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The AAPG/Datapages Combined Publications Database

AAPG Bulletin

Abstract


Volume: 45 (1961)

Issue: 3. (March)

First Page: 342

Last Page: 375

Title: Fossiliferous Paleozoic Localities in Merida Andes, Venezuela

Author(s): G. R. Pierce, C. C. Jefferson, Jr., W. R. Smith (2)

Abstract:

Despite both the paucity of information relative to Paleozoic sedimentation and the lack of systematic publication of data by various workers, the deposition of marine fossiliferous strata during this Era was widespread in western Venezuela. This current study of the fossiliferous Paleozoic sedimentary strata of the Merida Andes of western Venezuela and the availability of supporting data from Colombia and Ecuador attest the extensive deposition of marine fossiliferous rocks during the Cambrian, Ordovician, Devonian, Pennsylvanian, and Permian periods. In Venezuela the extent of Paleozoic sediments into areas which have not been subjected to subsequent metamorphism is no doubt much greater than heretofore supposed. The probabilities of thin to thick remnants of Paleozoic ediments capping the Guayana shield extending beneath the Ilanos of western Venezuela and the possibilities within these remnants for source and (or) reservoir beds of petroleum are not beyond conjecture.

Thirteen marine fossiliferous Paleozoic localities from the Merida Andes of western Venezuela are described in detail. In addition to the systematic presentation of stratigraphic data for each area, the illustrations include location maps giving distribution of the Paleozoic strata and their accessibility.

Marine deposition was widespread in western Venezuela during the Paleozoic Era. The most extensive marine record is that of the Late Paleozoic subera, the Mucuchachi group of the Devonian period. Silurian marine sediments are not known in Venezuela. Marine sediments of Pennsylvanian and Permian age are also widespread. All marine fossiliferous Paleozoic strata are in the southeastern sector of the Merida Andes.

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