Phanerozoic Evolution of Bolivia and

Adjacent Regions

Thierry Sempere
Convenio YPFBOrstom
Santa Cruz, Bolivia

Abstract

T he geologic evolution of Bolivia and the central Andean system during the past 500 m.y. was largely
controlled by the geodynamics of the South American margin of western Gondwana. The Phanerozoic
strata were deposited in mainly marine environments until the Early Triassic, after which continental environ-
ments predominated. However, there were six restricted marine transgressions in the Late CretaceousDanian
and one in the late Miocene.
The Late CambrianEarly Ordovician margin was initially a passive margin. It became an active one during
a Middle Ordovician compressional episode and was controlled by large-scale transtensional or transpres-
sional conditions from the Late Ordovician to the Triassic. The Late OrdovicianMississippian evolution was
characterized by vigorous subsidence of the marine foreland, which was filled with thick, shallowing-upward
sequences showing northeastward onlaps. Ashgill and latest DevonianMississippian glaciomarine and fluctu-
ating sea level processes are recorded in the succession. Shallow marine carbonates, marls, and sandstones, as
well as some evaporites and eolianites, were deposited during PennsylvanianEarly Triassic time.
After Middle Triassic rifting was aborted, the Bolivian basin behaved in a cratonic way until it was caught
up in the Andean system due to the onset of transtension along the margin in the Late Jurassic. It became part
of the Andean foreland domain in early Senonian time. Andean thrust deformation propagated into Bolivia
from the west in the late Oligocene and progressed eastward through Neogene time.
Organic-rich units correlate with Paleozoic highstand deposits and younger transgressions. Generation,
migration, and trapping of hydrocarbons depended mainly on Cenozoic sedimentary burial and tectonic
loading and hence on propagation of Andean deformation.

Resumen

L a evolucin geolgica de Bolivia y de los Andes centrales durante los ltimos 500 Ma fue controlada en
gran parte por la geodinmica del margen sudamericano del Gondwana occidental. Los estratos fanero-
zoicos se depositaron en ambientes principalmente marinos hasta el Trisico inferior, y predominantemente
continentales posteriormente. Sin embargo, seis transgresiones marinas restringidas ocurrieron en el Cretcico
superior-Daniano, and una en el Mioceno superior.
El margen Cmbrico superior-Ordovcico inferior era inicialmente un margen pasivo. Se volvi activo
durante un episodio compresivo en el Ordovcico medio, y estuvo controlado por condiciones transtensionales
o transpresionales de gran escala del Ordovcico superior al Trisico. Una fuerte subsidencia del antepas
marino, rellenado por espesas secuencias de somerizacin que presentan un traslape hacia el noreste, carac-
teriz el perodo Ordovcico superior-Mississippiano. Procesos glaciomarinos (Ashgilliano y Devnico
terminal-Mississippiano) y fluctuaciones eustticas se registran en la sucesin. Carbonatos, margas, y areniscas,
de agua somera, y algunas evaporitas y eolianitas, se depositaron durante el intervalo Pennsylvaniano-Trisico
inferior.
Posteriormente al aborto del rifting del Trisico medio, la cuenca boliviana se comport de manera
cratnica, hasta su captura en el sistema andino por la iniciacin en el Jursico superior de condiciones
transtensivas a lo largo del margen. Se volvi parte del antepas andino en el Senoniano inferior. En el
Oligoceno superior, la deformacin andina empez a propagarse en Bolivia desde el oeste por medio de cabal-
gamientos, y progres hacia el este durante el Neogeno.
Las unidades ricas en materia orgnica corresponden a depsitos paleozoicos de alto nivel marino y a trans-
gresiones ms jvenes. La generacin, la migracin y el entrampamiento de los hidrocarburos han dependido
principalmente del soterramiento sedimentario y de la carga tectnica cenozoicos, es decir de la propagacin
de la deformacin andina.

Sempere, T., 1995, Phanerozoic evolution of Bolivia and adjacent regions, in A. J. Tankard, 207
R. Surez S., and H. J. Welsink, Petroleum basins of South America: AAPG Memoir 62,
p. 207230.
208 Sempere
INTRODUCTION
Bolivia is of particular interest because it possesses an
almost complete Phanerozoic stratigraphy that has
recorded the evolution of the nearby Pacific margin of
western Gondwana. New data collected in the past 10
years, combined with the use of modern methods in
stratigraphy and basin analysis, permit a better under-
standing of its regional Phanerozoic geologic history.
Bolivia was located on the edge of cratonic Gondwana
during most of the Phanerozoic. This geotectonic location
explains the high subsidence rates reflected in the great
thicknesses of many of the stratigraphic units and the
comparatively small amount of magmatism and tecton-
ism prior to Neogene time.
The purpose of this paper is to summarize new and
mostly unpublished stratigraphic and paleogeographic
data concerning Bolivia, to outline the Phanerozoic
geologic evolution of the central Andean area, and to
suggest how these data could be useful to hydrocarbon
exploration.
STRUCTURAL SETTING
Three broad geomorphic provinces are recognized in
Bolivia: the Andes mountains in the southwest, the
Guapor shield in the northeast, and between them, the
Beni-Chaco plain, which is the present-day foreland
basin (Figure 1). The Bolivian Andes are comparatively
Figure 1General structure of the
area of interest. Study area and
Bolivia-Peru basin are shown in
insert. Symbols: dotted lines,
drainage divides; finely dashed
lines, national boundaries;
hatchured, western Andes
(Sempere et al., 1989, 1990b, 1991);
crystalline pattern, Khenayani
Turuchipa paleostructural corridor
(CPKT) in the northwest, and
northeastern boundary of Chaco
Boreal high in the southeast.
Structural elements and domains
(most are Spanish): CALP, main
Altiplanic thrust; CANP, main
Andean thrust; CFP, main frontal
thrust; FA, Apurimac fault; FLIA,
intra-Andean boundary fault
(conjectural); SFK, Khenayani fault
system; CB, Chapare buttress; CI,
Cuzco indenter; CK, Calama knot;
MI, Mizque indenter; SB, Susques
buttress; VH, Vilcamba hinge;
FPCH, Huarina fold and thrust belt;
SAB, sub-Andean belt; SBS, Santa
Brbara system; TTB, Tarija-
Teoponte belt; UCU, Ulloma-
Coipasa-Uyuni domain. Cities: An,
Antofagasta; Ar, Arequipa; As,
Asuncin; Cb, Cochabamba; Ch,
Charagua; Cr, Corumb; P, Potos;
S, Salta; SC, Santa Cruz; T, Tarija.
young and only started to form in the late Oligocene
(Sempere et al., 1990a). In the Bolivian orocline, late
OligoceneRecent deformation propagated toward the
east and northeast through what had been the eastern
part of the Andean depositional area. Consequently, the
Bolivian Andes provide many excellent exposures of
Phanerozoic strata, of better quality and easier access
than their counterparts in the sub-Andean rain forests of
central and northern Peru. Andean Bolivia is an ideal
place to study the stratigraphy and paleogeography of
the margin of western Gondwana.
During most of Late OrdovicianPaleogene time,
Bolivia was located close to the southern tip of a trough
that ran parallel to the Pacific margin of South America
and that generally deepened toward the north or
northwest along its axis. This trough, called the Bolivia-
Peru basin in this paper, was confined to the south by the
Sierras Pampeanas area in northwestern Argentina
during this time interval. An important consequence of
this geometry is that, from Late Ordovician to early
Paleocene time, marine transgressions flooded into
Bolivia from the northwest.
Between about 450 and 145 Ma, most of Bolivia
consisted of a large sedimentary basin that was subjected
to only local compressional deformation. The Silurian
Devonian to Middle Jurassic stratigraphy of Bolivia
closely resembles that of the widespread Chaco-Paran
basin of southern Brazil, eastern Paraguay, northwestern
Uruguay, and northeastern Argentina (Sempere, 1990),
suggesting that the Bolivian strata were deposited in a

region that was relatively stable and cratonic in nature
(Oller and Sempere, 1990). The present-day Beni-Chaco
basin, into which Andean deformation is still propa-
gating, is the undeformed remnant of the Bolivia-Peru
basin.
The extensional processes that culminated in the
opening of the South Atlantic from the latest Jurassic
onward dissected and diminished the old depocenter,
the western part of which became involved in the Pacific
margin geotectonic system (Sempere, 1994). Little sedi-
mentation but considerable pedogenesis occurred in the
sub-Andean-Beni-Chaco basin between Late Jurassic and
early Oligocene time. The productive sub-Andean-Beni-
Chaco basin thus records two superimposed histories of
evolution spanning the early PaleozoicJurassic (pericra-
tonic Gondwana) and late OligoceneRecent (Andean)
intervals.
Andean thrust deformation propagated into Bolivia
after 27 Ma by taking advantage of several dcollement
levels in Paleozoic shales of the Bolivia-Peru basin
(Sempere et al., 1989, 1990a). A close control on the
geometry of Andean deformation was imposed by the
geometry of the Paleozoic basin and its sedimentary fill
(Sempere et al., 1989, 1991; Hrail et al., 1990). Propaga-
tion of thrust deformation and sedimentary and tectonic
burying of Paleozoic organic-rich units have also
controlled hydrocarbon migration and distribution.
Present-day geometries of Phanerozoic paleogeogra-
phies suggest that Andean deformation was consider-
able in the Bolivian orocline, involving a higher short-
ening in its northwest-trending segment and trans-
current motions (Figure 2). The southern half of Andean
Bolivia is crossed by a major northeast-striking structural
element known as the Khenayani-Turuchipa paleostruc-
tural corridor (CPKT) (Figure 1), which controlled
Phanerozoic sedimentation and deformation in south-
western Bolivia (Sempere et al., 1991). Paleogeographic
data suggest that the northeastern edge of the Chaco
Boreal high was the continuation of the CPKT before
Andean deformation (Figure 1). It is believed that offset
of this paleogeographic marker by Andean deformation
offers an eloquent illustration of the dextral tectonic
displacement that occurred in the southern part of the
orocline (~500 km cumulative). Large amounts of trans-
current displacements in this region are attributed to
rotation of the Vilcabamba hinge zone in southern Peru
at the northern end of the orocline (VH in Figure 1)
(Sempere et al., 1989).
STRATIGRAPHY
In Andean Bolivia, the basement consists of Upper
Proterozoic or Lower Cambrian rocks that crop out in a
few places. Deformed epimetamorphic rocks are known
in the Tarija area, along the Chapare road northeast of
Cochabamba, and at Cerro Chilla south of Lake Titicaca.
These rocks show similarities to the Puncoviscana
Formation of northwestern Argentina. The Yanahuanca
Formation of the central Peruvian Andes (Dalmayrac et
Phanerozoic Evolution of Bolivia and Adjacent Regions 209
al., 1980) and the basal part of the Marcona Formation of
southern coastal Peru (Faro and San Juan members)
(Shackleton et al., 1979) apparently have similar litholo-
gies and deformation styles.
Deformed rocks of NeoproterozoicEocambrian age
in eastern Bolivia define a west-northwest striking
wrench fault zone along the southern edge of the
Guapor shield. This fault zone splays in central Bolivia
and becomes an east-northeast trending fold and thrust
belt (Zubieta-Rossetti et al., 1993). This large-scale
structure is EarlyMiddle Cambrian in age; the Chapare
buttress (Hrail et al., 1990; Sempere et al., 1990a) is
related to it.
The Phanerozoic chronostratigraphy of Bolivia is not
well constrained and requires more biostratigraphic,
geochronologic, and sequence stratigraphic work. For
instance, the Devonian and Carboniferous biostratig-
raphy suffers from many discrepancies among authors
and among fossil groups (e.g., see Racheboeuf et al.,
1993, for the Devonian). The origin of some of these
discrepancies may partially lie in continental-scale
diachroneity of fossil groups.
Most Late CambrianEarly Triassic strata are of
marine origin, with many dark shale units recording sea
level highs. Middle TriassicRecent strata were mainly
deposited in continental environments.
The Bolivian Phanerozoic stratigraphy can be divided
into eight main supersequences (with approximate
durations given in parentheses) (modified from Sempere,
1990):
1. Tacsara supersequence: Late Cambrianmiddle
Caradoc (80 m.y. or more)
2. Chuquisaca supersequence: late Caradocmiddle
Famennian (85 m.y.)
3. Villamontes supersequence: late Famennian
Mississippian (40 m.y.)
4. Cuevo supersequence: PennsylvanianEarly
Triassic (85 m.y.)
5. Serere supersequence: Middle TriassicMiddle
Jurassic (95 m.y.)
6. Puca A+B supersequence: latest JurassicTuronian
(56 m.y.)
7. Puca C supersequence: Senonianmiddle
Paleocene (31 m.y.)
8. Corocoro supersequence: latest PaleoceneRecent
(57 m.y. or more)
Definition of these eight stratigraphic intervals is
based solely on the sedimentary record and not on
tectonic or magmatic information. The boundaries
between these supersequences are generally sharp. In the
Chaco basin, the boundary between the Villamontes and
Cuevo supersequences is not as sharp as it is in north-
western Bolivia. It is difficult to separate the Cuevo and
Serere intervals in western Bolivia and southern Peru
because of magmatism and deformation during the
middle PermianEarly Jurassic. Grouping of the Villam-
ontes, Cuevo, and Serere supersequences, which coincide
with the formation and subsequent dispersal of Pangea,
would thus be possible.
210 Sempere

(facing page)
Figure 2Paleozoic paleogeography for various time
intervals. Geographic reference marks and Neogene
tectonostratigraphic boundaries as in Figure 1. Hachures
show approximate extent of basin. Arrows are mean paleo-
currents; arrow tips are location of data. (A) Late
CambrianEarly Ordovician paleogeography. Depositional
facies are mainly turbidites around the Puna aulacogen
and distal to proximal shelf sediments in other outcrop
areas. 1, Mainly mafic eruptive rocks; 2, high gravity
anomaly of Gtze et al. (1988). Paleocurrents outside
Bolivia after Niemeyer et al. (1985), Moya (1988), and
Bahlburg (1990). (B) Llandeilomiddle Caradoc paleogeo-
graphy. All known depositional facies are shallow marine.
1, Caradoc mafic volcanics (Avila, 1992); 2, acid plutonism,
possibly of magmatic arc; 3, known area affected by Middle
Ordovician deformation; 4, structural strikes. (C) Ashgill
Llandovery paleogeography. Facies are mainly resedi-
ments. Dotted line, eastern limit of Tokochi Formation;
tight hachures, Cancairi Formation is >250 m thick; loose
hachures, Cancairi is <100 m thick; 1, Iron-rich rocks; 2,
probable ongoing magmatism. Note influence of CPKT on
paleogeography. The Caradoc mafic volcanics of shown in
(B) may have been erupted at beginning of this interval.
Data from Paraguay after Dyck (1992). (D) Wenlockmiddle
Famennian paleogeography. Loose hachures, mainly
shallow marine shale and sandstone (Bolivia-Peru basin);
tight hachures, DevonianEarly Mississippian turbidites,
highly deformed in northwest-trending recumbent folds
during Mississippian (El Toco Formation, northern Chile);
1, Wenlock limestone; 2, PridoliLochkovian paleocur-
rents; 3, latest Eifelianearly Givetian paleocurrents;
4, Frasnianmiddle Famennian paleocurrents; 5, little
deformed shallow marine Middle Devonian sandstones
associated with Arequipa massif; 6, interstratified tuffs;
7, San Nicols batholith; 8, erosional boundary of Devonian
in Bolivia. Successive edges of basin: A-L, AshgillLlan-
dovery; W, Wenlock; L, earliest Lochkovian; E, Emsian.
Mafic sills, dikes, and flows occur in Devonian strata of the
Peruvian and northwestern Bolivian sub-Andean belt. Data
partially from Mgard (1978), Dalmayrac et al. (1980),
Breitkreuz (1986), ENAP (1988, personal communication),
Mukasa and Henry (1990), and YPFB (proprietary data).
(E) Mississippian paleogeography. 1, continental to
shallow marine facies; 2, slope and basinal deposits,
mainly resediments; 3, most distal facies; 4, Late Devonian
or Mississippian folding; 5, structural strikes; U, uplifted
areas (CBU, Chaco Boreal high; MU, Madidi uplift; GCU,
Guapor craton uplift). Although they varied with time, all
Mississippian mean paleocurrents are integrated here,
including data from Helwig (1972) and Breitkreuz (1986).
Note reorganization of paleocurrents and arches compared
with previous period. Hercynian deformation is indicated
only where it is reliably identified; it was confused with
Late PermianEarly Triassic or Late Triassic deformation in
some areas. Paleogeography in eastern Peru is tentative; it
probably included Mississippian uplifts, but deposits in
this area were locally eroded prior to the Cretaceous
(Mgard, 1978). (F) PennsylvanianEarly Permian paleo-
geography. Wavy line, erosional boundary of basin in sub-
Andean-Beni-Chaco region; 1, shallow marine carbonates,
Bolivia-Peru basin; 2, fluvioeolian sandstones; 3, limestone
intercalations in Cangapi Formation; 4, marine deposits
(carbonates) of northern Chile and southern coastal Peru
(after Breitkreuz, 1991); 5, marine or fluvial paleocurrents;
6, progradation of eolianites; 7, axis of Bolivia-Peru basin;
8, magmatism; 9, interstratified volcanics; 10, Late Penn-
sylvanian intraarc lake of Breitkreuz (1991).
Phanerozoic Evolution of Bolivia and Adjacent Regions 211
In this paper, the terms supersequence, megasequence,
and sequence, in order of decreasing thickness, are used
for stratigraphic units bounded by sharp contacts.
LATE CAMBRIANMIDDLE CARADOC
Strata of Late Cambrianmiddle Caradoc age are
exposed in the Cordillera Oriental, southern Altiplano,
and some parts of the sub-Andean belt of Bolivia
(Surez-Soruco, 1976). They are unknown in the Ulloma-
Coipasa-Uyuni domain (Figure 1). The oldest outcrop-
ping rocks in the north are of late Proterozoic or Early
Cambrian age and are overlain by Upper Cretaceous
strata, whereas in central and southern Bolivia, the
Ashgill age Cancairi Formation crops out as the basal
dcollement of the local thrusts. Avila (1992) has
reviewed the coeval igneous rocks of Bolivia.
The base of this supersequence is exposed in the Tarija
area and along the Cochabamba-Chapare road. In most
of the outcropping area, the basal dcollement of the
Andean thrusts is located in LowerMiddle Ordovician
shales and no older strata are exposed. These successions
are generally thick and monotonous.
In the Tarija area, the sequence begins with shallow
marine clastics, which grade upward to thick, open
marine graptolitic shales with subordinate turbidites and
slumps. Paleocurrent data and facies distributions from
southern Bolivia, northwestern Argentina, and northern
Chile define a north to north-northeast trending trough
(Figure 2A) (Sempere, 1989, 1991a; Bahlburg, 1990). In
the southern part of this trough, ophiolitic rocks
(Allmendinger et al., 1983) and a large positive gravity
anomaly suggesting the presence of a dense substrate
(Gtze et al., 1988) are documented. This early Paleozoic
trough was apparently underlain by a substantially
thinned crust.
In southwestern Bolivia, the Upper Cambrian
Llanvirn sequence is affected by compressional deforma-
tion. In northernmost Argentina, beds of Ashgill and
Llandovery age clearly postdate this deformation
(Isaacson et al., 1976; Benedetto et al., 1992; M. C. Moya,
1992, personal communication). In the Tarija area, the
Ashgill age Cancairi Formation directly overlies
ArenigLlanvirn strata. This Ocloyic deformation
increases from east to west, and a strong cleavage
appears in southwestern Bolivia. It therefore documents
a significant compressional event and uplift of
LlandeiloCaradoc age (Sempere, 1989, 1990, 1991a).
However, this deformation is unknown north of 20 S lat
in Bolivia. The orientations of cleavages (Figure 2B)
suggest that the compressional fabric may continue
below the present-day volcanic Cordillera Occidental,
that is, along an inferred northeastern boundary of the
Arequipa massif. Although no direct evidence supports
this interpretation west of Lake Titicaca (Laubacher,
1978), the intensely deformed Llanvirn strata of central
Peru (Mgard, 1978) may be a counterpart.
North of 20 S lat in Bolivia, the exposed succession
consists of a thick sequence of LlanvirnCaradoc shal-
212 Sempere
Figure 3Reconstruction of late Proterozoic superconti-
nent (Bond et al., 1984; Murphy and Nance, 1991). AF,
Africa; APT, Appalachian-Patagonian terranes (Figure 6);
B, Baltica; NA, North America; SA, South America; thick
line, outline of cratonic Gondwana; dashed line, margin of
displaced terranes (Ramos, 1988a); circle, paleoequator;
central cross, late Proterozoic south pole.
lowing-upward sedimentary rocks, which is conform-
ably capped either by the upper Caradoc Tokochi
Formation (Sempere et al., 1991) or by the Ashgill
Cancairi Formation. Thus, deposition of thick shallow
marine strata during LlandeiloCaradoc time coincided
with the final development of the Ocloyic deformation in
southwestern Bolivia and northwestern Argentina
(Figure 2B). This thick sequence of interbedded
sandstone and siltstone is interpreted as the fill of a
marine foreland basin related to this deformation
(Sempere, 1989, 1991a).
There is no consensus about the geodynamic system
that was active during this time, but the data are best
explained if eastern North America and western South
America were united in the late Proterozoic (Figure 3)
and only rifted apart in latest ProterozoicEarly
Cambrian time (Bond et al., 1984; Murphy and Nance,
1991). The western margin of South America was thus a
passive margin in Early CambrianEarly Ordovician
time. The north-northeast trending, partially ophiolite-
floored trough in the Puna and southern Bolivian
Altiplano is here interpreted as an aulacogen (the Puna
aulacogen) which formed as a result of dextral-normal
strain along the southern Iapetus passive margin of
Gondwana. The beginning of closure and deformation of
the Puna aulacogen, and thus the onset of active
behavior along the nearby margin, occurred near the
Figure 4Map depicting present-day relationships
between known Ordovician deformation (black) and the
related basin (hachured). Deformation in northwestern
Argentina and southwestern Bolivia is due to closure of the
Puna aulacogen (Figures 2A, B). Black areas in the
northern Andes correspond to rocks deformed during this
episode and again during a Permian event (after Dalmayrac
et al., 1980). Note offshore data at 9 S lat (Bourgois et al.,
1990) and probable deformation in coastal southern Peru
(Shackleton et al., 1979). Map suggests current truncation
at ~12 S lat of Ordovician structures by trench and higher
Andean shortening in Bolivian orocline. eAd, edge of
Andean deformation.
Arenig-Llanvirn boundary according to data docu-
mented by Bahlburg (1990). The Atico or Marcona events
on the coast of southern Peru (Shackleton et al., 1979)
probably correspond to this major deformation. A Cale-
donian (i.e., Taconic) deformation is recorded from
northwestern Peru up to northern Colombia (Dalmayrac
et al., 1980). These data suggest that a major tectonic
crisis affected the western margin of Gondwana during
the Middle Ordovician (Figure 4). However, interpreta-
tions of the early Paleozoic magmatic record of the
central Andes are contradictory (e.g., Breitkreuz et al.,
1989; Damm et al., 1990; Rapela et al., 1992).
 Phanerozoic Evolution of Bolivia and Adjacent Regions 213

LATE CARADOCMIDDLE FAMENNIAN

The late Caradocmiddle Famennian interval is repre-
sented by two sets of units that are believed to span the
late Caradocearly Llandovery and late Llandovery
middle Famennian time intervals, respectively (Figure 5).
The Devonian organic-rich shales are the most important
hydrocarbon source rocks in Bolivia.

Late CaradocEarly Llandovery

The first stratigraphic set includes the Tokochi,
Cancairi, and Llallagua formations, all of which reach
their maximum thickness in the Ulloma-Coipasa-Uyuni
domain. They thin out rapidly to the southeast and east
(Gagnier et al., in press).
The Tokochi Formation (Sempere et al., 1991) consists of
black shales up to 200 m thick that overlie shallow
marine Caradoc strata. It has yielded only an open
marine fauna, including cephalopods and Caradoc
pseudoplanktonic brachiopods (L. Branisa, 1986,
personal communication). The Tokochi is thought to
mark a sea level high (maximum flooding surface) and to
have been deposited in a relatively deep, anoxic environ-
ment. Because the thickness of these black shales
increases toward the west, they should be present at
depth in the central Altiplano.
The sharp or gradational contact between the Tokochi
and Cancairi formations indicates a drop in sea level.
The latter consists mainly of greenish gray, generally
unstratified, resedimented sandy mudstones and diamic-
tites (mass flows) and minor sandstones (basinal
turbidites and local shelf clastics). The Cancairi
Formation is of Ashgill age (Sempere, 1990; Benedetto et
al., 1992; Toro et al., 1992), but its top is possibly early
Llandovery. Thickness varies up to 1.5 km or more. The
millimeter to meter size subrounded to angular clasts
consist of a variety of sedimentary, igneous, and meta-
morphic rock types (Rodrigo et al., 1977). Some quartz
and igneous rock clasts are clearly faceted and striated,
indicating that they were derived from a glaciated area.
Large sandstone blocks, up to 1000 m3 in volume, are
more abundant near the Khenayani-Turuchipa paleo-
structural corridor, suggesting that structural activity
during deposition of the Cancairi produced fault scarps
and block sliding (Sempere et al., 1991). The Cancairi
Formation is interpreted as a lowstand deposit related to
regional extension and associated high rates of resedi-
mentation while a large part of Gondwana was glaciated.
The Llallagua Formation overlies the Cancairi
Formation with a sharp contact. It consists of turbidite
beds, one to several meters thick, and subordinate
siltstone and mudstone; it can reach thicknesses of 1.5
km or more. These facies are attributed to lowstand
deposition following the Cancairi maximum lowstand.
The Llallagua Formation grades transitionally into the
Unca (Kirusillas) Formation, forming a thinning- and
fining-upward succession as a result of sea level rise. The
Llallagua is attributed to the Llandovery because of its
stratigraphic position. Its upper part is equated with the
basal Kirusillas (Unca) Formation, which occurs more to
Figure 5Stratigraphic section for the late Caradoc
middle Famennian interval. Lithologic symbols are
common use.
the east and has yielded a late Llandovery graptolite
(Branisa et al., 1972).
The thickness of the Tokochi-Cancairi-Llallagua
sequence increases dramatically in the eastern and
southern Ulloma-Coipasa-Uyuni domain (Figure 2C),
and might have reached 3.5 km in depth before Andean-
age thrusting used the Cancairi Formation as the main
dcollement level there. These values and the age
constraints indicate maximum known decompacted
sedimentation rates of about 250 m/m.y. for this time
span, which is very high. The predominance of sediment
gravity flows in the Cancairi and Llallagua formations
strongly suggests synsedimentary tectonic activity. It is
possible that the Tokochi anoxic facies represent a
starved basin stage in this evolution. Paleocurrents
(Figure 2C) indicate sediment transport toward the west
and northwest, that is, in the direction of thickening and
toward the interior of the Ulloma-Coipasa-Uyuni
domain.
These characteristics suggest that deposition of the
late Caradoc-Llandovery strata occurred in a fault-
controlled basin, the principal normal faults being reacti-
vated and inverted during the Andean orogeny to form
the Khenayani fault and Main Altiplanic thrust systems
(Figure 2C) (Sempere et al., 1991). Resedimented facies
appear to have evolved from mass flows that reworked
glaciomarine deposits (Cancairi Formation) to proximal
214 Sempere

(lower Llallagua Formation) and distal turbidites (upper

Llallagua Formation), suggesting an overall sea level rise.
This transition of the Llallagua Formation to the Unca
(Kirusillas) Formation also indicates waning of exten-
sional activity.

Late LlandoveryMiddle Famennian

The second stratigraphic set includes several units
that occur in the Bolivian Andes, sub-Andean belt, and
Beni-Chaco plains, albeit with different names. Shallow
marine, relatively warm water faunas were present as
early as Llandovery (Isaacson et al., 1976) and early
Wenlock time (Branisa et al., 1972; Merino, 1991; Gagnier
et al., in press). Although the precise ages of the Devonian
units are not firmly established, the chronostratigraphic
data of Vavrdov et al. (1991) and Racheboeuf et al. (1993)
are used here. Three overall thickening- and shallowing-
upward megasequences are recognized (Figure 5): late
LlandoveryLochkovian, Pragianearly Givetian, and late
Givetianmiddle Famennian. The first of these intervals is
generally divided into two lower order sequences: late
LlandoveryPridoli and Lochkovian (Figure 5). Paleoen-
vironments include relatively shallow marine, distal to
proximal shelf, deltaic, littoral, and locally even fluvial
deposits (e.g., in the Lochkovian age Santa Rosa
Formation).
The lithologies and stratigraphic relationships are
illustrated in Figure 5. Between Cochabamba and Santa
Cruz, a thin limestone unit of early Wenlock age
(Merino, 1991; Gagnier et al., in press) occurs in the basal
part of the late LlandoveryLudlow shales (Figure 2D),
which postdates a Llandovery hiatus. Slumped sand-
stones and siltstones are common in the Pridoli portion
of the series in several areas of Bolivia (e.g., Cocha- Figure 6Simplified Late CambrianLate Devonian
bamba-Oruro road, Tarija, and Sierras Chiquitanas) and evolution of the central Andean region. APT, Appalachian-
possibly indicate contemporaneous tectonic instability. Patagonian terranes (see Figure 3) (Ramos, 1988a;
Two prominent transgressions are recognized. The first Mpodozis and Kay, 1992); PPO, paleo-Pacific ocean.
is recorded by the lower Kirusillas Formation
(Wenlockearly Ludlow) and is probably a continuation patterns from Late Silurian to Late Devonian time
of the transgression that started in Llandovery time. The suggest large-scale tectonic modifications in the architec-
second is reflected by the Icla Formation (Pragian ture of the basin. The Late Devonian reorganization of
Emsian). Two less important transgressions also paleocurrents toward the southeast may be related to the
occurred. The earliest Lochkovian transgression is Hercynian deformation in Peru (Laubacher, 1978;
recorded by a shale unit between the Tarabuco and Santa Mgard, 1978).
Rosa formations (Chululuyoj Formation) (Racheboeuf et Onlap toward the northeast is conspicuous and
al., 1993), whereas the late Givetian transgression is possibly has exploration significance. Whereas there is
reflected by the Los Monos Formation (Sempere, 1990; no obvious stratigraphic gap in the Ordovician
Racheboeuf et al., 1993). However, the latter has been Devonian succession in the Cordillera Oriental north of
assigned an age as early as earliest Eifelian (Lobo-Boneta, 20 S lat, the Ashgill diamictites, which disconformably
1975; McGregor, 1984; Prez, 1990). These four transgres- overlie Caradoc sandstones, are disconformably overlain
sions were each followed by progradation of shallower by upper Llandovery shales or by the lower Wenlock
facies (Figure 5). The Lochkovian Santa Rosa and the Sacta limestone in the mountain area between
upper Eifelianlower Givetian Huamampampa forma- Cochabamba and Santa Cruz. The Sacta limestone
tions reflect important lowstand periods. overlies Eocambrian rocks in the nearby Andean
Figure 2D shows paleocurrent data for the Pridoli foothills. Eocambrian rocks in the Sierras Chiquitanas are
Lochkovian, upper Eifelianlower Givetian, and overlain by Upper Silurian sandstones (Lpez et al.,
Frasnianmiddle Famennian deposits. Late Silurian 1982). In contrast, in the northwestern sub-Andean belt,
Middle Devonian paleocurrents do not sustain Isaacsons Upper Silurian shales and sandstones overlie deeply
(1975) assumption that coeval sediments were derived weathered Caradoc sandstones. In the Pando well in
from the Arequipa massif. Changes in paleocurrent northern Bolivia, Lower Devonian sandstones rest on
 Phanerozoic Evolution of Bolivia and Adjacent Regions 215

Figure 7Simplified stratigraphic cross section of the Carboniferous and Permian showing chronology used in this paper.
Localities (shown in Figure 2E): CT, Copacabana peninsula and Tiquina straits; RK, Ro Kaka; CH, Charagua area; AP, Angosto
del Pilcomayo. Black indicates carbonates; other lithologic symbols are common use. Information partially from YPFB propri-
etary data and Daz-Martnez (1991). Rapid transition between Chuquisaca and Villamontes supersequences (RK and CH
sections) is probably a characteristic of the basin axis (Figure 2E).

Precambrian gneisses. Onlap of this magnitude in the
Beni-Chaco basin is expected to have formed potential
stratigraphic traps.
Maximum known sedimentation rates are high: they
average about 70, 85, and 100 m/m.y. for the late Llan-
doveryLochkovian, Pragianearly Givetian, and late
Givetianmiddle Famennian intervals, respectively.
Subsidence was rapid and more intense to the southwest
and increased through time. In contrast to the late
CaradocLlandovery interval during which sedimenta-
tion rates were much higher (~250 m/m.y.) in the
Ulloma-Coipasa-Uyuni domain, thickness variations are
small and the principal units widespread. This broad-
scale regional subsidence is attributed to continuous
tectonic loading of the craton margin transition by trans-
pressional processes (Figure 6). Such a marine foreland
basin interpretation is supported by the Late Devonian
Mississippian epeirogenic deformation of the Bolivia-
Peru basin.
In summary, the overall stratigraphic succession
reflects extensional subsidence of the trough that
straddled the Ulloma-Coipasa-Uyuni domain in late
Caradocearly Llandovery time and transpressional
foreland basin subsidence afterward.
In northwestern Argentina and southern coastal Peru,
numerous granitoids were intruded during the Late
OrdovicianEarly Devonian (Bahlburg, 1990; Mukasa
and Henry, 1990; Rapela et al., 1992). They are believed
to be the earliest evidence of subduction-related
magmatism in the Paleozoic. Mukasa and Henry (1990)
believe that the San Nicols batholith of southern Peru
was probably emplaced in two short-lived magmatic
events at about 425 and 394388 Ma. These U-Pb dates
indicate late Wenlockearly Ludlow and late Pragian
early Emsian ages, respectively, broadly corresponding
to the Kirusillas-Unca and Icla transgressions.
In northern Chile, the first known onlap of the Ocloyic
basement is of Early Devonian age and the upper part of
the succession is of Early Carboniferous age (Breitkreuz,
1986). Intensely deformed Upper DevonianMississip-
pian flysch occur west of this shallow marine belt and are
thought to represent either fore-arc deposits deformed in
accretionary wedges (Bell, 1987) or the fill of a turbiditic
trough that was closed in Mississippian time and subse-
quently intruded by posttectonic granitoids (Breitkreuz
et al., 1989).
LATE FAMENNIANMISSISSIPPIAN
The Carboniferous succession of Bolivia is located
mainly in the Beni-Chaco basin and adjacent sub-
Andean belt, in the Tarija-Teoponte belt, and in the
Huarina fold and thrust belt northeast and southeast of
Lake Titicaca (Figure 1). A large portion of Bolivian oil
and gas reserves occurs in Carboniferous strata.
The chronostratigraphy of this supersequence is still
being refined (Figure 7). There have been some recent
216 Sempere
significant biostratigraphic studies (Merino, 1987; Surez-
Riglos et al., 1987; Rsler et al., 1989; Merino and Blanco,
1990; Vavrdov et al., 1991). In contrast with the under-
lying stratigraphy, Carboniferous facies are highly
variable and inhibit lithologic correlation. The literature
is replete with conflicting and chaotic stratigraphic
schemes, although Helwig (1972) has addressed some of
these issues. Furthermore, the Hercynian metamor-
phism and deformation of Bard et al. (1974) and
Martinez (1980) is now known to be of Late Triassic age
(Farrar et al., 1990). This deformation is not related to the
Late Devonian or Early Mississippian deformation
described in west-central Peru (Mgard, 1978) and west
of Lake Titicaca (Laubacher, 1978), although there is
evidence that some Late Devonian or Mississippian
uplift and local folding did occur in Bolivia. The Late
Mississippian U-Pb age obtained on the Amparaes
syntectonic granite (Dalmayrac et al., 1980) is considered
to be dubious because three concordant Late Triassic U-
Pb ages have been obtained on similar plutons.
Northwestern Sub-Andean Belt and
Adjacent Beni Basin
In the northwestern sub-Andean belt and in adjacent
Beni basin, the Carboniferous transitionally overlies the
Upper Devonian and is capped by the major erosional
unconformity at the base of the Jurassic Beu Formation. It
comprises a lower succession characterized by black
mudstones and common plant fossils and an upper
succession of carbonates, eolianites, and subsurface evap-
orites.
The lower succession (Retama Group, latest
DevonianVisean or early Serpukhovian) is equivalent to
the Ambo Group of Peru. It contains conglomerates,
thick mudstone slumps, some stratified sandstone slump
blocks, and shallow marine black laminated shales,
which grade upward into sandstones and coals. Dark
diamictites occur in the upper part.
The upper succession (Copacabana Formation, latest
Mississippian or earliest Pennsylvanian to earliest
Permian and locally Late Permian) consists of fossilif-
erous limestones and marls, white calcareous sand-
stones, thin green tuffaceous beds, dolomites, some
anhydrite in the subsurface, some dark to mottled shales,
and a few red siltstones, sandstones, and paleosols. It
corresponds to the Tarma and Copacabana groups of
Peru and is reviewed in the next section.
The contact between these two successions is sharp
and, on the basis of conodont biostratigraphy, would lie
within the Serpukhovian or at the MississippianPenn-
sylvanian boundary (D. Merino, 1992, personal commu-
nication). This contact marks a significant paleoclimatic
change in northwestern Bolivia, from cool-temperate to
warm and arid conditions. The signature of this climatic
change should facilitate regional correlation. Further-
more, the major global regressive-transgressive event of
Serpukhovian to earliest Pennsylvanian age (Saunders
and Ramsbottom, 1986; Veevers and Powell, 1987) is
apparently recorded in facies near the RetamaCopaca-
bana contact and should be regionally widespread.
Huarina Fold and Thrust Belt
Carboniferous strata in the Lake Titicaca area sharply
overlie the Devonian. Daz-Martnez (1991) have divided
these strata into two units. First is the Ambo Group
(latest FamennianVisean or early Serpukhovian) (Rsler
et al., 1989; Vavrdov et al., 1991), which includes a basal
glaciomarine horizon and dark shales grading upward
into cross-bedded sandstones with intercalated diamic-
tite beds, coals, and a thin cap of reddish fluvial sand-
stones. The second unit is the Titikaka Group, which
consists of estuarine sandstones and supratidal
dolomites overlain by transgressive fossiliferous lime-
stones and marls (Middle Pennsylvanian conodonts) (D.
Merino, 1992, personal communication). The Titikaka
Group, which in this area spans the Early Pennsyl-
vanian-Early Triassic interval, corresponds to the
Copacabana and Bopi formations of the northwestern
sub-Andean belt and the Tarma, Copacabana, and Mitu
(partly) groups of Peru. It is capped either by Triassic
sandstones or by Upper Cretaceous or upper Oligocene
strata.
Because the Ambo Group disconformaby overlies
Lower Devonian strata in several outcrops forming a
northwest-striking alignment, it postdates a local uplift
of Late Devonian or earliest Mississippian age. Further-
more, PennsylvanianLower Permian limestones onlap
topography formed during the Late Devonian or Missis-
sippian in the Huarina fold and thrust belt and
Cochabamba area. The disconformable relationships at
the base of these limestones contrasts with the
Hercynian deformation interpretation of Martinez
(1980). However, on a regional basis, angular unconfor-
mities represent a SilurianTriassic hiatus, reflecting a
compressive deformation of inferred Late Devonian
Mississippian age. This local deformation merges
laterally into an uplifted area spanning much of the
present-day Cordillera Oriental, upon which Pennsyl-
vanianUpper Permian strata onlap. This uplift was
probably related to a dextral motion of the Khenayani-
Turuchipa paleostructural corridor (Sempere et al., 1991).
The eroded detritus was probably deposited in the
FrasnianMississippian basin.
Chaco Basin, Sub-Andean, and
Tarija-Teoponte Belts
In the Chaco basin, sub-Andean, and Tarija-Teoponte
belts, the Mississippian locally overlies the Upper
Devonian gradationally. It consists of the Macharet and
Mandiyuti subgroups (Figure 7). In the southernmost
sub-Andean belt, there is a gradational contact between
the two subgroups. Acritarchs in the Macharet, marine
faunas in the lower Mandiyuti, and sedimentary facies
suggest that deposition occurred in marine environ-
ments. There are marked lithologic contrasts between
mud-dominated and sand-dominated Macharet facies,
whereas the Mandiyuti is predominantly sandy and
shows nearshore to shore zone facies affinities near the
top. In seismic sections, the lower part of the Mississip-
pian interval is characterized by discontinuous reflection

patterns, whereas the upper part is mainly featureless
because it is sand prone. This twofold lithologic partition
represents a major change in sedimentary dynamics,
interpreted as a rapid overall shallowing of the deposi-
tional systems.
There is also a conspicuous difference in color
between the two subgroups: the clay fraction in the
Macharet is dark gray to purplish and locally contains
plant debris. In contrast, it is bright brown-red in the
uppermost Macharet and the entire Mandiyuti. This
color change is attributed to the Serpukhovian climatic
event recorded in northwestern Bolivia. Rapid shal-
lowing of depositional environments in the Chaco basin
suggests a contemporaneous sea level drop related to a
worldwide Serpukhovian regression (Veevers and
Powell, 1987). The MacharetMandiyuti contact thus
appears to be of early Serpukhovian age.
The late Paleozoic stratigraphy shown in Figure 7 is
based on these lithostratigraphic criteria and recent bios-
tratigraphic data. I equate the Saipur Formation of the
Charagua area (Surez-Soruco and Lpez-Pugliessi,
1983), which has late FamennianVisean palynomorphs,
to the lower Macharet (Itacua, Tupambi, Itacuami, and
Tarija formations) of the Villamontes area. Marine fossils
of the Levipustula levis zone, the base of which coincides
with the ViseanSerpukhovian boundary in Australia,
occur in a regularly stratified, reddish siltstone
mudstone intercalation that is traditionally described as
the local Taiguati Formation. I prefer, however, to call
it the Charagua member because it appears to be located
within the lower part of the Mandiyuti (Figures 2E, 7).
The Macharet and Mandiyuti facies are broadly
similar and are dominated by resedimented deposits,
including rarely stratified diamictites, muddy mass
flows, slumped sandstonemudstone intercalations,
grain flows, debris flows, cross-bedded sandstones
(commonly conglomeratic), slumped sandstones masses,
thick to thin regularly bedded Bouma-type turbidites
interbedded with siltstones and mudstones, regularly
bedded fossil-bearing fine-grained sandstones and
mudstones, rarer laminated mudstones, and local intra-
basinal olistoliths that reach several meters in thickness.
The diamictites, debris flows, grain flows, mud flows,
and slumps are clast bearing. The clasts are millimeter to
meter size, are well-rounded to angular, and consist of a
variety of sedimentary, igneous, and metamorphic rock
types. Some of these are faceted and striated, suggesting
transport from a glaciated area. Ice rafting explains the
presence of some of the larger clasts. Although reworked
glacial clasts occur in the Mandiyuti, the most convincing
glaciomarine features are seen only in the Macharet.
Most of the resedimented facies were deposited in
channels, ranging in width from a few meters to a few
kilometers. Several large channels and valleys (several
hectometers or kilometers wide and up to several
hundred meters deep) are clearly visible in many seismic
sections in the Chaco basin. The apparent depth of these
channels or valleys increases upsection. Channel stacking
and amalgamation of their channel fills has resulted in
valley complexes locally more than 500 m deep.
The abundance of resedimented facies filling an
Phanerozoic Evolution of Bolivia and Adjacent Regions 217
erosional topography indicates tectonic instability in the
Chaco basin. Reorganization of paleocurrents in the
latest Devonianearliest Carboniferous (compare Figures
2D and 2E) demonstrates the growth of the northeast-
trending Chaco Boreal high. As in other parts of Bolivia,
large-scale slumping shows that sediments were fed
from tectonically active highs and hence documents
periods of tectonic instability. Regional mapping shows
the distribution of these paleogeographic highs: Chaco
Boreal, Cordillera Real, Madidi, and Guapor craton
uplifts (Figure 2E), the last two of which were probably
controlled by a Cambrian crustal heterogeneity. The
distal downwarped areas are identified by the occur-
rence of a transition between the Chuquisaca and Villam-
ontes supersequences, a lower thickness of the Macharet
subgroup, or a thicker and well-defined Charagua
member.
Available data suggest that crustal deformation,
involving uplift and minor folding, progressed from
west to east during the Late Devonian and Mississippian.
While structural highs and slopes formed in parts of the
Beni-Chaco basin in the late FamennianEarly Mississip-
pian, other areas were downwarped and received
slumps and laminated black shales. Compared to the
underlying Frasnianearly Famennian shallow marine
strata, there was a significant increase in depth. Slopes
were tectonically maintained during the Mississippian,
controlling sigmoidal geometries of progradational units
and substantial variations in thickness. The thicknesses
of the Macharet and Mandiyuti sections crossing the
Chaco basin display such relationships. The Chaco basin
received a considerable sand supply from the southeast
and east, that is, from the Chaco Boreal high.
Evolution of the Carboniferous climate in Bolivia,
from cool and humid to warm and arid, matches the
migration of the south pole toward the southeast or east-
southeast (Veevers and Powell, 1987). South American
climatic gradients were probably high and oriented
northeast to north-northeast, defining climatic strips
where different facies assemblages were able to accumu-
late at the same time. Current interpretation of palyno-
zones suggests that the Paran basin was probably
subjected to subglacial erosion during the Mississippian
and to glacially influenced marine sedimentation during
the PennsylvanianEarly Permian glacial retreat (Frana
and Potter, 1991). The Amazon basin, Bolivia, and
western South America experienced cool to temperate
and subsequently subtropical conditions during these
periods.
The average sedimentation rate for the Mississippian
of Bolivia is estimated to be about 3540 m/m.y., indi-
cating a significant decrease compared to the Devonian.
However, because of the inferred increase in depth, it is
possible that the maximum subsidence rate increased in
the late Famennianearliest Mississippian before
decreasing after that.
The Late DevonianEarly Mississippian deformation
known in Peru (Mgard, 1978; Dalmayrac et al., 1980)
and northern Chile (Sempere, 1989) and the inferred
uplifts in the present-day Huarina fold and thrust belt,
Chaco Boreal, Cordillera Real, Madidi, and Guapor
218 Sempere
Figure 8Map of western Gondwana showing approxi-
mate distribution of main Paleozoic geotectonic features.
Key: 1, Middle Ordovician deformation; 2, Late Ordovician
Devonian granitoids; 3, Late DevonianMississippian
deformation; 4, CarboniferousPermian basins; 5, Late
PermianEarly Triassic deformation. In Bolivia, basin is
bounded by structural highs that formed during late
FamennianMississippian sedimentation (Figure 2E). CBH,
Chaco Boreal high; GCU, Guapor craton uplift; MU,
Madidi uplift. Data mainly from Dalmayrac et al. (1980),
Archangelsky (1987), Ramos (1988a), and Rapela et al.
(1992).
craton uplifts provide evidence of synsedimentary insta-
bility. This evidence clearly points to a time of consider-
able tectonic activity in the Bolivia-Peru basin in the Late
Devonian and especially the Mississippian. The Missis-
sippian sedimentation was the culmination of the
SilurianDevonian cycle of evolution. The uplifts and
downwarps observed in Bolivia probably represent the
foreland response to the transpressional and compres-
sional processes that affected the western margin of
Gondwana (Figure 8).
PENNSYLVANIANEARLY TRIASSIC
The PennsylvanianEarly Triassic interval is charac-
terized in western Bolivia by the establishment of a
carbonate platform and in southeastern Bolivia by north-
westward progradation of littoral and continental depo-
sitional systems. This was followed by a MiddleLate
Permian restricted marine transgression and deposition
Figure 9Late PermianEarly Triassic paleogeography.
General legend same as in Figure 2. Key: 1, erosional
boundary of basin in sub-Andean belt; 2, known remnants
of Upper Permian strata in Andean area; 3, presence of
clasts of cherty limestones typical of Upper Permian
deposits in Miocene strata, suggesting proximity of Upper
Permian outcrops in the early Neogene; 4, inferred deposi-
tional area before Mesozoic erosion; 5, Late Permian basic
magmatism; 6, areas of felsic magmatism; 7, interstratified
tuffs; 8, known extent of the Late PermianEarly Triassic
deformation, including granitoids; 9, fold strikes suggest-
ing southward continuation of structures. Gondwana-age
folds are generally roughly parallel to Andean structures. In
the Cordillera Oriental of southern Peru and western
Bolivia, some structures traditionally assigned to the Late
PermianEarly Triassic may be of Late Triassic age.
of carbonates and mudstones (Figures 2F, 9). This
interval was also characterized by a substantial decrease
in tectonic activity and by the establishment of a subtrop-
ical climate. Depositional environments were predomi-
nantly shallow marine and continental, with subordinate
eolianites in the Pennsylvanian and Early Permian. Penn-
sylvanianUpper Permian limestones onlap the older
topography in several areas of the present-day Cordillera
Oriental. The PennsylvanianPermian deposits in the
Amazon basin resemble those in northern Bolivia.
The stratigraphy used in this paper implies that Penn-
sylvanianLower Permian carbonate deposits in the
northwest grade laterally into fluvial and eolian deposits
in the southeast (Figure 7) and may even be in facies with
the underlying shallow marine clastics. However, the
boundary between the Villamontes and Cuevo super-
sequences in the Chaco basin is not as sharp as it is in
northwestern Bolivia. Note that the fluvial-eolian
Cangapi Formation at the base of the Cuevo super-
sequence in the southern sub-Andean belt was originally
included in the Mandiyuti Subgroup. Its lower strata
may be continental equivalents of the shallow marine
upper San Telmo Formation in some parts of the Chaco
basin. In this sense, the Mandiyuti Subgroup may span

Figure 10Simplified stratigraphic sections for the Middle
TriassicMiddle Jurassic. See Figure 11 for locations. ER,
Entre Ros area; R, Ravelo; S, Sayari; T, Tarabuco. Key:
1, carbonates; 2, mudstones; 3, medium to finegrained
sandstones; 5, conglomerates; 6, mainly alluvial facies; 7,
mainly eolian facies; 8, evaporites; 9, basalts.
the Late Mississippianearliest Pennsylvanian. More
biostratigraphic work will decide this issue.
Sedimentation rates for the PennsylvanianEarly
Permian interval were less than 25 m/m.y. in Peru, about
1520 m/m.y. in the Lake Titicaca area of western
Bolivia, and less than 15 m/m.y. in the Chaco basin.
Sedimentation rates were also low for the Late
PermianEarly Triassic interval, generally less than 1015
m/m.y. The intensity of subsidence had thus decreased
dramatically after the Mississippian.
Although mainly a restricted marine deposit, the
Vitiacua Formation marks a major transgression that
started in late Kungurian or Kazanian time and covered
a wide region. Toward the west, it was the most
extensive transgression since the Devonian. The lower
Vitiacua includes black limy mudstones resembling
those of the Irati Formation in the Paran basin and the
Whitehill Formation in the Karoo basin. These facies
represent a highstand that flooded Gondwana as far
away as Australia (Sempere et al., 1992).
Deposition of the middle PermianEarly Triassic
strata was partially coeval with the intense compres-
sional or transpressional intracratonic deformation in the
Cordillera Oriental of central and southern Peru
(Laubacher, 1978; Soler and Bonhomme, 1987). In Bolivia,
Phanerozoic Evolution of Bolivia and Adjacent Regions 219
this deformation is known from outcrops north of Lake
Titicaca (Martinez, 1980) and west of Cochabamba
(Kennan, 1993). It might correspond to the so-called
Eohercynian deformation in the Cordillera Real; it did
not affect the rest of the country. It was partially coeval
with intense compressional deformation in the Andes
north of 7 S lat (Dalmayrac et al., 1980), the San Rafael
deformation of west-central Argentina (Ramos, 1988b),
and the transpressional deformation of the Sierra de la
Ventana and Cape foldbelts (Cobbold et al., 1986) (Figure
8). Accretion of terranes along the southwestern margin
of South America ended in Late Permian time (Mpodozis
and Kay, 1992).
This widespread Gondwana-age deformation is
postdated by a postorogenic calc-alkaline magmatism of
EarlyMiddle Triassic age (Laubacher, 1978; Soler and
Bonhomme, 1987; Mpodozis and Kay, 1992). By the late
Middle Triassic, continental tholeiitic compositions were
more common, indicating regional extension (Soler and
Sempere, 1993). Onset of tensional conditions in Bolivia
in the late Middle Triassic initiated the Serere sedimen-
tary supersequence.
In northern Chile, metamorphism related to terrane
accretion ended in the Pennsylvanian (Cordani et al.,
1988). This was superseded by widespread magmatism
of PennsylvanianTriassic age (Breitkreuz et al., 1989;
Breitkreuz, 1991; Mpodozis and Kay, 1992). It is this
magmatic episode that is believed to have generated the
numerous tuffs observed in the Bolivian and eastern
Peruvian basin.
MIDDLE TRIASSICMIDDLE JURASSIC
The Middle TriassicMiddle Jurassic stratigraphy of
Bolivia has recently been revised by Oller and Sempere
(1990) (Figure 10). Late Middle Triassic rifting developed
in several areas as a prelude to the breakup of Pangea. It
led to the formation of numerous grabens (e.g., Mitu
Group of Peru and Sayari and Ipaguaz formations of
Bolivia) accompanied by alkaline and tholeiitic
magmatism (Mgard, 1978; Kontak et al., 1985; Soler and
Sempere, 1993). In Bolivia, tholeiitic basalts from Entre
Ros and Tarabuco cannot be geochemically distin-
guished (Soler and Sempere, 1993) and have apparent
K-Ar ages of 233 Ma (Sempere et al., 1992) and about 171
Ma, respectively.
The Mitu Group of Peru (Figure 11) spans the Late
PermianMiddle Triassic interval and appears to consist
of two successions containing poorly understood
magmatic suites. Mafic volcanism developed as early as
Late Permian time in Peru. Basaltic flows, yielding
PermianEarly Triassic apparent K-Ar ages, are exposed
along the southeastern shore of Lake Titicaca (S.
McBride, in Kontak et al., 1985), whereas mafic rocks
south of Lake Titicaca have Late PermianEarly Triassic
apparent K-Ar ages. Swarms of mafic sills and dikes
(0.11 m thick) intruding OrdovicianDevonian strata in
the Cordillera Oriental (Figure 11) are associated with
paleograbens preserving Permian strata. These intrusives
220 Sempere
are believed to have been emplaced during the Middle
Triassic extension. Other probable counterparts are the
Cerro Sapo nepheline syenite and kimberlite-like rocks
west of Cochabamba, mafic dikes intruding a Neopro-
terozoic pluton and Lower Ordovician strata south of
Tarija, and an alnoite dike described in northwestern
Argentina by Meyer and Villar (1984).
The grabens were filled by fluvial and lacustrine red
beds and evaporites (Figure 11), which permitted local
preservation of upper Paleozoic strata. Clasts of Upper
PermianMiddle Triassic granitoids are known in the
upper Mitu Group. Extensional structures and magmatic
rocks are widespread in western South America (e.g.,
Caputo, 1991; Ramos and Kay, 1991; Soler and Sempere,
1993).
Reorganization of the regional stress field at 225220
Ma produced local intracratonic transpression, as
evidenced by the pervasive cataclasis of the Zongo-Yani
(Bolivia) and Abancay (southern Peru) Triassic intrusions
and deformation of their enclosing strata (Bard et al.,
1974; Dalmayrac et al., 1980; Farrar et al., 1990). At least
some grabens or transtensional structures were inverted
during this event; examples are found in western Brazil
(Caputo, 1991), eastern Peru (M. de Barros and E.
Carneiro, 1992, personal communication) and northern
Bolivia (YPFB, proprietary data). A 220200 Ma regional
metamorphic-plutonic event is also recognized in south-
western Ecuador (Tahuin Group) (Aspden et al., 1992).
Figure 11Middle Triassic
Middle Jurassic paleogeography.
General legend same as Figure
2. Locations of stratigraphic
sections in Figure 10: ER, Entre
Ros; R, Ravelo; S, Sayari; T,
Tarabuco. Key: 1, Late Triassic
Jurassic marine deposits; 2,
EarlyMiddle Jurassic deepest
facies; 3, Middle Jurassic
turbidite fan progradations;
4, Jurassic arc magmatism; 5,
edge of Jurassic marine basin in
northern Chile; 6, Mitu volcanic
deposits; 7, EarlyLate Triassic
plutons, including the Abancay
(a) and Zongo-Yani (zy) cata-
clastic Late Triassic plutons; 8,
Middle TriassicEarly Jurassic
fluvial deposits in Bolivia; 9,
fluvial paleocurrents; 10, occur-
rences of evaporites; 11, Middle
Late Triassic continental tholei-
ites; 12, altered mafic dike and
sill swarms (Triassic?); 13, extent
of Jurassic desert in Bolivia;
14, Jurassic eolian prograda-
tions. Jurassic eolianites in
Paran basin crop out just east
of map limit. Data for Peru and
Chile from Dalmayrac et al.
(1980), Vicente et al. (1982), Soler
and Bonhomme (1987),
Grschke et al. (1988), and
Muoz and Charrier (1993).
Mild extension persisted in Peru after this event,
resulting in transgression of the Norian sea from the
northwest into the Cordillera Oriental area (Mgard,
1978; Dalmayrac et al., 1980; Jaillard et al., 1990). The
Marine NorianLiassic limestones locally overlie the
Mitu Group with a slight angular unconformity
(Mgard, 1978) and are in turn overlain in eastern Peru
by fluvial and eolian deposits (Sarayaquillo Formation)
that correlate with those of Bolivia (Serere super-
sequence). In southern coastal Peru, extension in the
Yura trough culminated in BajocianBathonian time; this
trough was eventually filled in by the latest Jurassic
(Vicente et al., 1982; Jaillard et al., 1990).
The termination of rifting in Bolivia was probably a
consequence of tectonic reorganization that induced local
transpressional deformation. Subsequent Late Triassic
Middle Jurassic fluvial and eolian sedimentation was
controlled by postrift thermal subsidence, reflected in
onlapping relationships (Oller and Sempere, 1990)
(Figure 11). Eolian deposits were widespread in western
Gondwana during the Jurassic, including the Karoo and
Paran basins and sub-Andean central Peru (Boquern
Formation) (E. Bosc, 1986, personal communication), in
agreement with global climatic models (Chandler et al.,
1992). In Bolivia, the overall pattern of Jurassic eolian
progradations (Figure 11) suggests that many dunes
were longitudinal and produced by south-southwesterly
winds.

Figure 12Stratigraphic section for the Late
Jurassicearly Eocene from the Miraflores syncline near
Potos, overlying gently folded Upper Ordovician strata.
Key: 1, conglomerates; 2, sandstones; 3, predominantly
mudrocks; 4, limestones; 5, red color; 6, green or gray
color; 7, channels; 8, evaporites; 9, roots. Ranges of thick-
nesses in the basin are 01200 m for the Kimmerigian
Albian, 1525 m for the CenomanianTuronian, and
2001200 m for the Senonianmiddle Paleocene.
An important consequence of this evolution is that
Late Triassic tectonic reorganization not only terminated
this period of widespread intracontinental extension but
also apparently resulted in resumption of subduction
along the Pacific margin.
Phanerozoic Evolution of Bolivia and Adjacent Regions 221
LATEST JURASSICTURONIAN
The KimmeridgianPaleocene Puca Group of Bolivia
(Figures 12, 13) records the evolution of the distal
Andean back-arc basin. Bolivia was part of cratonic
South America in the Jurassic, but was subsequently
captured by the Andean system in the latest Jurassic
during a period of large-scale rifting. This episode is
attributed to onset of extensional and transtensional
conditions in northern Chile and coastal Peru and was
contemporaneous with the South Atlantic extension. In
Bolivia, extensional reactivation of the CPKT formed the
highly fragmented Potos basin, which was filled with
continental red beds (Figures 13, 14) (Sempere, 1994).
Deposits of this age are known only from the Andean
domain. Silcretes developed contemporaneously on the
Jurassic sands in the sub-Andean-Beni-Chaco region.
Rifting created a tilted block structural relief that was
onlapped by fine-grained younger sediments. Rifting
was accompanied by local alkaline basic volcanism (Soler
and Sempere, 1993). The oldest and most important
extensional episode took place during deposition of the
Condo conglomerates in the lowermost Puca Group.
Local inhomogeneities between the Kimmerigian
Hauterivian and BarremianTuronian paleocurrent
patterns (Figure 14) suggest that topography was
modified by extensional processes during the Early
Cretaceous. The intensity of extension appears to have
waned through late NeocomianAptian time. By Albian
time, fault-controlled subsidence was abandoned. Wide-
spread regional subsidence is reflected in red mudstones
that blanketed the old rift depocenter and onlapped the
Paleozoic basement beyond. A postrift phase of thermal
subsidence is inferred.
The shallow marine Miraflores carbonates were
deposited during the CenomanianTuronian interval
(Jaillard and Sempere, 1991) (Figure 14). Organic-rich
bioturbated limestones are conspicuous at the base (early
Cenomanian) of the Miraflores Formation. This unit is
thin and has a fairly uniform thickness, reflecting low
sedimentation rates and the absence of synsedimentary
tectonism. It is believed that this transgression had a
global eustatic origin (Sempere, 1994).
SENONIANPALEOCENE
The SenonianPaleocene supersequence is best
developed in Andean Bolivia, although some
CampanianMaastrichtian strata are known from the
northwestern and central sub-Andean belt and the
adjacent Beni-Chaco basin. In the Andean depocenter,
this muddy supersequence is up to 1.2 km thick (Figure
12). It was deposited in the external part of a wide,
underfilled foreland basin (Figure 15A) (Sempere, 1994).
The Andes were beginning to form at that time,
producing only a minor flexure of the South American
lithosphere; this constitutes the earliest record of a true
Andean-age foreland basin.
This record consists of two sequences that span the
ConiacianCampanian (about 15-m.y. duration) and
222 Sempere

Figure 13Restored sedimentary cross sections (after Sempere, 1994). See Figure 15A for locations. Strata are decom-
pacted below the middle Selandian unconformity as reference level. Thicknesses are mainly from YPFB proprietary data and
personal observations, but those of nonoutcropping rock units are hypothetical. (A) CPKT, Khenayani-Turuchipa paleostruc-
tural corridor (see Figure 1). (B) Thicknesses from Sevaruyo-Tambillo area are possibly exaggerated and need confirmation.
This tentative restoration assumes a gross 50% shortening as a minimum and more shortening at major thrusts. Symbols: 1,
mostly mudrocks (and limestones in the El Molino Formation); 2, mostly sandstones; 3, evaporites; eO, Early Ordovician; lO,
Late Ordovician; eS, Early Silurian; lS, Late Silurian; eD, Early Devonian; lPz, late Paleozoic; R, Ravelo Fm (Late
TriassicJurassic); Cn, Condo Fm; Ko, Kosmina Fm; LP, La Puerta Fm; Su, Sucre Fm; Ta, Tarapaya Fm; , basic lava flows;
M, Miraflores Fm; Ar, Aroifilla Fm; Ch, Chaunaca Fm; To, Torotoro Fm; Cr, Coroma Fm; EM, El Molino Fm; SL, Santa Luca
Fm (u, upper); Im, Impora Fm; Cy, Cayara Fm.

Maastrichtianearly Selandian (about 16-m.y. duration) The base of the supersequence records a period of
intervals, respectively. There are a few organic-rich levels intense rifting, accompanied by relatively widespread
that are among the best hydrocarbon source rocks in the alkaline basaltic volcanism (Soler and Sempere, 1993)
Bolivian Altiplano. and locally high subsidence rates. This extension is inter-

Figure 14KimmeridgianTuronian paleogeography in
Bolivia (after Sempere,1994). The main depositional area is
the Potos basin. Tight lines are CPKT. Circled numbers: 1,
Tawarreja-Thokori graben; 2, San Lorenzo-Tupiza graben;
3, Sevaruyo subbasin; 4, Norte del Lago basin. Kimmeri-
gianHauterivian interval: 1, conglomeratic facies; 2, sandy
facies; 3, basaltic flows; 4, paleocurrents. Barremian
Albian interval: 5, paleocurrents; 6, gypsum in Tarapaya
Fm. CenomanianTuronian interval: 7, extent of Miraflores
Fm; 8, paleocurrents obtained from orientation of
gastropods or ripple marks.
preted as the foreland reaction to the onset of eastward
encroachment of the Andes. In Bolivia, it reactivated Late
JurassicEarly Cretaceous extensional structures and
produced new normal faults. Coniacian playa lakes
formed in the structural lows.
SantonianCampanian deposits include red mud-
stones and subordinate sandstones and evaporites; there
are two thin, organic-rich, restricted marine carbonate
intercalations. This stratigraphy onlaps toward the
margins, reflecting the distal foreland response to
Peruvian age deformation affecting the coastal regions
at that time (Jaillard, 1994, for Peru; Aspden et al., 1992,
for Ecuador). A decrease in the rate of sedimentation and
rapid progradation of immature sands from the west in
the middlelate Campanian suggest erosion and relative
quiescence of the orogen.
Phanerozoic Evolution of Bolivia and Adjacent Regions 223
An increase in the sedimentation rate and an influx of
clean sand from the east near the CampanianMaas-
trichtian boundary are attributed to reactivation of
thrusting in the coastal orogen, accompanied by uplift of
a forebulge in the sub-Andean-Beni-Chaco region. This
episode coincides with a major transgression from the
north or northwest in the Maastrichtian (Gayet et al.,
1993). Restricted marine to lacustrine marl and carbonate
facies locally rich in organic matter were deposited until
the early Paleocene. Lacustrine and alluvial depositional
environments characterized much of the Paleocene.
Apart from early Selandian reactivation of the CPKT,
there was no major tectonic activity. Uniform and steady
subsidence suggests that flexural loading by thrust sheet
encroachment was important in the coastal orogen
(Sempere, 1994). A major modification of this tectonic
system occurred in the middle Selandian when a wide-
spread unconformity was formed in Andean Bolivia
(Marshall and Sempere, 1991).
LATEST PALEOCENERECENT
The Cenozoic evolution of Bolivia is subject to
conflicting interpretations. However, there is a growing
consensus that the central Andes were built by consider-
able crustal shortening (Roeder, 1988; Sempere et al.,
1990a). All the basins that developed in the Bolivian
mountains or plains during this time were related to the
building of the Andes. Cenozoic basin evolution is
expressed in a twofold record that contains latest
Paleoceneearly Oligocene (about 30-m.y. duration) and
late OligoceneRecent (about 27-m.y. duration)
sequences of unlike characteristics.
During the latest Paleoceneearly Oligocene interval,
Andean Bolivia was a foreland basin east of the Andes
(Figure 15B). Coarsening- and thickening-upward conti-
nental red beds, 25 km thick, accumulated in what is
now the Altiplano and Cordillera Oriental. This basin
probably resembled the present-day Beni-Chaco plain.
The existence of a continuously subsiding basin indicates
that thrusting and tectonic loading were active west of
the Altiplano. The base of the sequence records a signifi-
cant change in sedimentation, approximately coinciding
with the end of emplacement of the Peruvian coastal
batholith, marking a turning point in the pattern of
subduction (Sempere et al., 1989; Sempere, 1991b;
Marshall and Sempere, 1991). This change is related to
the onset of orthogonal convergence along the margin. A
late Eocene or Oligocene uplift in the Cordillera Oriental
is reflected in deposition of the Camargo conglomerates
(Figure 15B).
A tectonic, sedimentary, and magmatic upheaval
developed in Bolivia during the late Oligocene and early
Miocene (Figure 16) (Sempere et al., 1990a), involving a
jump of the foreland basin from its Altiplano
Cordillera Oriental position to the present-day sub-
Andean domain and Beni-Chaco plain. This major reor-
ganization of geologic domains occurred only in the
Bolivian orocline area (Figure 15B), suggesting that at
224 Sempere

Figure 15Late CretaceousCenozoic paleogeography. General legend same as in Figure 2. (A) Synthetic SenonianDanian
paleogeography. 1, rift axes; 2, marine-influenced MaastrichtianDanian basin (maximum extent of SenonianDanian basin);
3, areas undergoing deformation; 4, magmatic arc; 5, continental foreland sedimentation; 6, approximate extent of the mainly
fluvial Cajones Fm (yielded dinosaur bones and an endemic fish known otherwise in MaastrichtianPaleocene strata, but
might be partially older); 7, Maastrichtian paleocurrents; 8, locations of Figure 13 cross sections. Bolivia-Peru basin was
connected to open sea through Venezuela and possibly southern Ecuador (Gayet et al., 1993). Data partially from Marquillas
and Salfity (1988) and Jaillard et al. (1993). (B) Distribution of main geologic features after the middle Paleocene. External
foreland basins: hatchured, latest Paleoceneearly Oligocene, gray, late OligoceneRecent. Paleocurrents: 1, latest
PaleoceneEocene; 2, late Eocene or Oligocene (Camargo conglomerates); 3, late Oligoceneearly Miocene. Magmatic arcs:
4, Eoceneearly Oligocene; 5, late OligoceneRecent.

least its eastern part formed at that time (Sempere et al.,
1990a). Emergence of thrust deformation in the
Cordillera Oriental split the basin into the coeval
Altiplano (intermontane) and sub-Andean-Beni-Chaco
(foreland) basins (Figure 16). The Bolivian Andes grew as
a mountain belt from that time onward. This first major
tectonic episode lasted about 8 m.y., starting at about 27
Ma. After a period of relative tectonic and magmatic
quiescence between about 19 and 11 Ma, shortening and
magmatism resumed. This produced accelerated subsi-
dence of the sub-Andean-Beni-Chaco basin. In the late
Miocene, restricted marine waters flooded the axial
groove of the underfilled Chaco basin from the south.
This transgression is reflected in deposition of the locally
organic-rich Yecua Formation (Marshall et al., 1993). The
late MioceneRecent terrestrial fill of the sub-Andean-
Beni-Chaco foreland basin is 35 km thick and coarsens
and thickens upward. Seal rocks occur near its base and
above the Yecua Formation.
The present-day structure of the Andean fold and
thrust belt of Bolivia involved dcollement levels in
Ordovician, Silurian, and Devonian shale-dominated
units. Within the mountain belt, sedimentation
continued in a variety of piggyback basins. The largest
and most famous of these basins is the Altiplano, which
has a complex structure (Sempere et al., 1990b).
Magmatism has been active since the late Oligocene in
the Cordillera Occidental, which is a subduction-related
arc, and in the Altiplano and western Cordillera Occi-
dental, with some periods of increased activity (Sempere
et al., 1990a,b). Preexisting structures have largely
controlled the geometry and style of Andean deforma-
tion (Sempere et al., 1989, 1991; Hrail et al., 1990).
Ordovician deformation and thickening in the Puna
aulacogen area created a significant crustal hetero-
geneity, which probably influenced the formation of the
Bolivian orocline (Sempere, 1990).
PETROLEUM GEOLOGY
Oil and gas are produced in the central and southern
sub-Andean belt and adjacent lowlands of Bolivia. Many
oil seeps are known in the northwestern sub-Andean
belt, as well as in the Altiplano. The stratigraphy of the
productive sub-Andean and Chaco regions is divided
into a lower PaleozoicJurassic pericratonic Gondwana
section and an upper OligoceneRecent Andean section.
The sub-Andean fold and thrust belt is of late Neogene
Recent age.
The principal source rocks in Bolivia are Devonian
shales and Mississippian mudstones. Other potential
source rocks include Silurian shales, Pennsylvanian
Permian shales and limestones, Upper Cretaceouslower
Paleocene limestonemudstone units in the Altiplano,
and possibly dark shales of the upper Miocene Yecua
Formation in the central and southern sub-Andean
foothills and adjacent Chaco basin.
 Phanerozoic Evolution of Bolivia and Adjacent Regions 225

Figure 16Synopsis of data concerning the late Oligoceneearly Miocene tectonic crisis in Andean Bolivia (after Sempere et
al., 1990a). BI, Illimani batholith; BQC, Quimsa Cruz batholith; CANP, main Andean thrust; CCR, Cordillera Real thrust; FCC,
Coniri thrust front. (A) 1, Composite schematic section for northern Altiplano; arrows, azimuths of mean paleocurrents; 2,
litho- and magnetostratigraphic sections at Salla, correlation to absolute time scale, and ages of nearby intrusions in BI and
BQC; 3, favored age of Cenozoic heating of Zongo-Yani pluton; 4, stratigraphic section 60 km west-northwest of Santa Cruz,
evidencing age of onset of sub-Andean-Beni-Chaco foreland basin. (B) Cross section illustrating activity of main Andean
thrust system (CANP) and synchronous development of sub-Andean and Altiplano basins at ~20 Ma. Vertical arrows show
location of data displayed above. Wavy pattern, pre-Ordovician rocks.

Reservoir intervals occur in numerous Silurian,
Devonian, Carboniferous, Permian, Triassic, Jurassic, and
upper Oligocenemiddle Miocene sandstone units in the
sub-Andean-Beni-Chaco region. Lower Silurian, Penn-
sylvanian, and Permian fractured limestones are also
possible reservoirs. In the Altiplano, where no discov-
eries have been made, possible reservoirs include Upper
SilurianLower Devonian sandstones, Upper Creta-
ceouslower Paleocene limestones, and numerous
Tertiary sandstone units.
Although several seal rocks are interstratified in the
DevonianMississippian succession, the thick and
extensive upper Miocene mudstone unit is the important
seal horizon in the sub-Andean-Beni-Chaco region. In
the Altiplano, potential seals include several Upper
CretaceousEocene mudstone units.
The timing of hydrocarbon maturation, migration, and
trapping is poorly constrained because of the absence of
an established burial history. Sediment accumulation was
nearly continuous from the early Paleozoic to Jurassic in
most of the Bolivia-Peru basin, albeit with Late
DevonianMississippian uplift in some parts of the Beni-
Chaco basin and PermianTriassic uplift in Peru. In most
of the sub-Andean-Beni-Chaco region, subsidence was
negligible from the Late Jurassic to Paleogene, resumed in
the late Oligocene, and increased considerably in the late
Miocene, resulting in rapid burial of Paleozoic source
rocks beneath the Andean foreland basin.
Tectonic burial occurred during propagation of
Andean thrusting. However, there are differences in the
style of foreland basin development in latest Paleocene
early Oligocene and late OligoceneRecent time.
Migration and trapping of hydrocarbons in the produc-
tive areas is believed to be related to these phenomena.
Furthermore, earlier hydrocarbon accumulations may
have been remobilized. Hydrocarbon generation may
have occurred in PermianTriassic time due to locally
high geothermal gradients.
In the still poorly explored Altiplano where only five
exploration wells have been drilled, the burial of
Paleozoic and Upper Cretaceous source rocks occurred
during development of the latest Paleoceneearly
Oligocene foreland basin, that is, earlier than in the sub-
Andean-Beni-Chaco region. Neogene magmatism
probably produced locally high geothermal gradients in
this area.
226 Sempere
DISCUSSION
The Phanerozoic geology of Bolivia preserves a long
record that includes the effects of the dispersal of the Late
Proterozoic supercontinent, the initiation and evolution
of the western Gondwana margin, the aggregation and
consolidation of Pangea, its subsequent fragmentation,
and the convergence effects of the westward motion of
South America. In this history, the building of the central
Andes mountains appears as a comparatively subordi-
nate phenomenon, albeit of impressive magnitude,
related to the dispersal of Pangea elements.
There are several milestones that summarize the
evolution of the Bolivia-Peru basin:
Extension: Late CambrianEarly Ordovician,
AshgillLlandovery, late Middle Triassic, latest
JurassicEarly Cretaceous, early Senonian
Compression and uplift (regional or local):
LlanvirnCaradoc, Late DevonianMississippian,
Late Permian, Late Triassic, late Paleocene, late
OligoceneNeogene
Magmatism (in specific areas only): EarlyLate
Triassic, late OligoceneNeogene
High subsidence rates: Late Cambrian
Mississippian, SenonianRecent
Transgressions are grouped into three time
intervals, with a decrease in amplitude of inunda-
tion: OrdovicianMississippian, Pennsylvanian
Late Permian, Late CretaceousDanian
Some points of interest for global comparisons are as
follows:
The Middle Ordovician deformation in the Andes
was coeval with the Taconic deformation of the
inferred conjugate margin of eastern North
America (Keppie, 1993). Development of approxi-
mately synchronous compressional deformation on
both sides of the southern Iapetus ocean and in the
western United States (Cotkin et al., 1992) suggests
that a major plate reorganization occurred in the
Middle Ordovician.
The SilurianDevonian to Jurassic stratigraphies of
Bolivia and the Paran basin are similar.
The Late DevonianMississippian orogenic-
epeirogenic activity in the central Andean area was
contemporaneous with the Antler orogeny in
western North America (Smith et al., 1993).
Eolianites occur in the Pennsylvanian, Early
Permian, and Jurassic of Bolivia, similar to the
western United States (Blakey et al., 1988), which
occupied a symmetric geotectonic location relative
to the equator.
The Senonianearly Paleocene underfilled foreland
basin of the Andes shows similarities with the
Western Interior seaway of the United States,
reflecting similarities in early Cordilleran-type
evolution.
Stromatolites are common in strata that span the
PermianTriassic (Sempere et al., 1992) and Creta-
ceousTertiary (Gayet et al., 1993) boundaries.
The main aspects of the evolution of Bolivia and the
central Andes can be grouped into three periods: Late
CambrianMississippian, PennsylvanianMiddle
Jurassic, and latest JurassicRecent.
Late CambrianMississippian
( 205 m.y. duration)
Interpretation of the evolution of the central Andean
region is illustrated in Figures 4, 6, and 8. While North
America separated from South America in the latest
ProterozoicEarly Cambrian (Bond et al., 1984), the
western margin of Gondwana evolved as a passive
margin that was subjected to large-scale dextral shear.
This led to the MiddleLate Cambrian formation of the
Puna aulacogen above a thinned crust. Regional
extension also favored the formation along the proto-
Andean domain of a wide marine epicontinental basin
which was the locus of thick sedimentation. Closure and
deformation of the Puna aulacogen propagated from the
west in the Middle Ordovician, probably reflecting the
onset of subduction along the western margin of
Gondwana after an inferred plate reorganization. The
rest of the basin evolved as the marine foreland basin of
this deformation.
High subsidence rates during latest Ordovician
earliest Mississippian time resulted from the transcurrent
state of a wide tract running along the margin (Figures 6,
8), induced by oblique subduction. This foreland-type
basin was filled with southwest-thickening, northeast-
onlapping sequences. It was eventually affected by local
deformation and uplift in the Late DevonianMississip-
pian. The source rocks associated with known hydro-
carbon reserves in Bolivia were deposited during this
period.
PennsylvanianMiddle Jurassic
(~165 m.y. duration)
The consolidation and subsequent fragmentation of
Pangea occurred during the PennsylvanianMiddle
Jurassic interval, with a pivotal event in the Carnian
when rifting developed worldwide (Veevers, 1988). In
the central Andean region, active subduction is believed
to have ceased in the Permian with consolidation of
Pangea (Kay et al., 1989). The central Andean geologic
evolution includes a complex suite of tectonic, magmatic,
and sedimentary events.
Amalgamation of Pangea formed an enormous
thermal blanket, inducing heat anomalies in the mantle.
Deep-rooted thermal anomalies probably resulted in
fracturing the relatively nonrefractory young Andean
crust along preexisting zones of weakness (Mpodozis
and Kay, 1992). This dislocation was expressed in exten-
sional and transtensional structures at the surface.
Voluminous silicic magmatism started as early as
Pennsylvanian time in northern Chile (Breitkreuz et al.,

1989). In the Peruvian Cordillera Oriental, a still poorly
understood but probably transpressional deformation of
Late Permian age created an intracratonic foldbelt that
was subsequently intruded by calc-alkaline, posttectonic
granites of EarlyMiddle Triassic age. This magmatism
evolved to tholeiitic composition at the same time as
several grabens formed, indicating the onset of exten-
sional stress fields in the late Middle Triassic. A subse-
quent reorganization of regional stresses, attributed to a
resumption of subduction beneath western Gondwana,
terminated rifting in the Late Triassic and resulted in
local transpression and basin inversion. This period was
followed by renewed extension in western Andean Peru
and a Norian transgression in eastern Andean and sub-
Andean Peru.
Latest JurassicRecent ( 145 m.y. duration)
Mild extensional conditions prevailed in Bolivia from
Middle Triassic to Coniacian time, although local trans-
pressional deformation occurred in the Late Triassic.
Along the margin, TriassicAlbian transtensional condi-
tions were subsequently replaced by transpression
(Jaillard, 1994). Emplacement of the coastal batholith of
Peru began in middlelate Albian time (Soler and
Bonhomme, 1990).
Six transgressions of marine to restricted marine
waters are recorded: CenomanianTuronian, early
Santonian, middle Campanian, early Maastrichtian,
Danian, and late Miocene. The first five entered Bolivia
from the north and the last one from the south. Develop-
ment of the last five was related to foreland basin
dynamics.
Compressional building of the central Andes started
in the late Turonian or early Coniacian in the west and
subsequently propagated discontinuously toward the
east. Thrust deformation reached the Paleozoic basin of
Bolivia in late Oligocene time and has since propagated
great distances through this succession in the south-
western part of the basin. Andean evolution is a conse-
quence of convergence directly related to the break-up of
Pangea and subsequent plate motions. The style of defor-
mation in the central Andes appears to be controlled by
preexisting structures and by the thickness and litholo-
gies of basin fills.
The productive Beni-Chaco basin of Bolivia is charac-
terized by a twofold history: first, an early Paleozoic
Jurassic pericratonic Gondwana evolution during which
time the principal source and reservoir rocks were
deposited, and second, a late OligoceneRecent Andean
episode of tectonic evolution and burial.
Acknowledgments This work is a result of an extensive
program on the geology of Bolivia initiated in 1983 and funded
by UR 1H of Orstom. Field and stratigraphic studies have been
conducted since 1984 in close collaboration with Yacimientos
Petrolferos Fiscales Bolivianos (YPFB). I particularly thank the
Gerencia de Exploracin and staff and field geologists of YPFB
Phanerozoic Evolution of Bolivia and Adjacent Regions 227
for their help and constant support. The manuscript benefited
from comments by N. Eyles and P. E. Isaacson, and from
editing work by A. J. Tankard. Thanks to J. Oller, E. Aguilera,
Y. Ardaya, G. Beccar, M. G. Bonhomme, R. F. Butler, G.
Carlier, L. Coudert, E. Daz-Martnez, G. Hrail, E. Jaillard, O.
Lpez, R. Marocco, L. G. Marshall, D. Merino, G. Monte-
murro, M. Prez, E. Requena, A. Sadud, E. Salinas, P. Soler, H.
Toledo, E. Vargas, D. Zubieta, and many others for fruitful
discussions or additional information.
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