Moquegua Basin is a sedimentary basin in southernmost Peru.

Sedimentary rocks Sedimentary rocks are types of rock that are formed by the accumulation or deposition of mineral or organic particles at Earth's surface, followed by cementation. Sedimentation is the collective name for processes that cause these particles t ...

of the basin, including those of Moquegua Group, crop out in the

Central Depression Central is an adjective usually referring to being in the center of some place or (mathematical) object. Central may also refer to: Directions and generalised locations * Central Africa, a region in the centre of Africa continent, also known ...

makes up part of the sedimenty fill of the basin. The

basement A basement or cellar is one or more floors of a building that are completely or partly below the ground floor. It generally is used as a utility space for a building, where such items as the furnace, water heater, breaker panel or fuse box, ...

of the basin is made of rocks older than the

Cenozoic The Cenozoic ( ; ) is Earth's current geological era, representing the last 66million years of Earth's history. It is characterised by the dominance of mammals, birds and flowering plants, a cooling and drying climate, and the current configura ...

. Despite being close to the Pacific Ocean Moquegua Basin appear to have been unaffected by the Oligo- Miocene marine transgression that affected many other basins of western South America such as nearby Pisco Basin. Concurrent with Andean uplift it is thought that the basin went from having a “balanced basin-fill” between Oligocene and Middle Miocene having a “overfilled basin-fill” from the Middle Miocene to the present.

References

Sedimentary basins of Peru Forearc basins Paleogene Peru Neogene Peru Paleontology in Peru Basins Basins {{Peru-geo-stub