TARRA, Shales

UPPER CRETACEOUS - TERTIARY (Paleocene)

State of Zulia, Venezuela

Author of name: H. J. Fitcher and H. H. Renz (in Mencher et al., 1953).

Original reference: H. J. Fitcher and H. H. Renz (in Mencher et al., 1953); p. 730.

Original description: none published.

The Tarra shales are named after the Tarra oil fields near the Río Tarra, about 100 kilometers southwest of Lake Maracaibo. According to the stratigraphic column of the Tarra fields (Mencher et al., 1953, p. 730) the Tarrá shales are about 750 meters thick. These marine shales overlie the La Luna formation and are conformably overlain by the Angostura formation. The uppermost parts of the Tarra shales are the equivalent of the Paleocene Guasare formation.

C. Francken