ABSTRACT: Tectonic Synthesis of Northern Venezuela and the Development of the Maricaibo Basin

EVERETT, JOHN R., J. AMOS, R. J. STASKOWSKI, S. P. LOYD, and V. M. TABBUTT, Earth Satellite Corporation, Rockville, MD

Progressive eastward deformation along the northern edge of Venezuela and convergence at the western edge of South America throughout the Tertiary produced a series of complex movements on the Sierra de Perija, Venezuelan Andes, and Oca fault that bound the basin. These movements imparted successive tilts to the Maricaibo block, creating stacked petroleum systems. Some of these systems are well known, others are relatively unexplored.

Regional study based on analyses of the stratigraphic and structural framework and available geophysical and subsurface data integrated with an interpretation of 23 digitally processed Landsat images provides insight into the complex plate interactions at the northern edge of the South American plate. This type of synthesis is critical to defining potential new exploration plays and identifying underexploited older plays.

Plate tectonic considerations dictate that there should be 1000+ km of post-Cretaceous right-lateral offset between the Caribbean and South American plates. However, between the South American and Caribbean plates, there is no set of features that unequivocally constitute the plate boundary, the seismicity of the region is not consistent with the activity normally associated with plate boundaries, and several large faults of northern South America imputed to have large lateral movement (e.g., Oca), may have only a few tens of kilometers of lateral displacement based on offset of lithofacies and structural features. Convergence between the South American and Caribbean plates may have overrun and obscured transform offsets that lie offshore.

AAPG Search and Discovery Article #91012©1992 AAPG Annual Meeting, Calgary, Alberta, Canada, June 22-25, 1992 (2009)