The Guaduas Formation ( es, Formación Guaduas, K₂P₁G, K₂E₁G, KPgg, KTg, TKg, Ktg) 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 ...

of the Middle Magdalena Basin and the

Altiplano Cundiboyacense The Altiplano Cundiboyacense () is a high plateau located in the Eastern Cordillera of the Colombian Andes covering parts of the departments of Cundinamarca and Boyacá. The altiplano corresponds to the ancient territory of the Muisca. The Alt ...

Eastern Ranges The Eastern Ranges is an Australian rules football team in the NAB League, the Victorian statewide under-18s competition. The club is a founding member of the competition (1992) and has produced several players for the Australian Football Le ...

of the Colombian

Andes The Andes, Andes Mountains or Andean Mountains (; ) are the longest continental mountain range in the world, forming a continuous highland along the western edge of South America. The range is long, wide (widest between 18°S – 20°S ...

. The predominantly

shale Shale is a fine-grained, clastic sedimentary rock formed from mud that is a mix of flakes of clay minerals (hydrous aluminium phyllosilicates, e.g. kaolin, Al2 Si2 O5( OH)4) and tiny fragments (silt-sized particles) of other minerals, especia ...

with

coal Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock, formed as stratum, rock strata called coal seams. Coal is mostly carbon with variable amounts of other Chemical element, elements, chiefly hydrogen, sulfur, oxygen, and nitrogen ...

bed formation dates to the

Late Cretaceous The Late Cretaceous (100.5–66 Ma) is the younger of two epochs into which the Cretaceous Period is divided in the geologic time scale. Rock strata from this epoch form the Upper Cretaceous Series. The Cretaceous is named after ''creta'', ...

and

Paleogene The Paleogene ( ; also spelled Palaeogene or Palæogene; informally Lower Tertiary or Early Tertiary) is a geologic period and system that spans 43 million years from the end of the Cretaceous Period million years ago (Mya) to the beginning of ...

periods;

Maastrichtian The Maastrichtian () is, in the ICS geologic timescale, the latest age (uppermost stage) of the Late Cretaceous Epoch or Upper Cretaceous Series, the Cretaceous Period or System, and of the Mesozoic Era or Erathem. It spanned the interv ...

Paleocene The Paleocene, ( ) or Palaeocene, is a geological epoch that lasted from about 66 to 56 million years ago (mya). It is the first epoch of the Paleogene Period in the modern Cenozoic Era. The name is a combination of the Ancient Greek ''pal ...

epochs, and has a maximum thickness of . Fossils of '' Coussapoa camargoi'', '' Ficus andrewsi'', '' Berhamniphyllum sp.'' and '' Archaeopaliurus boyacensis'' have been found in coalbeds in Zipaquirá and

Tasco Tasco (also known as Tasco Worldwide) sells consumer telescopes. Tasco mainly imports telescopes for amateur astronomers but has expanded into other optical products, such as spotting scopes, microscopes, binoculars, telescopic sights, and othe ...

, Boyacá.

Etymology

The formation was first described by Hettner in 1894 and named in 1931 by Hubach after

Guaduas Guaduas () is a town in Colombia, in the Lower Magdalena Province department of Cundinamarca, about 117 km from Bogotá. It is an agricultural and tourist center of some importance with a population of about 41,000. Its name refers to a ...

, Cundinamarca, former northern territory of the

Panche The following purported languages of South America are listed as unclassified in Campbell (2012), Loukotka (1968), ''Ethnologue'', and ''Glottolog''. Nearly all are extinct. It is likely that many of them were not actually distinct languages, only ...

.Montoya & Reyes, 2005, p.51

Description

Lithologies

The Guaduas Formation consists mainly of

s with intercalated

sandstone Sandstone is a clastic sedimentary rock composed mainly of sand-sized (0.0625 to 2 mm) silicate grains. Sandstones comprise about 20–25% of all sedimentary rocks. Most sandstone is composed of quartz or feldspar (both silicates ...

beds. The formation contains

beds that are widely explored in the area. Fossil remains of '' Coussapoa camargoi'', '' Ficus andrewsi'', '' Berhamniphyllum sp.'' and '' Archaeopaliurus boyacensis'' have been found in coalbeds in Zipaquirá and

, Boyacá.''Coussapoa camargoi'', ''Ficus andrewsi''
at

fossilworks Fossilworks is a portal which provides query, download, and analysis tools to facilitate access to the Paleobiology Database, a large relational database assembled by hundreds of paleontologists from around the world. History Fossilworks was cre ...

.org''Berhamniphyllum sp. & Archaeopaliurus boyacensis''
at

.org

Stratigraphy and depositional environment

The Guaduas Formation unconformablyVillamil, 2012, p.208 overlies the Arenisca Labor-Tierna Formation of the

Guadalupe Group The Guadalupe Group ( es, Grupo Guadalupe, K2G, Ksg) is a geological group of the Altiplano Cundiboyacense, Eastern Ranges of the Colombian Andes. The group, a sequence of shales and sandstones, is subdivided into three formations; Arenisca Dura, ...

and is overlain by the Cacho Formation. The age has been estimated to be Upper Maastrichtian- Lower Paleocene, spanning the K-T boundary.Montoya & Reyes, 2005, p.54 The Guaduas Formation is thicker in Cundinamarca than in Boyacá. This has been explained by a decrease in subsidence and a higher amount of erosion in the northern area of original deposition.Mariño & Amaya, 2016, p.B9 The lateral thickness variations are thought to be the result of the movement of the Soapaga Fault.Amaya et al., 2010 The formation has been deposited in a

coastal plain A coastal plain is flat, low-lying land adjacent to a sea coast. A fall line commonly marks the border between a coastal plain and a piedmont area. Some of the largest coastal plains are in Alaska and the southeastern United States. The Gulf Co ...

setting.

Outcrops

The Guaduas Formation is apart from its

type locality Type locality may refer to: * Type locality (biology) * Type locality (geology) See also * Local (disambiguation) * Locality (disambiguation) {{disambiguation ...

, found in the Eastern Hills of Bogotá, the Ocetá Páramo and many other locations in the Eastern Ranges, such as

Granada Granada (,, DIN: ; grc, Ἐλιβύργη, Elibýrgē; la, Illiberis or . ) is the capital city of the province of Granada, in the autonomous community of Andalusia, Spain. Granada is located at the foot of the Sierra Nevada mountains, at the c ...

,Plancha 246, 1998 the Dintel Synclinal north of

Facatativá Facatativá is a city and municipality in the Cundinamarca Department, located about 18 miles (31 km) northwest of Bogotá, Colombia and 2,586 meters above sea level. The city is known for its Archaeological Park Piedras del Tunjo (Rocks o ...

,Plancha 227, 1998 the

Suesca Suesca is a town and municipality in the Almeidas Province, part of the department of Cundinamarca, Colombia. It is located on the Altiplano Cundiboyacense, north of the capital Bogotá. Suesca forms the northern edge of the Bogotá savanna and ...

Synclinal,Plancha 190, 2009 east of Junín,Plancha 191, 1998 and surrounding

Lake Tota Lake Tota ( es, Lago de Tota) is the largest lake in Colombia, located in the east of Boyacá department, inside the Sugamuxi Province, it is the source of the Upia River which flows into the Orinoco River basin. The major town on the lake is ...

.Plancha 192, 1998 The northeast-southwest Canocas Fault crosscuts the Guaduas Formation near San Cayetano.Planchas 171 & 191 The synclinals of the Río Frío, Neusa,

Zipaquirá Zipaquirá () is a municipality and city of Colombia in the department of Cundinamarca. Its neighboring municipalities are Cogua and Nemocón to the north; Tocancipá to the east; Tabio, Cajicá and Sopó to the south; and Subachoque and Pacho ...

Checua Checua is a preceramic open area archaeological site in Nemocón, Cundinamarca, Colombia. The site is located north of the town centre.Gómez Mejía, 2012, p.146 At Checua, thousands of stone and bone tools, stone flakes and human remains have ...

- Lenguazaque,

Sesquilé Sesquilé is a town and municipality in Almeidas Province in the department of Cundinamarca, Colombia. Sesquilé in the Chibcha language of the Muisca means "hot water".

, Sisga,

Subachoque Subachoque is a municipality and town of Colombia in the Western Savanna Province, part of the department of Cundinamarca. The municipality is situated on the Bogotá savanna with the urban centre at an altitude of at a distance of from the c ...

, Teusacá and

Usme Usme is the 5th locality of the Capital District of Bogotá, capital city of Colombia. Usme is located in the south of Bogotá, bordering to the north the localities of San Cristóbal, Rafael Uribe Uribe and Tunjuelito, to the west the locali ...

and Soacha are composed of the Guaduas Formation.Montoya & Reyes, 2005, p.52 The Suba Hills are entirely composed of the Guaduas Formation.Geological Map Bogotá, 1997 The formation also has outcrops in the

Sumapaz Páramo Sumapaz Páramo (Spanish: ''Páramo de Sumapaz'' - meaning "Utterly peaceful moorland" ) is a large páramo ecosystem located in the Altiplano Cundiboyacense mountain range, considered the largest páramo ecosystem in the world. It was d ...

.Geología y geomorfología - Salida de Campo: Región Llanos Orientales
/ref>

Regional correlations

Gallery

File:Coal - Guaduas - Páramo de Ocetá.jpg, Coal of the Guaduas Formation
Ocetá Páramo File:Coal mining - Monguí - Páramo de Ocetá.jpg, Coal mining in the Guaduas Formation
Ocetá Páramo

Notes and references

Notes

References

Bibliography

* * * * *

Maps

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

External links

* {{cite LSA , last=Gómez , first=J. , last2=Montes , first2=N.E. , last3=Nivia , first3=Á. , last4=Diederix , first4=H. , year=2015 , title=Plancha 5-09 del Atlas Geológico de Colombia 2015 – escala 1:500,000 , url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/309533589_Plancha_5-09_del_Atlas_Geologico_de_Colombia_2015 , publisher= Servicio Geológico Colombiano , pages=1 , accessdate=2017-03-16 Geologic formations of Colombia Upper Cretaceous Series of South America Cretaceous Colombia Maastrichtian Stage of South America Cretaceous–Paleogene boundary Paleocene Series of South America Paleogene Colombia Danian Stage Peligran Tiupampan Fossiliferous stratigraphic units of South America Coal formations Shale formations Paludal deposits Source rock formations Formations Formations Formations Coal in Colombia