The Tilatá Formation ( es, Formación Tilatá, N_1t, Tpt) 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 exp ...

of the Bogotá savanna, Altiplano Cundiboyacense, Eastern Ranges of the

Colombia Colombia (, ; ), officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country in South America with insular regions in North America—near Nicaragua's Caribbean coast—as well as in the Pacific Ocean. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Car ...

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 formation consists of coarse to very coarse conglomerates and

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) ...

s. The Tilatá Formation dates to the

Neogene The Neogene ( ), informally Upper Tertiary or Late Tertiary, is a geologic period and system that spans 20.45 million years from the end of the Paleogene Period million years ago ( Mya) to the beginning of the present Quaternary Period Mya. ...

period; Early to Late Pliocene epoch (

Montehermosan The Montehermosan age is a period of geologic time (6.8–4.0 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 Chapadmalalan The C ...

Uquian The Uquian age is a period of geologic time (3.0–1.5 Ma) within the Pliocene and Pleistocene epochs of the Neogene used more specifically with South American Land Mammal Ages. It follows the Montehermosan and precedes the Ensenadan The Ensenad ...

in the SALMA classification, from approximately 5.3 to 2.7 Ma), and has a maximum thickness of . The formation underlies the Quaternary sequence of alluvial, lacustrine and fluvial sediments of

Lake Humboldt Lake Humboldt or Humboldt Lake is an endorheic basin lake in northern Churchill County and southern Pershing County in the state of Nevada in the United States. The lake has the name of Alexander von Humboldt, a German natural scientist. The la ...

Etymology

The formation was first defined and named by Scheibe in 1933 after the Hacienda Tilatá in

Chocontá Chocontá is a municipality and town of Colombia in the Almeidas Province, part of the department of Cundinamarca. It is located on the Pan-American Highway. In 1938 Chocontá had a population of 2,041. Etymology In the Chibcha language of the ...

, near the Sisga Reservoir. Hubach (1957) elevated the ''Pisos de Tilatá'' to a formation.Montoya & Reyes, 2005, p.68

Description

Lithologies

The Tilatá Formation consists of medium to coarse grained

s and conglomerates with minor

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, especial ...

beds.

Stratigraphy and depositional environment

The Tilatá Formation is the lowermost of the lacustrine and alluvial sequence of the Bogotá savanna. It unconformably overlies the Cretaceous

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 Dur ...

and the Paleogene Guaduas,

Cacho Cacho may refer to: Dice Games * Cacho Alalay, a South American dice game popular in Bolivia * Dudo, a South American dice game popular in Chile, also known as Pico or Perudo Geology * Cacho Formation, a geological formation in the Colombian A ...

Bogotá Bogotá (, also , , ), officially Bogotá, Distrito Capital, abbreviated Bogotá, D.C., and formerly known as Santa Fe de Bogotá (; ) during the Spanish period and between 1991 and 2000, is the capital city of Colombia, and one of the larges ...

, and

Regadera Formation The Regadera Formation ( es, Formación Regadera, E2r, Tpr) is a geological formation of the Bogotá savanna, Altiplano Cundiboyacense, Eastern Ranges of the Colombian Andes. The predominantly sandstone and conglomeratic formation, with pink shal ...

s, and is overlain by the

Quaternary The Quaternary ( ) is the current and most recent of the three periods of the Cenozoic Era in the geologic time scale of the International Commission on Stratigraphy (ICS). It follows the Neogene Period and spans from 2.58 million years ...

Subachoque Formation The Subachoque Formation ( es, Formación Subachoque, Q1su) is a formation (geology), geological formation of the Bogotá savanna, Altiplano Cundiboyacense, Cordillera Oriental (Colombia), Eastern Ranges of the Colombian Andes. The formation cons ...

. Helmens and Van der Hammen (1995) subdivided the formation into three members; Tequendama, Tibagota (Lower Tilatá) and Guasca (Upper Tilatá). The age has been estimated to be

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 ...

Late Pliocene Late may refer to: * LATE, an acronym which could stand for: ** Limbic-predominant age-related TDP-43 encephalopathy, a proposed form of dementia ** Local-authority trading enterprise, a New Zealand business law ** Local average treatment effect, ...

based on fission track analysis and palynology, with reported ages between 5.3 and 2.7 Ma.Montoya & Reyes, 2005, p.69 The depositional environment has been interpreted as

alluvial plain An alluvial plain is a largely flat landform created by the deposition of sediment over a long period of time by one or more rivers coming from highland regions, from which alluvial soil forms. A floodplain is part of the process, being the sma ...

s and alluvial fans, formed during the main phase of tectonic uplift of the Eastern Ranges in the Late Pliocene.Montoya & Reyes, 2005, p.67 Dutch geologist Salomon Kroonenberg, who studied the Neogene uplift of the Eastern Andes in Colombia, defines the main stage of uplift between six and four million years ago. Other Dutch geologists Helmens, Van der Hammen and Hooghiemstra have pushed back this uplift phase to between 4.5 and 3 Ma.Molnar, 2004, p.75 The upper part of the Tilatá Formation is time-equivalent with the

Chorrera Formation The Chorrera Formation ( es, Formación Chorrera, N2ch) is a geological formation of the Bogotá savanna, Altiplano Cundiboyacense, Eastern Ranges of the Colombian Andes. The formation consists of coarse to very coarse conglomerates. The Chorr ...

, outcropping in Subachoque and the main phase of explosive activity of the Paipa–Iza volcanic complex, active between 4.7 and 3.6 Ma.Monsalve et al., 2011, p.120

Outcrops

The Tilatá Formation is found at its type locality in the synclinal of the Sisga Reservoir in

, in the Bogotá River valley,Guerrero Uscátegui, 1992, p.6 and along the

road A road is a linear way for the conveyance of traffic that mostly has an improved surface for use by vehicles (motorized and non-motorized) and pedestrians. Unlike streets, the main function of roads is transportation. There are many types of ...

from

Tunja Tunja () is a city on the Eastern Ranges of the Colombian Andes, in the region known as the Altiplano Cundiboyacense, 130 km northeast of Bogotá. In 2018 it had a population of 172,548 inhabitants. It is the capital of Boyacá department an ...

References

Bibliography

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Maps

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External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Tilata Formation Geologic formations of Colombia Neogene Colombia Miocene Series of South America Pliocene Series of South America Uquian Chapadmalalan Montehermosan Sandstone formations Conglomerate formations Alluvial deposits Formations Geography of Cundinamarca Department Geography of Bogotá Muysccubun