CAPARO, Serie

See CAPARO, Formation

CAPARO, Formation

MIDDLE ORDOVICIAN

State of Mérida, Venezuela

Author of name: P. Christ, 1927.

Original reference: P. Christ, 1927, p. 404.

Original description: ibid.

In 1927, Christ described the Caparo-Bellavista "series" (misspelled by him as Caparro-Bellavista) from the state of Mérida, which was separated by Kündig (1938, p. 28) into the Caparo and Bellavista "series". According to Kündig (1938, p. 28) and Liddle (1946, p. 106) the two "series" are separated by a small zone of La Quinta conglomerates evidently connected with a big strike fault. González de Juana (1951, p. 129) changed the name into Caparo formation. He describes the formation as consisting of clayey sandstones and red or mottled clays or shales. The classic exposure of middle Ordovician discovered by Christ is the most important one known in Venezuela.

Christ correctly assumed a lower Paleozoic age for his Caparo-Bellavista "series", but it remained for Terry in Schuchert (1935, p. 692-694) to discover identifiable fossils at the type locality which definitely established the age as middle Ordovician (see Liddle, 1946, p. 107).

Leith (1938, p. 337-344) identified: Dicranograptus caparroensis, Cryptolithus terryi, etc. Only the Caparo formation of the Caparo-Bellavista "series" of Christ is considered by Kündig to be dated by these fossils.

See also BELLAVISTA, Formation.

W. A. Mohler