SANALEJOS, Formation

TERTIARY (upper Miocene to lower Pliocene)

States of Trujillo, Venezuela

Author of name: A. Salvador, 1947 (private report).

Original reference: E. Mencher et al., 1951, p. 27-28.

Original description: ibid.

Although published for the first time by Mencher et al. in 1951 (p. 27-28), the term Sanalejos formation was applied by A. Salvador in 1947 (private report) to the upper part of the Betijoque group exposed on Quebrada Sanalejos, a dry creek crossing the Betijoque-Sabana de Mendoza road. However, there is still some doubt as to the correct spelling of the formation name, whether Sanalejos or San Alejo.

According to Salvador, the formation is about 2,385 meters thick and consists predominantly of sandstones, siltstones, claystones, and very massive beds of coarse conglomerates. In the Quebrada Sanalejos, the base of the formation is about 5 kilometers upstream from Sabana de Mendoza, where it is conformably underlain by the Vichú formation. The top, unconformably overlapped by the Carvajal formation, was not located in the quebrada, but it was found in a series of badland hills beginning about 1 kilometer east of Sabana de Mendoza. In the surveyed area, the formation crops out along a belt of badland hills, about 4 kilometers wide, crossing the quebradas El Toro and La Vichú. Since the formation is practically barren of fossils, its age has not been determined with certainty; the stratigraphic position suggests that it is probably upper Miocene to lower Pliocene. The Sanalejos formation correlates with the upper part of Sutton's (1946, p. 1709-1710) Betijoque formation.

Gustavo Feo-Codecido