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Jurassic-Eocene tectonic evolution of Maracaibo basin, Venezuela

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 Jurassic–Eocene Tectonic Evolution of
Maracaibo Basin, Venezuela

Jairo Lugo Paul Mann

Lagoven, S.A. Institute for Geophysics
Caracas, Venezuela University of Texas at Austin
Austin, Texas, U.S.A.

Abstract

T hree main phases occurred in the Jurassic–Eocene geologic history of Lake Maracaibo: (1) Jurassic rifting
related to separation of the North and South American continents; (2) Early–Late Cretaceous passive
margin subsidence following rifting and creation of oceanic crust between North and South America; and (3)
Paleocene–Eocene foreland basin subsidence following the oblique collision of a Pacific-derived Caribbean
plate with the South American passive margin. The distribution of Jurassic red beds and volcanic rocks in deep
wells beneath the Maracaibo basin suggest that they were deposited in north-northeast trending rift basins
separated by horst blocks of Paleozoic metasedimentary rocks. This structural grain was subsequently reacti-
vated during Cenozoic collisional and strike-slip deformation. Lithology and isopach patterns suggest that
Barremian–Santonian shallow marine carbonates in the Maracaibo basin formed in a passive margin setting
above Precambrian and Paleozoic crust thinned during the Jurassic rifting event. Isopach patterns show that
the northwest-trending Mérida arch was a positive feature in Barremian–Santonian time. The tectonic origin of
the Mérida arch and similar arches in Colombia and Ecuador is unclear, but they may be related to reactivation
of underlying Precambrian or Paleozoic structural grains during passive margin subsidence.
Isopach maps show that the Paleocene–Eocene depocenter of the Maracaibo basin was an asymmetric,
elongate trough containing up to 7 km of Paleocene–Eocene clastic rocks. The main Paleocene–Eocene
depocenter is flanked on its north and northeast margin by a partially exposed south-southwest verging fold
and thrust belt. Isopach mapping suggests a northwest-southeast migration of the depocenter from Paleocene
to middle Eocene time. Previous work on sandstone composition, paleocurrent measurements, and seismic
reflections of prograding clinoforms all support the idea that the basin formed as a foreland depression in front
of a west-southwest verging fold and thrust belt along the eastern side of the basin. This model contrasts with a
previous interpretation that deltaic systems in a passive margin setting south and southwest of the basin were
the main source areas. A similar style of younger foreland basin has been previously identified over a distance
of 1000 km in central and eastern Venezuela and Trinidad. Eocene–Recent ages of foreland basin sedimenta-
tion in these areas suggest time-transgressive oblique collision of an exotic Pacific-derived Caribbean plate
along the northern passive margin of continental South America.

Resumen

T res fases principales existieron en la historia geológica del Lago de Maracaibo durante el período
Jurásico-Eoceno: rift durante el Jurásico, relacionado con la separación de Norte y Sur América; subsi-
dencia del margen pasivo durante el Cretácico Inferior a Superior, seguida a la fase de rift y creación de
corteza oceánica entre Norte y Sur América; y subsidencia de la cuenca tipo foreland a continuación de la
colisión oblicua de la placa del Caribe, derivada del Pacífico, contra el margen pasivo de Sur América. La
distribución de capas rojas y rocas volcánicas de edad Jurásica encontradas en pozos profundos de la cuenca
de Maracaibo indica sedimentación en cuencas tipo rift con tendencia nor-noreste separadas por pilares
tectónicos que presentan rocas meta-sedimentarias de edad Paleozoica. Estas antiguas estructuras con
dirección nor-noreste serían subsecuentemente reactivadas durante la colisión y deformación transcurrente del
Cenozoico. La litología y distribución de espesores de rocas de edad Barremiense-Santoniense, principalmente
carbonáticas de mar poco profundo, en la cuenca de Maracaibo indican que estas rocas se formaron en un
margen pasivo por encima de la corteza Precambrica y Paleozoica, adelgazada durante el evento de rift del
Jurásico. Los patrones isópacos muestran que el arco de Mérida fué un rasgo positivo desde el Barremiense

Lugo, J., and P. Mann, 1995, Jurassic–Eocene tectonic evolution of Maracaibo basin, 699
Venezuela, in A. J. Tankard, R. Suárez S., and H. J. Welsink, Petroleum basins of South
America: AAPG Memoir 62, p. 699–725.
700 Lugo and Mann

hasta el Santoniense. El origen tectónico del arco de Mérida y otros arcos similares en Colombia y Ecuador no
está claro pero quizás esten relacionadonados con la reactivación de estructuras precambricas o paleozoicas
pre-existentes, las cuales existían durante la subsidencia del margen pasivo.
Los mapas isópacos, basados en datos sísmicos y de pozos, muestran que el depocentro de la cuenca de
Maracaibo durante el Paleoceno-Eoceno fue una depresión elongada asimétrica, de 50 a 80 km de ancho, con
un espesor de hasta 7 km de rocas clásticas de edad Paleoceno-Eoceno. El principal depocentro esta limitado en
el norte y noreste por pliegues de cabalgamiento parcialmente expuesto con vergencia hacia el suroeste. Los
mapas isópacos de siete unidades sísmicas indican una migración del depocentro del noroeste hacia el sureste
durante el período Paleoceno-Eoceno Medio. Estudios anteriores sobre composición de arenas, mediciones de
paleocorrientes y clinoformes progradantes mostrados en los ejemplos de reflección sísmica soportan la idea
que la cuenca se formó como una depresión tipo foreland en frente de fallas de cabalgamiento con vergencia
hacia el sur suroeste a lo largo del lado este de la cuenca. Este modelo propuesto contrasta con una inter-
pretación previa en la cual los sistemas deltaicos en una cuenca pasiva localizada al sur y sureste constituyeron
las principales fuentes de sedimentos. Una cuenca tipo foreland similar y más joven ha sido previamente identi-
ficada a una distancia de 1000 km en Venezuela central y oriental y en Trinidad. Sedimentación en cuencas tipo
foreland de edad Eoceno a Reciente en estas áreas indican transgresión en el tiempo y colisión oblicua de una
placa Caribe exótica, derivada de la placa del Pacifico, a lo largo del margen pasivo al norte del continente
suramericano.

INTRODUCTION the style of sedimentation in a passive margin

setting and the tectonic control on this sedimenta-
Maracaibo basin covers an area of about 30,000 km2 tion by the development of the Mérida arch.
and is located on the Maracaibo tectonic block, a trian-
• Paleocene–Eocene foreland basin subsidence
gular fault-bounded area in northwestern Venezuela
followed the oblique collision of an exotic Pacific-
(Figure 1). The basin is one of the most prolific hydro-
derived Caribbean plate with the South American
carbon-producing basins in the world; it has produced
passive margin. This event is the main objective of
more than 35 billion bbl of mainly medium-light oil
our paper because most previous workers have
during the last 50 years (Miller et al., 1958; Zambrano et
attributed Paleocene–Eocene clastic sedimentation
al., 1971; Bockmuelen et al., 1983). The production zone is
to a north-facing passive margin. Based on
structurally and stratigraphically complex. Production
geophysical and geologic data presented here, we
comes from hundreds of reservoirs in Tertiary deltaic
suggest that Paleocene–Eocene clastic sedimenta-
and shore zone deposits and fractured Cretaceous
tion was related to south-southwestward over-
carbonate rocks. Extensive exploration for new reservoirs
thrusting of the Caribbean plate over the Creta-
in the Maracaibo basin over the past 50 years has
ceous passive margin of South America. We use
produced tens of thousands of kilometers of high-quality
these results to better constrain tectonic models for
seismic reflection data and thousands of production
Cenozoic eastward migration of the Caribbean
wells. This wealth of data provides us with the opportu-
plate.
nity to better understand the petroleum generating and
storage system in the basin as well as the tectonic
The complex post-Eocene structural and stratigraphic
controls on basin sedimentation.
history of the Maracaibo basin is beyond the scope of this
The objective of this paper is to illustrate three main
paper. The interested reader is referred to Lugo (1991) for
Jurassic–Eocene phases of basin evolution based on a
this phase of basin evolution.
compilation of previous geologic data and an original
compilation of seismic reflection and well data, shown in
Figure 2. These data were kindly made available for use
in this study by Lagoven, S.A., and Maraven, S.A., of TECTONIC SETTING
Caracas, Venezuela. The three phases of basin evolution
are as follows: Plate-Scale Setting
• Jurassic rifting accompanied rifting between the Most workers now accept that the Caribbean region
North and South American continents. We show originated in the eastern Pacific and was transported into
the distribution of rift-related rocks encountered by its present position between the North and South
deep drilling in the basin and discuss the funda- American plates along large-scale strike-slip faults and
mental control that rift-related faults had in the pre- oblique subduction zones of Cenozoic age (e.g., Burke,
Oligocene structural and stratigraphic develop- 1988; Pindell and Barrett, 1990; Montgomery et al., 1992).
ment of the basin. This allochthonous area, referred to here as the
“Caribbean plate,” includes a central Late Cretaceous
• Early–Late Cretaceous passive margin subsidence oceanic plateau in the Colombian and Venezuelan basins
followed rifting and the creation of oceanic crust (Bowland and Rosencrantz, 1988), a Paleozoic(?) conti-
between North and South America. We document nental microplate in northern Central America (Gordon,
 Jurassic–Eocene Tectonic Evolution of Maracaibo Basin, Venezuela 701

Figure 1—(A) Location map of major crustal tectonic

features of northwestern South America and southern
Central America. Arrows indicate convergence directions
of Caribbean Sea (Caribbean plate) and Pacific Ocean
(Nazca plate) beneath northwestern South America. Earth-
quake epicenters with depths less than 75 km and magni-
tudes >5.0 (Richter scale) are from the ISC catalogue.
Abbreviations: MB, Maracaibo basin; FB, Falcón basin; GP,
Guajira Peninsula; MAB, Magdalena basin; BFZ, Boconó
fault zone; EAFZ, East Andean fault zone of Pennington
(1981); PFZ, Pallantanga fault zone of Winter and Lavenu
(1989); SMBFZ, Santa Marta–Bucaramanga fault zone. Note
the splaying of the elevated areas of the northern Andes in
the region of the Maracaibo basin. (B) Map of crustal types
of northwestern South America and southern Central
America. Southeastward subduction of thicker than Figure 2—(A) Seismic reflection data used in this study. (B)
average oceanic crust of the Caribbean oceanic plateau Well data used in this study. (All data provided by Lagoven
and Panama island arc may account for the width of the and Maraven and used with permission.)
active deformation belt in the northern Andes. Arches of
Cretaceous age that affected passive margin sedimenta-
tion are from Macellari (1988).
702 Lugo and Mann
1990), a fringing Early Cretaceous–Recent island arc, and
Paleogene–Recent back-arc basins formed as this island
arc migrated northeastward and eastward (Mann et al.,
1991). Elongate belts of marine clastic rocks found at the
contact between passive margin sequences and the
Caribbean assemblage have been interpreted by Pindell
and Barrett (1990) and Pindell (1991) as foreland basin
deposits that record progressive latest Cretaceous–
Cenozoic eastward displacement of the Caribbean plate
relative to the Americas. Although these authors had
speculated that early Cenozoic deposition in the
Maracaibo basin was in a foreland basin setting, they
were limited in their interpretation of the Maracaibo
basin area of western Venezuela by the availability of
detailed published studies of the basin stratigraphy and
structure.
Regional-Scale Setting
No simple plate boundary can be drawn between
island arc systems along the Pacific margin of Central
and South America and the active right-lateral strike-slip
plate boundary present along the Caribbean coast of
South America (Figure 1A). Shallow seismicity (<75 km
in depth) is diffuse, and the topography defines four
major chains of the northern Andes Mountains that are
two to three times as wide as the Andes of southern
Colombia and Ecuador. The Maracaibo basin is located
within this broad band of active deformation in the
center of the Maracaibo tectonic block, a triangular
lithospheric wedge of the northwestern South America
continent (Figure 1B) that is actively “escaping”
northward over thinner crust of the Caribbean Sea along
the right-lateral Boconó and left-lateral Santa Marta–
Bucaramanga strike-slip fault zones (Mann and Burke,
1984). Strike-slip offset of the Maracaibo block relative to
the surrounding South America plate is limited to less
than 100 km along the Boconó and Santa Marta–Bucara-
manga fault zones (Salvador, 1986) and appears to have
begun in middle–late Miocene time.
The driving force of the diffuse tectonic activity over
such a wide area may be related to shallow southeast-
ward subduction of the Caribbean plate to depths of
several hundred kilometers beneath this part of north-
western South America (van der Hilst and Mann, 1994).
Such shallow subduction may have produced Laramide-
style uplifts of the Andean chains (Kellogg and Bonini,
1982; Kellogg, 1984) and tectonic escape of the Maracaibo
block in the overriding South America plate (Mann and
Burke, 1984).
The Maracaibo basin is generally synclinal and
contains up to 7 km of unmetamorphosed Jurassic–
Recent sedimentary rocks. It presently forms a topo-
graphic depression filled by Lake Maracaibo (maximum
water depth 31 m) and is flanked by high (>2 km)
Andean ranges on three sides. To the east and southeast
of the basin is the Mérida Andes of Venezuela and to the
west and southwest is the Sierra de Perija of Venezuela
and Colombia. The northern edge of the basin is much
lower in elevation, with a small strait connecting Lake
Maracaibo to the Caribbean Sea. Uplift of the northern
Andean ranges in Miocene and later time has caused the
Maracaibo basin to become a vast sink for clastic
sediment eroded from the surrounding mountains.
Neogene sedimentary rocks in the eastern part of the
lake reach a maximum thickness of 3 km. For this reason,
most Mesozoic and early Tertiary structures and rocks in
the Maracaibo basin are deeply buried and accessible
only through indirect geophysical methods and deep
wells.
DATABASE USED IN THIS STUDY
Seismic reflection data used in this study include
about 7000 km of migrated lines acquired by Lagoven
and Maraven during 12 different seismic acquisition
campaigns from 1969 to 1987. These data were repro-
cessed in-house to suppress noise and recover primary
reflections (Figure 2A). The average spacing of seismic
lines is 2 km in the lake area, although some intensively
drilled areas of the lake have line spacings less than 1
km. In the Sierra de Perijá area to the west of the lake,
line spacing is 5 km.
Seismic data are fair at shallow depths, improve to
good below the Eocene–Miocene unconformity, but dete-
riorate downward to Paleozoic and Jurassic rocks that
form the acoustic basement of the basin. Data quality
degradation above basement is mainly related to
complex, steeply dipping faults and bedding, as well as
to shallow mud channels that are particularly common
along the eastern coast of the lake where water depths
are only a few meters.
In this study, 383 wells were used, 81 of which have
velocity information that includes vertical seismic
profiles and sonic logs (Figure 2B). Seismic velocity
determinations from wells constrain all depth conver-
sions of seismic reflection lines.
SUBSURFACE SEISMIC MAP UNITS IN
THE MARACAIBO BASIN
Lugo (1991) combined seismic data with wells and
identified four seismic megasequences correlatable to
formations previously established in outcrops of the
Mérida Andes east of the basin, in outcrops of the Sierra
de Perija west and southwest of the basin (see Gonzalez
de Juana et al., 1980, for stratigraphic review), and from
subsurface studies of well cores in the lake area itself
(Figure 3). These megasequences are further subdivided
into seismic map units along discontinuity surfaces inter-
preted from seismic profiles (Figure 4). Distinctive
seismic characteristics of each seismic map unit are
discussed in more detail by Lugo (1991).
Age control on seismic map units is provided by pale-
ontologic and palynologic studies of well cuttings tied to
seismic lines. Age diagnostic species are summarized in
Figure 5, and examples of poor or absent age controls are
 Jurassic–Eocene Tectonic Evolution of Maracaibo Basin, Venezuela 703

Figure 3—Names of forma-

tions defined by Gonzalez de
Juana et al. (1980) and used in
this study for the subsurface
and surrounding outcrops of
the Maracaibo basin (see inset
for type areas). Seismic
megasequences defined from
the lake area in this study
using seismic reflection and
well data are shown in far
right column. See Figure 4 for
correlations between seismic
map units defined in this
study and formations.

discussed in the text. Misties between well logs and
seismic map units made in the first interpretation were
corrected in later iterations that were facilitated by access
to the results of 12 different and commonly overlapping
surveys. Lugo (1991) contoured isopach and isochron
maps of various seismic map units in the following four
megasequences overlying a largely acoustic basement:
• Megasequence 1—A 300-m-thick (maximum)
section of Aptian–Santonian mainly shallow water
platform limestone was subdivided into six seismic
map units designated K1–K6 (Figure 4). Corre-
sponding formations and members in the lake area
include the Rio Negro, Apon, Lisure, Maraca, La
Luna, and Socuy (Figure 3).
• Megasequence 2—A 700-m-thick (maximum)
section of mostly pelagic Campanian shale mapped
as one unit, K7. This unit correlates to the Colon
Formation and grades up into Paleocene neritic
limestone and shale, mapped as one seismic unit
designated P1.
• Megasequence 3—A 7000-m-thick (maximum)
section of predominantly marine and shallow
marine Eocene clastic rocks mapped as seven
Eocene units (E1–E7). Precise ages of Eocene units
are poorly known because of the scarcity of marine
microfauna in most of the shallow marine section
(Figure 5). However, the ages of units P1 and E7
are well established by late Paleocene and middle
 704 Lugo and Mann

Figure 4—Age, lithology, and depositional environments of formations described in the Maracaibo basin area and their
correlation to informal seismic megasequences and map units defined in this study. Formation names are defined by
Gonzalez de Juana et al. (1980) using stratigraphic studies of outcrops and subsurface cores. This paper focused on the
Jurassic–Eocene section; for details of the Oligocene–Recent section, see Lugo (1991).

Figure 5—Faunal and floral assemblages used in this study to calibrate the age of Cretaceous–Tertiary seismic map units.
Age of units E4 and E5 is based on appearance of Monoporites annulatus pollen species about 46.5 Ma. Late middle Eocene
planktonic foraminifera are well dated from unit E7.
 Jurassic–Eocene Tectonic Evolution of Maracaibo Basin, Venezuela
Eocene benthic and planktonic foraminifera,
respectively, and bracket the age of the intervening
and less well dated map units.
• Megasequence 4—A 10,000-m-thick (maximum)
section of mainly Oligocene–Recent clastic rocks
(seismic map units O1 and M1-4) deposited in
shallow marine, fluvial, and lacustrine settings in
an overall shallowing- and coarsening-upward
section. This section includes the erosional
products of the Miocene and younger uplift of the
northern Andes that were trapped in the intermon-
tane Maracaibo basin (Figure 1).
705
JURASSIC RIFT SEDIMENTATION IN
MARACAIBO BASIN
Precambrian and Paleozoic Basement
Tectonic Setting
The cratonic basement of Venezuela consists of three
distinct Precambrian provinces with metamorphic,
metaigneous, and metasedimentary rocks yielding radio-
metric ages of 3000–1400 Ma (Feo-Codecido et al., 1984;
Bartok, 1993) (Figure 6A). These Precambrian rocks were
rifted in Cambrian time along with rocks in the
Appalachians of North America during the opening of
the Iapetus, or the proto-Atlantic Ocean. Closure of the
Iapetus ocean and its passive margins by suturing of the
Gondwana and Laurentia continental blocks produced
the Appalachian-Ouachita-Marathon orogeny of North
America and a correlative and possibly co-linear Late
Paleozoic orogeny and regional metamorphism in north-
western South America (Pindell, 1985; Bartok, 1993).
Deformed and metamorphosed Paleozoic rocks include
shallow and deep water shale, sandstone, and limestone,
which outcrop in the core of the Andean ranges and are
found in deep wells drilled into basement in the
Maracaibo basin.
Stratigraphy
Deep well data show that the acoustic basement of
Maracaibo basin correlates with upper Paleozoic meta-
morphosed pelagic sedimentary rocks of the Mucu-
chachí Formation and its equivalents found in deep wells
along the northwest-trending Mérida arch and red beds
of the Jurassic La Quinta Formation infilling a north-
northeast-trending rift system (Figure 6B). According to
Shagam (1985), the Mucuchachí Formation is Late
Mississippian–Permian in age; however, Gonzalez de
Juana et al. (1980) conclude that the age of the
Mucuchachí Formation ranges from early to middle
Paleozoic because its stratigraphic relationships with
unmetamorphosed older Ordovician and younger Penn-
Figure 6—(A) Depth to Precambrian–Jurassic basement in
the region of Maracaibo basin (from Feo-Codecido et al.,
1984). Contour interval is 5000 ft. Note 20,000-ft (6100-m)
maximum depth to basement; steepest basement slope is
present along the southeastern Maracaibo basin. The
Mérida arch cross section is shown in Figure 9. (B)
Location of Jurassic rifts and the Merida arch in north-
western South America. Legend: gray, known Jurassic
rifts; black, outcrops of rift red beds and volcanic rocks; X,
inverted rifts that form northern Andes mountain ranges; 1,
Machiques Jurassic rift cropping out in the Sierra de Perija;
2, Uribante Jurassic rift known from deep wells in the
Maracaibo basin of Venezuela; 3, Mérida structural arch
expressed in the map pattern of the Mérida Andes and
known from deep wells and seismic reflections in the
Maracaibo and Barinas basins; 4, Jurassic Barquismeto rift
cropping out in the northwestern Mérida Andes; 5,
Jurassic Mérida rift cropping out in the Mérida Andes.
Cretaceous uplift of the Mérida arch apparently eroded the
central section of the Mérida rift.
706 Lugo and Mann
Figure 7—Distribution of Jurassic red beds and volcanic
rocks of the La Quinta Formation in the Uribante rift
beneath the Maracaibo basin. Circles mark locations of
deep wells penetrating rift-related rocks or adjacent
Paleozoic basement; ticks mark downthrown sides of
faults. Note close control of rift rocks by northeast- to
NNW-striking high-angle faults. These faults and the
Mérida arch were apparently formed during Jurassic conti-
nental rifting but were later reactivated by Cenozoic
collision and transpressional inversion.
sylvanian–Permian rocks are unclear. Available evidence
suggests that the metamorphic rocks of the Mucuchachí
Formation were tectonically emplaced on Ordovician
rocks and eroded by Pennsylvanian time (Gonzalez de
Juana et al., 1980).
Jurassic Sedimentary and Volcanic Rocks
Tectonic Setting
The Triassic–Jurassic breakup of Pangea, previously
assembled by closure of the Iapetus ocean in late
Paleozoic time, began by the formation of a broad belt of
rifts and rift-related volcanism along the present-day
margins of the Atlantic Ocean, Gulf of Mexico, and
northern South America (Pindell, 1985; Eva et al., 1989;
Bartok, 1993). In northwestern South America, four rifts
have been identified on the basis of field mapping and
deep drilling in the Maracaibo basin (Figure 6B). Three of
the four rifts have been inverted by late Tertiary uplift of
the northern Andes and correspond to topographic
uplifts in the Mérida Andes and the Sierra de Perija. A
fourth rift has been deeply buried below Cretaceous and
Cenozoic rocks of the Maracaibo basin and is known
from deep wells (Figure 7).
Stratigraphy
Volcanic and sedimentary rocks are included in the La
Gé Group and in the Tinacoa, Macoita, and La Quinta
formations at different type localities in Colombia and
western Venezuela (Eva et al., 1989; Bartok, 1993) (Figure
3). In the Sierra de Perija rift west of the Maracaibo basin,
calc-alkaline felsic to mafic igneous rocks of the La Gé
Group and Totumo Formation interfinger with red beds
and are cut by dikes of alkaline basalt composition
(Maze, 1984). Red beds are referred to the La Quinta
Formation in the Maracaibo basin area and Mérida
Andes (Schubert et al., 1979). Without marker horizons
and with little paleontologic control, it is difficult to
assess accurately the thickness or lateral correlation of the
red bed sequences among different areas. Nevertheless,
published stratigraphic studies reveal rapid changes
from about 500 m to more than 4500 m (Eva et al., 1989).
Rifts are inferred at the site of these mountain ranges
by the presence of red beds and related volcanic rocks
not found in outcrops or the subsurface of intervening
lowlands (Figure 6B). Sedimentary rocks consist of red
and green shale, sandstone, and conglomerate, all of
which lack marine fauna but contain plant fragments
and freshwater fish and ostracods (Schubert et al., 1979;
Eva et al., 1989). Sedimentary facies indicate a continental
environment in which alluvial fans alternated with lacus-
trine and brackish water deposits (Moticska, 1975;
Schubert et al., 1979). In the Guajira Peninsula along the
Caribbean margin of Venezuela (Figure 1A), Jurassic
rocks were deposited in a marine environment (Renz,
1960) and may have formed part of a Jurassic “Hispanic
corridor” or strait of open marine water that separated
North and South America during the early rift phase
(Bartok, 1993). Porphyry sills, locally up to several
hundred meters in thickness, are mainly acidic in compo-
sition.
Odreman and Benedetto (1977) and Benedetto and
Odreman (1977) used paleontologic data to assign an
early Middle Jurassic age to the Tinacoa Formation, a
Middle Jurassic age to the Macoita Formation, and a
middle Late Jurassic age to the La Quinta Formation.
This age for the La Quinta agrees with a U-Pb radio-
metric age reported for it by Dasch and Banks (1981).
Maracaibo Basin
Deep wells in the Maracaibo basin have penetrated
red beds of the La Quinta Formation on the downthrown
side on the Icotea and Pueblo Viejo fault zones, whereas
wells to the east of the Icotea fault have penetrated only
Paleozoic rocks of the Mucuchachí Formation (Figure 7).
This subcrop pattern is consistent with the interpretation
that the rocks were originally deposited in north-
northeast striking rifts separated by horst blocks of
Paleozoic rocks and were subsequently preserved
beneath the thick Cretaceous–Cenozoic section of the
Maracaibo basin (Bot and Perdomo, 1986). The Mérida
arch, which may follow an older Precambrian or
Paleozoic grain, forms a transverse structure with a more
northwest trend than the rifts.
 Jurassic–Eocene Tectonic Evolution of Maracaibo Basin, Venezuela
CRETACEOUS PASSIVE MARGIN
SEDIMENTATION IN MARACAIBO
BASIN
Tectonic Setting
Pindell (1985), Winker and Buffler (1988), Macellari
(1988), and Eva et al. (1989) have all proposed that
carbonate sedimentation in a passive margin setting
followed Middle–Late Jurassic rift-related clastic sedi-
mentation and igneous activity on circum-Gulf of Mexico
and circum-Caribbean rifted margins. In the Maracaibo
basin, we compiled isopach data and subsidence data to
test the hypothesis that the mixed carbonate-clastic
Cretaceous section subsided as a passive margin.
Previous work by Renz (1959), Macellari (1988), Salvador
(1986), and others has shown the importance of Creta-
ceous-age uplift along the Mérida arch in controlling the
distribution of carbonate and clastic units and erosional
removal of part of the inverted Mérida Jurassic rift from
the tops of the Mérida Andes (Figure 8). Macellari (1988)
pointed out that the Mérida arch is one of a subparallel
set of several regional, northwest-trending arches in
northwestern South America that controlled passive
margin sedimentation (Figure 1B). The tectonic origin of
these arches remains unclear but may relate to reactiva-
tion of older Precambrian or Paleozoic structural grains
during passive margin subsidence.
Cretaceous Megasequences
The Cretaceous carbonate-clastic section in the
Maracaibo basin has been subdivided by Lugo (1991)
into two seismic megasequences. Megasequence 1
consists of five formations and one member, each equiv-
alent to a seismic map unit (Figure 4). Wells were used to
better distinguish individual carbonate seismic map
units that are thin and difficult to resolve on seismic
lines.
• Rio Negro Formation (seismic map unit K1), a
Barremian basal trangressive clastic deposit found
on either side of the Mérida arch (Figure 9). This
formation is characterized by fluvial and alluvial
fan facies that are thickest in the areas overlying the
sites of the Uribante, Machiques, and Barquismeto
Jurassic rifts (Renz, 1959; Trump and Salvador,
1964) (Figure 6B). In the Maracaibo basin, the Rio
Negro Formation is restricted to the area west of
the Icotea fault and gradually thickens to the west-
southwest. Farther to the north on the Guajira
Peninsula, Renz (1959) identified shallow water
carbonate rocks equivalent in age to the Rio Negro
Formation. The distribution of the Rio Negro
Formation shows that the Mérida arch was a
positive feature during the Barremian.
• Apon Formation (seismic map unit K2), an Aptian
shallow marine carbonate unit found on either side
of the Mérida arch (Figures 8A, 9). The Apon
Formation forms the basal unit of a stable shallow
707
water carbonate platform that includes the
overlying Lisure (seismic map unit K3) and Maraca
(seismic map unit K4) formations. The three
carbonate units are collectively known as the
Cogollo Group. During deposition of the Apon and
Lisure formations, paleowater depth varied from 2
to 15 m, whereas during deposition of the Maraca
Formation, water depth fluctuated from 0 to 4 m
(Azpiritxaga, 1991).
• Lisure Formation (seismic map unit K3), an
Aptian–Albian sandstone and calcarenite unit
thinning over the Mérida arch and deposited under
shallow water conditions (Figure 9). Clastic input
of this unit was derived from the Mérida arch and
South American craton to the southeast of the Mar-
acaibo basin. Southeast of the study area, this form-
ation becomes mainly interbedded sandstone and
shale with only a minor proportion of limestone.
• Maraca Formation (seismic unit K4), a Ceno-
manian fossiliferous limestone unit thinning over
the Mérida arch (Figures 8B, 9). Gonzalez de Juana
et al. (1980) concluded that this distinctive unit is
also found in the Barinas basin to the east of the
Mérida Andes (Figure 1A) and was deposited
during a late Aptian transgression.
• La Luna Formation (seismic unit K5), a
Turonian–Santonian anoxic black shale and
siliceous unit thinning over the Mérida arch
(Figures 8C, 9). This unit was deposited at the time
of maximum flooding of the South American
continent during the Late Cretaceous highstand of
sea level (Hancock and Kaufman, 1979). The La
Luna Formation is one of the most intensively
studied formations in the Maracaibo basin and
other parts of South America because it is known to
be the source rock for most of the hydrocarbons
discovered to date. All previous literature agrees
on the anaerobic conditions of deposition (e.g.,
Blaser and White, 1984; Macellari and DeVries,
1987). However, paleowater depth is controversial.
Based on faunal assemblages, Boesi and Goddard
(1989) have indicated that deposition of the La
Luna Formation took place at least 1000 m below
sea level. However, Mendez (1990) has proposed a
much shallower depth of 50 m that was brought
about by upwelling of deeper water onto a
shallower platform. Pending further studies, we
assume a minimum 150 m water depth in this
study for the La Luna Formation based on a model
by Byers (1977) for the minimum depth of anoxic
environments created along upwelling coasts.
• Socuy Member of the Colon Formation and
Colon Formation (seismic units K6 and K7),
Campanian–Maastrichtian basal marine micritic
limestone and overlying shale (Figure 8D). The
Socuy Member separates the underlying transgres-
sive megasequence from the overlying regressive
marine to shallow marine megasequence of the
Colon Formation. In outcrops of the Mérida Andes,
708 Lugo and Mann

Figure 8—Isopachs of Cretaceous carbonate rocks deposited in a passive margin setting. (A) Isopach map of
Apon Formation (seismic map unit K2) based on seismic and well data shown in Figure 2. See Figure 3 for
regional stratigraphic correlation and nomenclature. (B) Isopach map of Maraca Formation (seismic map unit K4).
(C) Isopach map of La Luna Formation (seismic map unit K5). (D) Isopach map of Socuy Member of Colon
Formation (seismic map unit K6).
 Jurassic–Eocene Tectonic Evolution of Maracaibo Basin, Venezuela 709

Figure 9—Regional southwest-northeast cross section of the Mérida arch based on well data (compiled by Renz, 1959). See
Figure 6A for location. Note onlap of Barremian Rio Negro Formation through Turonian–Santonian La Luna Formation onto
Paleozoic metamorphic rocks and Jurassic rift-related rocks that core the arch. The Socuy Member of the Colon Formation
is not shown, but would correspond to a thin unit at the contact between the La Luna and Colon formations (see Figure 3).

the Socuy Member is only 1–3 m thick and is
composed of glauconitic and pyritic pelletal
packstone. Ghosh (1984) has interpreted this unit as
a condensed section. The overlying Colon
Formation is composed mainly of shale. By the end
of deposition of the Colon Formation, the Mérida
arch was still partially emergent in the south-
eastern part of the Maracaibo basin and shed
coarse clastic sediments northward (Figure 9).
Isopach Maps
Isopach maps of four representative units of mega-
sequence 1 (units K2, K4, K5, K6) are shown in Figure 8
and support the effect of the Mérida arch on sedimenta-
tion that was proposed by previous workers based on
well and outcrop data (Figure 9). The four units, corre-
sponding to the Apon, Maraca, and La Luna formations
and the Socuy Member of the Colon Formation, all show
differential subsidence during Cretaceous time. All units
thin toward the Mérida arch, which maintained an
average N 30° W trend from Aptian to Campanian time.
Total thickness changes are about 300 m from the crest to
the flanks of the arch. The lack of major Cretaceous
unconformities in the Maracaibo basin and surrounding
outcrop areas (Renz, 1959; 1981; Zambrano et al., 1971;
Bartok et al., 1981; Azpiritxaga, 1991) suggests that the
Mérida arch remained partially submerged during depo-
sition of seismic units K2–K7 (Aptian–Santonian).
The southeastern extension of the Mérida arch is
visible in the outcrop pattern of the Mérida Andes where
Precambrian and Paleozoic rocks occupy an approxi-
mately 100-km-wide zone in the area where the arch
orthogonally crosses the topographically uplifted Mérida
Andes (Salvador, 1986). The Mérida arch continues into
the basement of the Cenozoic Barinas basin formed along
the southeastern flank of the Mérida Andes. Several
studies have documented its presence in the subsurface
of the Barinas basin (Zambrano et al., 1971; Renz, 1981;
Chigne and Hernández, 1990; Loaiza et al., 1990)
(Figure 1A).
Cretaceous Subsidence Rates
Cretaceous decompacted subsidence on top of
basement is plotted for 18 wells distributed over the
Maracaibo basin study area (Figure 10). For the period
115–80 Ma, the subsidence curve follows an initially rapid
phase of subsidence at an average rate of 4 cm/1000 yr
followed by a long-term exponential decay of subsidence
at average rates of 0.75 cm/1000 yr. Renewed rapid subsi-
dence of 3 cm/1000 yr characterizes the Late Cretaceous.
Late Cretaceous subsidence is followed by a period of
slower subsidence in the Paleocene.
In map view, subsidence patterns reflect the presence
of the Mérida arch (Figure 10, inset). Above the arch,
subsidence rates are relatively slow at 3 cm/1000 yr.
Along the northwestern flank of the arch, subsidence
rates increase to 8 cm/1000 yr. Renz (1959), Macellari
(1988), and others have pointed out that Cretaceous
sections thicken over the sites of former Jurassic rifts
shown on Figure 6B.
710 Lugo and Mann

of the passive margin. The tectonic origin of this arch and

subparallel arches of comparable size in Colombia and
Ecuador (Macellari, 1988) is enigmatic, but may reflect
reactivation of Precambrian–Paleozoic structural grains
during subsidence.

PALEOCENE–EOCENE FORELAND
SEDIMENTATION IN MARACAIBO
BASIN
Passive Margin versus Foreland Model
Previous studies of the Paleocene–Eocene clastic
section in the lake area by van Andel (1958), Zambrano et
al. (1971), and Blaser and White (1984) suggest the
following:

• The stratigraphic section formed a southwest to

northeast gradation from fluvial deposits to deltaic
deposits and deep marine submarine fans.
• The stratigraphic section was mainly derived from
erosion of continental rocks of the South America
craton to the south and southwest.
• The stratigraphic section was deposited on a north-
sloping passive margin (Figure 11A).

Figure 10—Subsidence analysis for Cretaceous–Paleocene

sedimentary rocks in 18 wells in the Maracaibo basin. All
subsidence curves are corrected for compaction effects.
Top shows paleobathymetry based on microfauna summa-
rized in Figure 5. Inset map shows contoured subsidence
rates for the 18 wells. Note the faster rates of subsidence
along the flanks of the Mérida arch.

Summary
The presence of regionally extensive, mixed
carbonate-clastic facies patterns of exponentially
declining subsidence during Barremian–earliest
Campanian time is consistent with a passive margin
setting as proposed on the basis of more regional studies
by Pindell (1985, 1991) and Eva et al. (1989). In general,
sedimentation reflects the Late Cretaceous highstand of
sea level and regional transgression recognized in
eastern Venezuela (Gonzalez de Juana et al., 1980) and
worldwide (Hancock and Kaufman, 1979; Haq et al.,
1987). An increase in Campanian subsidence and regres- Figure 11—(A) Interpretation by previous workers of
sive facies may reflect tectonic accretion of exotic terranes continent-derived Paleocene–Eocene clastic sedimentation
in the Lake Maracaibo area. (B) Proposed interpretation for
along the Pacific margin of Colombia (Restrepo and
north-derived deltaic foreland basin sedimentation in front
Toussaint, 1988) and increased activation of intraplate of an emergent fold and thrust belt. Note relatively minor
features, including the Mérida arch (Figure 1B). component of continent-derived deltaic sedimentation in
Thickness variations suggest that the Mérida arch was comparison to major component of deltaic sedimentation
active from Aptian to Campanian time and was the derived from overthrusting of the Caribbean plate onto the
dominant structural element present along this segment passive margin of South America.
 Jurassic–Eocene Tectonic Evolution of Maracaibo Basin, Venezuela 711

Figure 12—(A) Isopach map of Paleocene limestone and calcareous sandstone (Guasare Formation, seismic map unit P1).
(B) Isochron map of Eocene fluviodeltaic sedimentary rocks of the lower Misoa Formation (seismic map unit E2). (C)
Isochron map of Eocene fluviodeltaic sedimentary rocks of the lower Misoa Formation (seismic map unit E3). (D) Isochron
map of Eocene prodelta-estuarine sedimentary rocks of the middle Misoa Formation (seismic map unit E4). (E) Isochron map
of Eocene coarsening-upward shallow marine to fluvial sedimentary rocks of the middle–upper Misoa Formation (seismic
map unit E5). (F) Isochron map of Eocene deep marine sedimentary rocks of the Paují Formation (seismic map unit E7). Note
the northwest to southeast decrease in age of maximum foreland basin subsidence. Area to the northeast of major depocen-
ters is an exposed southwest-verging fold and thrust belt inferred to be the main sediment source for seismic map units
E4–E7. All maps are based on the seismic and well data shown in Figure 2.

We propose a contrasting interpretation—that most of Paleocene–Eocene Megasequence

the Paleocene–Eocene deltaic section was derived from
the erosion of emergent highlands northeast of the
present-day area of Lake Maracaibo and deposited in an
asymmetric foreland basin formed by southward and
southwestward overthrusting of the Caribbean plate
onto this area of the South American passive margin
(Figure 11B). We support this interpretation with isopach
maps of representative lower Cenozoic seismic map
units, subsidence data from wells, and information on
paleocurrent directions based on geologic studies and
seismic lines.
The Paleocene–Eocene predominantly clastic section
or seismic megasequence in the Maracaibo basin has
been subdivided by Lugo (1991) into seven seismic map
units (Figure 4).
Guasare Formation
The Guasare Formation (seismic map unit P1) consists
of Paleocene limestone and calcareous sandstone (Figure
12A). This formation exhibits pronounced lateral facies
variations by grading northwestward into shale,
712 Lugo and Mann
northward into shallow marine sedimentary rocks,
westward into coarser grained clastic rocks, and
southward into fluvial and deltaic deposits. On seismic
lines and in wells, the Guasare Formation appears
concordant above marine shales of the underlying Colon
Formation. A hiatus marks the contact between the
upper Guasare Formation and the overlying Misoa
Formation and is probably related to subaerial exposure
marking the end of a regressive cycle begun in
Campanian time with deposition of shale of the Colon
Formation (Figure 3).
Trujillo Formation
The Trujillo Formation (seismic map units E1 and E2)
is characterized by turbiditic sandstone and shale found
in the northeastern part of the Maracaibo basin. East of
Lake Maracaibo in the Mérida Andes, this formation is
about 1800 m thick and composed mainly of turbiditic
deposits (Gonzalez de Juana et al., 1980). Cretaceous olis-
Figure 13—Isopach map for the
entire Eocene interval (seismic
map units E1–E7) of the
Maracaibo basin. Note the
basin asymmetry with thick-
ening toward the east and the
southwest-verging fold and
thrust belt exposed east of the
basin. Highs along the
projected trend of the Mérida
arch are shaded. Thinning east
of the Icotea fault is related to
post-Eocene reactivation and
erosion of Eocene rocks from
the upthrown side of the fault.
tolith blocks and rock fragments similar to in situ
outcrops of the Cretaceous Cogollo Group and La Luna
Formation and Paleocene olistolith blocks and rock
fragments are common in the Trujillo Formation and
indicate instability in the upper slope probably caused by
thrusting in the thrust belt northeast of the Maracaibo
basin (Renz, 1981).
Misoa Formation
The Misoa Formation (seismic map units E3–E6) is
characterized by up to 7000 m of deltaic sandstone and
shale found beneath the present-day area of Lake
Maracaibo (Zambrano et al., 1971; Van Veen, 1972;
Barbeito et al., 1985). By middle Eocene time, an
immense fluviodeltaic system represented by the Misoa
Formation was present in the lake area. The thickest
depocenter of the Misoa Formation occurred in an
elongate belt along the northeastern edge of present-day
Lake Maracaibo. In the north-northeastern part of the
 Jurassic–Eocene Tectonic Evolution of Maracaibo Basin, Venezuela
basin, the Misoa Formation conformably overlies the
Paleocene–lower Eocene deposits of the Trujillo
Formation and is conformably overlain by upper middle
Eocene shales of the Paují Formation. In the Lake
Maracaibo area and to the west of the lake, the Misoa
Formation unconformably overlies carbonate rocks of
the Guasare Formation and is unconformably overlain
by Oligocene lacustrine deposits of the Icotea Formation
(Figure 3). To the east of the Icotea fault where no
Oligocene deposits occur, the Misoa Formation is overlain
by transgressive deposits of the La Rosa Formation of
Miocene age.
A well core of a complete section of the Misoa
Formation described by Van Veen (1972) reveals a
variety of facies characteristic of a deltaic complex,
including from base to top, sand-prone distributary
channels within a deltaic plain; thin, coarsening-upward
sandstone, probably representing delta margin sand
sheets deposited in interdistributary bays during
episodic rises of sea level; and cyclic repetitions of marine
shales (prodelta facies) grading upward abruptly into
sand-rich delta front facies. This latter facies exhibits
abundant cross stratification locally interbedded with
trough cross-stratified sets suggestive of deposition in a
channel bar.
Pauji Formation
The Pauji Formation (seismic unit E7) is characterized
by several hundred meters of marine shales found in the
easternmost part of the Maracaibo basin.
Isopach Maps
Isopach and isochron maps of seismic units P1, E2, E3,
E4, E5, and E7, considered representative of the seven
Paleocene–Eocene seismic map units, are shown in
Figures 12A–F. The thickness of all Eocene units (E1–E7)
are collectively shown in the isopach map of Figure 13.
Contacts between units E1–E7 are intraformational
unconformities.
Guasare Formation
Areas of mainly clastic facies of the Guasare
Formation along the northeastern edge of the basin
exhibit two major depocenters (Figure 12A). Localized
clastic Paleocene depocenters contrast with the more
uniform and thinner sheetlike deposition of Upper
Cretaceous carbonate rocks with the underlying passive
margin section (Figure 8A–D). These depocenters
probably extended more to the northwest prior to their
Paleocene–Eocene imbrication in the exposed thrust belt
in the Serranía de Trujillo (Stephan, 1985; Mathieu, 1989).
Folded and thrusted coeval Paleocene sandstone and
shale crops out in the thrust belt in the Serranía de
Trujillo along with Cretaceous carbonate beds and olis-
tolith blocks of the Cogollo Group and La Luna
Formation (Renz, 1981).
The more carbonate-rich section in the southern basin
exhibits little change in thickness, with 60-m thicknesses
above the crest of the Mérida arch and 180-m thicknesses
713
on its flanks. Zambrano et al. (1971) reported no
Paleocene deposits in the Mérida Andes, Sierra de Perija,
or Guajira Peninsula.
Trujillo, Misoa, and Paují Formations
Younger seismic units E2–E7 of early–middle Eocene
age document a southwest-thinning asymmetric wedge
of sediment that migrated southwestward and south-
eastward (Figure 12B–F). The thinning of the wedge to
the southwest marks the presence of the Mérida arch, a
feature known from isopach studies to be active
throughout most of the Cretaceous and early Tertiary
(Zambrano et al., 1971; Salvador, 1986) (Figure 12).
Seismic lines show that north-northeast trending struc-
tural highs represent Eocene reactivation of underlying
north-northeast striking Icotea and Pueblo Viejo high-
angle faults last active during Jurassic rifting (Figure 7).
These complex north-northeast trending structures are
not simple anticlines formed by northwest-southeast
shortening as suggested by Kellogg and Bonini (1982)
and Kellogg (1984). Instead, they trend at a high angle to
southwest-verging thrusts and anticlines observed in the
subsurface along the northeastern margin of the lake.
Their orientation is not controlled by a regional late
Tertiary compressional event but rather by the strike of
preexisting and underlying Jurassic rifts (Figure 7).
Clastic Sediment Dispersal
Sandstone Composition
Kasper and Larue (1986) and Lugo (1991) classified
the compositions of Eocene sandstones studied by Van
Andel (1958) according to the criteria of Dickinson and
Suczek (1979) and showed a recycled orogen province to
the northwest and west of the lake, a cratonic province to
the southeast of the lake, and an intervening transitional
province (Figure 14A, B). Dickinson and Suczek (1979)
defined the sandstone provinces as follows:
• Recycled orogen, for which sand sources are
deformed and uplifted stratal sequences in subduc-
tion zones, along collision zones, or within foreland
fold and thrust belts.
• Cratonic, for which sand sources are on shields and
platforms or in faulted basement blocks.
• Transitional, for which sand sources are composi-
tionally transitional between recycled orogen and
cratonic sources.
The southeastward shift of the recycled province from
early middle (Figure 14A) to middle Eocene (Figure 14B)
time is consistent with the southeastward component of
paleocurrent directions (discussed later), the southeast-
ward migration of depocenters shown on Paleocene–
Eocene isopach maps (Figure 12A–F), and the wedge-like
geometry of the Eocene map units (Figure 13). Erosion of
the Mérida arch and underlying Paleozoic Mucuchachi
Formation may have provided cratonic-type sandstone
along the southern margin of the basin (Figure 7).
Recycled orogen sources are attributed to the over-
714 Lugo and Mann

Figure 14—(A) Composition of lower middle Eocene sandstone of the Maracaibo basin from Lake Maracaibo using
sandstone petrographic data of van Andel (1958). Letters indicate sampling sites of sandstones similar to “recycled orogen,”
“transitional,” and “craton interior” compositional suites of Dickinson and Suczek (1979). (B) Composition of middle Eocene
sandstone. (C) Early middle Eocene paleocurrents measured by Mathieu (1989) from outcrops of the lower middle Eocene
Misoa Formation northeast of Lake Maracaibo. (D) Arrows show direction of progradation from clinoforms compiled from
various seismic lines. The length of the arrows indicating the clinoforms approximates the length of the seismic section
used to make the interpretation.

thrusting of the arc and oceanic terranes of the Caribbean
plate (Figure 1).
Paleocurrents and Clinoforms
Mathieu (1989) measured uniform northeast to
southwest sole marks on lower–middle Eocene turbidites
of the Trujillo Formation northeast of the lake (Figure
14C). These data are consistent with the idea that the
Eocene clastic wedge infilled the Maracaibo basin from
the northeast, not the south or southwest (Figure 11).
Lugo (1991) interpreted reflection configurations (seismic
clinoforms) observed on regional seismic lines as
inclined bedding produced by north to south or
northeast to southwest lateral outbuilding or prograda-
tion of Paleocene–Eocene units over the Cretaceous
passive margin. The dispersal pattern for the middle
Eocene (Figure 14C) remains essentially the same as that
for the early–middle Eocene (Figure 14D).
Because the origin of the Eocene clastic wedge in the
Maracaibo basin is controversial (Figure 11), we include
several examples of seismc clinoforms showing apparent
southeastward and southwestward Eocene prograda-
 Jurassic–Eocene Tectonic Evolution of Maracaibo Basin, Venezuela 715

Figure 15—Example of clinoforms in seismic map units E1–E6 (Trujillo and Misoa formations) prograding in an approximate
northwest to southeast direction along the northern edge of the Maracaibo foreland basin.

tion. In the Aurare area at the northeastern edge of the
basin, a northwest-southeast line shows the upper
Eocene section (seismic map units E1–E6) prograding
toward the southeast (Figure 15). In another example
from the eastern margin of the basin, a north-south line
shows seismic map units E3–E6 prograding to the south-
southeast across an unconformity above map unit E2
(Figure 16). A seismic line shown in Figure 17 shows
clinoforms at different scales within a single line. The
enlargement in the inset of Figure 17 shows smaller scale
and more subtle southwest-prograding clinoforms
within unit E5–E6. On a regional scale, units E4–E6 can
be seen prograding in a southwestward direction. In a
final and more regional example of clinoforms, a 25-km
line shows units E2–E6 prograding and thinning
westward (Figure 18). Southwest-verging thrust faults
are interpreted lower in the Cretaceous carbonate section
and are inferred to be part of the leading edge of thrust
detachment beneath this part of the eastern Maracaibo
basin. We therefore correlate these faults to surficial
northwest-striking thrust faults mapped in the area of
the Serranía de Trujillo by Stephan (1985) and Mathieu
(1989). All subsurface thrust faults active during the
Eocene are plotted on Figure 19. Note that the strike of
these thrusts is arcuate to account for the contrast in
vergence directions seen in Figure 16 (to the south-
southeast) and Figure 18 (to the west-southwest). Block
faults known to be active from isopach maps (Figure 12)
include the Icotea fault to the west and the Pueblo Viejo
fault to the east. These faults were inherited from the
Jurassic rift phase (Figure 7) and were subsequently reac-
tivated during the flexure and compression of the
basement of the foreland basin.
Basin Subsidence
Lugo (1991) constructed 18 subsidence plots of wells
from the Maracaibo basin. Seven of these subsidence
plots, which are corrected for compaction and consid-
ered representative of the entire Maracaibo basin, are
shown along with generalized maps of basin depocen-
ters in Figure 20. All wells except A show a marked
acceleration in Eocene subsidence followed by an abrupt
Oligocene rebound. Wells D, E, F, and G along the north-
eastern margin of the basin reflect the highest sedimenta-
tion rates of about 40 cm/1000 yr and show a slight
younging trend from northwest to southeast. Wells A, B,
and C in the Mérida arch area show less pronounced
subsidence and rebound trends in comparison to the
wells to the northeast. Subsidence patterns are consistent
716 Lugo and Mann

Figure 16—Example of clinoforms in seismic map units E3–E6 (Misoa Formation) prograding across unit E2 (basal Misoa
Formation) in an approximate NNW-SSE direction. Two well logs indicate that unit E4 is mainly shale.

Figure 17—Example of southwest-prograding clinoforms at different scales in units E4–E6 (upper Misoa Formation). Arrows
on inset point out more subtle, smaller scale clinoforms from unit E5. Note sand signature on electric log of units E5–E6.
 Jurassic–Eocene Tectonic Evolution of Maracaibo Basin, Venezuela 717

Figure 18—Example of WSW progradation of seismic units E2 (Trujillo) and E3–E6 (Misoa). Note the sandy signature of
seismic units E2–E3 and E5–E6 on the electric log. We interpret a west-vergent thrust that detaches near the base of the
Cretaceous carbonate section (Apon Formation, seismic map unit K2). Figure 19 shows map view of all thrusts seen on
seismic lines.

with the interpretation of isochron, isopach, and clastic
dispersal data of an asymmetric basin infilling from the
north and northeast and wedging out to the southwest.
Proposed Foreland Basin Model
We propose a coupled thrust belt and foreland basin
model in a zone of oblique convergence to explain the
previously described characteristics of Paleocene–Eocene
sedimentation in the Maracaibo basin. The proposed
model is illustrated in map view in Figure 21 and in
cross-sectional view in Figure 22.
Map View
In the early–late Paleocene (Figure 21A), a thrust belt
at the leading edge of the Caribbean plate moved south
and a Paleocene foredeep developed north of the
Maracaibo basin. As the thrust belt moved south, the
foreland basin enlarged in a south-southeast direction.
The shape of the foreland basin at any time was trian-
gular because its limits were defined by the craton to the
south, the sutured area to the west, and the closing
basinal area to the east. Such a triangular pattern is
supported by the shape of the contoured sandstone
composition data (Figure 14A, B). Flexural formation of
the foreland basin may have become impeded by the
presence of the northwest-trending Mérida arch, a
tectonic arch known from isopach, well, and outcrop
studies to have been active throughout most of Creta-
ceous time (Figures 8, 9).
The orientation of the northwest-trending fold and
thrust belt along the eastern edge of the Maracaibo basin
relative to a generally eastward moving Caribbean plate
is problematic. Stephan (1985) and Mathieu (1989)
718 Lugo and Mann
Figure 19—Map showing faults active during the early
Eocene in the Maracaibo basin based on seismic grid
shown. Southwest-verging thrust faults are interpreted as
the upward propagation of thrust detachment at the base
of the Cretaceous carbonate section (see Figure 18). Icotea
fault (to west) and Pueblo Viejo faults are inherited
Jurassic rift faults (see Figure 7) that were reactivated as
high-angle block faults during this thrusting phase.
proposed a right-lateral strike-slip offset of a southeast-
verging thrust front in the region of this anomalously
oriented thrust front. This thrust front offset would be
equivalent to a lateral ramp or “transversale” structure in
the regional structure of the fold and thrust belt. The
parallelism of the Mérida arch to the belt suggests that
preexisting passive margin salients and reentrants in the
margin may have guided the direction of collision-
related thrusting and produced the lateral ramp
structure.
We have adapted the strike-slip interpretation in
Figure 21C, which shows right-lateral strike-slip faults in
the fold and thrust belt area. The eastward motion of the
Caribbean plate and the presence of the Mérida arch may
have interacted to deflect the foredeep axis from a north-
westward trend to a more eastward trend. Continued
eastward motion of the Caribbean plate closed the area
between the Mérida arch and the thrust belt and formed
a locus of subsidence farther to the east by early–middle
Eocene time (Figure 21C).
An alternative explanation for the change in the orien-
tation of the thrust front and associated foreland basin is
right-lateral offset along the Boconó fault zone and
internal deformation related to the northward escape of
the Maracaibo block (Mann and Burke, 1984). Stephan
(1985) measured an 80-km apparent right-lateral offset of
the thrust front in the Mérida Andes which he postulated
occurred over the past 5 Ma along the presently active
right-lateral Boconó fault zone. In this model, the fold
and thrust belt to the east of the Maracaibo basin may
have originally had a more east-west orientation that
aligned with the thrust front east of the Boconó fault
(Figure 1A). Offset along the Boconó fault has pushed the
western segment of the thrust belt to the north along
with the rest of the Maracaibo block.
Cross-Sectional View
The sequential evolution of a northeast-southwest
section through the eastern Maracaibo basin is shown for
six stages in Figure 22. The bar along the base of each
diagram schematically shows how the locus of subsi-
dence changed along the length of the profile through
time.
In stage 1 in the middle–late Paleocene, the basin was
a northwest-prograding passive margin. During stage 2
in the late Paleocene, the first thrust faults imbricated a
thrust belt north of the basin. Imbrication produced
slumping of Cretaceous carbonate olistoliths in
Paleocene sandstone and shale matrix of the foreland
basin (Renz, 1981). Early Paleocene foredeep deposits
themselves became imbricated and included as part of
the thrust belt exposed northeast of Lake Maracaibo
(Stephan, 1985; Mathieu, 1989). On the cratonic margin
south of the foreland basin, fluvial basal sands of seismic
units E1 and E2 were deposited. By stage 3 in early
Eocene time, turbiditic sedimentation was occurring in
the foredeep. Fluvial deposition diminished on the
cratonic southern margin of the foredeep as deltaic and
shoreface sedimentation (seismic units E2 and E3)
heralded higher rates of subsidence along the cratonic
margin. By stage 4 in early–middle Eocene time, the
thrust belt had impinged on the cratonic margin. Higher
subsidence rates along the cratonic margin caused
retrogradation of seismic unit E3 and exclusively
shoreline shelf deposition. By stage 5 in the middle
Eocene, downlapping clastic sequences of the foredeep
prograded across shallower facies of the cratonic margin.
High rates of subsidence caused transgression of shales
in shallow marine environments. In stage 6 in late
middle Eocene time, subsidence rates diminished as the
Mérida arch resisted flexure and limited the space
available to receive further foredeep sedimentation.
Seismic unit E6 prograded rapidly cratonward and over-
filled the basin. At depth beneath the foreland basin,
thrusts propagated southward along detachments near
the base of the Cretaceous passive margin carbonate
section. During this phase the entire thrust belt became
emergent and resulted in the erosion and deposition of
seismic units E6 and E7. Uplift and exposure of the basin
itself truncated seismic units E5–E7.
Jurassic–Eocene Tectonic Evolution of Maracaibo Basin, Venezuela 719

Figure 20—Subsidence history of the Maracaibo

basin based on seven decompacted subsidence
plots. (A) Map showing well locations (circled
letters) and inferred migration of foreland basin
depocenter from Paleocene to late middle Eocene.
This map is based on isopach maps in Figure
12A–F. (B) Subsidence history curves exhibit rapid
subsidence followed by rebound and a decrease in
subsidence toward the craton.
720 Lugo and Mann

DISCUSSION
This study supports the basic interpretation of Eva et
al. (1989) that the Jurassic–Eocene geologic history of
northern South America can be generalized into three
distinct tectonic phases:

• Jurassic rifting accompanied separation of the

North and South American continents.
• Early–Late Cretaceous passive margin subsidence
followed rifting.
• Paleocene–Eocene foreland basin subsidence
followed the oblique collision of a Pacific-derived
Caribbean plate with the South American passive
margin.

This paper has reviewed subsurface data from the

Maracaibo basin related to the first two events which are
fairly well understood on the basis of previous outcrop
and well studies. The distribution of Jurassic red beds
and volcanic rocks in deep wells beneath the Maracaibo
basin suggests that these rocks were deposited in north-
northeast trending rift basins separated by horst blocks
of Paleozoic metasedimentary rocks (Figure 7). This
north-northeast structural grain was subsequently reacti-
vated during Cenozoic collisional and strike-slip defor-
mation events. Lithology and isopach patterns of
Barremian–Santonian mainly shallow marine carbonate
rocks in the Maracaibo basin suggests that these rocks
formed in a passive margin setting above Precambrian
and Paleozoic crust thinned during Jurassic rifting event
(Figure 8). Isopach patterns, outcrop studies, and compi-
lations of well data show that the northwest-trending
Mérida arch was a positive feature from Aptian to
Campanian time (Renz, 1959; Macellari, 1988) (Figure 9).
The tectonic origin of the Mérida arch and similar arches
in Colombia and Ecuador (Figure 1B) is unclear, but is
perhaps related to reactivation of underlying Precam-
brian or Paleozoic structural grains during passive
margin subsidence.
Nearly two-thirds of the total stratigraphic section of
the Maracaibo basin is composed of Eocene sandstone
and shale deposited in fluvial and marine environments.
Previous studies have concluded that these rocks were
derived from the erosion of highlands southwest of Figure 21—Map view model for early Paleocene–early
present-day Lake Maracaibo and formed a southwest to middle Eocene foreland basin sedimentation in the
northeast gradation from fluvial and deltaic deposits to Maracaibo basin based on seismic, well, and geologic data
deep marine submarine fans (Figure 11A). Based on presented in this paper. See text for discussion.
isochron and isopach maps (Figure 12), a variety of sedi-
mentary provenance data (Figure 14), and well subsi-
dence data (Figure 20), we propose that deposition terminal convergent deformation in the lake area is
occurred in a foreland basin setting and that the main constrained as middle Eocene because an angular uncon-
source area for the Paleocene–Eocene clastic rocks was a formity separates folded lower Eocene seismic units
contemporaneous southwest-verging thrust belt that lay E1–E6 from the overlying, tilted, but unfolded upper
to the northeast of the basin (Figure 11B). Eocene seismic unit E7. Thickening trends of units P1
The foreland basin interpretation is consistent with and E1–E7 suggest southeastward migration in the
geologic mapping of southwest-verging thrust faults in thrusting from Paleocene to middle Eocene time (e.g.,
the subsurface (Figure 19) and in surface outcrops Figures 12, 20).
northeast of Lake Maracaibo (Stephan, 1985; Mathieu, Three features observed in the Maracaibo basin are
1989), as well as with northeast-southwest and north- common to better studied foreland basins worldwide.
south paleocurrent data (Figure 14). The age of the First, directions of paleocurrents are basin parallel
 Jurassic–Eocene Tectonic Evolution of Maracaibo Basin, Venezuela 721

Figure 22—Cross-sectional model for early Paleocene–middle Eocene foreland basin sedimentation in the
Maracaibo basin based on seismic, well, and geologic data presented in this paper. See text for discussion.
722 Lugo and Mann
(Figure 14C, D). Second, a rebound event followed the
period of maximum Eocene subsidence and was probably
related to relaxation of plate-bending stresses (Figure 20).
Third, an average subsidence rate of 216 mm/yr in the
Paleocene–Eocene compares well with an average rate of
200 mm/yr for foreland basins worldwide.
The Maracaibo basin makes up the western segment
of a 1500-km-long south-verging thrust belt and flanking
foreland basin along northern South America (Figure 23).
The age of deformation and foreland basin subsidence
becomes younger eastward from the Maracaibo basin
(Pindell, 1991). Figueroa de Sanchez and Hernandez
(1990) document late Eocene–Oligocene north to south
overthrusting at the Guarumen-1S exploration well 200
km to the east of Lake Maracaibo (number 4 on Figure
23), while Beck et al. (1990) propose middle–late Eocene
thrusting from surface mapping in the same area. We
prefer the Oligocene age of thrusting in the area because
this younger age allows a more gradual progression
from Paleocene–Eocene deformation in the Maracaibo
basin to middle Miocene deformation in eastern
Venezuela (number 5 in Figure 23) (Erlich and Barrett,
1992) and late Miocene–Recent deformation in Trinidad
and offshore areas (number 6 in Figure 23) (Salvador and
Stainforth, 1965; Speed, 1985; Pindell, 1991; Algar and
Pindell, 1993).
Figure 23—(A) Location map
and extent of foreland basin
rocks (shaded) and
Jurassic–Cenozoic passive
margins (crosses) surrounding
the Caribbean plate (modified
from Pindell, 1991). Numbered
lines show positions of leading
edge of the Caribbean plate
based on ages of marine
foreland basin deposits: 1, Late
Cretaceous; 2, Paleocene; 3,
Eocene; 4, Oligocene; 5,
Miocene; 6, late Miocene–
Recent. (B) Map of surface and
subsurface exposures of
foreland basin rocks (shaded) in
northern South America.
Numbers indicate ages of
foreland basin deposits as in
part (A). Box indicates Lake
Maracaibo study area shown in
Figure 2.
Along the northern margin of the Caribbean, synoro-
genic sedimentation and north-verging folds are late
Campanian age in Guatemala (Rosenfeld, 1990),
Paleocene in western Cuba (Bralower et al., 1993), Eocene
in central Cuba (Pszczolkowski and Flores, 1986), middle
Eocene in Hispaniola, and early Oligocene in Puerto Rico
(Dolan et al., 1991) (Figure 23). Assuming that the
Caribbean plate formed a single, rigid entity, it is
possible to reconstruct the position of the plate relative to
the margins of North and South America by connecting
northern and southern areas of coeval folding and
synorogenic sedimentation. It is interesting to note that if
northern and southern Caribbean foreland subsidence
was simultaneous during Paleocene–Oligocene time, an
outward or radial component of overthrusting is needed
to accompany the overall eastward migration of the
Caribbean plate. A similar style of radial thrusting has
been observed by Platt et al. (1989) in the western Alps
and was interpreted by them as the combination of
forces produced by plate motion and gravitational
sliding of the mountain belt in the direction of greatest
surface slope. More detailed studies of circum-Caribbean
foreland basins and thrust belts are needed to better
constrain the plate reconstruction in the inset of Figure 23
and the tectonic process of radial thrusting that it implies.
Hydrocarbon occurrences in the Maracaibo basin are
 Jurassic–Eocene Tectonic Evolution of Maracaibo Basin, Venezuela
concentrated along the eastern edge of the basin near the
thrust front separating the Caribbean plate from the
South American craton (Zambrano et al., 1971; Bock-
meulen et al., 1983) (Figure 23). Overthrusting of the
Caribbean plate onto source rocks such as the Ceno-
manian–Santonian La Luna Formation led to their matu-
ration and migration in Eocene time (James, 1990;
Pindell, 1991). Pindell (1991) has noted that most circum-
Caribbean hydrocarbon accumulations can be explained
by overthrusting of the Caribbean plate onto source
rocks generated during the Cretaceous passive margin
phase of Caribbean evolution. The results of this study of
the Maracaibo basin support this general model and
suggest that productive trends could be present along
this foreland front in the area of the Guajira Peninsula
and in the area east of the Mérida Andes (Figure 1A).
Acknowledgments We thank Lagoven and Maraven for
providing seismic and well data used in this study. Lagoven
supported the first author as a Ph.D. student in geology for
three and one-half years at the Department of Geological
Sciences of the University of Texas at Austin. A. Salvador
shared his 50 years of experience in Venezuelan geology with us
at all stages of this project. Special thanks to W. Galloway, W.
Muehlberger, L. Brown, I. Azpiritxaga, J. Maguregui, E.
Quijada, L. Rodriguez, and G. Marton for valuable discussions.
We appreciate the efforts of Richardson Allen, H. Mullins, and
an anonymous reviewer for their critical comments of an earlier
version of this paper and the efforts of A. Tankard, D. Larue,
and an anonymous reviewer for their reviews of the version
submitted to this volume. UTIG contribution 1040.
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