Tilatá Formation

Tilatá Formation
Stratigraphic range: Early-Late Pliocene (Montehermosan-Uquian)
~5.3–2.7 Ma
PreЄ
Є
O
S
D
C
P
T
J
K
Pg
N
↓
Tilatá Formation; Stratigraphic range: Early-Late Pliocene (Montehermosan-Uquian); ~5.3–2.7 Ma PreЄ Є O S D C P T J K Pg N ↓
Type	Geological formation
Sub-units	Tequendama Mb., Tibagota Mb., Guasca Mb.
Underlies	Subachoque Formation
Overlies	Guadalupe Gp. ; Guaduas Fm., Cacho Fm., Bogotá Fm., Regadera Fm.
Thickness	up to 83 m (272 ft)
Lithology
Primary	Conglomerate, sandstone
Other	Shale
Location
Coordinates	5°05′56.9″N73°42′49.7″W / 5.099139°N 73.713806°W Coordinates: 5°05′56.9″N73°42′49.7″W / 5.099139°N 73.713806°W
Region	Bogotá savanna, Altiplano Cundiboyacense ; Eastern Ranges, Andes
Country	Colombia
Type section
Named for	Hacienta Tilatá
Named by	Scheibe
Location	Chocontá
Year defined	1933
Coordinates	5°05′56.9″N73°42′49.7″W / 5.099139°N 73.713806°W
Region	Cundinamarca
Country	Colombia

Last updated March 07, 2019

The Tilatá Formation (Spanish : Formación Tilatá, N_1t, Tpt) is a geological formation of the Bogotá savanna, Altiplano Cundiboyacense, Eastern Ranges of the Colombian Andes. The formation consists of coarse to very coarse conglomerates and sandstones. The Tilatá Formation dates to the Neogene period; Early to Late Pliocene epoch (Montehermosan to Uquian in the SALMA classification, from approximately 5.3 to 2.7 Ma), and has a maximum thickness of 83 metres (272 ft). The formation underlies the Quaternary sequence of alluvial, lacustrine and fluvial sediments of Lake Humboldt.

Spanish or Castilian, is a Western Romance language that originated in the Castile region of Spain and today has hundreds of millions of native speakers in the Americas and Spain. It is a global language and the world's second-most spoken native language, after Mandarin Chinese.

The Bogotá savanna is a montane savanna, located in the southwestern part of the Altiplano Cundiboyacense in the center of Colombia. The Bogotá savanna has an extent of 4,251.6 square kilometres (1,641.6 sq mi) and an average altitude of 2,550 metres (8,370 ft). The savanna is situated in the Eastern Ranges of the Colombian Andes.

The Altiplano Cundiboyacense[altiˈplano kundiβoʝaˈsense] is a high plateau located in the Eastern Cordillera of the Colombian Andes covering parts of the departments of Cundinamarca and Boyacá. The altiplano corresponds to the ancient territory of the Muisca. The Altiplano Cundiboyacense comprises three distinctive flat regions; the Bogotá savanna, the valleys of Ubaté and Chiquinquirá, and the valleys of Duitama and Sogamoso. The average altitude of the altiplano is about 2,600 metres (8,500 ft) above sea level but ranges from roughly 2,500 metres (8,200 ft) to 4,000 metres (13,000 ft).

Etymology

The formation was first defined and named by Scheibe in 1933 after the Hacienda Tilatá in Chocontá, near the Sisga Reservoir. Hubach (1957) elevated the Pisos de Tilatá to a formation.^[1]

Chocontá is a municipality and town of Colombia in the Almeidas Province, part of the department of Cundinamarca. It is located on the Pan-American Highway. In 1938 Chocontá had a population of 2,041.

Description

Lithologies

The Tilatá Formation consists of medium to coarse grained sandstones and conglomerates with minor shale beds.^[1]

Sandstone is a clastic sedimentary rock composed mainly of sand-sized mineral particles or rock fragments.

Conglomerate is a coarse-grained clastic sedimentary rock that is composed of a substantial fraction of rounded to subangular gravel-size clasts, e.g., granules, pebbles, cobbles, and boulders, larger than 2 mm (0.079 in) in diameter. Conglomerates form by the consolidation and lithification of gravel. Conglomerates typically contain finer grained sediment, e.g., either sand, silt, clay or combination of them, called matrix by geologists, filling their interstices and are often cemented by calcium carbonate, iron oxide, silica, or hardened clay.

Shale A fine-grained, clastic sedimentary rock

Shale is a fine-grained, clastic sedimentary rock composed of mud that is a mix of flakes of clay minerals and tiny fragments of other minerals, especially quartz and calcite. Shale is characterized by breaks along thin laminae or parallel layering or bedding less than one centimeter in thickness, called fissility. It is the most common sedimentary rock.

Stratigraphy and depositional environment

The Tilatá Formation is the lowermost of the lacustrine and alluvial sequence of the Bogotá savanna. It unconformably overlies the Cretaceous Guadalupe Group and the Paleogene Guaduas, Cacho, Bogotá, and Regadera Formations, and is overlain by the Quaternary Subachoque Formation of Lake Humboldt. Helmens and Van der Hammen (1995) subdivided the formation into three members; Tequendama, Tibagota (Lower Tilatá) and Guasca (Upper Tilatá).^[1] The age has been estimated to be Late Miocene to Late Pliocene based on fission track analysis and palynology, with reported ages between 5.3 and 2.7 Ma.^[2] The depositional environment has been interpreted as alluvial plains and alluvial fans,^[1] formed during the main phase of tectonic uplift of the Eastern Ranges in the Late Pliocene.^[3] Dutch geologist Salomon Kroonenberg, who studied the Neogene uplift of the Eastern Andes in Colombia, defines the main stage of uplift between six and four million years ago. Other Dutch geologists Helmens, Van der Hammen and Hooghiemstra have pushed back this uplift phase to between 4.5 and 3 Ma.^[4] The upper part of the Tilatá Formation is time-equivalent with the Chorrera Formation, outcropping in Subachoque and the main phase of explosive activity of the Paipa–Iza volcanic complex, active between 4.7 and 3.6 Ma.^[5]

The Guadalupe Group (Spanish: Grupo Guadalupe, K₂G, Ksg) is a geological group of the Altiplano Cundiboyacense, Eastern Ranges of the Colombian Andes. The group, a sequence of shales and sandstones, is subdivided into three formations; Arenisca Dura, Plaeners and Arenisca Labor-Tierna, and dates to the Late Cretaceous period; Campanian-Maastrichtian epochs and at its type section has a thickness of 750 metres (2,460 ft).

The Guaduas Formation (Spanish: Formación Guaduas, K₂P₁G, K₂E₁G, KPgg, KTg, TKg, Ktg) is a geological formation of the Middle Magdalena Basin and the Altiplano Cundiboyacense, Eastern Ranges of the Colombian Andes. The predominantly shale with coalbed formation dates to the Late Cretaceous and Paleogene periods; Maastrichtian-Paleocene epochs, and has a maximum thickness of 1,090 metres (3,580 ft). Fossils of Coussapoa camargoi, Ficus andrewsi, Berhamniphyllum sp. and Archaeopaliurus boyacensis have been found in coalbeds in Zipaquirá and Tasco, Boyacá.

The Cacho Formation (Spanish: Formación Cacho, E₁C, Tpc, Tec) is a geological formation of the Altiplano Cundiboyacense, Eastern Ranges of the Colombian Andes. The predominantly sandstone formation with thin intercalated beds of shales dates to the Paleogene period; Middle to Late Paleocene epochs, and has a maximum thickness of 400 metres (1,300 ft).

Outcrops

Type locality of the Tilatá Formation on the northeasternmost Bogotá savanna

The Tilatá Formation is found at its type locality in the synclinal of the Sisga Reservoir in Chocontá, in the Bogotá River valley,^[6] and along the road from Bogotá to Tunja.^[1]

Type locality, also called type area, or type section, is the locality where a particular rock type, stratigraphic unit or mineral species is first identified. If the stratigraphic unit in a locality is layered, it is called a stratotype, whereas the standard of reference for unlayered rocks is the type locality.

The Bogotá River is a major river of the Cundinamarca department of Colombia, crossing the region from the northeast to the southwest and passing along the western limits of Bogotá. The large population and major industrial base in its watershed have resulted in extremely severe pollution problems for the river.

Tunja is a city on the Eastern Ranges of the Colombian Andes, in the region known as the Altiplano Cundiboyacense, 130 km northeast of Bogotá. In 2012 it had an estimated population of 181,407 inhabitants. It is the capital of Boyacá department and the Central Boyacá Province. Tunja is an important educational centre of well-known universities. In the time before the Spanish conquest of the Muisca, Tunja was called Hunza and was conquered by the Spanish conquistadors on August 20, 1537 upon zaque Quemuenchatocha and founded by the Spanish on August 6, 1539, exactly one year after the former southern capital Bacatá. The city hosts the most remaining Muisca architecture: Hunzahúa Well, Goranchacha Temple and Cojines del Zaque.

Related Research Articles

Thomas van der Hammen Dutch botanist (1924-2010)

Thomas van der Hammen was a Dutch palaeontologist, botanist and geologist. He has published more than 160 works in five languages.

The Simijaca Formation (Spanish: Formación Simijaca, K₂S, Kss) is a geological formation of the Altiplano Cundiboyacense, Eastern Ranges of the Colombian Andes. The predominantly mudstone formation dates to the Late Cretaceous period; Turonian and Cenomanian epochs, and has a maximum thickness of 693 metres (2,274 ft).

The Marichuela Formation is a geological formation of the Bogotá savanna, Altiplano Cundiboyacense, Eastern Ranges of the Colombian Andes. The formation consists of coarse to very coarse conglomerates. The Marichuela Formation dates to the Neogene period; Late Miocene to Early Pliocene epochs, and has a maximum thickness of 40 metres (130 ft).

The Chipaque Formation (Spanish: Formación Chipaque, K₂cp, Kc) is a geological formation of the Altiplano Cundiboyacense, Eastern Ranges of the Colombian Andes. The predominantly organic shale formation dates to the Late Cretaceous period; Cenomanian-Turonian epochs and has a maximum thickness of 1,700 metres (5,600 ft). The formation, rich in TOC, is an important oil and gas generating unit for the giant oilfields Cupiagua and Cusiana of the Eastern Ranges as well as in the Llanos Orientales.

The Tunjuelo Formation, Río Tunjuelo or Río Tunjuelito Formation is a geological formation of the Bogotá savanna, Altiplano Cundiboyacense, Eastern Ranges of the Colombian Andes. The formation consists mainly of conglomerates with intercalating shales and sandstones. The Tunjuelo Formation dates to the Quaternary period; covering the complete Pleistocene epoch, and has a maximum thickness of 150 metres (490 ft). It is a formation of the lacustrine and fluvio-glacial sediments of Lake Humboldt.

Subachoque Formation Geological formation in South America

The Subachoque Formation is a geological formation of the Bogotá savanna, Altiplano Cundiboyacense, Eastern Ranges of the Colombian Andes. The formation consists mainly of sandy shales and lignite with sandstone beds. The Subachoque Formation dates to the Quaternary period; Early to Middle Pleistocene epoch, and has a maximum thickness of 150 metres (490 ft). It is the lowermost formation of the lacustrine and fluvio-glacial sediments of Lake Humboldt.

The Bogotá Formation (Spanish: Formación Bogotá, E_1-2b, Tpb, Pgb) is a geological formation of the Eastern Hills and Bogotá savanna on the Altiplano Cundiboyacense, Eastern Ranges of the Colombian Andes. The predominantly shale and siltstone formation, with sandstone beds intercalated, dates to the Paleogene period; Upper Paleocene to Lower Eocene epochs, with an age range of 61.66 to 52.5 Ma, spanning the Paleocene–Eocene Thermal Maximum. The thickness of the Bogotá Formation ranges from 169 metres (554 ft) near Tunja to 1,415 metres (4,642 ft) near Bogotá. Fossils of the ungulate Etayoa bacatensis have been found in the Bogotá Formation, as well as numerous reptiles, unnamed as of 2017.

The Usme Formation is a geological formation of the Bogotá savanna, Altiplano Cundiboyacense, Eastern Ranges of the Colombian Andes. The formation consists of a lower part with predominantly shales with intercalated sandstone beds and an upper sequence with sandstones and conglomerates. The Usme Formation dates to the Neogene and Paleogene periods; Late Eocene to Early Oligocene epochs, and has a maximum thickness of 300 metres (980 ft).

The Regadera Formation (Spanish: Formación Regadera, E₂r, Tpr) is a geological formation of the Bogotá savanna, Altiplano Cundiboyacense, Eastern Ranges of the Colombian Andes. The predominantly sandstone and conglomeratic formation, with pink shale beds intercalated, dates to the Paleogene period; Middle to Late Eocene epoch, and has a maximum thickness of 765 metres (2,510 ft).

The La Frontera Formation (Spanish: Formación La Frontera, K₂F, Ksf) is a geological formation, part of the Villeta Group, of the Altiplano Cundiboyacense and neighbouring areas of the Eastern Ranges of the Colombian Andes. The sequence of limestones and lydites dates to the Late Cretaceous period; Turonian epoch and has a maximum thickness of 206 metres (676 ft).

The Conejo Formation (Spanish: Formación Conejo, K₂C, Kscn) is a fossiliferous geological formation of the Altiplano Cundiboyacense, Eastern Ranges of the Colombian Andes. The uppermost unit of the Villeta Group, a sequence of shales and sandstones dates to the Late Cretaceous period; Turonian, Coniacian and Santonian epochs, and has a maximum thickness of 1,022 metres (3,353 ft).

The Chorrera Formation is a geological formation of the Bogotá savanna, Altiplano Cundiboyacense, Eastern Ranges of the Colombian Andes. The formation consists of coarse to very coarse conglomerates. The Chorrera Formation dates to the Neogene period; Pliocene epoch, and has a maximum thickness of 40 metres (130 ft).

The Sabana Formation is a geological formation of the Bogotá savanna, Altiplano Cundiboyacense, Eastern Ranges of the Colombian Andes. The formation consists mainly of shales with at the edges of the Bogotá savanna lignites and sandstones. The Sabana Formation dates to the Quaternary period; Middle to Late Pleistocene epoch, and has a maximum thickness of 320 metres (1,050 ft), varying greatly across the savanna. It is the uppermost formation of the lacustrine and fluvio-glacial sediments of paleolake Humboldt, that existed at the edge of the Eastern Hills until the latest Pleistocene.

Fernando Etayo Serna is a Colombian paleontologist and geologist. His contributions on the paleontology in Colombia has been mainly on the descriptions of ammonites and Etayo has helped describing many fossiliferous geologic formations of Colombia. Etayo obtained his MSc. degree in geology and geophysics from the Universidad Nacional de Colombia in 1963, and his PhD in paleontology from the University of California, Berkeley in 1975.

The Une Formation is a geological formation of the Altiplano Cundiboyacense, Eastern Ranges of the Colombian Andes. The predominantly sandstone formation dates to the Middle Cretaceous period; Albian to Cenomanian epochs and has a maximum thickness of 1,100 metres (3,600 ft).

The Villeta Group is a geological group of the Eastern Ranges of the Colombian Andes, to the west of the Altiplano Cundiboyacense. The group, a sequence of shales, limestones and sandstones, is subdivided into various formations; Conejo, La Frontera, Simijaca, Hiló, Pacho, Chiquinquirá, Capotes, Socotá, El Peñón, and Trincheras, and dates to the Cretaceous period; Aptian-Coniacian epochs. The group stretches out across four departments, from Huila in the south, through Cundinamarca and Boyacá to southern Santander in the north. The upper part of the Villeta Group is time-equivalent with the La Luna Formation of the Middle Magdalena Valley (VMM) and Sierra Nevada del Cocuy, the Oliní and Güagüaquí Groups of the Guaduas-Vélez synclinal and the Chipaque Formation of the Altiplano Cundiboyacense. The lower part has been correlated with the Simití, Tablazo and Paja Formations of the VMM, the upper Tibasosa, Une and Fómeque Formations of the Altiplano Cundiboyacense and the Capacho, Aguardiente, Tibú-Mercedes and upper Río Negro Formations of the Sierra Nevada del Cocuy.

The Bogotá Fault is a major inactive slightly dextral oblique thrust fault in the department of Cundinamarca in central Colombia. The fault has a total length of 79.3 kilometres (49.3 mi), while other authors designate a length of 107 kilometres (66 mi), and runs along an average north-northeast to south-southwest strike of 013.5 ± 7 across the Altiplano Cundiboyacense, central part of the Eastern Ranges of the Colombian Andes.

References

1 2 3 4 5 Montoya & Reyes, 2005, p.68
↑ Montoya & Reyes, 2005, p.69
↑ Montoya & Reyes, 2005, p.67
↑ Molnar, 2004, p.75
↑ Monsalve et al., 2011, p.120
↑ Guerrero Uscátegui, 1992, p.6

Bibliography

Guerrero Uscátegui, Alberto Lobo. 1992. Geología e Hidrogeología de Santafé de Bogotá y su Sabana, 1–20. Sociedad Colombiana de Ingenieros.
Molnar, Peter. 2004. Late Cenozoic increase in accumulation rates of terrestrial sediment. Annual Review of Earth and Planetary Sciences 32. 67-89.
Monsalve, Maria Luisa; Nadia R. Rojas; Francisco A. Velandia P.; Iraida Pintor, and Lina Fernanda Martínez. 2011. Caracterización geológica del cuerpo volcánico de Iza, Boyacá - Colombia . Boletín de Geología 33. 117-130. Accessed 2017-02-25.
Montoya Arenas, Diana María, and Germán Alfonso Reyes Torres. 2005. Geología de la Sabana de Bogotá, 1–104. INGEOMINAS .

Maps

Renzoni, Giancarlo, and Humberto Rosas. 2009. Plancha 171 - Duitama - 1:100,000 , 1. INGEOMINAS . Accessed 2017-06-06.
Renzoni, Giancarlo; Humberto Rosas, and Fernando Etayo Serna . 1998. Plancha 191 - Tunja - 1:100,000 , 1. INGEOMINAS . Accessed 2017-06-06.
Montoya, Diana María, and Germán Reyes. 2009. Plancha 209 - Zipaquirá - 1:100,000 , 1. INGEOMINAS . Accessed 2017-06-06.
Ulloa, Carlos E; Erasmo Rodríguez, and Jorge E. Acosta. 1998. Plancha 227 - La Mesa - 1:100,000 , 1. INGEOMINAS . Accessed 2017-06-06.
Buitrago, José Alberto; Roberto Terraza M., and Fernando Etayo . 1998. Plancha 228 - Santafé de Bogotá Noreste - 1:100,000 , 1. INGEOMINAS . Accessed 2017-06-06.
Acosta, Jorge E., and Carlos E. Ulloa. 1998. Plancha 246 - Fusagasugá - 1:100,000 , 1. INGEOMINAS . Accessed 2017-06-06.

External links

Gómez, J.; N.E. Montes; Á. Nivia, and H. Diederix. 2015. Plancha 5-09 del Atlas Geológico de Colombia 2015 – escala 1:500,000 , 1. Servicio Geológico Colombiano . Accessed 2017-03-16.

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[Ingeominas_p68-1] 1 2 3 4 5 Montoya & Reyes, 2005, p.68

[Ingeominas_p69-2] Montoya & Reyes, 2005, p.69

[Ingeominas_p67-3] Montoya & Reyes, 2005, p.67

[Molnar_p75-4] Molnar, 2004, p.75

[Monsalve_p120-5] Monsalve et al., 2011, p.120

[Guerrero_p6-6] Guerrero Uscátegui, 1992, p.6