PUNTA GAVILAN, Formation

TERTIARY (upper Miocene or lower Pliocene)

State of Falcón, Venezuela

Author of name: H. G. Kugler and P. Leuzinger, 1927 (private report).

Original reference: R. Rutsch, 1934, p. 6-11.

Original description: ibid.

The Punta Gavilans chichten were named by H. G. Kugler and P. Leuzinger in 1927 (private report) and the type locality was defined and described by R. Rutsch (1934, p. 7-8) from Punta Gavilán on the Caribbean coast, District of Zamora, eastern Falcón. The beds are generally described as a sequence of limonitic, marry limestones of detrital origin, showing a thickness not exceeding 50 meters. The type section is exposed in the sea cliff at Punta Gavilán, where 5 meters of nearly horizontal beds consist from bottom to top of: 3 meters of yellow, massive sandy limestone with a very rich mollusk fauna, and 2 meters of irregularly knobby, cavernous limestone with limonitic concretions and nests of very well preserved echinoids. In the general outcrop region between Puerto Cumarebo in the west and Punta Zamuro in the east, the Punta Gavilán beds overlie unconformably the upper part of the Agua Salada group or its equivalents, and are unconformably overlain by Quaternary deposits.

The echinoids of the Punta Gavilán beds were published by A. Jeannet (1928, p. 17-48) and the gastropods by R. Rutsch (1934, p. 35-114). Rutsch assigned an uppermost Miocene or lower Pliocene age to the Punta Gavilán beds. Senn (1935, p. 84) elevated the Punta Gavilán beds to formation rank and suggests a Pliocene age for this unit. H. N. Suter (1937, p. 269-279) gave a more detailed description of the Punta Gavilán formation. He mentions that the formation is also known under the names "Veral beds" and "Punta Zamuro beds", but these names for the Punta Gavilán formation are not used any more. The thickness of the formation varies from 30 to 150 meters. It appears from Suter's description that he extended the use of the Punta Gavilán formation to include, in the Cumarebo area, about 150 meters of sediments which he divided (from top to bottom) into the "Puerto Cumarebo limestone", the "Barranquita beds" and the El Veral beds (p. 271-272). If, however, the El Veral beds are equivalent or synonymous (p. 270) to the Punta Gavilán formation, the "Puerto Cumarebo limestone" and Barranquita beds" should be excluded from the Punta Gavilán formation. It would be better still to eliminate the use of Punta Gavilán formation for the deposits in the Cumarebo area. This was actually done by Payne (1951, p. 1860-1861) who retained the El Veral formation in the Cumarebo area and replaced Suter's "Puerto Cumarebo limestone" and "Barranquita beds" by the term Tucupido formation.

H. H. Renz