BULLETIN O F T H E AMERICAN ASSOCIATION OF PETROLEUM GEOLOGISTS

VOL. 28. NO. 11 (NOVEMBER. 1944), PP. 1642-1648. 1 FIG.

GEOLOGICAL NOTES

FUSULINIDS IN LA QUINTA FORMATION, VENEZUELA 1

H. P. SCHAUB2
Maracaibo, Venezuela
On a recent excursion to the state of Trujillo a calcareous conglomerate was
found in the basal part of the La Quinta formation. I t is mainly composed of
pebbles of a light gray limestone, some of which contain small gastropods, stems
of crinoids, and fusulinids.
Outcrops of the conglomerate, which is 2 meters thick, occur along the new

MARACAIBO
LAKE.

STATE OF TRUJILLO
,rM.W VENEZUELA SCALE I = 1 0 0 0 . 0 0 0
', SCALE I IOOOO.OOO + FOSSIL LOCALITY

FIG. 1

road from Trujillo to San Lazaro, between Kilometers 10 and 16. Tectonically
they are situated in the northwest flank of the southwest-striking San Jacinto
syncline which is a part of the mountain system known as the Venezuelan Andes.
The conglomerate is overlain by 1 meter of gray, quartzitic sandstone. Although
the contact is nowhere exposed, it is nevertheless clear from the regional occur-
rence of the outcrops that the conglomerate lies unconformably on metamorphic
schists of the Mucuchachi formation (probably Devonian). The bed forms the
basal zone of a thick series of characteristically brick-red sandstones, conglomer-
1
Manuscript received, October 2, 1944. Published by permission of the Caribbean Petroleum
Company.
2
Geologist, Caribbean Petroleum Company.
1642
 GEOLOGICAL NOTES 1643

ates, and sandy shales, in which small lenses of coal occur. This series, which is
called La Quinta or sometimes Giron formation, is itself overlain unconformably
by the Tomon formation (Lower Cretaceous).
The fusulinids are not too well preserved but they are unmistakable. H.
Baggelaar, paleontologist for the Caribbean Petroleum Company in Maracaibo,
who examined them, is of the opinion that they show an alveolar (schwagerinid)
type of test and belong to the subfamily Schwagerininae. This indicates Middle
Pennsylvanian to Permian age.
H. D. Hedberg draws the writer's attention to the fact that fusulinids were
found in several places in Venezuela. Thus H. Gerth3 has figured and described
Fusulina cf. vemeuili von Moller from Paso Palmarito in the state of Merida.
This occurrence is discussed by Thompson4 who assigns the specimen to Schwager-
ina or possibly Parafusulina and considers it to be indicative of Permian age.
Hedberg and Sass6 mention that Fusulina-hea,r'mg rocks of Carboniferous age
have been reported from the upper course of Rio Palmar in the Perija Mountains
west of Maracaibo (state of Zulia). This statement was based on material shown
to Hedberg by F. Hodson9 and recorded by the latter as Fusulinella cf. compressa
from the upper course of Cano Pescado, a northern tributary of Rio Palmar.
A further occurrence of fusulinid limestones is reported by Triimpy 7 from
Rio Mula on the Colombian side of the Perija Mountains. It is interesting to note
that they are found there under similar conditions as in the state of Trujillo,
namely, as boulders in conglomerates which belong to a thick series of redbeds.
The Permian species, Paraschwagerina yabei (Staff) was determined from this
locality.
It is probable that the fusulinid limestones of Trujillo belong to the Palmarito
formation which has been described from several places in the Venezuelan Andes
by Christ8 and Kehrer. 9 This formation includes fossiliferous limestones, and their
age has been determined as Upper Carboniferous to Permian. Gerth reported
Fusulina cf. vemeuili from the type locality of the formation as already mentioned.
The presence of fusulinid-bearing limestone pebbles at the base of the La
Quinta formation is evidence for the transgressive character of the formation and
defines its age as probably post-Permian. Based on all information available from
3
H. Gerth, "Neue Vorkommen von marinem Oberkarbon in den nordlichen Anden, Neues Jahr-
buchf. Miner., Geol. und Palaeont., Vol. 65, Abt. B (1931).
4
M. L. Thompson, "Permian Fusulinid from Peru," Jour. Paleon., Vol. 17, No. 2 (1943).
6
H. D. Hedberg and L. C. Sass, "Synopsis of the Geologic Formations of the Western Part of
the Maracaibo Basin," Venezuela Bol. de Geologia y Mineria, t. 1, nos. 2-4 (Caracas, 1937).
6
Communication by H. D. Hedberg.
7
D. Triimpy, "Pre-Cretaceous of Colombia," Bull. Geol. Soc. America, Vol. 54 (1943), pp. 1281-
1304.
8
P. Christ, "Coupe gfiologique le long du chemin de Mucuchachf a. Sta. Barbara dans les Andes
venezueliennes," Eclog. Geol. Helvetia, t. X X (1927), pp. 397-414.
9
L. Kehrer, "Some Observations on the Stratigraphy in the States of Tachira and Me'rida, S.W.
Venezuela," Venezuela Bol. Geol. y Min., t. 2, nos. 2-4 (Caracas, 1938).
1644 GEOLOGICAL NOTES

the Venezuelan Andes, much of which has been given by Kiindig,10 it can be said
that the La Quinta formation may range from Triassic to Jurassic, possibly in-
cluding both. Its sedimentation was preceded by strong orogenic movements
probably belonging to the Hercynian phase which were accompanied by intense
regional metamorphism as apparent in the Mucuchachi formation. The resulting
mountain ranges were levelled by erosion and the debris deposited as the La
Quinta formation which transgresses the older beds. New but less tectonic move-
ments set in after its deposition and in many places it was completely eroded.
Sedimentation began again during the Lower Cretaceous which transgresses the
La Quinta formation and older beds.

AMMONOIDS FROM UPPER CHERRY CANYON OF

DELAWARE MOUNTAIN GROUP IN TEXAS 1
R. L. CLIFTON 2
Enid, Oklahoma

The economic importance of additional oil and gas reserves by deeper drilling,
from the Permian and from older Paleozoic rocks in West Texas, has prompted
the writer to re-examine and to study the Paleozoic outcrops in West Texas and
in southeastern New Mexico. These studies as planned, relate to geological fac-
tors involving stratigraphy, stratigraphical relationships, and paleontology.
On one of such surveys in August, 1944, the writer accompanied by R. V.
Hollingsworth studied outcrops of the middle and the upper formations of the
Delaware Mountain group that are excellently exposed in the Delaware Moun-
tains, east and southeast of, and adjacent to, Guadalupe Peak in Texas. At one
locality, an interesting ammonoid fauna with other invertebrates was collected
from the Manzanita limestone member of the Cherry Canyon formation3 which
caps the top of Long Point, a structural and topographical feature4 about 7 miles
southeast of Guadalupe Peak. According to King, the Manzanita is the upper-
most member of the Cherry Canyon formation of the Delaware Mountain group.
At the Long Point locality the writer collected ten or more species of ammo-
noids, chiefly from the lower half of the limestone member, although ammonoids
appear to be distributed throughout the thickness of the Manzanita at this local-
ity. The Manzanita limestones are dark, commonly siliceous, and locally inter-
bedded with thin, more or less lenticular strata of calcareous shales, which suggest
10
E. Kiindig, "The Pre-Cretaceous Rocks of the Central Venezuelan Andes with Some Remarks
about the Tectonics," ibid.
1
Manuscript received, September 6, 1944.
2
Geologist, Champlin Refining Company.
3
Philip B. King, "Permian of West Texas and Southeastern New Mexico," Bull. Amer. Assoc.
Petrol. Geol., Vol. 26 (April, 1942), pp. 576-91, 597-608.
* Philip B. King, op. cit. (1942), p. 581, Fig. 3, p. 552.