EL MENE, Sands

See EL MENE-SANDFORMATION

"EL MENE-SANDFORMATION"

TERTIARY (upper Oligocene)

State of Falcón, Venezuela

Mainly synonymous with: EL SALTO SAND MEMBER

Author of name: A. Senn, 1935.

Original reference: A. Senn, 1935, p. 77-78.

Original description: ibid.

A. Senn (1935, p. 77-78) introduced the name El Mene-Sandformation into the literature for the sands directly underlying the A4 zone of the Agua Salada Clays in the El Mene de Acosta area, Eastern Falcón. The formation consists of 500 meters of predominantly sandy marls and sands, with calcareous and glauconitic sandstones near the basal transgression bed. Paleontological evidence indicates that the age of the formation is upper Oligocene (Chattian).

A. Senn (1940, p. 1580) referred to this unit as the El Mene Acosta sands, and R. A. Liddle (1946, p. 433, 434, 605) termed it: the El Mene de Acosta sands, El Mene sands and El Mene de Acosta formation. The Tocuyo horizon of Liddle (1928, p. 397) is probably the same unit.

As the name El Mene is preoccupied by different lithological units in Western Falcón, Maracaibo Basin and Barinas area (Hedberg et al., 1938, p. 245), H. H. Renz (1948, p. 89) replaced Senn's El Mene-Sandformation (now invalidated) by the El Salto sand member of the San Lorenzo formation (Agua Salada group). Senn's El Mene-Sandformation also included the lithostratigraphic unit which is now called Guacharaca formation and which underlies the San Lorenzo formation (Renz, 1948, p. 8-9) conformably.

H. H. Renz