Late quaternary marine deposits of the Paraguana Peninsula, state of falcon, northwestern Venezuela: Preliminary geological observations and neotectonic implications

Abstract

Abstract Four marine terraces are identified on Paraguana at +80 m, +40–50 m, +15–20 m and +6 m, skirting the ‘inselberg’ of cerro Santa Ana. Besides the Holocene marine deposits, patches of correlative sediments are only associated with the two youngest terraces within a narrow strip along the seashore because older Quaternary marine terraces are mainly erosional surfaces that truncate the uppermost limestone of the Pliocene Paraguana formation. Diverse marine deposits are observed between seashore and +5–6 m: sand barriers, mud flats, salt flats, stromatolites mats, coquinas and coral reefs in living position. Some of these facies are undoubtfully Holocene, but some others proved to be older than the 14 C dating limit. Therefore, the latter ones should be ascribed to isotope-stage 5, but further sampling and dating are required to confirm their chronology. It is worth mentioning that probable stage-5 facies of Paraguana are as high as its worldwide undeformed equivalents, implying a certain tectonic stability during late Pleistocene. However, the assumption of a stable Paraguana block has to be modified since the existence of staircased marine terraces implies a certain amount of uplift, even if it is rather slow (≤ 0.8 mm/year).