CURAMICHATE, Sands

TERTIARY (upper Oligocene)

State of Falcón, Venezuela

Author of name: C. Wiedenmayer, 1924.

Original reference: C. Wiedenmayer, 1924, p. 510.

Original description: ibid.

C. Wiedenmayer (1924, p. 501-511) created the name Sandstein-Sand-mergelserie (Curamichateserie) for a deltaic formation consisting of sandy marls, cross-bedded sandstones and calcareous sandstones, outcropping in the coastal cliff near the village of Curamichate, northwest of San Juan de los Cayos, Eastern Falcón. He assigns an Oligocene age to this unit. Unfortunately, Wiedenmayer, due to erroneous correlation, also includes here the lithologically different orbitoidal limestones and marls of Cerro Campana (Guayavalserie) which are of predominantly upper Eocene age and should be excluded from his Curamichateserie. A. Senn (1935, p. 77, Taf. VIII) named this unit the Curamichate-Sande, which he places on top of his A3-4 Agua Salada zone, underlying his A3 zone; an upper Oligocene age is assigned to this unit. Later the same author (1940, p. 1580, Stratigraphic Correlation Chart) refers to this unit as the Solito-Curamichate sands. It is recommended to use henceforth the name Curamichate sands for this unit.

Liddle (1946, p. 449, 461) includes the Curamichate sands into the uppermost part of the Cerro Pelado formation, and reports some coal beds from this unit (p. 433).

In the nomenclature of H. H. Renz (1948, p. 8, 53) the Curamichate sands fall within the lower part of the Agua Salada group, near the boundary between the San Lorenzo and Pozón formations, and represent a local sandy facies development. The Curamichate sands lie within the Siphogenerina transversa zone, to which an upper Oligocene age is assigned.

H. H. Renz