The Lipeón Formation is a

Telychian In the geologic timescale, the Telychian is the third and final age of the Llandovery Epoch of the Silurian Period of the Paleozoic Era of the Phanerozoic Eon. The Telychian Age was between 438.5 ± 1.2 million years ago (Ma) and 433.4 ± 0.8 M ...

to Pridoli geologic formation of southern Bolivia and northwestern Argentina. The formation comprises

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 ...

s and

siltstone Siltstone, also known as aleurolite, is a clastic sedimentary rock that is composed mostly of silt. It is a form of mudrock with a low clay mineral content, which can be distinguished from shale by its lack of fissility. Although its permeabil ...

s. Plant fossils comprising

rhyniophyte The rhyniophytes are a group of extinct early vascular plants that are considered to be similar to the genus ''Rhynia'', found in the Early Devonian (around ). Sources vary in the name and Taxonomic rank#Ranks in botany, rank used for this group, ...

s (specifically '' Aberlemnia'', '' Steganotheca'', '' Tarrantia'', '' Hostinella'' and ''

Cooksonia ''Cooksonia'' is an extinct group of primitive land plants, treated as a genus, although probably not monophyletic. The earliest ''Cooksonia'' date from the middle of the Silurian (the Wenlock epoch); the group continued to be an important comp ...

'') are scattered throughout, with some abundant concentrations on micaceous bedding plains. The fossil flora is the oldest of South America.Jarcas stream, Negra Muerta, Sella Valley, Tarija
at

Fossilworks Fossilworks was 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 cr ...

.orgPadcaya, Tarija
at

.org Also present were quite diverse small, irregularly branching fragments possibly the tips of algae such as '' Buthotrephis'' or '' Hungerfordia''.Edwards et al., 2015, pp.16-17

Correlations

The Lipeón Formation is laterally equivalent to the Kirusillas Formation.Veizaga Saavedra et al., 2014, p.96Hacienda de Tapacari, 10 km from Huari, 120 km S of Oruro
at

.org The formation is a potential

source rock In petroleum geology, source rock is a sedimentary rock which has generated hydrocarbons or which has the potential to generate hydrocarbons. Source rocks are one of the necessary elements of a working petroleum system. They are organic-rich sedim ...

for

shale oil Shale oil is an unconventional oil produced from oil shale rock fragments by pyrolysis, hydrogenation, or thermal dissolution. These processes convert the organic matter within the rock (kerogen) into synthetic oil and gas. The resulting oil c ...

and

shale gas Shale gas is an unconventional natural gas that is found trapped within shale formations. Since the 1990s, a combination of horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing has made large volumes of shale gas more economical to produce, and ...

.Veizaga Saavedra et al., 2014, p.99

Fossil content

The formation has provided the following fossils: * '' Ornatosinuitina reyesi'' * '' Slimonia boliviana''Kjellesvig-Waering, 1973 * '' Styliolina sp.'' * Lingulata indet. ;Flora * '' Aberlemnia'' * ''

'' * '' Hostinella'' * '' Steganotheca'' * '' Tarrantia''

References

Bibliography

* * *

Correlations

Fossil content

See also

References

Bibliography

Further reading