LATE CRETACEOUS STRATIGRAPHY OF THE UPPER MAGDALENA BASIN IN THE PAYANDE-CHAPARRAL SEGMENT (WESTERN GIRARDOT SUBBASIN), COLOMBIA

The Cretaceous section on the western margin of the Girardot Sub-Basin, Upper Magdalena Valley, ii composed of the Lower Sandstone (Hauterivian-Barremian?), Tetuan Limestone (pre-Aptian?), and Bambuca Shale (pre-Aptian?), and the following formations: Caballos (Aptian-Albian), Villeta (Albian-Campanian), Monserrate (Campanian-Maastrichtian), and Guaduas (Maastrichtian-Paleocene). The Lower Sandstone is composed of quartz arenites with abundant calcareous cement; the Tetuan Limestone is a succession of fossiliferous limestones and calcareous shales; and the Bambuca Shale ia composed of black shales that grade upward to micritic limestones and calcarenites, The Caballos Formation comprises three members: a lower member of quartz arenites, a middle member of black shales and limestones, and an upper member of crossbedded, coarsening-upward quartz arenites. The Villeta Formation is a sequence of shales intercalated with micritic limestones and calcarenites. Two levels of chert (Upper and Lower Chert) are differentiated within the Villeta Formation throughout the study area, with a sandstone unit (El Cobre Sandstone) to the north. The Monserrate Formation is composed of quartz arenites, with abundant crossbedding, and locally of limestone breccias and coarse-grained fossiliferous packstones. The Guaduas Formation is a monotonous succession of red shales and lithic sandstones. Our data suggest three major transgressive-regressive cycles in the Girardot Sub-Basin. The first cycle (Hauterivian?-lower Aptian) is represented by the Lower Sandstone-Tetuan-Bambuca-lower Caballos succession, the second cycle (Aptian-Albian) by the middle-upper Caballos members, and the third cycle (Albian-Paleocene) by the lower Villeta-Monserrate-Guaduas succession. Previous studies proposed a eustatic control during deposition of the Upper Cretaceous in the Upper Magdalena Valley. The lowermost transgressive-regressive cycle was not previously differentiated in the study area, and this implies a transition between the thick Bogota depocenter to the north and the thinner Magdalena basin fill to the south.