Caleta Herradura Formation () is a

geologic formation A geological formation, or simply formation, is a body of rock having a consistent set of physical characteristics ( lithology) that distinguishes it from adjacent bodies of rock, and which occupies a particular position in the layers of rock exp ...

Late Miocene The Late Miocene (also known as Upper Miocene) is a sub-epoch of the Miocene epoch (geology), Epoch made up of two faunal stage, stages. The Tortonian and Messinian stages comprise the Late Miocene sub-epoch, which lasted from 11.63 Ma (million ye ...

(

Montehermosan The Montehermosan age is a period of geologic time (6.8–4.0 Mya (unit), Ma) within the Miocene and Pliocene epochs of the Neogene used more specifically with South American Land Mammal Ages. It follows the Huayquerian and precedes the Chapadmalal ...

) age, cropping out on the

Mejillones Peninsula Mejillones Peninsula () protrudes from the coast of northern Chile north of Antofagasta and south of the port of Mejillones. The basement rocks of the peninsula are made of metamorphic and igneous rocks that formed in the Late Triassic plus pluto ...

in northern Chile. The erosion at the

Coastal Cliff of northern Chile 250px, View of the arid mountains near Iquique ending abruptly in the Pacific Ocean. The Coastal Cliff of northern Chile () stretches over a length of more than 1000 km along the Atacama Desert. It makes up a large part of the western boundary t ...

have created particularly good exposures of Caleta Herradura Formation. The formation deposited in a

half graben A half-graben is a geological structure bounded by a fault along one side of its boundaries, unlike a full graben where a depressed block of land is bordered by parallel faults. Rift and fault structure A rift is a region where the lithosphere ...

within Mejillones Peninsula. The formation rests nonconformably on the Jorgino Formation.

Fossil content

The following fossils have been found in the formation:

Fossil content

See also

References

Further reading