Print this pagePaleogeographic Control of Sedimentation Patterns of the Middle Eocene Formations in the Barinas Basin and Subandean Foothills, Western Venezuela
BEJARANO, CELIA A.
Tertiary sedimentation in western Venezuela basin began during Mid Eocene after a major depositional gap since the end of the Cretaceous, with the deposition of a regionally widespread transgressive coastal sandstone, which comprises the Gobernador Formation overlain by the marine shelf mudstone of the Paguey Formation. In the eastern part of the basin, the Gobemador Formation is overlain by a transgressive bioclastic limestone, known as the Masparrito Formation, which grades into the shelf mudstone. The Gobernador sandstones form one of the main regional hydrocarbon reservoir rocks in the Barinas area. A seaward paleogeographic facies gradient as well as a notable variations in thickness and reservoir quality within the Gobernador have been observed along depositional strike, suggesting the existence of zones of subtle synsedimentary folding which controlled depositional topography and facies distribution.