Geology and paleontology of late Cenozoic marine deposits in the Sacaco area (Peru)

Abstract

Paleontologic, stratigraphic and geochronologic (K-Ar) evidence demonstrate the presence of both late Miocene and Pliocene marine deposits in the Pisco Formation in the area of Sacaco, Peru. Tuffaceous sandstone, siltstone, and shelly sandstone comprise the greater part of the ca. 350 meters sequence. The fine grained sediments have accumulated in large coastal lagoons, while coarser sediments were deposited in semiprotected littoral and nearshore environments. A rich marine vertebrate fauna from the Sacaco basin includes fossil selachians, teleost fishes, marine birds, cetaceans, marine carnivores, and a single edentate species. A diverse invertebrate fauna consists principally of venerid and muricid molluscs. Five vertebrate levels have been correlated with five provisionally defined molluscan zones. The vertebrate fauna has some affinity with faunas of the Miocene Yorktown Formation at the Lee Creek Mine of North Carolina (USA). Distinctive Miocene and Pliocene molluscan assemblages of the Pisco Formation and Pleistocene molluscan assemblages from overlying terrace deposits become progressively more similar to Chilean assemblages of equivalent age and less similar to Tethyan faunas of the Panamic and Caribbean regions.