BULLETIN OF THE AMERICAN ASSOCIATION OF PETROLEUM GEOLOGISTS VOL. 87, NO. 10 (OCTOBER, 1953), PP. 2503-2347, 7 FIGS. OIL EXPLORATIONS IN THE ORIENTE OF ECUADOR, 1938-1950" H, J. TSCHOPP Basel, Switzerland ABSTRACT ‘The Ecuadorian Oriente, a sparsely inhabited and badly accessible jungle area east of the Andes, covering nearly 100,000 sq. km., is part of the broad foreland belt which spreads between the Andean Cordilleras and the Brazilian shield. The Ecuadorian part of this foreland represents an asymmetric sedimentary basin filled with 324~r,000 meters of mostly marine Cretaceous and up to 4,500 meters ‘Tertiary deposits in brackish- and fresh-water facies. The line of greatest basinal depth extencls 80-100 km. east of the Andes. East of this line the thickness of the Cretaccous-Tertiary column decreases gradually toward the rising pre-Cretaccous basement and in the same time important facies changes fake place. The basin deepens from north to south, The pre-Cretaceous basement is well exposed in the Cutucé Mountains of the southwestern Oriente and consists there of at least 1,400 meters of marine Paleozoic rocks, 1,500 meters of marine Lower Jurassic, and 2,300 meters brackish to continental Middle to Upper jurassic. The line of greatest basinal depth separates two structural provinces: on the west the sub- Andean zone of foothill folds culminating in the Napo and Cutucd uplifts; on the east the Yasuni- Lorocachi trend of low basement ridges on the eastward rising Brazilian shield, The pre-Cretaceous substratum has been affected by Paleozoic and Jurassic folding (the latter along north-south trends, ancestral Andes), as evidenced by overlaps and angular unconformities at the base of the Pennsy! vanian, of the Middle to Upper Jurassic, and of the Cretaceous. The folds and uplifts in the sub- Andean zone of the Cretaceous-Tertiary basin are the result of the post-Miocene Andean orogeny with a slight precursory warping near the end of Cretaceous time and weak posthumous movements, in Quaternary time. The various terraces of Mesa fan deposits, contemporaneous with a climax of voléanism in the Andes, are post-orogenic, but suggest a possible epeirogenic uplift of the Andes to the extent of 1,000 meters or more. ‘The occurrence of the bituminous Napo formation (Albian-Coniacian) throughout the whole sub-Andean foreland, together with favorable reservoir rock and structural conditions, led to drilling on five foothill anticlines and on one of the fault structures on the Yasuni-Lorocachi trend. The tests, resulted in negligible quantities of heavy oil or produced only water with of without a scum of tarry oil. Most of the reservoie rocks had been fushed by fresh water IytRopuction Location?—The area described covers the so-called Oriente of Ecuador, that is, the entire area east of the Andes which is limited on the north by the Colom- bian frontier along the upper San Miguel and the Putumayo River, and on the east and south by the international boundary with Peru. This whole jungle- covered expanse is drained by large tributaries of the Amazonas River and thus virtually belongs to the great upper Amazon basin, 1 Manuscript received, February 16, 1953. This paper is published with the permission of the Royal Dutch Shell group and of the Standard Oil Company (N. J.).. * Former geologist of the Royal Dutch Shell group and general manager of The Shell Company of Ecuador Ltd., 1939-947. The paper is based on the results of geological field work between 1938 and 1948 by L, Dorsman, J. J. Dozy, K. Habicht, H. A. Haus, P. Hess, K. T. Goldschmid, J. U. Kappeler, L. Kehrer, V. Oppenheim, H. E. Parsons, E, Rod; photogeology shiely by JJ. Dozy and L. W. Walpole; paleontology by Hf. Baggelaar, W. A. v. d. Bold, M. Breistroffer, J. Brouwer, U. Haanstra; heavy minerals by B. L. M. Garreau and H. C. A. Swolls; gravity survey by L. Adler, €. Bokhorst, A. M. Th, Italiaander, J. Schipper, C. J. v. d, Werff; seismic survey by J. J. Augustijn, HL. Gregory, V. A. Olhovich, and G. L. Barksdale and G. M. Ratliff, both of Petty’ Geophysical Company; oil engineering by R. I. Baker, R. F. Madera, P. H, Schoute. 3 For geographic details such as localities and rivers, see Mp of Hispanic America, Iquitos Sheet. Seale, 131,000,000. Amer. Geogr. Soc., New York, 23032304 Pe Geologically the Oriente region is a part of the broad foreland filled with Cre~ taceous-Tertiary sediments which spreads between the Andean Cordilleras and the Brazilian shield. The discovery of prolific oil fields in this belt in Eastern Venezuela led to great expenditure for oil exploration in the continuation of this area toward the south, for example, in the Oriente of Ecuador. The first company to explore in Eastern Ecuador was the Leonard Explora- tion Company which acquired in r921 a concession over approximately one third of the sub-Andean zone from the Sumaco volcano south to the latitude of Macas. In 1937 The Anglo-Saxon Petroleum Company Ltd. applied for a concession over the whole of the Oriente (excepting a ro-kilometer-broad boundary strip), com- prising about 100,000 sq.km. The concession was granted on August 9, 1937. By the Rio de Janeiro Agreement of January 29, 1942, between Ecuador and Peru, the boundaries of the Oriente were modified. Of the original concession an area of 83,456 sq.km. remained, half of which was redeemed in 1948. In December, 1948, Esso Standard Oil Company (Ecuador) S.A. joined ‘The Shell Company of Ecuador Ltd. in the Oriente venture which, in the absence of commercial produc- tion, was terminated in 1950. Access-—When Shell started operations in 1938 the Oriente was accessible from the high intermontane plateau of Ecuador by means of some mule trails across the eastern ranges of the Andes, or through the Pastaza valley to Mera, This latter was the shorter route, as the Leonard Exploration Company had be- gun to build an automobile road to and down the Pastaza valley from Ambato, a town on the high plateau, to Rio Verde, whence construction had been continued by the Ecuadorian Government to within a 10 hours’ mule trip from Mera. Be- yond the villages of Napo, Puyo, Macas, and Mendez all travel through the vast jungle area had to be done on foot or in dugouts. In order to carry out an extensive program of aerial, geological, and geo- physical surveys, Shell started in 1938 the construction of a base camp with land- ing field at Shell-Mera, 8 km. southeast of Mera, During the subseques five other landing strips were built near Vuano, Macuma, Cangaime, ‘Tiputini, and Villano, Until 1943 supplies and equipment had to be transported by Indian carriers across the mountain passes, or by mules to Shell-Mera to which the Ecuadorian Government had in the meantime extended the automobile road down the Pastaza valley, beyond which all transport was extremely slow and entirely dependent on the few porters and dugouts available. However, the steady flow of materials after the war enabled the whole operation to become air- borne. Construction crews and field parties were supplied by amphibian planes or parachute drops, and thousands of tons of drilling machinery, casing, fuel, and food supplies were transported by more than a dozen small and big air- freighters to the various drilling sites. This was the first and largest 100 per cent airborne operation of its kind in the history of the oil industry. Methods of survey—An aerial survey carried out by Fairchild Aerial Surveys Inc. covered in two stages a total of 33,000 sq.km. across the foothill belt and partOIL EXPLORATIONS IN THE ORIENTE OF ECUADOR 2305 of the Central Oriente, The aerial map was tied to a net of astronomic points which also provided fixes for geological and geophysical surveys outside the photo- graphed areas. While the photogeological interpretation of the aerial photographs was being followed in the Western Oriente by geological field work, other field parties extended the geological reconnaissance along the bigger rivers of the East- ern Oriente. At the same time a gravimetric survey was carried through the whole of the concession. When it was found that in the Eastern Oriente the gravimeter did not give conclusive results, the geophysical survey was changed to seismic work. Previous work.—The first scientific explorer of the Oriente was Manuel Vil- lavicencio (1858) who mentions the occurrence of brea (asphalt) in the Hollin River, and salt-water springs in the Cordillera de Cutucd. Other travellers before and aiter Villavicencio crossed the Oriente only along its easiest route, the Napo River, and recorded no or only few observations of geologic interest (Orton, 1868). It was not until 1921 and 1927-1928 when Theron Wasson and J. H. Sin- clair in the employ of the Leonard Exploration Company investigated the area of Baeza-Coca-Macas-Canelos that the presence of the Cretaceous (Wasson and Sinclair, 1923, 1927) and the petrography of the underlying Misahualli (Colony and Sinclair, r928) became published knowledge. PiystoGRAPHY Topography—The region east of the Andean escarpment, the Oriente of Ecuador, is sharply divided into two morphologically distinct areas: (t) the Western Oriente comprising the sub-Andean zone of hills and mountains with in- tervening plains above the goo-meter level and (2) the Eastern Oriente consisting of lowlands which gradually slope downward to less than 200 m. near the eastern frontier with Peru. The division between the two is morphologically expressed by prominent west-facing strike ridges which extend from the bend of the Coca River, southeast of Cerro Lumbaqui, southward to the Napo River north of Vuano, whence they shift east of Vuano. Thence these strike ridges continue in a smoothly curved line to the Villano, Bobonaza, and Pastaza rivers, disappearing south of Cangaime. This division between West and East Oriente coincides with a regional flexure or steep flank which will be referred to under “Structure.” The two principal topographic features of the sub-Andean area are: in the north the broad and smooth Serrania de Napo (Napo uplift) topped by the Sumaco volcano, 3,900 m. high, and in the south the mountain ranges of the ierra de Cutucd which from elevations of about 1,400 m. in the north rise to more than 2,000 m. in the south. Serrania del Napo and Cordillera de Cutucé. are vestiges of the extensive eastern Cordillera system of Colombia and Peru. ‘The depression between the Napo and Cutucé upliits is typical Mesa country showing various levels bounded by abrupt cliffs 50-100 m. high. Where the Mesa is sufficiently removed, the underlying Tertiary formations appear in well de- fined dip slopes so that the principal structural trends can be outlined by a few reconnaissance flights,2306 H. J. TSCHOPP The topography of the Eastern Oriente between the broad swampy flood plains of the main rivers is low and rolling to slightly hilly. Drainage.—The drainage is chiefly controlled by the Napo and Pastaza river systems which converge from the depression between the Napo and Cutuct up- liits toward the northeast, east, and southeast. This fan-shaped convergence dates back to an ancestral river system responsible for the similarly spread Mesa fan. ‘The Napo and Pastaza are rejuvenated rivers depositing gravel approximately as far as Long. 77° W. Farther east the gradient of the Napo River lowers to an average of about 0.337 m. per km. between the Coca River and Tiputini In contrast to the Napo and Pastaza the Curaray River and its main tribu- east of Long. 77° are highly matured. The Curaray meanders in a broad swampy flood plain accompanied by numerous meander scars and oxbow lakes, and reaches the lowest elevation of the Oriente (180 m.) near the Peruvian border. Climate and population—The air temperature is not excessive in the Oriente and ranges from 20°C. in the morning to about 32°C. in the afternoon. The rain- fall which is highest just along the Andean escarpment (ycarly rainfall, 5,000 6,000 mm.) diminishes to about 3,000-4,000 mm. within the first 30 km. east of the Andes and is still much less near the eastern border with Pera. No real dry season exists, but a period of less rainfall occurs commonly from November to January. The population of this area of more than 80,000 sq. km. of tropical rain-forest is extremely thin and hardly exceeds 1 person per 2 sq.km. White settlers are few and segregated in small villages scattered along the Andean escarpment. The principal tribes of the Indian population are: Jumbos living along the Napo and Bobonaza rivers; Jibaroz, gathered in small warfaring tribes south of the Pastaza River; Aucas, savages with a markedly hostile attitude toward any invader of their territory, between the Napo, Curaray, and Arajuno rivers; and finally a few Cofanes along the San Miguel River. tari GEOPHYSICAL EXPLORATION Gravity surtey—The survey was begun in 1939 with the Holweck pendulum (232 stations), continued in 1940 by the Thyssen gravimeter (4,321 stations), and completed in 1946 with the La Coste gravimeter (1,751 stations). This net- work of observations covered all the bigger rivers and in the sub-Andean area, also many intervening tracts. The isogam picture indicates a regional gravity “slope” from east to west, with Bouguer values up to +15 mgls. near the eastern border of the Oriente, and up to —r4o mgls. along the foot of the Andes at Mera (J. W. de Bruyn, 1951). Many positive and negative anomalies of varying magni- tude were found distributed throughout the Oriente. When comparing them with geological and seismic results a general agreement was evident only in the sub- Andean zone with little or no agreement in the Eastern Oriente, excepting the Yasuni flexure or fault structure, The conclusion was reached that the gravityOIL EXPLORATIONS IN THE ORIENTE OF DOR 2307 anomalies are influenced to a large extent in the Eastern Oriente by deep base- ment masses. A differentiation between the effects from the basement and those from the Cretaceous-Tertiary shows in the strongly folded sub-Andean zone, but not in the Eastern Oriente where the folding of the Cretaceous and Tertiary in general was negligible Seismic survey—From July, 1943, to August, 1949, more than 3,000 km. of reflection lines were shot in the Oriente. ‘The first survey linked the Vuano struc- ture to the Napo outcrop area, Thereafter the survey extended along most of the big rivers and over some extensive intervening areas, especially in the Eastern Oriente where outcrops are rare and gravity results were unreliable. Velocity determinations were obtained from refraction lines shot in the lower Napo and Aguarico area, and by well shooting at Oglan and Tiputini. Good energy returns came from two principal reflection horizons, differentiated as A and B. ‘The lower or A reflection was found to correspond with the uppermost part of the Napo, and the B reflection approximately with the top Tena. Locally, a still higher C reflection was traced, but it is too discontinuous to serve for correlation over wide distances. In the easternmost Oriente a deep and fairly continuous D reflection seems to indicate the top of the pre-Cretaceous or possibly even pre-Misahualli basement. The A and B reflections were traced almost uninterruptedly over hundreds of kilometers and a phantom horizon had only to be used over relatively short distances. ‘The regional seismic picture (Fig. 1), as shown by the A, B, and D reflections and adjusted to the known well data, shows the dominant or A reflection (top Napo) dipping steeply from the Napo uplift and the foothill structures eastward to the basinal deep whose axis extends from east of the Napo-Coca confluence (2,750 m. subsea) across the lower Villano River (3,200 m. subsea) to the Bobo- naza River west of Teresa Mama (4,500 m. subsea) (Fig. r). East of this axis the A reflecting layer rises gently to the Yasuni-Lorocachi ridge and reaches, on the lower Napo River, a subsea depth of less than 1,250 m. The D reflection (top basement) has been recognized only around the Yasuni- Lorocachi ridge area, It is underlain by a velocity layer of 6,000 m./sec., prob- ably a granitic layer, except in the area of the lower Napo River where an inter- mediate unconformable layer (presumably metamorphics) with a velocity of 5,000-§,400 m./sec. intervenes between base Napo and the granitic substratum. ‘The Cretaceous-Tertiary structures superimposed on the basement are far from impressive (Fig. 7, sections 8, 9, and 10). Most of them, if not all, seem to repre- sent flexures or fault structures caused by faults with eastern or western down- throw and reaching into the basement. ‘The very significant variations in thickness of the A-D (Cretaceous) and AB interval (Tena) are discussed in the description of the respective forma- tions.‘sopensg worsert ‘a1uayg “dew (eor8ojoan—rt “oLg f We VE vam 00Ez= |y vanvo} wonseyey vo tunowo : 1 von uOnDOgRY Samy omy D. wercong a (iD) ayuess, ae t _ femnqung rwnsepy = ‘ # poraigpie ny Tomer, A 2ozomvs tenves Peed rotydoogereey, cea cam gone EEE] mo OL wBMOT webweg yey BRAC 203 7 -3NSDONIVE"IBHD 1 e fg Wo Te¥2RIMD- MD -totnty, — ESS} aNgD09NO-3NEDOB free ‘enquny mang nyemteny 22) aNIDONW-OMN (oumey pay ey [) (DOM +) AuvRRLYNO2310 H. J. TSCHOPP STRATIGRAPHY PALEOZOIC Faunal evidence for the presence of Paleozoic rocks in Eastern Ecuador was discovered by J. J. Dozy in r94o in the Northern Cutuci Mountains. The paleon- tologically proved Paleozoic rocks are subdivided into a lower group, the Pum- buiza formation, and an upper group, the Macuma formation. PUMBUTZA FORMATION (OLD PALEOZOIC) ‘This formation was named by K. T. Goldschmid in 941, after the outcrop area along the Pumbuiza River, a southern tributary of the Macuma River, about 30 km. west of the Macuma well. Lithology.—The bulk of the formation is composed of dark gray to black, thin-bedded slates, in places graphitic, and hard, fine-grained quartzitic sand- stones. As the base was not seen and the slates are highly folded and faulted, no reliable estimate of thickness is available. Stratigraphic relations—The contact with the overlying Macuma has not been observed directly. The comparatively much stronger folding of the Pum- buiza and supplementary indications from photogeological interpretation point to an angular unconformity separating the two formations. Paleontology and age-—No fossils were observed in outcrops, but some un- identified Lingula specimens were found in a loose block which appears to origi- nate in this formation. Based on its stratigraphic position beneath the overlying Macuma (Pennsylvanian) the Pumbuiza must be of old Paleozoic age. ‘The stratigraphic hiatus is of unknown extent and corresponds with a Caledonic phase of folding. MACUMA FORMATION (PENNSYLVANIAN) Originally called Cerro Macuma formation by Dozy in 1940, later shortened to Macuma formation by Goldschmid in 1943, its sole outcrop area is at Cerro Macuma, about 26 km. west of the Macuma well, and in its vicinity. In the ‘Macuma well itself the formation was reached at a depth of 6,997 feet. Lithology and thickness —The lower part of the formation, the lower Macuma, comprises about rg0-200 m. of dark blue-gray, mostly siliceous and thin-bedded, very fossiliferous limestones, in places pseudo-oilitic, alternating with bla shales and slates. The overlying upper Macuma consists of a thick sequence of white to dark gray, thin to thick and massive cliff-forming limestones and shale intercalations. The thinner limestones are siliceous, dark colored, and grade into marls and hard non-calcareous claystones which predominate in the upper part. Gradations from sandy limestones to pure greenish brown sandstones are com- mon to both subdivisions. The thickness of the upper Macuma has not been ob- served in a continuous section, but it may be roughly estimated at a maximum of 1,250 mOIL EXPLORATIONS IN THE ORIENTE OF ECUADOR 2311 Macuma formation in Macuma well—At a depth of 6,997 feet the drill passed from Chapiza sandstones into Macuma limestones. When coring between 6,998 and 7,008 feet about 4 feet of dark blue-gray, siliceous limestone with numerous fragments of Fenestella, crinoids, and brachiopods were recovered. A second core between 7,008 and 7,019 feet (total depth) consists of dark gray hard shale with calcareous streaks containing crinoids. In the absence of fusulines and specific identifications of the brachiopods, it is not yet ascertained whether these limestones belong to the upper or lower subdivision of the Macuma, as Fenes/ella and brachiopods occur in both. Stratigraphic relationsThe upper boundary, like the lower, coincides with an unconformity. The upper boundary has been observed on the north-flowing stretch of the Macuma River about 4 km. north of Cerro Macuma. Here sandy Macuma limestones and overlying Chapiza sandstones seem to be in perfect conformity. However, the relative position of the two formations in the same valley farther southwest, where the Macuma remains confined to the lower parts of the valley while the Chapiza persists for 2 kilometers higher on both sides of the valley, can be explained only by overlap, in the absence of faulting between the two. As the Chapiza formation belongs to the Jurassic, the contact Macuma-Chapiza corresponds with a major stratigraphic hiatus which com- prises the uppermost Paleozoic (Permian), the Triassic, and the Lower Jurassic. Paleontology and age—The lower Macuma limestones are rich in brachiopods. Provisional identifications by J. J. Dozy include: Spirifer sp., Productus cf. semireticulalus Martin, Productus sp., Orbiculoidea cf. nitida Phil. Chonetes, crinoids, and Fenestelle. In the thick upper Macuma, macrofossils are scantier, but may be concentrated locally. Within the uppermost 150-200 m. K. T. Goldschmid still observed Fenestella and the brachiopods Terebratula, Derbya, and Spirifer. Characteristic for the lower part of the upper Macuma are white limestones with a rich fauna of algae, bryozoans, ostracods, crinoids, and a great abundance of fusulines. Among the last-named, H. Baggelaar provision- ally determined Fusulinella and a smaller lenticular form comparable with Nummulostegina. These two forams place the lower part of the upper Macuma in the Upper Carboniferous (Pennsylvanian), As the uppermost brachiopods are not specifically identified, the question as to whether the Macuma ranges into the Permian can not yet be answered. IGNEOUS ROCKS IN PALEOZOIC Sills and dikes of fine-textured igneous magma and larger intrusions of granitic and dioritic magma are encountered in the Pumbuiza; some sills and dikes also occur in the Macuma, As a petrographic study of these igneous rocks has not been carried out nor has their relationship with the numerous volcanics of the overly- ing Chapiza been investigated, it remains a matter of speculation whether or not some of the Macuma igneous is contemporaneous with the Paleozoic or is of Jurassic age.a ee PALEOZOICS OF OTHER AREAS A thick series (1,000-+m.) of dark gray to black, slightly phyllitic slates, foliated slaty shales, and fine to medium-grained, commonly pyritic quartzitic sandstones, the Margajitas formation (Tschopp, 1948, p. 20) is tentatively and on pure lithological grounds correlated with the Pumbuiza. A few small lamelli- branchs, discovered by L. Kehrer in the sandy slates, were too crushed and badly preserved to permit identification. South of Mera, in the area of the Llushin, a tributary of the Pastaza River, similar beds occur in a highly disturbed, partly overthrust and semi-metamorphic complex of formations which in their eastern, apparently inverse part contain broken fossiliferous limestone layers and lenses and slaty black shales which can be safely attributed to the Cretaceous Napo formation. In how far the Chapiza and Paleozoic rocks share in the adjacent quartzitic sandstones, black shales, and slates on the west remains problematic. JURASSIC In the Southern Cutucti Mountains between Mendez (Lat. 2° 43" S., Long. 78°19" W.) and Yaupi (Lat. 3° S., Long, 77°51/ W.), the valleys of the Santiago, Yaupi, and Chapiza rivers permit the study of huge continuous sections, com- posed in their lower part of a marine limestone and shale series, the Santiago formation, and in their upper part of continental redbeds, the Chapiza forma- tion, SANTIAGO FORMATION (LOWER JURASSIC) ‘The name was chosen by K. T. Goldschmid in 1940 from the extensive out- crops along the Santiago River. Distribution —This formation covers almost the entire extension of the Western Cutucti Mountains from east of Macas (Lat. 2°18! S., Long. 78°7’ W.) southward to the Santiago River and continues beyond this river into Peru. Outside this area the formation is unknown in Ecuador, Lithology.—The normal development of the formation, as studied first in the eastern part of the outcrop area, comprises a monotonous sequence of thin- bedded dark gray to black, more or less siliceous limestones alternating with an equal amount of gray, fine to coarse, almost calcareous sandstones, with inter- calations of thin, sandy-micaceous, in some places bituminous black shales. The limestones are dense to finely crystalline, 1-50 cm. thick, with layers and nodules of black chert or with fine silica grains disseminated through the whole rock. The weathering color of the limestones is light gray, that of the sandstones brown. The shales are hard and splintery, with siliceous lamellae, and in many places nodular. Exceptionally, the shales occur in s-20-meter-thick units, but their over-all thickness is probably less than one third of the whole formation. Minor accessories are a few intraformational breccias and rare thin sandy tuffs and tuffaceous shales,OIL EXPLORATIONS IN THE ORIENTE OF ECUADOR 2313 Later investigations which were carried along the Santiago River westward up to and within the west flank of the Western Cutucd Mountains, revealed a facies change from the aforementioned normal development to a more volcanic facies. Approximately west of the main range, the Santiago limestones and shales contain abundant intercalations of volcanic breccias which grade laterally into green sandy tuffs and bentonitic shales. The whole is intruded and pierced by dikes, sills, and larger intrusions of green porphyritic, gray and green felsitic and diabasic igneous rocks. The intraformational pyroclastics demonstrate that submarine volcanic activity took place during Santiago time, and that part of the intrusions must be contemporaneous. Thickness —To compute the thickness of this intricately folded, faulted, and locally intruded formation is extremely difficult. Very rough estimates range from 1,500 to 2,700 m, Stratigraphic relations—The lower boundary has nowhere been observed. ‘The contact with the overlying Chapiza formation is included in the description of the Chapiza. Paleontology and age.—The fossil content is in general rather poor. Besides a few unidentified pelecypods, fish remains, and radiolarians, badly preserved, commonly crushed ammonites are thinly spread from the upper boundary down to the deeper parts of the formation, The ammonites show very evolute forms with strong radial ribs and a triple keel. They seem to belong to the genus Arietites of the Lower Liassic. During the earlier reconnaissance work some pelecypods resembling certain ‘Triassic forms had been collected from a sandy Santiago limestone about 3: km. southeast of Macas between the Western and Eastern Cutucti Mountains, How- ever, since later work showed these Santiago limestones to lie within a short distance of Chapiza outcrops and, moreover, identical pelecypods were found in the Arictifes-bearing Santiago, 8 km. southeast of Mendez, there is no paleon- tological evidence for the range of the Santiago into Triassic, Previous references to a supposed presence of the Triassic in the Santiago formation (Tschopp, 1945, p- 473, and 1948, p. 21) have to be modified accordingly. CHAPIZA FORMATION ‘The name Chapiza formation (Goldschmid, 1940) is derived from the out- crop area along the Chapiza River, from 25~31 km. north-northwest of Yaupi (Lat. 3° S., Long. 77°51” W.) where the stratigraphic relations of the formation are well defined Distribution—Widespread throughout the whole Eastern Cutueti Mountains and along the entire east flank of the Western Cutucd, the formation is missing along the western slopes. It underlies the whole of the Napo uplift, and plays a major role in the eastern ranges of the Cordillera north of Lat, 2° S. Tt was reached in the Vuano and probably also in the Tiputini well and was penetrated between 3,645 and 6,997 feet in the Macuma well.