Caribbean basin framework, 4: Maracaibo basin, northwestern Venezuela

Conference · Fri Mar 01 04:00:00 EST 1991 · AAPG Bulletin (American Association of Petroleum Geologists); (United States)

OSTI ID:7013220

Lugo, J ^[1]

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1. Univ. of Texas, Austin (United States)

The Maracaibo basin is presently located in a topographic depression on the Maracaibo block, a triangular, fault-bounded block within the Caribbean-South America plate boundary of northwestern Venezuela. Intense oil exploration over the last 50 years has produced a large amount of seismic and well data that can be used to constrain four Jurassic to Recent tectonic and depositional events that affected the region: (1). Late Jurassic rift phase and subsidence along normal faults striking north-northeast across the floor of the basin; (2) Cretaceous to early Eocene subsidence recorded by shallow to deep marine carbonate and clastic rocks that thicken from south to north and completely cover Permian rocks of the Merida arch; (3) Eocene folding, thrusting, and initial reactivation of Jurassic normal faults as convergent strike-slip and reverse faults. Eocene clastic sediments are thickest in a narrow northwest-trending foredeep on the northeastern margin of the basin; (4) Late Miocene to Recent northwest-southeast convergence is marked by continued reactivation of Jurassic normal faults as reverse and left-lateral strike-slip faults, uplift of mountain ranges bordering the basin, and deposition of up to 10 km of clastic sediment.

• OSTI ID: 7013220
• Report Number(s): CONF-910403--
• Conference Information: Journal Name: AAPG Bulletin (American Association of Petroleum Geologists); (United States) Journal Volume: 75:3
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

58 GEOSCIENCES
580000* -- Geosciences
ATLANTIC OCEAN
CARIBBEAN SEA
DATA ANALYSIS
DEPOSITION
DEVELOPING COUNTRIES
GEOLOGIC FAULTS
GEOLOGIC FRACTURES
GEOLOGIC HISTORY
GEOLOGIC STRUCTURES
GEOPHYSICAL SURVEYS
LATIN AMERICA
PLATE TECTONICS
RIFT ZONES
SEAS
SEDIMENTARY BASINS
SEISMIC SURVEYS
SOUTH AMERICA
SURFACE WATERS
SURVEYS
TECTONICS
VENEZUELA