Saline Deposits of South America: International Petroleum Company, LTD., Lima, Perú

THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF AMERICA, INC.
SPECIAL P A P E R 8 8 , 1968
Saline Deposits of South America

VÍCTOR BENAVIDES
International Petroleum Company, Ltd., Lima, Perú
Abstract
S a l i n e deposits in S o u t h A m e r i c a r a n g e i n a g e f r o m C a m b r i a n t o R e c e n t ; t h e y are
p r e s e n t in b o t h t h e m o b i l e A n d e a n b e l t a n d i n the stable i n t r a c r a t o n i c basins.
C a m b r i a n saline deposits o c c u r i n the s u b - A n d e a n b e l t of B o l i v i a ; P e n n s y l v a n i a n salt
is p r e s e n t i n the A m a z o n B a s i n of B r a z i l ; P e r m i a n saline deposits exist in the A n d e a n
r e g i o n of P e r ú a n d i n the M a r a n h a o B a s i n of B r a z i l ; T r i a s s i c saline deposits a p p e a r i n
s o u t h - c e n t r a l B o l i v i a a n d n o r t h e r n A r g e n t i n a ; L o w e r a n d U p p e r Jurassic saline
d e p o s i t s o c c u r in the C o r d i l l e r a n b e l t f r o m C o l o m b i a t o n o r t h e r n C h i l e a n d A r g e n t i n a ;
L o w e r C r e t a c e o u s s a l i n e deposits o c c u p y a similar A n d e a n a r e a a n d also o c c u r i n the
S e r g i p e - A l a g o a s b a s i n o f B r a z i l ; U p p e r C r e t a c e o u s a n d T e r t i a r y saline deposits a r e
p r e s e n t a l o n g the s u b - A n d e a n belt f r o m C o l o m b i a to A r g e n t i n a .
R e c e n t saline deposits i n c l u d e t h e g r e a t a n d f a m o u s " s a l a r e s " e x t e n d i n g f r o m
s o u t h e r n P e r ú i n t o n o r t h e r n C h i l e a n d A r g e n t i n a ; the c a l i c h e deposits o n t h e a r i d
w e s t e r n slopes of the C e n t r a l A n d e s ; a n d also t h e n u m e r o u s " s a l i n a s " f o u n d m a i n l y
a l o n g t h e desertic coasts o f C h i l e a n d P e r ú .
Salt diapirs are c o m m o n along the A n d e s , especially in Perú, C h i l e , and C o l o m b i a .
I n P e r ú , a b o u t 30 l a r g e L a t e T e r t i a r y e x t r u s i o n s o f salt a n d g y p s u m a r e k n o w n , m o s t
of t h e m in t h e M i d d l e H u a l l a g a r e g i o n . T h e salt s o u r c e i n the H u a l l a g a d i a p i r s is
n o t w e l l d e f i n e d ; it c o u l d b e of P e r m i a n , T r i a s s i c , o r J u r a s s i c a g e . M o s t of the d i a p i r s
are associated w i t h a n t i c l i n e s or o c c u r a l o n g m a j o r faults. T h o s e w h i c h o c c u r f a r t h e r
t o w a r d the less-deformed f o r e l a n d b e l t a r e r o u n d o r o v a l i n g r o u n d p l a n a n d a r e n o t
associated w i t h n o t i c e a b l e f a u l t i n g , e.g., t h e T i r a c o a n d P i l l u a n a d o m e s , w i t h d i a m -
eters o f 9 a n d 6 k m , r e s p e c t i v e l y . T h e i r e x t r u s i o n w a s c a u s e d b y t a n g e n t i a l o r o g e n i c
stresses, a i d e d b y isostatic c o m p o n e n t s .
Contents
Introduction 250
Acknowledgments 252
S t r a t i g r a p h i e d i s t r i b u t i o n o f saline deposits i n S o u t h A m e r i c a 253
Cambrian 253
U p p e r Paleozoic in the A m a z o n a n d M a r a n h a o basins 253
U p p e r P a l e o z o i c saline deposits i n t h e A n d e a n b e l t 257
220 I N T E R N A T I O N A L CONFERENCE ON SALINE DEPOSITS, 1962
Triassic-Jurassic 259
Cretaceous 266
Cenozoic . 273
Salt diapirs in S o u t h A m e r i c a 275
G e n e r a l statement 275
Eastern C o r d i l l e r a of C o l o m b i a 275
Northern Chile 278
Eastern P e r u 278
References cited 287
FIGURE
1. Structural f r a m e w o r k of S o u t h A m e r i c a 251
2. Distribution of Paleozoic saline deposits in S o u t h A m e r i c a 254
3. P e n n s y l v a n i a n section in the N o v a O l i n d a and A l t e r d o C h a o wells, A m a z o n
Basin 256
4. Distribution of Triassic-Jurassic saline deposits in S o u t h A m e r i c a . . . . 260
5. Restored sections of Jurassic geosyncline to top of " Y e s o P r i n c i p a l , "
Argentina 264
6. Distribution of C r e t a c e o u s saline deposits in S o u t h A m e r i c a 267
7. W e l l correlation in the C o t i n g u i b a a r e a and geologic cross section of the
Sergipe Basin, Brazil 274
8. M a p showing " s a l a r e s " of northern C h i l e , southwestern Bolivia, a n d north-
western A r g e n t i n a a n d salt structures of northern C h i l e 276
9. M a p of C o l o m b i a showing location of salt diapirs, salt springs, and present-
d a y coastal salines 277
10. M a p of Perú showing l o c a t i o n of k n o w n salt diapirs 279
1 1 . G e o l o g i c m a p of the M i d d l e H u a l l a g a area, eastern P e r u 280
12. S u m m a r y of eastern P e r ú ( M o n t a ñ a ) stratigraphy 281
13. G e o l o g i c m a p and cross section of the T i r a c o and G a l l o h u a c a n a domes,
eastern P e r u 282
14. G e o l o g i c m a p a n d cross section of the Y a n a y a c u d o m e area, eastern P e r ú 283
15. G e o l o g i c m a p a n d cross section of the P i l l u a n a d o m e area, eastern P e r ú . 285
PLATE FACING
1. E v a p o r a t i n g ponds at M a r a s , northwest f r o m C u z c o , P e r u 274

2. Salt and g y p s u m pinnacle on the south part of the T i r a c o d o m e , eastern
Perú 275
Introduction
South America, the fourth largest continent, has an area of 17,752,773 sq km
(6,857,000 square miles) and comprises approximately 12 per cent of the land
surface of the earth. Its principal geologic features are: (1) the Andean mobile
belt, now marked by one of the world's great mountain complexes, the Andean
Cordillera, and (2) the stable cratonic areas of the central and eastern parts of
South America, including the Guianan, Brazilian, and Patagonian shields.
This stable region includes some sediment-filled basins; for example, the
Amazon and Maranhao basins of Brazil (Fig. 1).
A belt of structural depressions, the sub-Andean basins, lies between the
VÍCTOR BEN AVIDE S SALINE DEPOSITS OF SOUTH AMERICA 251
mobile cordilleran belt and the shield areas. Gerth (1932) was among the first
investigators to study the continental framework.
T h e western Andean belt has been mobile since Precambrian times. T h e
present Cordillera is the result of the long, and still continuing, geosynclinal
and orogenic behavior of the belt. Weeks (1947) and Harrington (1961) sum-
marized the paleogeographic development of the continent.
220 INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON SALINE DEPOSITS, 1962
Extensive saline deposits are known, both in the mobile A n d e a n belt and in
the more stable intracratonic basins. K n o w l e d g e of most deposits, however, is
based on salt outcrops or from the presence of salt in wells or springs ; whether
the salt is bedded in situ or is in piercement structures is not specified in most
reports. Detailed stratigraphie studies of specific saline basins are rare, and the
stratigraphie positions of the salt bodies in most areas remain a subject for
controversy. T h e physical outlines of many saline basins are only beginning to
be delineated, and it is evident that other saline basins will be discovered as
geological study of the continent is expanded.
T h e present study is an attempt to summarize the available information re-
lated to the saline deposits of South America ; a review of the stratigraphie dis-
tribution of such deposits and descriptions of some conspicuous salt diapirs are
the principal topics of this paper. Saline deposits have been reported from the
Pennsylvanian, Permian, Triassic, Jurassic, Cretaceous, Tertiary, and Q u a -
ternary rock sequences. T h e only known pre-Pennsylvanian saline deposits
are minor amounts of anhydrite and gypsum of probable Cambrian age.
T h e paleogeography of the Cordilleran area indicates that the post-Devoni-
an development of the area included three major géosynclinal cycles : Penn-
sylvanian-Permian, U p p e r Triassic-Middle Jurassic, and Cretaceous-Ter-
tiary. T h e distinct cycles are separated by major unconformities produced by
orogenies that occurred during the M i d d l e Permian, the Late Jurassic, and
the Late Cretaceous. Other features of the stratigraphie record indicate that
movements of lesser importance occurred at other times ; for example, in the
mid-Pennsylvanian, mid-Jurassic, and Early Cretaceous. T h e orogenies re-
sulted in the termination, or at least the interruption, of géosynclinal sub-
sidence and reduction in the areas and in the rates of marine sedimentation.
Saline materials were deposited in some restricted areas in which special en-
vironmental conditions existed ; the deposition of clastic terrestrial sediments,
most of w h i c h are red, followed the period of chemical precipitation.
T h e regressions caused by the major orogenies aire indicated by saline de-
posits at those sites in w h i c h environmental conditions were favorable for salt
deposition. These saline deposits indicate the prevalence of evaporation, possi-
bly arid conditions, and conditions of offlap, in that they mark the paths of
the retreating seas. I n this sense, maps that portray the saline deposits re-
lated to a major regression are offlap maps. Obviously, such maps do not
show deposits which are contemporaneous ; rather, the deposits are regressive
and their bedding planes, in most instances, do not parallel time planes.
Acknowledgments
T h e author is grateful to International Petroleum C o m p a n y for granting
permission to publish this paper. T h a n k s also go to M r . Cornelius H a m of
Cerro de Pasco Petroleum Corporation and to M r . Alejandro Chalco of

Mobil Oil C o m p a n y del Perú for some data relevant to this paper. Some of
the ideas developed here, regarding eastern Perú, have evolved through the
arduous work and pioneering of m a n y field geologists, among w h o m Harvey
Bassler, William Denton, Brian Barrow, M a n u e l Paredes, and Robert C .
Morris are particularly important.
Stratigraphic Distribution of Saline Deposits

in South America
CAMBRIAN
Cambrian saline deposits are known to exist in South America only in Bolivia
(Fig. 2). T h e Late Cambrian-Early Ordovician(P) L i m b o Formation crops
out along the Cochabamba-Villa T u n a r i road on the eastern brow of the
Bolivian Andes (Fraenkl, 1959). T h e L i m b o Formation consists of three
members: (1) A basal unit of light-colored anhydrite, 150 m in thickness, that
grades upward into argillaceous anhydrites and argillaceous shales which
have an approximate thickness of 200-300 m. D a r k seams of carbonaceous-
appearing materials are present within the argillaceous anhydrites. (2) A mid-
dle unit composed of siliceous shales and rather micaceous shales, the L i m b o
Shales, that contain calcareous mudstone and dolomite units in their upper
portions. Locally, these shales are overlain by hard green mudstones having
thicknesses that range from 1 o to 30 m. (3) T h e green mudstones of the L i m b o
Shales grade into the L i m b o Conglomerate, a hard massive conglomerate
composed of igneous, metamorphic, and quartzitic fragments in a light-gray
matrix; this upper unit has a thickness of 900 m .
T h e unit that overlies the L i m b o Conglomerate has a wide range of litho-
logic characteristics. A t some sites the unit grades upward into quartzitic sands
which lie below a sequence of shales and quartzites that contain fragments of
Lingula and Orthis sp. of assumed Ordovician age. A t other sites the L i m b o
Conglomerate is overlain by a shale unit.
T h e L i m b o Formation is the oldest-known saline-bearing formation in
South America, and it is regarded as being a unique occurrence (Ahlfeld and
Branisa, i960).
U P P E R P A L E O Z O I C IN T H E A M A Z O N A N D M A R A N H A O B A S I N S
A M A Z O N BASIN : T h e deep structural furrow of the A m a z o n Basin lies be-

tween the Guianan and Brazilian shields; its axis has an east-west orientation
(Fig. 2). Silurian, Devonian, Pennsylvanian, and Permian sedimentary units
are of the greatest stratigraphic significance, but extensive Jurassic-Triassic
diabase flows, dikes, and sills are also important; Cretaceous and Tertiary
sedimentary units having nonmarine origins form but a minor portion of the
total stratigraphie complex of the basin (Morales, 1959).
T h e Pennsylvanian system is the most important major stratigraphie unit
within the Middle Amazon Basin; it contains large volumes of anhydrite,
gypsum, and salt. T h e system is composed of three distinct lithologie se-
quences: ( i ) A basal transgressive sand, the M o n t e Alegre Sandstone, laps

over Devonian sediments; its thickness ranges from 60 to 250 m. (2) T h e
Itaituba Limestone, w h i c h overlies the Monte Alegre Sandstone, includes also
some shale, sandstone, and anhydrite beds; it is a fossiliferous unit that con-
tains a rich brachiopod fauna and has thicknesses of 200-300 m. (3) T h e
Itaituba Limestone is overlain by the N o v a O l i n d a Formation which is com-
posed of sandstone, siltstone, shale, limestone, anhydrite, salt, and gypsum;
the saline constituents are most prevalent in the upper part of the formation.
T h e predominant colors are red, violet, green, mauve, and yellow. T h e for-
mation ranges in thickness from 800 m on the north flank of the basin to 1200
m along the axis of the basin to 650 m along its southern flank. T h e different
lithologic units exhibit remarkable horizontal constancy and extent (Petri,
1958). For example, the sections in the Nova Olinda and Alter do C h a o wells
(Fig. 3) are very similar even though the wells are 500 k m apart.
A t the N o v a Olinda well (Petri, 1958), thick salt beds occur near the top of
the Pennsylvanian section; thick anhydrite units are present closer to the base
of the sequence. T h e thickest salt bed, which contains thin intercalations of
shale and anhydrite, lies near the top of the section; it has a thickness of 250
m, and its top is at a depth of 840 m. T h e thickest anhydrite bed has a thick-
ness of 120 m, and its top is at a depth of 2180 m.
A t the Alter do Chao well the thickest salt bed, 260 m thick, contains thin
interbeds of anhydrite. This salt bed is near the top of the Pennsylvanian sys-
tem, and its upper surface was reached at a drilling depth of 1160 m. T h e
thickest anhydrite bed is 100 m thick, and its top is at a depth of 1770 m.
T h e lower one-third of this Pennsylvanian sequence is composed of anhy-
drite interbedded with marine limestones. It has been interpreted as being of
Middle Pennsylvanian age on the basis of its fauna of brachiopods, mollusks,
crinoids, branchiopod crustaceans, and fusulinids (Millerella cf. marblensis
Thompson and Fusulinella silvai Petri). T h e upper two-thirds of the section,
which could be in part of Late Pennsylvanian age (Petri, 1958), contains salt.
T h e Pennsylvanian sequence found within the Middle A m a z o n Basin
represents a sedimentary cycle ranging from limestone to salt deposition, pass-
ing through the intercalations of richly fossiliferous limestone and anhydrite
that indicate the passage from a normal marine environment to a penesaline
environment to a saline environment; this sequence is typical of sedimentary
deposits in intracratonic basins.
T h e Pennsylvanian saline beds of the Middle A m a z o n Basin served as the
preferred hosts for most of the diabase intrusive bodies found in the basin.
Four diabase intrusive bodies, all localized within the saline materials (Petri,
1958), are present in both the N o v a Olinda and the Alter do C h a o wells (Fig.
3). This localization of the intrusive materials could be the result of the rela-
tive incompetency of the salt beds. A n alternative explanation is that spalling
NOVA OLINDA ALTER 00 CHAO

W E L L , , „ WELL
3 3 3 3 3 , 7 7 0 m. INDEX MAP
L L L [_ L L
1_ L L L l_ L
L L L í_ L L
9 5 0 m.
FISH S C A L E S
L L L L L L
L L L L L L
L L L L L L
L L L L 1_ L
l_ 1. L
OSTRACODS H
+ +t+ ++++++
+++ +++ + MIDDLE AMAZON
I205m. +++++++
+++++++
+++++++
I 3 0 5 m. L L L L L L
L E G E N D
PRODUCTIDS
SAND & SANDSTONE
I435m.
L^GG?! SILTSTONE
Brachiopods,crinoids,
branchiopod crustaceans. ^ ^ SHALE
^A AAAA
Tetrataxis, gastropods
^ ^ LIMESTONE
L L L L L L +++++++
K 3 SALT
I 6 9 0 m.
ANHYDRITE
+ ++++ + +
++ + + + + + ENDOTHYRA & I+TUL DIABASE
+++++++ BRACHIOPODS
+ + + + ++ +
CRUSTACEANS
FUSULINELLA PELECYPODS,
MILLERELLA BRACHIOPODS
BRACHIOPODS
2 3 0 0 m.
BRACHIOPODS
DEVONIAN
Figure 3. Pennsylvania!! section in the N o v a Olinda and Alter do C h a o wells,
A m a z o n B a s i n . After Petri, 1958

along bedding planes within the saline interval was caused by basin sub-
sidence. Such action would cause mass removal and the development of spaces
which would subsequently be filled by the diabase intrusions.
Saline materials are present in all sections within the Middle and Upper
Amazon basins. All wells drilled through the Upper Paleozoic rocks of these
areas have penetrated relatively thick beds of anhydrite (Fernandes, 1959).
This same condition apparently prevails in the westernmost wells drilled close
to the Peruvian border.
M A R A N H A O BASIN : T h e Maranhao, Parnaiba, or Piaui Basin is an almost
circular intracratonic depression that covers the greater part of the Brazilian
states of Piaui, Maranhao, and the northeastern portion of Goias. T h e basin
has an areal extent of 600,000 sq km and is bounded on the east, south, and
west by Precambrian crystalline rocks of the Brazilian Shield (Link, 1959).
T h e stratigraphic section found in the basin ranges in age from Devonian
through Tertiary, but Paleozoic sedimentary rocks compose the major por-
tion of the strata. T h e Paleozoic sedimentary rocks, which have an approxi-
mate thickness of 2900 m, are composed largely of clastic materials (80 per
cent sandstones) that were deposited in brackish to shallow marine environ-
ments ; carbonates and marine shales are notably absent. T h e Permian section
consists of the Pedra do Fogo Formation, a unit composed primarily of silty
shale but which contains oolitic limestone, chert, and anhydrite; it is approxi-
mately 300 m thick (Link, 1959).
T h e anhydrite and gypsum beds of the Pedra do Fogo Formation are lentic-
ular and are found, for the most part, in the western part of the basin; out-
crops have been found along the Tocantins River. T h e presence of these beds
in the southern and southeastern portions of the basin has been confirmed b y
drilling operations. One well at Carolina (Estado de Maranhao) penetrated
an 18-m-thick bed of pure anhydrite at a depth of 97 m; this unit lies above
7 m of shale interbedded with anhydrite. Petri (1958) suggested that this
anhydrite can possibly be correlated with part of the evaporite units of the
Amazon Basin.
U P P E R P A L E O Z O I C S A L I N E D E P O S I T S IN T H E A N D E A N BELT
Extensive sections of Pennsylvanian and Permian marine rocks are found

along the Andean Cordillera; rocks of the designated systems are more fully
represented along the eastern ranges of the Peruvian Andes than in any other
part of South America (Newell and others, 1953).
During Mississippian time, following the emergence and diastrophic move-
ments of the Late Devonian (Egeler and de Booy, 1961), continental car-
bonaceous sediments (Ambo Group) were deposited in shallow, restricted,
isolated basins.
Subsidence of the geosynclinal belt was widespread, and a marine trans-
gression flooded the Andean trough by Middle Pennsylvanian time. Black to

gray bituminous shales interbedded with lenticular dark-gray limestones were
deposited in this sea; the unit is known in Peru as the T a r m a Group, in
Ecuador as the Macuma Limestone, and in Venezuela as the Palmarito For-
mation. T h e T a r m a Group ranges in thickness from 300 to 600 m, and in the
T a r m a region it contains minor quantities of gypsum, which is mined at
Rinrihuain and Pomachaca. Upper Pennsylvanian strata are apparently miss-
ing in the area, and a regression is postulated. This assumed regression is
confirmed by the fact that at some sites, for example A m b o or Muñani in the
Lake Titicaca region, Lower Permian sedimentary rocks directly overlap pre-
Pennsylvanian units; in some instances this unconformable relationship takes
place near rocks of Pennsylvanian age.
A t Tachira, in the L a Grita area of the southern portion of the Venezuelan
Andes of Merida, Pierce and others (1961) interpreted the Palmarito Forma-
tion as Middle Pennsylvanian to Early Permian in age. T h e formation is com-
posed of black, finely crystalline to cryptocrystalline, shaly limestones inter-
bedded with maroon to green and gray, fine-grained, ferruginous thin-bedded
sandstones; locally, the limestones are very fossiliferous. White to pink and
gray gypsum lenses in association with red and greenish-gray argillites are of
local occurrence; the gypsum is mined at some localities.
T h e Lower Permian transgression spread far into Perú, Bolivia, western-
most Argentina, and probably into Ecuador, producing one of the major over-
laps on the continent (Weeks, 1947). Sediments deposited during the trans-
gression are referred to as the Gopacabana Group, a dominantly marine unit
composed primarily of massive limestones and black bituminous shales; small
quantities of dolomite, siltstone, and fine-grained sandstones that contain rich
molluskan and fusulinid faunas are also present. T h e unit has a maximum
thickness of approximately 1800 m along the eastern ranges, between lati-
tudes 12 0 S. and 14 0 S. where the sequence is composed of approximately
equal amounts of limestone and shale. T h e Copacabana Group is interpreted
as having been deposited under normal marine environmental conditions.
A t or just after the close of Leonardian time (earliest Middle Permian) an
orogeny elevated the western margin of the geosyncline, thereby restricting
the marine environments and producing the rather thick and heterogeneous
sequence of red beds and volcanic rocks comprising the Mitu Group. This
clastic terrestrial group laps over Lower Permian, Pennsylvanian, or older
rocks and, along the eastern reaches of the geosyncline where the diastrophic
activity was not intense, the Mitu Group may possibly be transitional to the
underlying Permian carbonate sequence. Gypsum, salt, and local occurrences
of tongues of marine clastic materials are found within the Mitu Group, which
has been dated by Newell and others (1953) as Late Leonardian to post-
Leonardian in age.
A t Tinta, near Cuzco, Perú, the Mitu Group contains red gypsiferous sand-
stones and one intercalated bed of gypsum that has a thickness of 3 m. A t San
Salvador, also near Cuzco and where the Mitu Group has a thickness of 3600
m, the upper 3000 m of the group is composed of maroon to brown, highly
gypsiferous shales and sandstones. A t the same site the underlying Copa-
cabana Group contains thin beds of gypsum interbedded with limestones and
brick-red shales in its upper part (Newell and others, 1953).
Gerth (1915; 1955) found a red argillaceous limestone, containing an
abundance of large fusulinids and covered by thick beds of gypsum, at a site
below Chincheros on the east side of the Pampas River, a tributary of the
Apurimac River; the gypsum beds presumably belong to the Mitu Group.
There appears to be some error concerning the exact location of the section
reported by Gerth (Newell and others, 1953), but there seems to be no ques-
tion concerning the accuracy of his stratigraphic observations.
T h e salt within the San Bias dome, located on the southwest side of Junin
Lake in central Perú, is possibly of Mitu age. T h e Upper Triassic carbonate
beds at San Bias are abruptly tilted to form a dome that has a dimaeter of
approximately 1 km (Harrison, 1956). A depression containing a lake sur-
rounded by glacial moraines and few underground galleries leading to cham-
bers carved in the salt are found at the center of the structure. T h e salt is at
least older than the higher part of the Upper Triassic carbonates and it could
conceivably be from the underlying Mitu Group. A n equally possible alterna-
tive explanation is that the salt came from interbeds of saline materials found
within the lower part of the Triassic carbonate sequence.
T h e Mitu Group crops out in northern Perú, along the deep gorge of the
Marañón River downstream from the Pongo de Rentema. In this area the
group is composed of dark-red to maroon clastic sedimentary rocks, but
gypsum beds and lenses having maximum thicknesses of 8 m are also present.
In the valley of the Marañón River at a site facing the mouth of the Amujao
tributary, salt beds having thicknesses great enough to permit mining opera-
tions are found. T h e structural relationships of this salt have not been defined,
but it has been determined that the salt is within the Mitu Group; this is the
only known occurrence of salt that is unquestionably within the Mitu Group.
As will be set forth later in this paper, the Mitu Group is a most likely source of
the salt and gypsum found in some of the piercement structures of eastern
Perú.
TRIASSIC-JURASSIC
TRIASSIC : Lower and Middle Triassic marine beds have not been found
along the Cordilleran mobile belt (Fig. 4). T h e earliest Mesozoic marine
transgression of the continent occurred during the Late Triassic; the seas en-
croached upon the land along the Chilean coast and through Perú, extending
northward into Ecuador and Colombia and southward into Bolivia and Ar-
gentina. Continental sediments and volcanic rocks were deposited to the east
and north of these marine embayments (Kummel and Fuchs, 1953).
Some of these Upper Triassic continental deposits are highly gypsiferous.
For example, the Norian-Rhaetian beds of the Ischigualasto-Guandocal de-
pression in Rioja and, in general, of the central and western parts of Argentina
contain significant quantities of gypsum (Groeber, 1952).
Sonnenberg (1963) reported a marl and evaporite sequence from south-
central Bolivia lying above a cherty limestone of partly lacustrine origin; the
limestone contains pelecypods and Late Triassic spores.
T h e Triassic Motuca Formation, consisting of a great thickness of red shales
and sandstones, is present in the northeastern part of the continent in the
Maranhao, Piaui, or Parnaiba Basin. T h e Gaxias Member of the Motuca
Formation, in the lower part of the formation, contains gypsum and lime-
stone beds (de Oliveira, 1956).
T h e marine transgression that began on the western margin of the continent
during Late Triassic time continued through the Early and Middle Jurassic.
A garland-like island arc formed along the western margin of the geosyncline
as this feature started to develop. This arc was the source area for the tuffs, ag-
glomerates, and submarine lava flows that are interbedded with marine lime-
stones at some sites along the western margin of the geosyncline; limestones
and black shales are prevalent along the central and eastern margins of the
geosyncline (Gerth, 1935; Arkell, 1956; Fischer, 1956). As might be surmised,
however, subsidence of and deposition within the geosyncline were neither
continuous nor uniform along the entire Andean belt. In support of this state-
ment is the fact that well-documented reports of marine Rhaetic and Bath-
onian beds within the Cordilleran area are entirely lacking. In addition, black
euxinic limestones and shales, differing in age and geographic position, are
well known; for example, such units were deposited during the Sinemurian in
Perú and during the Bajocian in northern Argentina.
T h e Upper Triassic Pucara Group of Perú lies unconformably on red beds
which are commonly assigned to the Permian Mitu Group. There is strong
possibility, however, that some of the pre-Pucará red beds in the eastern foot-
hills of the Peruvian Andes are of Triassic age. This idea stems from the fact
that the base of the Triassic-Jurassic limestone sequence has been observed to
be transitional to an underlying red bed sequence at one of the most eastern
localities, where the contact is exposed. This site is in the valley of a small
tributary of Quebrada Ghipaota (which in turn is tributary to the Huallaga
River) within the region of the Middle Huallaga salt diapirs. T h e limestones
in the lower part of the Pucará Group are Late Triassic in age; therefore, the
underlying red beds to which they are transitional could not be the Middle
and Upper Permian Mitu red beds unless the Mitu Group is, in part, of Early
and Middle Triassic age. Consequently, the possibility of Triassic red beds
being present along the eastern Peruvian Andes must be considered. T h e ap-
parent presence of Upper Triassic strata in the lower part of the Giron red
beds in the eastern Cordillera of Colombia further substantiates this view.
In the Utcubamba valley of northern Perú at a site about 3 km downstream
from Ingenio, massive dolomites and limestones of Triassic age rest upon
gypsum beds that appear to be a part of the Triassic system. A t the same site a
brine spring, the waters from which are evaporated to obtain domestic salt,
issues on the side of the road.
L O W E R A N D MIDDLE J U R A S S I C : T h e Liassic (Sinemurian) deposits are
transgressive and are found over a much larger area than are the deposits
formed during other Triassic or Jurassic stages. These deposits extend from
the Central Cordillera of Colombia (Olsson, 1956), through eastern Ecuador
(the Santiago Limestone), the Peruvian Andes (the Pucará Group), and into
Chile and Argentina. T h e deposits of this great transgressive unit are com-
posed, for the most part, of limestones and shales.
Normal marine sedimentation, however, was interrupted by a major re-
gression that probably started in Colombia during late Liassic time and which
progressed southward into Perú by the end of Bajacion time. Farther south, in
northern Chile and adjacent areas of Argentina, regressive conditions pre-
vailed only temporarily during the Bajocian and Callovian stages. T h e final
regression occurred much later, either in late Oxfordian or early Kimmerid-
gian time, and resulted in the deposition of the "Yeso Principal." This re-
gression produced environmental conditions under which saline materials
were deposited in association with normal marine sediments; these conditions
gradually evolved into those which favored only the deposition of saline ma-
terials.
Carbonate deposition was apparently continuous in Perú from the Liassic
through the Bajocian, but there is insufficient paleontological evidence to sub-
stantiate this view (Harrison, 1956). T h e lower Bajocian beds of the coastal
area are composed of lavas, breccias, agglomerates, and intercalations of the
marine Rio Grande Formation, a unit that lies immediately below Tithonian
beds (Ruegg, 1956).
T h e Middle Jurassic (Bajocian) beds of Perú contain anhydrite and gyp-
sum. In the Utcubamba valley of northern Perú, rather thick beds of gypsum
lie directly upon the Pucará carbonate sequence (Norian-Bajocian) : the gyp-
sum is well exposed on the western slopes of the narrow Utcubamba valley in
the Yeso locality, at a site directly west from the village of Chilingote.
Near T a r m a in central Perú, along the main road from Oroya to Tarma,
the uppermost beds of the Pucará Group consist of light-colored oolitic lime-
stones that contain thin intercalations of gypsum, some of which are mined.
A t Sacracancha, near Oroya, gypsum is mined from the Potosí Formation;
this formational name is a local term used in reference to the Jurassic portion
of the Pucará Group (Haapala, 1953). T h e mass of anhydrite found at
Morochoca is also worthy of mention. This lenticular body is about 150 m
thick, contains shale and limestone interbeds, and is interpreted as being of
Middle Jurassic age; its origin remains a subject for controversy.
Harrison and Wilson (i960) found massive gypsum beds at a site southeast
of Colquipucra; these beds occur within the lower part of a limestone unit
assigned to the Jurassic sequence. T h e stratigraphic position of this limestone
unit has not been definitely established, however, and it could possibly be
Triassic in age (J. J. Wilson, personal communication).
In the Arequipa region of southern Peru, sandy units of the Callovian de-
posits transgress the Bajocian Socosani Limestone. T h e "Bathonian" re-
gression terminated carbonate deposition within the area and initiated the
interval in which sandy quartzose clastic materials and shales of the Yura
Group were deposited.
In Arica, northern Chile, Douglas (19x4) found gypsum interbeds within
the Callovian limestones. T o the south, the Callovian deposits of the Cara-
coles region are composed of black bituminous shales that are overlain by gray
and green shales which are intercalated with limestones; these are in turn
overlain by sandy shales that are locally gypsiferous and which contain lime-
stone concretions. T h e entire sequence of beds is slightly gypsiferous (Har-
rington, 1961).
Farther south, in the Neuquen region of Argentina, gypsum (the "Yeso In-
ferior Doggeriano" or the "Yeso Calovense") was deposited during the Cal-
lovian stage. T h e gypsum occurs as irregularly distributed lenticular bodies,
and its deposition heralded the major phase of anhydrite deposition that oc-
curred during the Late Oxfordian and Kimmeridgian intervals. T h e Oxfordi-
an deposits of this region are of a transgressive nature, but a decrease in the
rate of subsidence and an increase in the volcanic activity along the western
margin of the geosyncline produced a chain of isolated basins in which great
masses of anhydrite were deposited. Some gypsum was deposited during the
Oxfordian stage, but by Kimmeridgian time the conditions were such that
the "Yeso Principal," so named by Argentinian geologists, was deposited
(Fig. 5). T h e "Yeso Principal" is more than 300 m thick in Neuquen; its west-
ward facies is a white fetid limestone that contains Kimmeridgian fossils. T h e
volume of gypsum contained in the "Yeso Principal" is estimated to be 40,000
cu km. T h e large magnitude of the deposit has been explained assuming that
anhydrite deposition was stimulated by large quantities of sulfurous gases
which were produced by the volcanic activity along the western margin of the
geosyncline. Upper Kimmeridgian and Tithonian red sandstones, tuffs, and
various types of continental deposits overlie the "Yeso Principal" within the
Neuquen area (Groeber, 1952).
In central Chile, on the western side of the Cordillera, the "Yeso Principal"
occurs as far south as the province of T a l c a ; it is known as the Santa Elena
Member of the Nacientes del Teno Formation in the eastern parts of the San-
tiago, O'Higgins, Colchagua, and Curico provinces, an area in which Klohn
(i960) traced the unit over a distance of 280 km. In the province of Aeon-
VILLAGRA STA. E LENA A®» MANGA Y BLANCO
vv . y"^ v v v ^ vP v'vCJPv v ^ s- v v
OXFORD. V V v VNr v V v v v v v v W v v v v v v v v v v v v v v v vvv KIMMERIO.
OXFORO.
CALOV : CAL0V.-8ATH0N. ?
CACHAY MLEHUE VEGA VERANAOA S®" REYES
H X. KIMMERIO.
OXFORO.
CALOV.-BAJOC.
SYMBOLS
I BRECCIAS SANOY LIMESTONE
SANDSTONE LIMESTONE
g g j SHALE [S3 GYPSUM
BLACK S H A L E TUFFS a SANDSTONE
F i g u r e 5. Restored sections of Jurassic geosyncline to top of " Y e s o P r i n c i p a l , " A r g e n -

t i n a ( K i m m e r i d g i a n ) . After Stipanicic a n d M i n g r a m m (in G r o e b e r , 1952, PI. 28)
cagua, the "Yeso Principal" is known as the Middle Member of Lagunillas

Formation (Aguirre, i960); it has a thickness of 100 m within both areas.
T h e "Yeso Principal" is found in the Caracoles and Cerritos Bayos regions
of northern Chile; it is called the Millonaria Gypsum (Biese, 1957; Harring-
ton, 1961) and has a thickness of 25 m in Cerritos Bayos and 20 m in Cara-
coles. Farther north, northwest of Iquique in the area of Negreiros, its thick-
ness is 20 m, and it is known as a constituent of the Agua Santa Formation
(Cecioni and Garcia, i960).
U P P E R JURASSIC: T h e Kimmeridgian "Yeso Principal" is the last deposit
of the seas produced by the great marine transgression that started in Late
Triassic time. T h e sediments deposited during this interval are followed, es-
pecially to the east of the continental divide, by a thick sequence of red beds;
these are the Sarayaquillo Formation of eastern Perú, the Chapiza Formation
of eastern Ecuador, and, probably, the upper portion of the Giron Group of
the eastern Cordillera of Colombia. These Jurassic red beds are associated
with saline rocks.
T h e Sarayaquillo red beds of eastern Perú are transitional to the underlying
Pucará G r o u p ; they are considered to be Middle to Late Jurassic in age.
Near L a Merced in central Perú, the "Cerros de la Sal," in which beds and
veins of rock salt are present, are assumed to be outcrops of the Sarayaquillo
Formation. T h e stratigraphic and structural relationships at this place, how-
ever, have not been determined (Petersen, 1931).
A sequence of strata, 1720 m thick and composed largely of clear to white
salt and anhydrite, was discovered in a wildcat well ( O X - 7 - 1 , see Fig. 4) that
was drilled on a surface anticline lying north of Cerros de la Sal; the sequence
was first reached at a drilling depth of 1143 m. T h e unit contains a few inter-
beds of blue-gray limestone, which are most numerous near the base of the
sequence, and gray to red shales and sandstones; it lies below Cretaceous
strata and above rhyolites and conglomerates of the Permian Mitu Group.
T h e basal one-sixth of the sequence is composed of fine, cross-bedded red
sandstone. T h e drilled section includes two intervals of salt, each approxi-
mately 120 m thick; these have been interpreted as being in situ and of prob-
able Jurassic age. T h e possibility exists that these salt layers are abnormally
thick in this drilled section owing to salt bulging in the axial portion of the
anticline.
T h e Sarayaquillo Formation is widely exposed along the road from Ingenio
to Pomacocha in the U t c u b a m b a region of northern Perú; its brick-red shales
and siltstones contain numerous beds and lenses of gypsum, some of which are
several tens of meters in thickness. T h e Y u r u m a r c a salt anticline lies approxi-
mately 30 k m southeast of these outcrops, at a site 40 km northeast of the town
of Chachapoyas. This structure is an elliptical anticline or dome that is ap-
proximately 8 k m long and 4 k m wide; its core consists of salt surrounded by
Jurassic Sarayaquillo red beds. T h e salt contains limestone fragments that
are presumed to be from the underlying Pucará Group. T h e salt was probably
derived from the transition zone between the Pucará carbonates and the
Sarayaquillo red beds, but a possible Permian source cannot be entirely dis-
regarded. Salt is mined at this site to supply the needs of the entire region.
Most of the salt diapirs of the Huallaga region are associated with the
Sarayaquillo Formation; this is the principal basis for the hypothesis that the
Sarayaquillo Formation was the source for the salt now found in the diapiric
structures of that region (Huff, 1949).
T h e Chapiza Formation of Ecuador is the stratigraphic equivalent of the
Sarayaquillo Formation. Included in the lower part of the formation is the

" R e d and Gray Chapiza," a unit composed of alternating shales and sand-
stones that are dominantly gray and pink; this subunit has an approximate
thickness of 600 m. Near Yaupi, Yapi, and in the upper reaches of the Chapiza
River, the " R e d and Gray Chapiza" contains thin layers of anhydrite, finely
disseminated gypsum, large veins of gypsum, and dolomite concretions. South
Mangosiza, on the Rio Chapiza, the local inhabitants obtain salt by evap-
orating brines that issue from the red beds. Data from the Macuma well in the
northern end of the Cutucu Mountains indicate that the " R e d and Gray
Chapiza" contains thin evaporite beds and that it lies directly upon lime-
stones of Pennsylvanian age (Tschopp, 1953). Tschopp (1956) expressed the
view that a portion of the Chapiza red beds exhibits properties characteristic
of salt-bearing formations.
Northward, the Chapiza beds appear to grade laterally into the Jurassic
portion of the Giron Group. Gerth (1935) cited the presence of brackish de-
posits and gypsum in the Giron beds and suggested that the source of the
saline materials found in the Zipaquira and Nemocon diapirs might have
been the Giron beds. More recently, Wokittel (i960) reported the occurrence
of gypsum in the Giron beds and expressed the opinion that the salt found in
the Colombian diapirs probably came from these strata.
T h e writer does not know of any occurrence of saline beds within the Juras-
sic-Triassic L a Quinta red beds, the Venezuelan equivalent of the Colombian
Giron Group. However, the Jurassic (?) Maraval Formation which is found at
the easternmost end of the Paria Peninsula and in Trinidad is composed of
black sericitic phyllites that contain blue, flaggy limestone beds that are a few
feet in thickness, thick lenses of marmorized limestones, and lenses or beds of
gypsum; the sequence has a thickness of approximately 1200 m. A layer of
banded gypsum, 25 m thick is quarried at Cristobal Colon on the Paria
Peninsula; this unit can be traced for at least 60 km along an east-west line.
This same unit is also exposed north of Port of Spain and at Saint Joseph,
where it is quarried. Kugler (1953; 1956) indicated that this gypsum unit
may be indicative of semi-arid land conditions in pre-Cretaceous time.
This brief review of the Triassic-Jurassic stratigraphy indicates that the
sequence of carbonates and red beds contains an abundance of saline materi-
als. Saline deposits are particularly prevalent in units belonging to the Ox-
fordian-Kimmeridgian stages. Jurassic saline deposits are found from Colom-
bia into Chile, and in greater quantities than in any other system.
CRETACEOUS
LOWER CRETACEOUS: T h e Tithonian (Upper Jurassic) interval marked

the beginning of a major sedimentary cycle that continued throughout most
of the Cretaceous Period (Fig. 6). Subsidence started on the fringes of the then
emergent continent, and sediments of Tithonian age were deposited along

the Cordillera Oriental of Colombia, in the area now known as the Coastal
belt of Perú, and southward toward Chile.
For the most part, sedimentation during this transgression started with the
deposition of coarse clastic materials or richly quartzose sediments; as the
subsidence progressed the dominant forms of deposits were black shales and
limestones. In Colombia, the Tithonian-Hauterivian Caqueza Group is com-
posed largely of black shales (Burgl, 1957). In Perú the lower transgressive
unit consists of Tithonian black shales and volcanic rocks of the Chicama beds
along with the overlying quartzose unit of the Chimu Formation; by Val-
anginian time the environmental conditions resulted in the deposition of the
Santa Limestone, a marine unit.
Farther south, in the Neuquen area of the Chilean-Argentinian Cordilleran
province, deposits of the Tithonian transgression consist of blue-gray to black
fissile limestones and shales having thicknesses ranging from 700 to 1000 m;
the upper part of the sequence is somewhat lighter in color than are the basal
units, and it contains some gypsum. Marine sedimentation continued in this
southern area until Late Barremian time; the seas then started to recede, and
a unit known to Argentinian geologists as the "Yeso de Transición" (Tran-
sitional Gypsum) was deposited.
T h e "Yeso de Transición" consists of black dolomitic limestones, red, green,
purple, and yellow gypsiferous marls, and red, ochre, and buff sandstones that
are interbedded with gypsum units, some of which are several meters thick. It
also includes the "Salina Formation," a unit composed of five to six beds of
rock salt that have thicknesses ranging from 8 to 10 m and which are separated
by red shales or sandstone beds; the total thickness of this formation is 70 m.
T h e "Yeso de Transición" is believed to be Barremian to Aptian, or possibly
Albian, in age and to represent the final withdrawal of the Pacific seas from
the Chilean-Argentinian Cordilleran area (Groeber, 1952).
In the Copiapo area on the Chilean side of the Cordillera, the Gamma,
Member of the Hauterivian Nantoco Formation is composed of massive
gray, gypsiferous, limestone breccia and limestone that contains intercalated
lenses of dark-gray calcareous shale; local thicknesses of the member range
from 1 to 125 m. This member is a cliff-forming unit with cavernous voids re-
sulting from weathering. T h e Gamma Member crops out on the eastern limb
of the Tierra Amarilla anticlinorium and in domes at the south end of the
anticlinorium. T h e unusual structural effects of this gypsiferous unit have been
described by Segerstrom (1962).
Farther north, in the Sierra de Almeida at a site between Monturaqui Sta-
tion and the Salar de Imilac (Antofagasta province), a sequence of inter-
bedded black bituminous shales and volcanic tuffs and breccias lies above the
Tithonian(?)-Lower Barremian Porphyritic Group; this sequence constitutes
the Pular Formation which is also of Tithonian(?)-Lower Barremian age.
T h e black shales of the Pular Formation contain many beds of fibrous gypsum
(Harrington, 1961). At El W a y , 10 km south of Antofagasta, the Upper Bar-
remian Coloso Formation lies on the Porphyritic Group; the Coloso Forma-
tion is a red sandstone unit that contains lenses and veinlets of gypsum (Har-
rington, 1961).
In the region to the north of the Salar de Atacama (Provincia de Anto-

fagasta), the Cretaceous Purilactis Formation consists of continental deposits
that have a total thickness of 4500 m ; the sequence is subdivided into three
members: the upper and lower members are composed of relatively coarse-
grained clastic materials; the middle member consists of fine-grained red beds
and saline deposits (Brüggen, 1942; Dingman, 1962). T h e Purilactis Forma-
tion as exposed at Purilactis contains two beds of salt, the upper one of which
has a thickness of 100 m and contains large blocks of red shale. Brüggen (1942)
indicated that tectonic disturbances occurred in this area, and in one profile
he illustrated the piercement of upturned Purilactic beds by salt; he also ob-
served the toothpaste-like manner in which the salt had pierced the competent
beds of the Porphyritic Group.
T h e Lower Cretaceous regression is also represented in Perú and Colombia.
In Perú, the Valanginian Santa Limestone grades upward into gypsum beds
that have been traced along the Callejón de Huaylas and to the north (Bena-
vides, 1956; Cruzado, 1959); these strata have been interpreted as being in-
dicative of restricted marine conditions caused by the recession. In Colombia,
gypsum beds having a maximum thickness of 1 m are present in the upper
part of the Berriasian section of a sequence composed of a transgressive basal
conglomerate overlain by black shales and minor beds of sandstone. This se-
quence represents the Tithonian-Berriasian part of the Tithonian to Hauteri-
vian Caqueza Shales (Bürgl, 1957; i960); and it has a thickness of approxi-
mately 3000 m. Lower Valanginian deposits seem to be missing in the
Caqueza Shales; hence, it has been suggested that the deposition of the Ber-
riasian gypsum beds is related to a Lower Valanginian unconformity. T h e
gypsum-bearing Berriasian beds are overlain by Upper Valanginian-Hau-
terivian beds; some of the gypsum beds at Lusitania, 1.3 km northwest of
Quebrada Honda, are thick enough to be mined. Olsson (1956), in reference
to the Caqueza Shales, said (p. 308) : " A t many places . . . in the lower part of
the series they are strongly saline, and the source of many salt springs, as along
the Rio Casanare in northeastern Boyacá." He also suggested that the deeply
buried Caqueza Shales of the Bogotá plateau may have been the source for
the salt plugs of Zipaquira and Chita.
MIDDLE A N D U P P E R C R E T A C E O U S : T h e Lower Cretaceous interval was one
in which saline deposition was related to a marine regression, long-lasting and
final in the Chilean-Argentinian Cordillera but only minor in Perú and
Colombia. The Cretaceous seas advanced again by Aptian time and ex-
tended much farther toward the shield areas than during previous transgres-
sions. T h e basal sands deposited during this transgression range in age from
Aptian to Albian and are overlain by normal marine limestones and shales.
The transgression was at its maximum areal extent during Late Cenomanian-
Early Turonian time. Marine limestones and shales deposited during this
time interval are present in Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, Perú, Bolivia
220 INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON SALINE DEPOSITS, 1 9 6 2
(the Miraflores and Vitiacua Limestones), and northwestern Argentina (the

controversial "Horizonte Calcáreo Dolomítico"). T h e southern reaches of
this marine carbonate and lutite sequence show evidences of restricted con-
ditions during the period of sedimentation; examples are occurrences of red-
dish marls and shales, some of which are gypsiferous. In the Central Chilean
Andes, the Colimapu Formation of Berriasian-Santonian age consists of red
tuffaceous sandstones, shales, and red tuffs with intercalations of conglom-
erate, breccia, andesite flows, limestones, and, especially in its medial portion,
discontinuous beds of gypsum (Klohn, i960). T h e Middle Colimapu Forma-
tion includes two gypsiferous horizons that are separated by a calcareous in-
terval ; these deposits may be the southernmost deposits of the Middle Creta-
ceous transgression. T h e basal transgressive sands of the Murco and the
Huancane Sandstones, in southern Perú, grade through gypsiferous shales into
the Arcurquina and Ayabacas Limestones, respectively.
T h e seas had started to retreat by Late Turonian time, the regression start-
ing in the south and moving progressively northward. T h e youngest marine
sediments in the Titicaca region appear to be of Late Cenomanian age; in
Arequipa, Early Turonian; in central Perú, Santonian; and in northern Perú
(Bellavista-Pongo de Rentema), Maestrichtian. Farther to the north, marine
sedimentation continued without interruption into the Tertiary Period.
Salt and anhydrite, interbedded with red marls, shales, and sandstones,
were deposited as the seas withdrew. For example, gypsum is abundant in
the "Margas Multicolores" which overlies the "Horizonte Calcáreo Dolo-
mítico" in the Salta region of northern Argentina (Groeber, 1952).
In southeastern Bolivia, the transition from the Vitiacua Limestone to the
red and purple marls and the red marly sandstones of the Ipaguazu Forma-
tion ("Margas Multicolores") takes place through thick beds of gypsum that
contain intercalations of purple, brick-red, and green marls (Padula and
Reyes, 1959). T h e saline portion of this sequence was deposited, for the most
part, in the Entre Ríos depression, an area which appears to have been a closed
basin during the period of deposition. Within this area the lower portion of
the Ipaguazu Formation consists of huge gypsum masses that contain large
lenticular salt beds.
T h e salt crops out along a line from Salinas in the south to the confluence
of the Pilaya and Pilcomayo rivers on the north; salt is mined at several sites
near Entre Ríos and San Simón (Ahlfeld and Branisa, 1960). There is a con-
troversy concerning the age of the entire sequence of strata, as well as those of
the "Calcáreo Dolomítico" and the"MargasMulticolores." Even though some
geologists have expressed the belief that the deposits are older than Creta-
ceous, probably Triassic, paleogeographic evidences indicate that the strata
should be correlated with the Cretaceous beds of the Lake Titicaca region.
T h e Miraflores Limestone lies upon the transgressive Torotoro Sandstone
in an area to the northwest of the region discussed in the preceding paragraph.

T h e Miraflores sequence is regarded as being the stratigraphic equivalent of
the Vitiacua and Ayabacas Limestones.
T h e Miraflores Limestone is pink to dark gray to black and bituminous at
some locations; it is overlain by large masses of anhydrite and gypsum which
contain rock salt. Thick beds of this salt are exploited at Salinas de M a c h a
(in the Rio Macha syncline), at Salinas de Yocalla (in the Lenas syncline),
and in Humaca (in the Betanzos syncline) (Ahlfeld and Branisa, i960).
T h e same stratigraphic conditions prevail in the Lake Titicaca area; Aya-
bacas Limestone lies between gypsiferous red shale beds above the basal
Huancane Sandstone (Newell, 1949). At some sites the gypsum occurs in
large masses, particularly near the top of the Ayabacas Limestone. A variety
of gypsum called "berenguela" is exploited near Pusi; salt is present at other
sites.
T o the west, in the Arequipa region, the Arcurquina Limestone (Albian-
Turonian) is overlain by massive gypsum that contains some beds of salt; this
unit, known as the Chilcane Formation, has an approximate thickness of 40 m
(Benevides, 1962). Salt is mined from this horizon at Lluta (near Huanca) and
at Huarhua (near Cotahuasi).
North of Arequipa, in the Cuzco region, the basal deposits of the Cretaceous
transgression are composed of quartzose sands, variegated shales, and thin
gypsum interbeds; the aggregate thickness of this sequence is 850 m. These
beds are lithologically similar to the lower Moho beds of the Lake Titicaca
area, the Murco Formation of Arequipa, and the "Margas Multicolores" of
Argentina and Bolivia. T h e y are overlain by the Cenomanian Yuncaypata
Formation, which is composed of dark-gray limestones, variegated shales,
several beds of anhydrite, and at least one thin bed of salt (Kalafatovich,
1957; 1 g6o); this formation is a saline unit that is the stratigraphic equivalent
of the Arcurquina and Ayabacas Limestones. T h e Yuncaypata Formation is
overlain by beds of gypsum having a thickness of at least 30 m. These gypsum
beds are in turn overlain by a sequence of interbedded gypsum and red beds
which is transitional into a full red bed sequence above. T h e thick gypsum
beds are well exposed in cliffs to the south and southwest of the village of
Urubamba, in the valley of the Vilcanota River, and along the road to Maras.
A salt spring exists at Maras, from which salt is obtained by means of evaporat-
ing ponds. T h e ponds are constructed on terraces because of the lack of flat
surfaces within the valley (PI. 1). T h e source of the salt in this spring is the salt
within the Yuncaypata Formation.
T h e red beds which overlie the Yuncaypata Formation also contain saline
deposits. At Occopata, approximately 1 o km southwest of Cuzco, beds of salt
more than 2 m thick are found in a thick sequence of red beds that contains
abundant Late Cretaceous charophytes; the salt is extensively mined. Bow-
man (1916) noted that the Cretaceous beds found near Abancay are also
rather saline.
T h e salt deposits that are mined east of Andahuaylas at Cachihuancaray,
near Ayacucho at Atacocha (site of Peru's largest salt mine), and near Is-
cuchaca (Huancavelica) at Cachi Cuyao in central Peru may all belong to
the same Cretaceous sequence (Pflucker, 1919). Near Ayacucho, alabaster of
this age has long been used under the name of "Huamanga Stone" for sculp-
tural purposes.
Similar conditions prevail in the central and northern Andes. In Uchupata,
on the north side of the Pushca River, the transition from the shales and
marls of the Coniacian-Santonian Celendin Formation to the terrestrial red
shales and siltstones of the Campanian Chota Formation takes place through
gypsiferous units (Benavides, 1956). This change has been explained by offlap
and restriction of the marine areas.
T h e marine retreat occurred much later farther north than in the south. In
Colombia and Venezuela the transition from marine to terrestrial deposits did
not take place until Tertiary time and then through the deposition of coaly de-
posits formed under brackish and paludal environmental conditions (Hed-
berg, 1942).
T h e described marine retreat resulted from the so-called intra-Senonian
orogeny. However, the nature of the offlap indicates that the orogenic move-
ments started in the south, perhaps, in late Turonian time, and progressed
northward. T h e regression marked the end of marine sedimentation in the
area of the Cordilleran belt except for northern Colombia and Venezuela; it
also marked the beginning of the series of strong orogenic movements that
formed the present Cordillera. Consequently, the soft saline deposits, the
youngest marine sediments in the area, are preserved only in sporadic places
along synclinal troughs or down-faulted blocks.
One stratigraphic relationship which should be further noted is that under
similar conditions of offlap, saline deposits were formed in the southern part
of the trough, but coals were deposited in the northern portions.
C R E T A C E O U S S A L I N E D E P O S I T S IN T H E S E R G I P E A N D A L A G O A S B A S I N S , B R A Z I L :
T h e Sergipe and Alagoas basins are on the eastern margin of Brazil (Fig. 1).
T h e y can be adequately described as being a graben, about 150 km in length
and 30 km in width. T h e western margins of the basins are large normal faults
along which crystalline basement rocks are in contact with Cretaceous and
Tertiary sedimentary rocks (Link, 1959; Bender, 1959). T h e sedimentary fill
in the basins is largely Cretaceous, attaining a thickness of 2400 m; but Paleo-
zoic strata have also been found. T h e Riachuelo Formation, which has a thick-
ness of 1100 m is the thickest Cretaceous unit within the basins. Its lower part
contains a saline section that grades upward into a shale and silty sandstone
sequence which contains calcareous shales, thick limestones, and dolomites.
T h e upper part of the formation is composed of oolitic limestones and dolo-

mites.
Wells drilled in the central part of the Sergipe Basin (see Fig. 7) (Co-
tinguiba area) penetrated a saline section that is either the lower part of the
Riachuelo Formation (Link, 1959) or a unit between the Mirabeca and the
Middle Albian Riachuelo Formations (Bender, 1959). A unit having a thick-
ness of 479 m and composed of fine sandstones, siltstones, bituminous argil-
lites, dolomites, anhydrite, rock salt, and carnallite was found in the same
wells at drilling depths ranging from 1150 m to 1250 m (Bender, 1959; Fer-
nandes, 1959). T h e occurrence of carnallite in these wells is the only one re-
corded in South America. T h e Itatig I V well penetrated 12 7 m of pure crystal-
line rock salt; the Itatig I I I well was drilled through 84 m of pure salt that is
overlain by 49 m of anhydrite and underlain by a sequence of carbonaceous
shales, rock salt, and limestone (Froes, 1960). T h e lower salt beds are red and
contain from 9 to 13 per cent of potassium chloride and lesser amounts of
magnesium; these strata are interbedded with shales. The total volume of salt
in the basins has been estimated to be 50,000,000 cu m.
At Ponta Verde, in the Alagoas Basin, well A - i was drilled through a series
of salt beds lying from 890 to 1229 m below the surface. T h e total thickness of
the salt beds is 141 m ; the thicknesses of the individual beds range from 2 to
80 m. Other Alagoas Basin wells drilled in Paripuera and at the airport of
Palmares penetrated a section of salt interbedded with shales that has a thick-
ness of 400 m. Presumably, the salt occurrences within the Alagoas Basin are
similar to those of the Sergipe Basin. It should be noted that the salt contains
but traces of magnesium (Froes, i960).
A discussion of the saline deposits of eastern Brazil should include some
mention of the great gypsum deposits found within the Cretaceous Araripe
Series. These deposits are in the area of the Araripe plateau (Chapada de
Araripe), which separates the states of Piaui, Pernambuco, and Ceara (de
Oliveira, 1956). T h e gypsum beds of the Maranhao Basin area should also
be noted; these occur within the Cretaceous Codo Formation (Froes, 1960).
CENOZOIC
T h e orogenic movements which started in mid-Senonian time and

continued through the Tertiary produced a geoanticlinal welt that evolved
into the present Andean Cordillera. Several intermontane basins were formed,
and great foreland basins, or exogeosynclines, formed to the east of the Cor-
dillera. Except for the northern part of the continent, the Tertiary deposits
found in these intermontane and foreland basins are composed largely of ter-
restrial sediments produced by the erosion of the rising Andean ranges.
The Tertiary formations of eastern Ecuador, the Chalcana Formation
(Oligocene), and the Arajuno Formation (Miocene), are predominately red
lt-3-Se
NW SE
SECTION B
Figure 7. Section A , Well correlation in the Cotinguiba area (after Fernándesj

1959). Section B, geologic cross section of the Sergipe Basin, Brazil (after Bender,
'959)
bed units, but they do contain gypsum beds or beds of gypsiferous shales
(Tschopp, 1953). In eastern Perú the red bed formations of Y a h u a r a n g o and
C h a m b i r a contain intercalations that are highly gypsiferous. T h e gypsum oc-
curs both as lumps or pellets disseminated in red shales and claystones or as
thin seams or veinlets (see also K o c h and Blissenbach, 1962). Along the Andean
belt of central Perú, the Tertiary red beds are rich in gypsum and anhydrite
accumulations (Mabire, 1961); the Scotillo Formation (Jenks, 1948) and the
Puno Group (Newell, 1949) of southern Perú are both red bed sequences that
contain gypsiferous units.
T h e Coro Coro Group of the Bolivian plateau is the stratigraphic equiva-
lent of the Puno Group. T h e middle part of the Coro Coro Group is formed
by the 4000-m-thick Arcillas Chacarilla Formation (Ahlfeld and Branisa,
i960), which is a sequence of gypsiferous shales that contains beds of gypsum
and salt marl near its base. T h e gypsiferous marls are rather abundant at
Coro Coro, and they have produced "gypsiferous marl domes" and diapiric
Figure 1. Evaporating ponds placed on a steep hill slope. Salt originates in the
Cretaceous Yuncaypata Formation. Small house at upper right gives the scale.
Figure 2. Closer view of ponds
EVAPORATING PONDS AT MARAS, N O R T H W E S T

FROM CUZCO, P E R U
McNAUGHTONANDOTHERS,P L A T E 1
Geological Society of America Special Paper 88
SALT AND GYPSUM P I N N A C L E ON T H E SOUTH P A R T O F
T H E T I R A C O DOME, E A S T E R N PERLJ
Photograph by Quirico Abadilla
McNAUGHTONANDOTHERS,P L A T E 2
Geological Society of America Special Paper 88
v í c t o r ben avide s saline deposits o f south america 275
structures (Meyer and Murillo, 1961). Between Chiquichambo and Turco,

the sole of the Coro Coro fault is marked by white gypsiferous marls and great
masses of pure gypsum (Ahlfeld and Branisa, i960).
T h e thick San Pedro Formation is found in Chile in the area northwest of
the Salar de Atacama and east of the Llanos de la Paciencia; it is composed of
light reddish-pink sandstone, conglomerates, and shales that contain inter-
calations of salt and gypsum. Harrington (1961) assigned a Miocene-Pliocene
age to the San Pedro Formation. T h e salt of this formation is the source of the
salt found within the salt anticlines of the Cerros de la Sal, described by
Brüggen (1942) and Dingman (1962).
Tertiary strata within the Santa Maria valley in the Tucumán region of
Argentina contain gypsum intercalations and salt beds 2.5 m thick (Peirano,
1943). Farther south, in the Cuyo Basin, a zone of anhydrite is present at the
base of the Tertiary sequence (Criado and others, 1959). In general, the Ter-
tiary beds of northwestern Argentina, as found in the Puna and in the pre-
Cordillera of San Juan and Mendoza, consist of terrestrial red and variegated
clastic sedimentary rocks that contain intercalations of gypsum and anhy-
drite; chlorides and borates are also present (Leanza, 1958).
Late events in the evolution of the Cordillera resulted in the development
of the high plateau of the Central Andes, intense volcanic and fumarolic
activity, and the great field of salares (Fig. 8) that extends from southwestern
Bolivia to northeastern Chile and northwestern Argentina. A discussion of
these important features is beyond the scope of this paper; discussion of the
coastal salinas and the extensive "caliche" deposits found from central Perú
to northern Chile must likewise be deferred.
Salt Diapirs in South America

GENERAL STATEMENT
Diapirie salt structures are rather common structural features along the
Andean Cordillera; those of the Eastern Cordillera of Colombia, eastern
Perú, and northern Chile are best known, but such features have also been
reported from other areas, including Bolivia and Argentina.
EASTERN CORDILLERA OF COLOMBIA
T h e Eastern Cordillera of Colombia is essentially an anticlinorium com-

posed of Tertiary, Mesozoic, and Paleozoic rocks. Northeast of Bogotá, within
the area known as the "Zipaquira Salt Basin," salt plugs and salt stocks are
present (Kerr, 1959). Figure 9 shows the location of several salt features with-
in this area. T h e rock salt forms stocks or laccoliths that are localized within
soft, dark-gray to black shales of Cretaceous age. Those of Mambita, río
Humea and Cumaral-Upin are within the Tithonian-Hauterivian Caqueza
Figure 8. M a p showing "salares" of northern Chile, southwestern Bolivia, and north-
western Argentina and salt structures of northern Chile
Figure 9. M a p of Colombia showing location of salt diapirs, salt

springs, and present-day coastal salines. After Wokittel, i960
Shales; the Gacheta plug is within the Barremian-Cenomanian Villeta

Shales; the Zipaquira, Nemocon, and Sesquile diapirs are within the Turo-
nian-Senonian Guadalupe Shales (Wokittel, i960).
T h e question of the source of the salt now present in these structural fea-
tures is a subject for debate. Some authors (Olsson, 1956; Scheibe, 1925)
have suggested that the source beds may have been the Lower Cretaceous
Caqueza Shales; others (Gerth, 1935; 1955; Wokittel, i960; Biirgl, 1961) re-
gard the Jurassic Giron beds as being the most probable source.
T h e salt is, in general, mixed with soft, plastic, black shales, but local oc-
currences of pure salt are not uncommon. T h e cap rock, locally referred to as
"rute," is a brecciated, earthy rock formed from fragments of black shales and
278 i n t e r n a t i o n a l c o n f e r e n c e on saline deposits, ig62
containing pyrite, marcasite, and aragonite. Locally the cap rock contains
some limestone.
T h e largest known plug is at Zipaquira. A n underground cathedral and
several huge galleries, some of which are open to automobile traffic, have been
carved in the salt; these are popular tourist attractions for persons visiting
Bogotá. T h e second-largest salt body is the Nemocon diapir, in which the
volume of salt has been estimated to be 840 million cu m. Undoubtedly, other
large salt plugs will be discovered in this general area.
NORTHERN CHILE
Brüggen (1942; 1950) and Dingman (1962) described a group of salt domes
and anticlines in the Atacama region of northern Chile, in the west-central
part of Antofagasta Province. Here two distinct subgroups can be recognized:
(1) domes in which the salt was derived from the Cretaceous Purilactic For-
mation ; and (2) domes which contain salt from the Tertiary San Pedro For-
mation.
O n the northern edge of the Salar de Atacama, the saline-bearing Purilactis
Formation has broken through the competent beds of the Cretaceous Por-
phyritic Formation in anticlines at both Salina de Purilactis and Lican; these
sites lie to the north of the village of San Pedro. T h e salt at Purilactis contains
large fragments of shale, and at Lican the saline materials occupy the center of
a dome formed from porphyritic rocks; the shales are strongly compressed
and brecciated, and they contain fragments of porphyritic rocks.
T h e Cerros de la Sal, which lie just south of these two anticlines, consist of a
series of domes and doubly plunging folds in the Tertiary salt-bearing San
Pedro Formation. Because of the excellent preservation of the bedding within
the salt, the parallelism of bedding within the clastic beds and the salt, and
the lack of fragments from other rock units within the salt, Dingman (1962)
rejected deep-seated diapiric folding as the mechanism by which the struc-
tures were formed. He has suggested that the unusually complex structural
features found in the Tertiary strata were produced by gravitational gliding
toward the center of the basin. Such movement would have occurred along
beds of salt or gypsum within the San Pedro Formation and thereby produced
horizontal compression, resulting in the upfolding of the Cerros de la Sal. He
further believes that such action is currently in progress.
EASTERN PERÚ
Diapiric salt structures are conspicuous geologic features of the Peruvian

Andes. Figure 10 shows the locations of 28 diapirs, but undoubtedly many
others remain as yet undiscovered. Most of these known diapirs are in the
eastern foothills of the Andes, an area covered by thick rain-forest jungle and
having exceptionally difficult accessibility. Accordingly, knowledge of the
1 Congosa
2 Caterpisa
3 Chirinos
4 Amujao
5 Cachiyacu
6 Tûmbaro
7 Yurumarca
8 Rioja
" l0 " 9 Yanayacu
10 Campana
11 Tiroco
12 Gallotiuacana
13 Sapo
14 Pilluona
15 Chumiya
16 Chipoote
17 Sacoche
16 La Mina
19 Mishollo
2 0 Lopuna
21 Innovatia
22 Santa Ana
23 Pozuzo
24 Angel
25 San Blas
2 6 Cerro S a i
2 7 Cerro S a l - Entas
28 Achi-yacu
A SALT DIAPIR
\ STRUCTURAL MOUNTAIN FRONT
O
a>
CHILE
.70*
Figure 1 o. M a p of Peru showing location of known salt diapirs
areal geology is rather poor, having been obtained through reconnaissance

surface studies and the interpretation of aerial photographs; topographic
maps of the area are wanting. T h e San Bias dome, in the L a k e Junin area of
central Perú, and the Y u r u m a r c a salt anticline of northern Perú are the ex-
ceptional examples of salt structures found outside the foothills area.
318
international c o n f e r e n c e on saline deposits, ig62
LEGEND
M QUATERNARY
PRTI UPPER TERTIARY
C D LOWER TERTIARY
M CRETACEOUS
M JURA -TRIASSIC
EM TRIASSIC - PERMIAN
C D TERTIARY INTRUSIVE
EXTRUSIVE SALT
FAULT
Figure 11. Geologic m a p of the M i d d l e H u a l l a g a area, eastern Peru
Diapiric structures are present from the Ecuadorian border southward to

central Perú (see also Dirección de Petróleo, 1953). Hoempler (1953) noted
two diapiric structures in the southern part of the foothills belt, but their de-
tailed structural features and stratigraphic relationships are but vaguely
known. T h e greatest concentration of plugs is in the Middle Huallaga region,
which is described in some detail in the following section.
SALT PLUGS OF THE MIDDLE H U A L L A G A REGION : T h e Middle Huallaga re-
gion (Fig. 11) is in the foothills belt, a zone of strongly folded and faulted
v í c t o r ben avide s saline deposits of south america 281
MAX
AGES FORMATIONS LITHOLOGY THICKNESS REMARKS
ERA METERS
"0 ^ —.T"
0 1PURURO 1 3 00 N O N M A R I N E - S s . C g . S Sh.
tí •• "
M CHAMBIRA « V V V y « v-v_ 1 1 00 NONMARINE - Red Beds, Gyps.
O TERTIARY
350 B R A C K I S H - f„ h c „ | ^ s L s 0 | 2 8:3 Units

O
YAHUARANGO 300 NONMARINE Jncludes'soM^i'nit
CASA BLANCA 100 M A R I N E - Ss.

V)
CACHIYACU 200 M A R I N E - Sh. ft Ss.
3
0 1 70 M A R I N E - S$.
VIVIAN
UJ
O 0 CHONTA p s s s - í 500 MARINE - Sh. a Ls.
H AGUA CALIENTE 350 MARINE - Ss. ,nC,Ud

poComember
N
UJ
O MARINE - S h .
a: ESPERANZA 200
tn
^ Includes member
ÜJ CUSHABATAY 400 MARINE - Ss. A g u o n u y o
2
JURASSIC SARAYAQUILLO 1 300 T E R R E S T R I A L - R e d Bads, Gyp. a
Sclt.
V y V V y y y
TRIASSIC PUCARA 600 MARINE -Corbonotes, <3yp.
MITU 1300 T E R R E S T R I A L - R«d Beds, Gyp. 8

Salt.
PERMIAN
o00 o o o o
|i;r]i|i¡i¡i
COPACABANA 500
0 i;.; 1;
O
N PENNSYLVANIAN TARMA M A R I N E - L s , Sh a Ss.
O
ÜJ
<
DEVONIAN CABANILLAS ZOO M A R I N E - Sh. ft Ss.
a.
4501 MARINE - Sh.

0RD0V1CIAN CONTAYA
X X X X X *
PRECAMBRIAN BASEMENT
X X X X X X
Figure 12. Summary of eastern Perú (Montaña) stratigraphy
Mesozoic and Tertiary sedimentary rocks lying between the crystalline core
of the Cordillera (the Maranonian geanticline) and the foreland plain. T h e
foothills belt is separated from the foreland plain by a distinct mountain-
front fault or fault zone. T h e stratigraphy of the region is presented in a
generalized form in Figure 12 (see also Rosenzweig, 1953).
T h e regional trend of the structural features is approximately N. 20° W . ,
but persistent cross trends are present; most of the cross-trending features have
bearings close to N . 75 0 W . , but a trend of N . 70° E. has also been observed
(Figs. 13 and 14). T h e axes of a minor number of folds are deflected nearly
90 degrees from the regional trend, but is it believed that the regional and
cross trends were produced synchronously, i.e., they were formed by the same
force or forces. T h e fact that m a n y of the transverse anticlines have salt cores
indicates that their locations were favorable sites for the upward migration of
salt. T h e other common type of salt occurrence is along major thrust faults or
Figure 13. Geologic map and cross section of the Tiraco and Gallohuacana domes, eastern
Peru
normal faults that provided shear planes along which the salt was either
squeezed or found easier avenues for extrusion. Folding and faulting within
this area occurred in Late Tertiary time.
EXTRUDED EVAPORITES : Most of the evaporite materials found in outcrops
of the diapiric extrusions are masses of gypsum and anhydrite; a few outcrops
of halite, heavily impregnated with pink, red, and purple shales or siltstones
in contorted flow layers, are known. T h e occurrence of white crystalline halite
in outcrops is not unknown, but most of the halite that has been found is pink.
Gypsum beds range from white to medium gray to pink; evidently, these sa-
line materials were derived from a red bed formation. In addition, blocks torn
from the country rock and brought to the surface by the mobile saline ma-
terials are found scattered throughout the diapiric masses. These blocks, con-
sidered to be exotic to the salt, consist of dark-gray limestones and shales that
have retained their original bituminous and fossil contents even though they
have been intensively altered by saline solutions.
AGE OF THE SALT : Field relationships within the Middle Huallaga region
indicate that the salt has intruded Jurassic (the Sarayaquillo Formation),
Cretaceous, and Tertiary strata; salt is in contact with older strata within
those structures in which major faults are involved. T h e salt cores of many
salt anticlines within this region are surrounded by Sarayaquillo red beds, in-
dicating that the salt source lies either in the lower part of the Sarayaquillo
Formation or in older strata.
T h e debris brought up by the salt includes limestone blocks and fragments,
some of which contain identifiable fossils. Myophoria pascoensis, a Late Triassic
fossil, was found in limestone blocks within the Pilluana dome (Fig. 15);
Arietites sp., an Early Jurassic ammonite, has been identified in the rubble of
the Gallohuacana extrusion. T h e presence of Pucará (Upper Triassic-Lower
Jurassic) limestone blocks in the salt is strong but not conclusive evidence that
the salt came from beds low in the Pucará Group or from the red beds which
lie beneath that carbonate sequence. T h e pre-Pucará red beds are generally
referred to the Permian M i t u Group, but that these beds are of Triassic age
and entirely separate from the M i t u Group is distinctly possible.
Confirmation of the age of the salt in the Huallaga structures is, therefore,
pending. T h e possible source beds can be regarded as including the pre-
Pucará red beds of Permian(?) or Triassic(?) age, the Pucará Formation, and
the Late Jurassic Sarayaquillo red beds; the writer is of the opinion that the
source of the salt was a pre-Jurassic unit. This opinion applies only to the salt
bodies of the Huallaga area; no inference is intended that saline materials
from two or more source beds may not be present in some of the diapiric
structures within the region. Evidence has been given in previous pages that
the salt of the San Bias dome in the central Andes is either Triassic or
pre-Triassic in age, whereas the salt extrusions of the Cerros de la Sal-San
R a m ó n - O x a p a m p a area also of the Central Andes of Perú seem to be of
materials from the Sarayaquillo Formation.
T O P O G R A P H I C E X P R E S S I O N : T h e topographic features related to the large
evaporite extrusions are rugged and positive. Singewald (1927) referred to the
novel sight of rock salt forming high river bluffs in wet jungle country. T h e
salt has mushroomed and flowed over the eroded edges of the intruded rocks,
controlling, in some instances, changes in the drainage patterns; such seems
to be the situation at Pilluana. Bizarre solution-striated towers or pinnacles of
salt in the midst of a dense tropical forest have been observed, for example,
near the southern corner of the Tiraco dome (Fig. 13; PI. 2). Considering that
these extrusions are in an area of high humidity and intense dissection in
which the rainfall is in the order of 1400 m m per year, the fact that the
topographic forms developed on saline materials have not been destroyed by

erosive forces suggests that salt extrusion is in progress. One other fact sup-
porting the view that salt flowage is now occurring, possibly at a rather rapid
rate, should be noted. Some of the salt bodies have been mined over a long
period of time; although these have been consistently small operations, no
indications of the mining carried out can be found in the salt outcrops. Per-
haps the flow of salt, as well as the growth of vegetation have kept pace with
the minor mining operations.
G R O U N D P L A N A N D SIZE O F T H E E V A P O R I T E E X T R U S I O N S : In most instances
the salt extrusions conform to their associated structural features, i.e., they
fill the cores of anticlines or they are elongated masses along faults. T h e Gal-
lohuacana, Tiraco, and Pilluana domes are examples of very large extrusions.
T h e Gallohuacana extrusion, 10 by 4 km in size, is associated with a major
normal fault. T h e Tiraco extrusion is in the core of a large dome that is as-
sociated with thrust faults; it has an almost circular outline 5.5 km in diam-
eter. T h e Pilluana dome has an oval outiine, about 9 by 4 km; the long axis
is oriented in approximately the east-west direction. T h e structure is related
to an anticline in which the beds of the western rim are upturned and even
overturned; no noticeable faults are related to the extrusion.
T h e oval shapes of the outcrops of the Pilluana and Tiraco domes are
interpreted as to indicate that isostatic forces have played an important role
in the development of the features, in addition of course to the main tangential
forces. T h e upturned and overturned beds in the rims of the Pilluana and
Yanayacu plugs substantiate this hypothesis. T h e sizes and shapes of the salt
plug outcrops are determined, primarily, by the mushrooming of the salt; the
shapes and sizes of the salt feeders can only be inferred. If the outcrops are
round to oval in plan view, strong isostatic control is inferred. T h e extrusions
associated with thrust faults are linear; in one example of extrusion along a
fault, the Chasuta fault, salt can be traced for tens of kilometers.
S E D I M E N T A R Y O V E R B U R D E N : T h e thickness of the sedimentary overburden
prior to the folding has not been accurately determined because the source
of the salt remains a question. If a pre-Jurassic source is assumed, an over-
burden of approximately 7000 m would be implied; if the Sarayaquillo
Formation is regarded as the source, an overburden thickness of approxi-
mately 5000 m would be implied. Either source would have supplied a suf-
ficient overburden to permit the assumption that isostatic forces were active
during the development of the features.
No detailed isopachous maps of the salt plug area have been made, but
available data provide no evidence, at least in regard to Cretaceous sedi-
mentary rocks, of any unusual departures from the stratigraphic thicknesses
measured in adjacent areas. Study of the Tertiary sedimentary rocks presents
a difficult problem in that key horizons are generally lacking, the lithologies
of the beds are highly variable, and the thickness of the section is extremely
great. There is no evidence regarding the growth of the diapiric structures
during any specific interval of geologic time.
MECHANICS OF EMPLACEMENT: Compressive, lateral, orogenic deformation
probably provided the triggering force as well as the main force responsible
for the salt extrusions. Consideration of the simple oval shapes of some of the
features and of the considerable sedimentary overburden above the potential

source salt beds requires that isostatic forces be regarded as a secondary factor
in the development of the extrusions. Also, the anomalous presence of the
Chasuta graben (Fig. 13), immediately to the west of the Gallohuacana ex-
trusion, and in the middle of an uplifted and strongly compressed area, sug-
gests that its sinking was caused or at least enhanced by salt-removal from
its underlying beds. This action can better be explained as the effect of
isostatic forces. Salt probably accumulated in the axial zones of the folds during
an early stage of their development. Additional compression, aided by
isostatic forces, resulted in the rupturing of the folds and the extrusion of salt.
Erosional breaching of the structures was most likely an additional factor in
the process of extrusion. In some instances the evaporite beds were probably
an important element in the action which resulted in shearing and thrust
faulting of the overlying beds. It should be mentioned that the resulting struc-
tures do not appear to have reached as great a degree of complexity as struc-
tures found in the diapirs of some other folded belts.
References Cited
AGUIRRE, LUIS, i960, Geología de los Andes de Chile central, Provincia de Aconcagua:
Inst. Inv. Geol. de Chile, Bol. 9, 70 p.
AHLFELD, F., AND BRANISA, L., i960, Geología de Bolivia: La Paz, Bolivia, Inst. Boliviano
del Petróleo, 245 p.
ARKELL, W . J., 1956, Jurassic geology of the World: London, Oliver and Boyd, Ltd.,
806 p.
BENAVIDES, V., 1956, Cretaceous system in northern Perú: Bull. A m . Museum Nat. His-
tory, v. 108, art. 4, p. 359-488
1962, Estratigrafía pre-Terciaria de la Region de Arequina: Bol. Soc. Geol. Perú,
V- 3 8 » P - 5 - 6 3
BENDER, FRITZ, 1959, Zur Geologie des Küsten-Beckens von Sergipe, Brasilien: Geol.
Jahrbuch, Band 77, p. 1-34
BIESE, WALTER, 1957, Der Jura von Cerritos Bayos-Calama, República de Chile, Provincia
de Antofagasta: Geol. Jahrbuch, Band 72, p. 439-494
BOWMAN, ISAIAH, 1916, The Andes of southern Perú: New York, A m . Geog. Soc., 336 p.
BRUGGEN, J., 1942, Geología de la Puna de San Pedro de Atacana y sus formaciones de
areniscas y arcillas rojas: Anales del Primer Congreso Panamericana de Ingeniería de
Minas y Geología, Geología, 1st part, v. II, p. 342-367
1950, Fundamentos de la geología de Chile: Santiago de Chile, Inst. Geog. Militar,
3 7 4 P-
BÜRGL, HANS, 1957, Biostratigrafía de la Sabana de Bogota y Alrededores: Bol. Geol., v.
V , no. 2, p. 113-185
1960, El Jurásico é Infracretáceo del Río Bata, Boyaca: Bol. Geol., v. V I , nos. 1—3,
p. 169-211
1961, Historia geológica de Colombia: Rev. de la Acad. Nac. de Cieñe., v. X I , no.
43, p. 137-191
CECIONI, G I O V A N N I , AND G A R C Í A , F L O R E A L , i 9 6 0 , Observaciones geológicas en la Cordillera
de la Costa de Tarapacá: Inst. Inv. Geol. de Chile, Bol. 6, 28 p.
288 international conference on saline deposits, ig62
C R I A D O , R O Q U E P E D R O , FERRARIIS, C . A . , M I N G R A M M , A . , R O L L E R I , E . , SIMONATO, I . , AND

SUERO, T., 1959, The sedimentary basins of Argentina: N e w York, 5th World
Petroleum Cong., Proc., Sec. I, Paper 49, p. 1-16
CRUZADO, JOSÉ, 1959, Geología del área comprendida entre los ríos Santa y Cabana: Bol.
Soc. Geol. Perú, v. 34, p. 5-24
DINGMAN, R . J., 1962. Tertiary salt domes near San Pedro de Atacama: U.S. Geol. Survey
Prof. Paper 450-D, p. 92-94
DIRECCIÓN DE PETRÓLEO, 1953, El Petróleo en el Perú, sus ocurrencias, manifestaciones
superficiales y los depósitos de sal gema: Lima, Ministerio de Fomento, 64 p.
DOUGLAS, J. A., 1914, Geological sections through the Andes of Perú and Bolivia, Part 1,
From the coast of Arica in the north of Chile to La Paz and the Bolivian Yungas:
Geol. Soc. London Quart. Jour. v. 70, p. 1-53
EGELER, C. G., and DE BOOY, T . , 1961, Preliminary note on the geology of the Cordillera
Vilcabamba (SE Perú), with emphasis on the essentially pre-Andean origin of the
structure: Geologie en Mijnb. 4oe Jaarg., p. 319-326
FERNÁNDES, GERSON, 1959, Recursos minerais das bacias sedimentares: Rev. Brasileira de
Geografía, no. 3, p. 101-125
FISCHER, ALFRED, 1956, Desarrollo geológico del noroeste Peruano durante el Mesozoico:
Bol. Soc. Geol. Perú, v. 30, p. 177-190
FRAENKL, J., 1959, L a Formación Limbo: Bol. Técnico yacimientos petrolíferos fiscales
Bolivianos, v. 2, no. 5, 70 p.
FROES, ABREU, S., i960, Recursos minerais do Brasil, Volume I, Materais nao metálicos:
Río de Janeiro, Inst. Nac. de Tecnología, 471 p.
GERTH, H . , 1915, Geologische und Morphologische Beobachtungen in dem Kordilleren
Sudperus: Geol. Rundschau 6, p. 129-153
1932, Geologie Südamerikas, Volume 1: Berlin, Gebrüder Borntraeger, 199 p.
1935, Geologie Südamerikas, Volume 2: Berlin, Gebrüder Borntraeger, p. 201-389
•—— 1955. Der Geologische Bau der südamerikanischen Kordillere: Berlin-Nikolassee,
Gebrüder Borntraeger, 264 p.
GROEBER, PABLO, F., 1952, Mesozoico: Geografía de la República Argentina, Tomo I I , ist
part, 541 p.
HAAPALA, P. S., 1953, Morococha anhydrite: Bol. Soc. Geol. Perú, v. 26, p. 21-32
HARRINGTON, H . J., 1961, Geology of parts of Antofagasta and Atacama provinces, north-
ern Chile: A m . Assoc. Petroleum Geologists Bull., v. 45, p. 169-197
HARRISON, J. V . , 1956, La geología de parte del Valle del Río Mantaro al oeste y suroeste
de Junín, Perú central: Inst. Nac. de Inv. y Fomento Mineros, Bol. no. 15, p. 17-55
HARRISON, J. V . , AND WILSON, J. J., i960, Geología de la región comprendida entre
Huacho y Vinchos: Bol. Soc. Geol. Perú, v. 35, p. 5-62
HEDBERG, HOLLIS, 1942, Mesozoic stratigraphy of northern South America: Washington,
8th A m . Sei. Cong. Proc., 1940, v. 4, p. 192-227
HOEMPLER, ARMIN. 1953, Domos de sal en la Cordillera Oriental, 1926-1951: El Ingeniero
Geólogo, Univ. Nac. Mayor de San Marcos, no. 7, p. 3—8
HUFF, K . F., 1949, Sedimentos del Jurásico Superior y Cretáceo Inferior en el Este del
Perú: Vol. Jubilar, Soc. Geol. Perú, p. 1-10
JENKS, WILLIAM F., 1948, Geología de la Hoja de Arequipa al 200,000: Bol. Inst. Geol. del
Perú, v. 9, p. 1-204
KALAFATOVICH, CARLOS, 1957, Edad de las calizas de la Formación Yuncaypata, Cuzco:
Bol. Soc. Geol. Perú, v. 32, p. 127-139
i960, Los deslizamientos del Yahuarnaqui, Urubamba: Bol. de la Facultad de
Ciencias, Univ. Nac. del Cuzco, ano I, no. 1, v. 1, p. 1-10
KERR, PAUL, F., 1959, Saline basins of North and South America—A Preliminary Litera-
ture Summary, Item 2: Columbia Univ., 59 p.
KLOHN, CARLOS, i960, Geología de la Cordillera de los Andes de Chile central, provincias
de Santiago, O'Higgins, Colchagua, y Curico: Inst. Inv. Geol. de Chile, Bol. 8, 95 p.
K O C H , E D W I N , AND BLISSENBACH, E R I C K , 1962, L a s capas rojas del Cretáceo S u p e r i o r —
Terciario en la región del curso medio del Río Ucayali, Oriente del Perú (Traducción
Castellana): Bol. Soc. Geol. Perú, v. 39, p. 1-14.1
KUGLER, H . G., 1953, Jurassic to Recent sedimentary environment in Trinidad : Vereining.
Schweiz. Petr. Geol. und Ing., Bull., v. 20, no. 59, p. 27-60
1956, Trinidad, p. 351-365 in Jenks, W . F., Editor, Handbook of South American
geology: Geol. Soc. America Memoir 65, 378 p.
KUMMEL, B., AND FUCHS, R . L., 1953, The Triassic of South America: Bol. Soc. Geol.
Perú, v. 26, p. 95-119
LEANZA, ARMANDO, F., 1958, Geología regional de la Argentina, p. 215-349 in Suma de
Geografía, Tomo I: Buenos Aires, Peuser
LINK, WALTER, K . , 1959, The sedimentary framework of Brazil: New York, 5th World
Petroleum Cong., Sec. I, Paper 50, p. 1-19
MABIRE, BERNARD, 1961, La serie de capas rojas Cretáceo-Terciarias en los Andes Centrales
del Perú: Bol. Soc. Geol. Perú, v. 36, p. 151-185
MEYER, HENRY, C., AND M U R I L L O , J O S É , 1961, Investigaciones geológicas d e la faja
Cuprífera Altiplánica; sobre la Geología en las Provincias de Aroma, Pacajes y
Caranga—Bolivia: Dept. Nac. de Geol., Bol. 1, p. 1-49
MORALES, LUIS, 1959, General geology and oil possibilities of the Amazon Basin, Brazil:
New York, 5th World Petroleum Cong., Sec. I, Paper 51
NEWELL, NORMAN D., 1949, Geology of the Lake Titicaca region, Perú and Bolivia: Geol.
Soc. America Memoir 36, 111 p.
N E W E L L , NORMAN D . , CHRONIC, J O H N , AND R O B E R T S , T H O M A S G . , 1953, U p p e r Paleozoic
of Perú: Geol. Soc. America Memoir 58, 276 p.
DE OLIVEIRA, A. I., 1956, Brazil, p. 1-62 in Jenks, W . F., Editor, Handbook of South
American geology: Geol. Soc. America Memoir 65, 378 p.
OLSSON, A. A., 1956, Colombia, p. 293-326 in Jenks, W . F., Editor, Handbook of South
American geology: Geol. Soc. America Memoir 65, 378 p.
PADULA, E. L., AND REYES, F. C., 1959, Contribución al léxico estratigrfiáco de las Sierras
Subandinas, República de Bolivia: Bol. Técnico yacimientos petroleros Bolivianos,
v. 1, no. 1, p. 9—70
PEIRANO, ABEL, 1943, Capas Terciarias de Sal Común en el Valle de Santa María (Parte
Salteña): Pubs, de la Univ. Nac. de Tucumán—Cuadernos de Geología y Mineralogía
v. III, no. 10, p. 60-63
PETERSEN, G. G., 1931, Die Salzgebirge in Perú und die Trochenwuechsige Flora der
tropischen Regenwaldgebiete: Petermanns Geogr. Mitt., p. 1-2
PETRI, SETEMBRINO, 1958, Sobre o facies de evaporitos do Carbonífero da Amazonia: Soc.
Brasileira Geología, Bol., v. 7, no. 1, p. 35-45
PFLUCKER, LUIS, A., 1919, La Sal en el Perú: Anales del Congreso Nac. de la Industria
Minera, v. 5, p. 100-157
PIERCE, G. R., Jefferson, C. C., JR., AND SMITH, W . R., 1961, Fossiliferous Paleozoic
localities in Mérida Andes, Venezuela: Am. Assoc. Petroleum Geologists Bull., v. 45,
p. 342-375
ROSENZWEIG, ALFREDO, 1953, Reconocimiento geológico en el Curso Medio del Río
Huallaga: Bol. Soc. Geol. Perú, v. 26, p. 155-190
RUEOG; W . , I956, Geologie zwischen Canete-San Juan i3°oo'-i5°24', Südperú: Stuttgart„
Geol. Rundschau, Band 45, heft 3, p. 775-858
328 international conference on saline deposits, ig62
SCHEIBE, R., 1925, Das Salzvorkommen von Nemocon: Neu Jahrbuch für Min., Geol.,
und Paleont., Beilageband 53, p. 315-320
SEGERSTROM, KENNETH, 1962, Structural effects related to hydration of anhydrite, Copiapo
Area, Chile: U . S. Geol. Survey Prof. Paper 450-C, art. 70, p. C-28-C-30
SINGEWALD, J. T . , 1927, Pongo de Manseriche: Geol. Soc. America Bull., v. 38, p. 479-
492
SONNENBERG, FRANK P., 1963, Bolivia and the Andes, backbone of the Americas: Am.
Assoc. Petroleum Geologists Memoir 2, p. 36-46
TSCHOPP, H. J., 1953, Oil explorations in the Oriente of Ecuador, 1938-1950: A m . Assoc.
Petroleum Geologists Bull., v. 37, p. 2303-2347
1956, Ecuador, Upper Amazon Basin geological province, p. 253-267 in Jenks, W . F.,
Editor, Handbook of South American geology: Geol. Soc. America Memoir 65, 378 p.
WEEKS, L . G., 1947, Paleogeography of South America: Am. Assoc. Petroleum Geologists
Bull., v. 31, p. 1194-1241
WOKITTEL, ROBERTO, i960, Recursos Minerales de Colombia: Bogotá, Ministerio de
Minas y Petróleo, Servicio Geol. Nac. Compil. Estud. Gcol. Ofic. Colombia, v. 10,
3 9 3 P-

Saline Deposits of South America: International Petroleum Company, LTD., Lima, Perú

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

Saline Deposits of South America: International Petroleum Company, LTD., Lima, Perú

Uploaded by

Document Information

Original Title

Copyright

Available Formats

Share this document

Share or Embed Document

Sharing Options

Did you find this document useful?

Is this content inappropriate?

Copyright:

Available Formats

Saline Deposits of South America: International Petroleum Company, LTD., Lima, Perú

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF AMERICA, INC.

Saline Deposits of South America

International Petroleum Company, Ltd., Lima, Perú

1. E v a p o r a t i n g ponds at M a r a s , northwest f r o m C u z c o , P e r u 274

Cerro de Pasco Petroleum Corporation and to M r . Alejandro Chalco of

Stratigraphic Distribution of Saline Deposits

A M A Z O N BASIN : T h e deep structural furrow of the A m a z o n Basin lies be-

quences: ( i ) A basal transgressive sand, the M o n t e Alegre Sandstone, laps

NOVA OLINDA ALTER 00 CHAO

Figure 3. Pennsylvania!! section in the N o v a Olinda and Alter do C h a o wells,

A m a z o n B a s i n . After Petri, 1958

Extensive sections of Pennsylvanian and Permian marine rocks are found

gression flooded the Andean trough by Middle Pennsylvanian time. Black to

VILLAGRA STA. E LENA A®» MANGA Y BLANCO

CACHAY MLEHUE VEGA VERANAOA S®" REYES

I BRECCIAS SANOY LIMESTONE

g g j SHALE [S3 GYPSUM

BLACK S H A L E TUFFS a SANDSTONE

F i g u r e 5. Restored sections of Jurassic geosyncline to top of " Y e s o P r i n c i p a l , " A r g e n -

cagua, the "Yeso Principal" is known as the Middle Member of Lagunillas

Sarayaquillo Formation. Included in the lower part of the formation is the

LOWER CRETACEOUS: T h e Tithonian (Upper Jurassic) interval marked

emergent continent, and sediments of Tithonian age were deposited along

In the region to the north of the Salar de Atacama (Provincia de Anto-

(the Miraflores and Vitiacua Limestones), and northwestern Argentina (the

in an area to the northwest of the region discussed in the preceding paragraph.

T h e upper part of the formation is composed of oolitic limestones and dolo-

T h e orogenic movements which started in mid-Senonian time and

Figure 7. Section A , Well correlation in the Cotinguiba area (after Fernándesj

Figure 2. Closer view of ponds

EVAPORATING PONDS AT MARAS, N O R T H W E S T

structures (Meyer and Murillo, 1961). Between Chiquichambo and Turco,

Salt Diapirs in South America

EASTERN CORDILLERA OF COLOMBIA

T h e Eastern Cordillera of Colombia is essentially an anticlinorium com-

Figure 9. M a p of Colombia showing location of salt diapirs, salt

Shales; the Gacheta plug is within the Barremian-Cenomanian Villeta

Diapiric salt structures are conspicuous geologic features of the Peruvian

Figure 1 o. M a p of Peru showing location of known salt diapirs

areal geology is rather poor, having been obtained through reconnaissance

Figure 11. Geologic m a p of the M i d d l e H u a l l a g a area, eastern Peru

Diapiric structures are present from the Ecuadorian border southward to

350 B R A C K I S H - f„ h c „ | ^ s L s 0 | 2 8:3 Units

CASA BLANCA 100 M A R I N E - Ss.

H AGUA CALIENTE 350 MARINE - Ss. ,nC,Ud

MITU 1300 T E R R E S T R I A L - R«d Beds, Gyp. 8

4501 MARINE - Sh.

Figure 12. Summary of eastern Perú (Montaña) stratigraphy

topographic forms developed on saline materials have not been destroyed by

features and of the considerable sedimentary overburden above the potential

C R I A D O , R O Q U E P E D R O , FERRARIIS, C . A . , M I N G R A M M , A . , R O L L E R I , E . , SIMONATO, I . , AND

You might also like

Pfad - The Proxy pFad of © 2024 Garber Painting. All rights reserved.