RIECITO, Limestone

TERTIARY (lower Miocene)

State of Falcón, Venezuela

Author of name: A. Senn, 1940.

Original reference: A. Senn, 1940, Stratigraphic Correlation Chart, p. 1580.

Original description: A. Senn, 1935, p. 82.

A. Senn (1935, p. 82) described the Miogypsinen-Kalk from the mountains near Riecito, District of Acosta, eastern Falcón. Later, (1940, Stratigraphic Correlation Chart, p. 1580) he refers to it as Miogypsina limestone of Riecito. It is originally described as a sequence of algal, foraminiferal and coral limestones, more or less sandy with unimportant marl layers, about 200 meters thick. The Riecito limestone is typically developed in the north and south flank of Cerro Riecito, comaining mollusks such as Turritella abrupta Spieker and foraminifera with abundant Miogypsina sp. and Amphistegina sp. The age is given as lower middle Miocene, but this is unlikely as the genus Miogypsina does not occur higher than lower Miocene (Burdigalian). The Miogypsina limestone of Riecito lies within Senn's A1a Agua Salada zone.

In the nomenclature of H. H. Renz (1948, p. 19, 21-24, 63-66) the Riecito limestone falls within the Husito marry clay member of the Pozón formation (Ague Salada group) and is covered by the Marginulinopsis basispinosus zone (Lucian stage) for which a lower Miocene (Burdigalian) age is given.

H. H. Renz