Abstract: The Guasare Formation (Paleocene), Maracaibo Basin: A Carbonate or a Terrigenous Play?

Elizabeth Hernandez, Alan Oldershaw, Federico Krause

The Guasare Formation located in the Lama Field, Maracaibo Basin, represents a mixed carbonate-terrigenous clastic succession. We have identified 10 lithofacies in this succession: pelecypod floatstones-rudstones; black mudstones; grey siltstones; medium grained sandstones; laminated fine grained sandstones; rippled fine grained sandstones; bioturbated fine grained sandstones; calcareous massive sandstones; interbedded mudstones and sandstones; and mudstone clast conglomerates. These lithofacies represent coastal plain, nearshore, tide and storm influenced conditions during sedimentation, which resulted in a close temporal and spatial association of distinct carbonate and siliciclastic facies. Environmental reconstruction indicates that accumulation took place in a dynami delta setting where delta lobe progradation, abandonment, transgression and renewed progradation were the dominant controlling factors on sedimentation.

The formation typically has been visualized as a carbonate platform deposit. Our work instead illustrates that in the Lama Field this formation is a mixed carbonate-terrigenous succession dominated by brackish water to marine depositional systems.

AAPG Search and Discovery Article #90951©1996 AAPG International Conference and Exhibition, Caracas, Venezuela