Stratigraphy and geological history of Eastern Venezuela

Abstract

Eastern Venezuela is divided into three geologic-geographic provinces: The Guayana shield in the south; the Eastern Venezuelan basin in the central part; and the mountains of the Serrania del Interior and Cordillera de la Costa (Caribbean Cordillera) in the northern part. The stratigraphy and geological history are discussed, as reflected by rocks of presumably pre-Cambrian, ? Triassic-Jurassic, Cretaceous, Tertiary and Quaternary ages. From the Cretaceous onward, Eastern Venezuela north of the Guayana shield and east of the El BaUl swell, forms part of a geosyncline, the axis of which shifted southward during its history. The position of this axis governed deposition and character of the sediments, which become more marine from south to north and from west to east. Orogenic and epeirogenic movements, particularly during Miocene and Pliocene time, transformed the Eastern Venezuelan sedimentary basin into two structural basins, namely the Maturin basin on the east and the Guarico basin on the west.