Canto del Agua Formation () is a

geological 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 expo ...

in the Atacama Region of northern Chile. Its stratigraphy from top to bottom is as follows:

mudstone Mudstone, a type of mudrock, is a fine-grained sedimentary rock whose original constituents were clays or muds. Mudstone is distinguished from ''shale'' by its lack of fissility.Blatt, H., and R.J. Tracy, 1996, ''Petrology.'' New York, New York, ...

limestone Limestone is a type of carbonate rock, carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material Lime (material), lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different Polymorphism (materials science) ...

sandstone Sandstone is a Clastic rock#Sedimentary clastic rocks, clastic sedimentary rock composed mainly of grain size, sand-sized (0.0625 to 2 mm) silicate mineral, silicate grains, Cementation (geology), cemented together by another mineral. Sand ...

, mudstone, conglomerate,

lapilli tuff Lapilli (: lapillus) is a size classification of tephra, which is material that falls out of the air during a volcanic eruption or during some meteorite impacts. ''Lapilli'' is Latin for "little stones". By definition lapilli range from in diam ...

, conglomeratic sandstone, muddy sandstone. The environment where the sediments of the formation deposited is thought to have been the "submarine section of a coarse-grained fan delta" with other authors adding that the

sedimentary basin Sedimentary basins are region-scale depressions of the Earth's crust where subsidence has occurred and a thick sequence of sediments have accumulated to form a large three-dimensional body of sedimentary rock They form when long-term subsidence ...

where the sediments deposited was "bounded by two normal faults of WNW strike, active during deposition". The exact relationship with the underlying Llano de Chocolate Beds is not clear. In some locations the formation overlaps directly on the Punta de Choros Metamorphic Complex. The type locality of the formation lies next to the Plomiza mine.

References

{{Geology of Chile Geologic formations of Chile Triassic System of South America Triassic Chile Sandstone formations Mudstone formations of Chile Conglomerate formations of Chile Limestone formations Tuff formations of Chile Paleontology in Chile Geology of Atacama Region Geology of the Chilean Coast Range