PALMAR, Formation

TERTIARY (upper Oligocene or lower to middle Miocene)

State of Trujillo, Venezuela

Author of name: P. P. Wolcott (private report).

Original reference: F. A. Sutton, 1946, pp. 1701-1703.

Original description: ibid.

Sutton (1946, pp. 1701-1703) stated that the name Palmar formation derives from the village of Mesa Palmar in southwestern Trujillo and is used to designate a series of interbedded shales, sandstones, and clays which crop out along the Río Buena Vista just below the village. The base of the formation is 700 meters downstream from the crossing of the Monte Carmelo-Las Pavas trail and the top is 1,050 meters farther downstream. Sutton described the clays as mottled dull red, olive-brown, and dark green and locally sandy, indurated, carbonaceous, and plant-fossiliferous. The sandstones are light gray, friable, fine-grained to locally conglomeratic, commonly poorly sorted, and locally micaceous and carbonaceous. The shales are dark gray to black, hard, locally carbonaceous and fossiliferous. Some thin beds of lignitic coal and hard siltstone are present here and there. The type of sedimentation is brackish-water to shallow-marine. Sutton cited a thickness of 570 meters for the formation at its type locality. Southward in west-central Mérida, he stated, the thickness is 590 meters. The Palmar formation is overlain by the Isnotú formation conformably. In southwestern Trujillo and west-central Mérida, the Palmar rests unconformably on the Paují and "Lobaterita" formations. Sutton stated that southward, in south-western and northern Táchira, it is disconformable with the underlying Bebedero formation. The outcrop occurrence of the Palmar formation extends from the Río Buena Vista in southwestern Trujillo along the Andean front to the Colombian border. Northward from the Río Buena Vista, the formation is overlapped by the Isnotú formation. A middle Miocene fauna has been recovered from the upper part of the formation (see Sutton, 1946, p. 1702). No diagnostic fossils have been found in the middle and lower parts. Sutton gave a lower and middle Miocene age to the formation.

Schaub (1948, p. 220) expressed the opinion that Sutton's Isnotú and Palmar formations are one and the same. He proposed to discontinue the use of the name Isnotú since the outcrops near Mesa del Palmar were better suited for a type section than those of the Isnotú.

Mencher et al. (1951, correlation chart) placed the Palmar as the basal formation of the Betijoque group in Trujillo and Táchira. They indicate an upper Oligocene (or older) and lower Miocene age for the formation. The Palmar is shown to be overlain conformably by the Isnotú formation and to rest unconformably on the "Lobaterita formation" in Táchira and to rest either conformably or unconformably on the Pauji formation in the State of Trujillo.

Information taken from private reports and from personal communications indicates that the author of the name now considers the Bebedero to be the basal sandstone member of the Palmar formation. The contact between Sutton's Palmar and Bebedero formations is now known to be gradational. The Palmar formation, including the Bebedero as its basal sandstone member, is now considered to be upper Oligocene or lower Miocene to middle Miocene in age.

See also BETIJOQUE, Group.

Leo Weingeist

BETIJOQUE, Group

TERTIARY (Oligocene to Pliocene)

State of Trujillo, Venezuela

Author of name: W. G. Argabrite, 1919.

Original reference: A. H. Garner, 1926, p. 682.

Original description: ibid.

Garner (1926, p. 682) listed the "Betijoque formation" in the Miocene giving as its type locality the low hills west of the town of Betijoque, State of Trujillo. He described the formation as consisting of "alternating beds of white to red clays and shales, coarse, massive, poorly sorted sandstones and reddish brown, sandy shales. Lower part darker shales and thinner bedded sandstones. Whole series micaceous and ferruginous."

Liddle (1928, p. 279-280) stated that Argabrite, in 1919, was probably the first to apply the name "Betijoque beds" to a unit consisting of chiefly brown, cross-bedded sandstones and shales forming bad-land topography south of Betijoque, State of Trujillo. Liddle commented that the original application, as well as his own, of the term, probably included beds of more than one formation. He cited a lower to upper Miocene age for the unit.

Liddle (1946, p. 391-394) raised the Betijoque to group rank pointing out again that probably more than one formation were included in the original application, as well as his own, of the term "Betijoque beds". He stated that the Betijoque group probably ranges in age from upper Eocene through middle Miocene.

Sutton (1946, p. 1709-1710) stated that Liddle (1928, p. 279-280) had described the "Betijoque beds" which included the "Betijoque formation", as used by Sutton, plus the Isnotú and Palmar formations. Sutton explained that he followed Q. A. Abadilla (1928, private report) in the usage of the term "Betijoque formation". Abadilla had restricted the Betijoque to the upper or conglomeratic part of the section and had applied the name Isnotú to the underlying mottled clays and white sandstones. Sutton pointed out that the Palmar formation, which includes the fossiliferous marine shales at the base of Liddle's, Betijoque beds, was not named until 1943, when P. P. Wolcott introduced it in a company report. Sutton described his "Betijoque formation" as consisting of massive beds of conglomerate, sandstone, siltstone and clay. The conglomerates are the most conspicuous and comprise about 25 percent of the formation. They are coarser in the upper half of the formation, loosely cemented, poorly sorted and occur in beds up to 12 meters thick. The sandstones are massive, locally cross-bedded, gray to brown, loosely cemented and friable, poorly sorted, fine to coarse-grained, micaceous and locally clayey, lignitic, and plant-fossiliferous. The siltstones are massive to thin-bedded, locally well laminated, light gray to greenish gray and micaceous. The clays constitute the mayor part of the unit. They are massive, dark greenish gray to locally brown and black, generally sandy and locally carbonaceous and plant-fossiliferous. Lateral gradation from clays into siltstones, sandstones and conglomerates is common. Sutton cited a maximum thickness of 4,365 meters for the "Betijoque formation" of his usage. He stated that the formation appears to be conformable with the underlying Isnotú formation although in some areas it overlaps the Isnotú and lies unconformably on older sediments. The "Betijoque formation" is unconformably overlain commonly with high angularity, by the Carvajal formation. The "Betijoque formation" occupies a narrow belt along the northwest flank of the Mérida Andes. Sutton cited an upper Miocene age for the formation based on its stratigraphic position and on paleontological evidence (see Sutton, 1946, p. 1710). He pointed out that the "Betijoque formation" is the exact equivalent of the combined upper and middle Maracaibo series of Tash (1937, p. 162) and the Boscán formation of Garner (1926, p. 682). The type Onia beds of Hedberg and Sass (1937, p. 106-107) form the lower part of the Betijoque section on the Río Onia in southwestern Mérida. According to Sutton, the "Betijoque formation" is also the same as the upper part of the Guayabo group in the Onia region of southwestern Mérida and in Táchira.

Mencher et al. (1951, correlation chart) showed the Betijoque group to range from Oligocene through lower Pliocene in Trujillo and Táchira. They include, from top to bottom, the Sanalejos, Isnotú and Palmar formations in the group. The Betijoque group is shown to overlie unconformably the Paují formation in Trujillo and the "Lobaterita formation" in Táchira. In both Trujillo and Táchira the Betijoque group is shown to be overlain unconformably by the Pleistocene Carvajal formation.

Mencher et al. (1953, p. 774) showed the Betijoque group in the State of Táchira unchanged from Mencher et al. (1951, correlation chart). In Trujillo, however, the group is shown to include, from top to botton, the Sanalejos, Vichú and Hormiga formations. The lower contact of the Betijoque group in Trujillo is indicated as either unconformable or conformable with the underlying Paují formation, probably depending on the area. They showed the Vichú formation of Trujillo as corresponding exactly to the Isnotú formation in Táchira. The Hormiga formation is shown to include more section than the Palmar formation which is shown to correspond to the upper part of the Hormiga formation approximately.

Present day usage favors considering the Betijoque as a group of Oligocene to Pliocene age including either the Sanalejos, Vichú and Hormiga formations or the Sanalejos, Vichú, Isnotú and Palmar formations depending of Mencher et al. (1951), the Sanalejos of Mencher et al. (1953) in Táchira, the Sanalejos and Vichú of Mencher et al. (1953) in Trujillo and the "Betijoque formation" of Sutton (1946) are all equivalent to each other. The Hormiga formation shown by Mencher et al. (1953) corresponds to the combined Isnotú and Palmar formations of Sutton (1946, p. 1706-1707 and 1701-1703) plus an additional section at its base depending on the area of outcrop. A number of geologists prefer to follow Sutton applying the name Betijoque to the reduced section and carrying it as a formation. They include two members in their "Betijoque formation", the Sanalejos and Vichú, which correspond in section exactly to the two formations of the same names. This number of geologists consider the age of the "Betijoque formation" to be upper Miocene and Pliocene.

Leo Weingeist