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.