The formation placement and palaeoenvironment of the Middle Miocene Los Atajos Member, Trinidad

Abstract

The age, palaeoenvironment and formation placement of the conglomeratic Los Atajos Member of central Trinidad have long been unclear. Seven samples (four from calcareous silts near the member's base exposed by building work at the Los Atajos Community Centre, and three from the underlying calcareous claystones of the Brasso Formation) were examined for calcareous microfossils. These indicate a conformable succession encompassing an overall regression. The oldest of the claystone samples, of uppermost early Middle Miocene Globorotalia fohsi fohsi Zone age (N11), contained an upper bathyal benthic foraminiferal assemblage, while the younger claystone samples yielded abundant, shallow neritic Hanzawaia carstensi. The recovery of the planktonic foraminifera Globorotalia mayeri but absence of Globigerinoides subquadratus suggest a Middle Miocene age (Globorotalia mayeri planktonic foraminiferal Zone; N14) for both the uppermost Brasso claystone sample and the Los Atajos Member. The benthic foraminiferal fauna in the Los Atajos is dominated by Rosalina subaraucana, with subdominant Cibicides ex gr. aknerianus and C. floridanus sensu Galloway and Heminway, and common Elphidium spp. This faunal succession has a close affinity with that of parts of the Lower to Middle Miocene Brasso Formation, especially the N10 Guaracara Limestone Member and the clays on which it sits. However, the Los Atajos Member assemblage differs markedly from that of the overlying Late Miocene San José Calcareous Silt Member of the Manzanilla Formation, from which the Los Atajos is separated by an unconformity of Globorotalia menardii (N15) Zone age. On these grounds, the Los Atajos Member is here placed within the Brasso Formation. The low diversity, high dominance benthic foraminiferal fauna and the associated ostracod assemblage in the Los Atajos are indicative of inner to shallower middle neritic palaeodepths in a carbonate-prone palaeoenvironment with marine vegetation and strong current action. It is concluded that the Los Atajos was deposited prior to the Late Miocene diversion of the palaeo-Orinoco River towards Trinidad, which is marked by the Manzanilla Formation.