Valle Alto Formation

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Valle Alto Formation
Stratigraphic range: Late Jurassic
~150–145  Ma
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O
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Type Geological formation
Unit ofQuebradagrande Complex
Lithology
Primary Shale, sandstone
Other Conglomerate
Location
Coordinates 5°22′08″N75°22′03″W / 5.36889°N 75.36750°W / 5.36889; -75.36750 Coordinates: 5°22′08″N75°22′03″W / 5.36889°N 75.36750°W / 5.36889; -75.36750
Region Caldas Department
Central Ranges
Andes
CountryFlag of Colombia.svg  Colombia
Type section
Named forHacienda Valle Alto
Named byGonzález et al.
Location San Félix
Year defined1977
Coordinates 5°22′08″N75°22′03″W / 5.36889°N 75.36750°W / 5.36889; -75.36750
Approximate paleocoordinates 3°06′N72°24′W / 3.1°N 72.4°W / 3.1; -72.4
Region Caldas
CountryFlag of Colombia.svg  Colombia
Blakey 150Ma - COL.jpg
Paleogeography of Northern South America
150 Ma, by Ron Blakey
Landscape around San Felix, Caldas, where the formation is found Mountains in San Felix.JPG
Landscape around San Félix, Caldas, where the formation is found

The Valle Alto Formation (Spanish : Formación Valle Alto, Jva) is a geological formation of the Central Ranges of the Colombian Andes. The formation is composed of shales, sandstones and conglomerates and dates to the Late Jurassic period. Ammonites and fossil flora have been found in the Valle Alto Formation.

Spanish language Romance language

Spanish or Castilian is a 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.

Cordillera Central (Colombia) mountain range in the Colombian Andes

The Cordillera Central is the highest of the three branches of the Colombian Andes. The range extends from south to north dividing from the Colombian Massif in Cauca Department to the Serranía de San Lucas in Bolivar Departments. The highest peak is Nevado del Huila at 5,364 m (17,598 ft).

Colombia Country in South America

Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia, is a sovereign state largely situated in the northwest of South America, with territories in Central America. Colombia shares a border to the northwest with Panama, to the east with Venezuela and Brazil and to the south with Ecuador and Peru. It shares its maritime limits with Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Honduras, Jamaica, Haiti, and the Dominican Republic. Colombia is a unitary, constitutional republic comprising thirty-two departments, with the capital in Bogota.

Contents

Etymology

The formation was described and named in 1977 by González et al. after Hacienda Valle Alto, San Félix, Caldas. [1] [2]

Salamina, Caldas Municipality and town in Caldas Department, Colombia

Salamina is a town and municipality in the colombian department of Caldas. It is located north of the department and has a township called San Felix. It was declared a national monument and historic heritage of mankind.

Caldas Department Department in Andean Region, Colombia

Caldas is a department of Colombia named after Colombian patriotic figure Francisco José de Caldas. It is part of the Paisa Region and its capital is Manizales. The population of Caldas is 1,030,062, and its area is 7,291 km². Caldas is also part of the Colombian Coffee-Growers Axis region along with the Risaralda and Quindio departments.

Lithologies

The Valle Alto Formation is composed of shales, sandstones and conglomerates. [3]

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.

Sandstone A clastic sedimentary rock composed mostly of sand-sized particles

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

Conglomerate (geology) A coarse-grained clastic sedimentary rock with mainly rounded to subangular clasts

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.

Stratigraphy, age and depositional environment

The Valle Alto Formation, part of the Quebradagrande Complex, is not defined as a proper formation, rather as a collection of rocks of different facies origin segmented by tectonic forces of the Central Ranges. [1]

Facies body of rock with specified characteristics, smallest unit in geology

In geology, a facies is a body of rock with specified characteristics, which can be any observable attribute of rocks, and the changes that may occur in those attributes over a geographic area. It is the sum total characteristics of a rock including its chemical, physical, and biological features that distinguishes it from adjacent rock.

The Valle Alto Formation has been deposited as the result of marine incursions from the proto-Caribbean into Colombia, preceding the larger-scale transgression of the Cretaceous. [4]

Fossil content

Fossils of Piazopteris branneri , [note 1] Cladophlebis sp. , Classopollis sp. , Ctenozamites sp. , Desmiophyllum sp. , Gleichenites sp. , Nilssoniopteris sp. , Otozamites sp. , Pachypteris sp. , Ptilophyllum sp. , Rhabdoderas sp. , Sagenopteris sp. , Sandlingites sp. , Sphenopteris sp. , Substeuroceras sp. , Trigonia sp. , and Zamites sp. have been found in the Valle Alto Formation. [5] [6]

<i>Cladophlebis</i> genus of plants

Cladophlebis is an extinct genus of fern which grew during the late Paleozoic and Mesozoic eras. It was a common plant during that time in both the northern and southern hemispheres, and belonged to the order of plants called Filicales.

Pachypteris (Brongn.) T.M.Harris. is a Mesozoic pteridosperm leaf fossil probably belonging to the seed fern Order Peltaspermales.

<i>Sagenopteris</i>

Sagenopteris is a genus of extinct seed ferns from the Triassic to late Early Cretaceous.

Outcrops

The Valle Alto Formation is found near its type locality in the Central Ranges of the Colombian Andes, around Pácora and Salamina. [1]

See also

Cscr-candidate.svg Geology of the Eastern Hills
Symbol b class.svg Geology of the Ocetá Páramo
Symbol c class.svg Geology of the Altiplano Cundiboyacense

Notes

  1. Piazopteris branneri listed as the Permian genus Glossopteris (branneri) [5]

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<i>Trigonia</i> genus of molluscs (fossil)

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Usme Formation

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Regadera Formation

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).

Floresta Formation

The Floresta Formation is a geological formation of the Altiplano Cundiboyacense in the Eastern Ranges of the Colombian Andes. The sequence of siltstones, shales, coquinas and sandstone beds dates to the Devonian period; Late Emsian, Eifelian and Early Givetian epochs, and has a maximum thickness of 600 metres (2,000 ft). The unit is highly fossiliferous; brachiopods, bryozoans, gastropods, trilobites, corals and bivalves have been found in the Floresta Formation. Some fragments of Placoderm fish fossils were found in the Floresta Formation, while the overlying Cuche Formation is much richer in fish biodiversity.

Arcabuco Formation

The Arcabuco Formation is a geological formation of the Altiplano Cundiboyacense, Eastern Ranges of the Colombian Andes. The formation consists of thick beds of light-coloured quartzitic sandstones and conglomerates with occasional shales and dates to the Late Jurassic and Early Cretaceous periods; Tithonian to Berriasian epochs. Dinosaur footprints have been found in the Arcabuco Formation near the Iguaque anticlinal outside Chíquiza, Boyacá.

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The Murca Formation is a geological formation of the Altiplano Cundiboyacense, Eastern Ranges of the Colombian Andes. The predominantly subarkose sandstone with claystones and siltstones formation dates to the Early Cretaceous period; Valanginian epoch and has a maximum thickness of 924 metres (3,031 ft).

Cuche Formation

The Cuche Formation is a geological formation of the Floresta Massif, Altiplano Cundiboyacense in the Eastern Ranges of the Colombian Andes. The sequence of siltstones, shales, and sandstone beds dates to the Late Devonian and Early Carboniferous periods, and has a maximum thickness of 900 metres (3,000 ft).

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Macanal Formation

The Macanal Formation or Macanal Shale is a fossiliferous geological formation of the Altiplano Cundiboyacense and Tenza Valley in the Eastern Ranges of the Colombian Andes. The predominantly organic shale formation dates to the Early Cretaceous period; Berriasian to Valanginian epochs and has a maximum thickness of 2,935 metres (9,629 ft). The Macanal Formation contains numerous levels of fossiliferous abundances. Bivalves, ammonites and fossil flora have been found in the formation.

Río Cachirí Group

The Río Cachirí Group is a geological group of the Cesar-Ranchería Basin, Colombia and the Serranía del Perijá of the northernmost Colombian and Venezuelan Andes. The group of shales, sandstones and limestones is of Devonian age and has a maximum thickness in the Venezuelan section of 2,438 metres (7,999 ft). The group contains abundant fauna; crinoids, bryozoa, brachiopods and molluscs have been found in the group.

Barzalosa Formation

The Barzalosa Formation is a fossiliferous geological formation of the Upper Magdalena Valley and the bounding foothills of the Central Ranges and Eastern Ranges of the Colombian Andes. The formation consists of conglomerates, sandstones and siltstones. The Barzalosa Formation probably dates to the Late Paleogene to Early Neogene period; Oligocene to Early Miocene epochs, and has an approximate thickness of 360 metres (1,180 ft). Fossils of Balanerodus logimus, Lophiodolodus chaparralensis, Xenastrapotherium chaparralensis, Protheosodon sp. and Proadinotherium sp. have been uncovered from the formation in Chaparral, Tolima.

Guavio Formation

The Guavio Formation is a geological formation of the Altiplano Cundiboyacense, Eastern Ranges of the Colombian Andes. The formation consists of conglomerates, shales and limestones, dates to the Late Jurassic and Early Cretaceous periods; Tithonian to Berriasian epochs and has a maximum thickness of 1,000 metres (3,300 ft).

Caballos Formation

The Caballos Formation is a geological formation of the Upper Magdalena Valley (VSM), Caguán-Putumayo Basin, Central and Eastern Ranges of the Colombian Andes. The sandstone and shale formation dates to the Middle Cretaceous period; Aptian to Albian epochs and has a maximum thickness of 411 metres (1,348 ft).

References

  1. 1 2 3 Moreno Sánchez et al., 2007
  2. Mojica, 1984, p.132
  3. Isagen, 2009, p.9
  4. Mojica & Kammer, 1995, p.170
  5. 1 2 Mojica, 1984, pp.131-132
  6. Valle Alto Formation at Fossilworks.org

Bibliography

Maps