital fragments of igneousorigin. A cyclic developmentof the reef and back-reef facies is characteristic, with shales passing upward to branching
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sandstones. The sandstones are usually crossbedded and contain ripple marks; lignite beds up to one meter thick are also found in this formation (Gonzalez de Juana et ai., 1980). In several localities - including the Quebrada Patiecitos, Quebrada Hombre Pintado, and in the Rio Coro - the baseof the Cerro Pelado Formation has a basal sandstone, approximately 20 meters thick (Liddle, 1946). The sandstones are welllithified, have a reddish ferruginous patina, and are crossbedded,with individual crossbedding sets of approximately 30 cm separated by thin (- 3 cm) intercalations of gray shale. A thin ironstone (- 5 cm thick) is found in the lowermost portion of the formation, delimiting the erosional contact with the underlying Agua Clara shales (Figs. 33-35). In the Quebrada Hombre Pintado (western Falcon), the basal sandstones are followed by 400 meters of micaceous ferruginous sandstones, inter-

Fig. 38.

Panorama looking south, taken north ofCoro. The first hills south ofCoro are composedof middle-late Miocene and Pliocene rocks of Cycle B (Cerro Pelado, Socorro, Caujarao, La Vela, and Coro Fms). The most distant hills are composed of rocks of Cycle C (Oligo-Miocene limestones of the San Luis Fro; Serrania de San Luis). -

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Fig. 39.

Steeply dipping and deformedsandstones, siltstones, and shales of the Caujarao Fm, near the town ofCaujaraosouthofCoro.

Toward the west,in the UrumacoTrough area,the Caujaraois replacedby the Urumaco Formation (Figs. 10, 36). This unit, which representsmore proximal faciesthan the CaujaraoFormation, is also divided into three members. A lower interval comprisesbrown to varicolored shales of marine and non-marine origin, with minor proportions of fossiliferous limestone. The shalescontain silicified woodfragments and thin coal veinlets (Ministerio de Minas, 1970). The middle member has a similar lithology, but contains a more abundant marine molluscan fauna. The upper member displays a renewedcontinental influence with thicker sandstone bedsand coaly intervals. The uppermost portion of the Urumaco Formation has a widely distributed bed containing abundant turtle fragments (~ortuga" Beds). The Urumaco Formation is approximately 1675 meters thick (Ministerio de MInas, 1970;

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Gonzalez de Juana et aI., 1980), and it is conformable with the underlying Socorro and the overlying Codore formations. The La Vela Formation conformably follows the Caujarao Formation in the La Vela de Coro area (Figs. 37, 40). This formation includes calcareous sandstones with intercalations of shales reflecting a beach environment in the base to an estuarine complex towards the top (Gonzalez de Juana et aI., 1980). Two members are distinguished in this formation. The lower member is 192 meters thick, and consists of 70% clays and 30% coarser sediments. The clays are bluish gray, but weather to reddish colors, and are occasionally fossiliferous and calcareous. The sandstones are impure, micaceous, calcareous, fossiliferous, and range in color from dark gray to maroon to yellowish. Conglomeratic sandstone intercalations, intervals .Pectensp. are observed within this formation. with Ostrea banks and

Fig. 40.

Yellowish silts and calcareous sandstones with Ostreabanks of the La Vela Fm, Coro-La Vela road near La Vela. .
..

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Fig. 42.

Typical exposureof the CapadareLimestone northwest of Tucacas,eastern FalconBasin.

Linda rests conformably on top of the Casupal Formation and is disconformably overlain by the Capadare limestones(Gonzalez deJuana et al., 1980).
Cycle A (Pliocene) During the Pliocene, sedimentation was reinitiated along the northern and eastern margins of the Falcon Basin. At this time, large portions of the basin had already been uplifted; thus, conglomeratic facies are common particularly in the northwestern and north-central portions of the basin. In the northwestern portion of the basin, Cycle A rocks are represented by silts and sandstones that pass upward into conglomerates (San Gregorio Formation). In the north-central portion of the basin, south of Coro, these sediments are predominantly conglomeratic (Coro Formation), whereas in the =low lands of the Paraguana Peninsula and the coastal area east of Cumarebo,

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Fig. 43.

Steeply dipping alluvial fan deposits of the Coro Formation exposed immediately south ofCoro.

mostly unfolded sequence equivalent to that of the anticlinorium. A northsouth cross-section of the basin presented in Figure 45 shows the structural relationship between the Falcon Anticlinorium and the coastal plain area. Muessig{1984) distinguished six structural trends within the Falcon Anticlinorium (Fig. 46): 1) East-west transcurrent faults. These are right-lateral faults of clear surface expression (Oca, San Sebastian). Evidence for right-lateral displacement along the Oca Fault has been presented by Feo-Codecido (1972) and Tschanz et al. (1974), among others. Isopach maps presented later in this work provide aditional evidence for this displace~ent. 2) East-u,restnormal faults. Several normal faults with this orientation are found in the Falcon Basin. The most conspicuous is the Ancon Fault, located south of the Oca Fault in western Falcon. The south coast of

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unpublished studies on shalesobtained from a water well demonstratedthe presenceof middle and late Miocene faunas in the Paraguana Peninsula (Hunter, pers. comm, 1986). The Cantaure Formation is correlated with the Cerro Pelado Formation of the Falcon Basin and representsCycle B in the ParaguanaPeninsula (Figs. 10,36). The Paraguana Formation comprisesthe large majority of sediments exposedin this Peninsula. The type locality is located 5 km east of Pueblo Nuevo where the road to Adicora cuts the low hills formedby thesebeds (Fig. 50). In this locality, the sectionis subdivided into a lower interval of shales and siltstones (EI Hato Member)and an upper interval of limestones(Amuay Member). The EI Hato Memberis at least 30 meters thick and is composed of cream-colored marine shalesbearing an abundantforaminiferal fauna, which are followed by more silty beds that form a laminated sequence of gray

Fig. 50.

Type section of the Paraguana Fm, 5 km east of Pueblo Nuevo on the road to Adicora (Fig. 11). The lithology includes light gray shales weathering to yellowish and reddish colors, with intercalations of sandy, silty. limestones bearing an abundant mollusc fauna (Glycimeris sp~,Ostrea sp., and pectinids).

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Fig. 51.

Contact between the lower (ELHato) and the upper (Amuay) members of the Paraguana Fro exposed along the road between Adicora and Pueblo Nuevo. The basal unit of the upper member consists of a massive fossiliferous limestone.

Fig. 52.

Close-up of Fig. 51 showing the trace fossil Ophiomorpha indicative of shallow water deposition.

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