GLOBOROTALIA FOHSI, Zone

TERTIARY (upper Oligocene)

State of Falcón, Venezuela

Author of name: H. H. Renz, 1948.

Original reference: H. H. Renz, 1948, p. 56-59.

See ARAGUATIAN, Stage

ARAGUATIAN, Stage

TERTIARY (upper Oligocene to lower Miocene)

State of Falcón, Venezuela

Author of name: H. H. Renz, 1948.

Original reference: H. H. Renz, 1948, p. 55-62.

Original description: ibid.

The Araguatian stage is defined and described as a time-stratigraphic unit. It is named from Quebrada Araguata, Pozón area, District of Acosta, Eastern Falcón, with type locality along the Loma Luca type-section traverse, west of a north-south tributary of Quebrada Araguata (Renz, 1948, p. 55-62). The Araguatian covers a section of sediments within the middle part of the Agua Salada group and is in conformable stratigraphic contact with the underlying Acostian and overlying Lucian.

The stratigraphic thickness of the Araguatian at Pozón is 200 to 208 meters comprising part of the Husito marry clay member of the Pozón formation; at El Mene de Acosta the stage is about 240 meters thick. Toward the Caribbean coast the thickness is considerably more, about 700 meters at Isidro.

The Araguatian stage is very rich in foraminifera and biostratigraphically well defined. It can be subdivided into a lower Globorotalia fohsi zone and an upper Valvulineria herricki zone. Their contact probably marks the boundary between the Oligocene and the Miocene. Fossil evidence indicates that the Araguatian stage ranges from the upper Oligocene (Aquitanian) to the lower Miocene (Burdigalian).

The Araguatian has a wide geographic extent. It can be recognized throughout the Agua Salada Basin of Eastern Falcón and at many localities in the Caribbean region.

H. H. Renz