Rosablanca Formation

The Rosablanca Formation (Spanish: Formación Rosablanca, Kir) is a geological formation of the Altiplano Cundiboyacense, Eastern Ranges of the Colombian Andes and the Middle Magdalena Basin. The formation consists of grey limestones, dolomites and shales with at the upper part sandstones. The formation dates to the Early Cretaceous period; Valanginian epoch and has a thickness of 425 metres (1,394 ft) in the valley of the Sogamoso River.

Rosablanca Formation
Stratigraphic range: Valanginian ~136–133 Ma PreꞒ Ꞓ O S D C P T J K Pg N ↓
Type	Geological formation
Underlies	Paja Fm., Ritoque Fm.
Overlies	Cumbres Fm., Girón Fm., Los Medios Fm.
Thickness	~470 m (1,540 ft)
Lithology
Primary	Sandstone
Other	Shale
Location
Coordinates	4°27′07″N 74°03′20″W
Region	Altiplano Cundiboyacense Eastern Ranges, Andes
Country	Colombia
Type section
Named by	Wheeler
Location	Mesa de Los Santos
Year defined	1929
Coordinates	4°27′07″N 74°03′20″W
Region	Boyacá, Santander
Country	Colombia

Definition

The formation was first defined by Wheeler in 1929.^[1]

Description

Lithologies

The Rosablanca Formation is characterised by a sequence of grey limestones, dolomites and shales with a maximum thickness of 425 metres (1,394 ft) in the Sogamoso River valley.^[1]

Stratigraphy and depositional environment

The Rosablanca Formation overlies the Arcabuco Formation and is overlain by the Ritoque Formation. The age has been estimated to be Valanginian. Stratigraphically, the formation is time equivalent with the Macanal Formation.^[1]

Fossils

Fossils of the decapod crustacean Diaulax rosablanca have been found in and named after the Rosablanca Formation.^[2] In 2019, fossils of brachiopodSellithyris elizabetha were described from the formation.^[3] In 2020 remains of indeterminate pterosaurs were described from the formation, including pterodactyloids and non-Pteranodontian ornithocheiroids.^[4] In 2005 the remains of Platychelyid sea turtle Notoemys zapatocaensis were described,^[5] and in 2023 the limbs and shell elements of protostegids were described as some of the largest Early Cretaceous turtles.^[6]

Outcrops

Type locality of the Rosablanca Formation in Santander

The Rosablanca Formation is found, apart from its type locality on the Mesa de Los Santos, Santander, in Boyacá and the Middle Magdalena Basin.

Regional correlations

Stratigraphy of the Llanos Basin and surrounding provinces

Ma	Age	Paleomap	Regional events	Catatumbo	Cordillera	proximal Llanos	distal Llanos	Putumayo	VSM	Environments	Maximum thickness	Petroleum geology	Notes
0.01	Holocene		Holocene volcanism Seismic activity	alluvium								Overburden
1	Pleistocene		Pleistocene volcanism Andean orogeny 3 Glaciations	Guayabo	Soatá Sabana	Necesidad	Guayabo	Gigante Neiva		Alluvial to fluvial (Guayabo)	550 m (1,800 ft) (Guayabo)		[7][8][9][10]
2.6	Pliocene		Pliocene volcanism Andean orogeny 3 GABI		Subachoque
5.3	Messinian		Andean orogeny 3 Foreland		Marichuela			Caimán	Honda				[9][11]
13.5	Langhian		Regional flooding	León	hiatus	Caja	León			Lacustrine (León)	400 m (1,300 ft) (León)	Seal	[10][12]
16.2	Burdigalian		Miocene inundations Andean orogeny 2	C1		Carbonera C1		Ospina		Proximal fluvio-deltaic (C1)	850 m (2,790 ft) (Carbonera)	Reservoir	[11][10]
17.3				C2		Carbonera C2				Distal lacustrine-deltaic (C2)		Seal
19				C3		Carbonera C3				Proximal fluvio-deltaic (C3)		Reservoir
21	Early Miocene		Pebas wetlands	C4		Carbonera C4			Barzalosa	Distal fluvio-deltaic (C4)		Seal
23	Late Oligocene		Andean orogeny 1 Foredeep	C5		Carbonera C5		Orito		Proximal fluvio-deltaic (C5)		Reservoir	[8][11]
25				C6		Carbonera C6				Distal fluvio-lacustrine (C6)		Seal
28	Early Oligocene			C7		C7		Pepino	Gualanday	Proximal deltaic-marine (C7)		Reservoir	[8][11][13]
32	Oligo-Eocene			C8	Usme	C8	onlap			Marine-deltaic (C8)		Seal Source	[13]
35	Late Eocene			Mirador		Mirador				Coastal (Mirador)	240 m (790 ft) (Mirador)	Reservoir	[10][14]
40	Middle Eocene				Regadera				hiatus
45
50	Early Eocene			Socha		Los Cuervos				Deltaic (Los Cuervos)	260 m (850 ft) (Los Cuervos)	Seal Source	[10][14]
55	Late Paleocene		PETM 2000 ppm CO2	Los Cuervos	Bogotá				Gualanday
60	Early Paleocene		SALMA	Barco	Guaduas	Barco		Rumiyaco		Fluvial (Barco)	225 m (738 ft) (Barco)	Reservoir	[7][8][11][10][15]
65	Maastrichtian		KT extinction	Catatumbo	Guadalupe				Monserrate	Deltaic-fluvial (Guadalupe)	750 m (2,460 ft) (Guadalupe)	Reservoir	[7][10]
72	Campanian		End of rifting	Colón-Mito Juan									[10][16]
83	Santonian							Villeta/Güagüaquí
86	Coniacian
89	Turonian		Cenomanian-Turonian anoxic event	La Luna	Chipaque	Gachetá	hiatus			Restricted marine (all)	500 m (1,600 ft) (Gachetá)	Source	[7][10][17]
93	Cenomanian		Rift 2
100	Albian				Une	Une		Caballos		Deltaic (Une)	500 m (1,600 ft) (Une)	Reservoir	[11][17]
113	Aptian			Capacho	Fómeque			Motema	Yaví	Open marine (Fómeque)	800 m (2,600 ft) (Fómeque)	Source (Fóm)	[8][10][18]
125	Barremian		High biodiversity	Aguardiente	Paja					Shallow to open marine (Paja)	940 m (3,080 ft) (Paja)	Reservoir	[7]
129	Hauterivian		Rift 1	Tibú- Mercedes	Las Juntas	hiatus				Deltaic (Las Juntas)	910 m (2,990 ft) (Las Juntas)	Reservoir (LJun)	[7]
133	Valanginian			Río Negro	Cáqueza Macanal Rosablanca					Restricted marine (Macanal)	2,935 m (9,629 ft) (Macanal)	Source (Mac)	[8][19]
140	Berriasian			Girón
145	Tithonian		Break-up of Pangea	Jordán	Arcabuco	Buenavista Batá		Saldaña		Alluvial, fluvial (Buenavista)	110 m (360 ft) (Buenavista)	"Jurassic"	[11][20]
150	Early-Mid Jurassic		Passive margin 2	La Quinta	Montebel Noreán	hiatus				Coastal tuff (La Quinta)	100 m (330 ft) (La Quinta)		[21]
201	Late Triassic			Mucuchachi				Payandé					[11]
235	Early Triassic		Pangea		hiatus							"Paleozoic"
250	Permian
300	Late Carboniferous		Famatinian orogeny						Cerro Neiva ()				[22]
340	Early Carboniferous		Fossil fish Romer's gap		Cuche (355-385)	Farallones ()				Deltaic, estuarine (Cuche)	900 m (3,000 ft) (Cuche)
360	Late Devonian		Passive margin 1	Río Cachirí (360-419)					Ambicá ()	Alluvial-fluvial-reef (Farallones)	2,400 m (7,900 ft) (Farallones)		[19][23][24][25][26]
390	Early Devonian		High biodiversity	Floresta (387-400) El Tíbet						Shallow marine (Floresta)	600 m (2,000 ft) (Floresta)
410	Late Silurian		Silurian mystery
425	Early Silurian			hiatus
440	Late Ordovician		Rich fauna in Bolivia	San Pedro (450-490)		Duda ()
470	Early Ordovician		First fossils		Busbanzá (>470±22) Chuscales Otengá	Guape ()		Río Nevado ()	Hígado () Agua Blanca Venado (470-475)				[27][28][29]
488	Late Cambrian		Regional intrusions	Chicamocha (490-515)	Quetame ()	Ariarí ()		SJ del Guaviare (490-590)	San Isidro ()				[30][31]
515	Early Cambrian		Cambrian explosion										[29][32]
542	Ediacaran		Break-up of Rodinia		pre-Quetame		post-Parguaza		El Barro ()	Yellow: allochthonous basement (Chibcha Terrane) Green: autochthonous basement (Río Negro-Juruena Province)		Basement	[33][34]
600	Neoproterozoic		Cariri Velhos orogeny	Bucaramanga (600-1400)				pre-Guaviare					[30]
800			Snowball Earth										[35]
1000	Mesoproterozoic		Sunsás orogeny			Ariarí (1000)			La Urraca (1030-1100)				[36][37][38][39]
1300			Rondônia-Juruá orogeny			pre-Ariarí	Parguaza (1300-1400)		Garzón (1180-1550)				[40]
1400				pre-Bucaramanga									[41]
1600	Paleoproterozoic						Maimachi (1500-1700)		pre-Garzón				[42]
1800			Tapajós orogeny				Mitú (1800)						[40][42]
1950			Transamazonic orogeny				pre-Mitú						[40]
2200			Columbia
2530	Archean		Carajas-Imataca orogeny										[40]
3100			Kenorland
Sources

Legend

• group
• important formation
• fossiliferous formation
• minor formation
• (age in Ma)
• proximal Llanos (Medina)^{[note 1]}
• distal Llanos (Saltarin 1A well)^{[note 2]}

See also

• Colombia portal
• Geology portal

Geology of the Eastern Hills

Geology of the Ocetá Páramo

Geology of the Altiplano Cundiboyacense

Notes and references

Notes

1. based on Duarte et al. (2019)^[43], García González et al. (2009),^[44] and geological report of Villavicencio^[45]
2. based on Duarte et al. (2019)^[43] and the hydrocarbon potential evaluation performed by the UIS and ANH in 2009^[46]

References

1. Galvis & Valencia, 2009, p.17
2. Gómez et al., 2015
3. Rojas & Sandy, 2019
4. Cadena, Edwin-Alberto; Unwin, David M.; Martill, David M. (2020-10-01). "Lower Cretaceous pterosaurs from Colombia". Cretaceous Research. 114: 104526. Bibcode:2020CrRes.11404526C. doi:10.1016/j.cretres.2020.104526. ISSN 0195-6671. S2CID 224886977.
5. E. A. Cadena Rueda, E. S. Gaffney (2005). "Notoemys zapatocaensis, a New Side-Necked Turtle (Pleurodira: Platychelyidae) from the Early Cretaceous of Colombia". American Museum Novitates (3470): 1–19. doi:10.1206/0003-0082(2005)470<0001:NZANST>2.0.CO;2.
6. Cadena, Edwin-Alberto; Combita-Romero, Diego A (2023-07-12). "The onset of large size in Cretaceous marine turtles (Protostegidae) evidenced by new fossil remains from the Valanginian of Colombia". Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society. doi:10.1093/zoolinnean/zlad053. ISSN 0024-4082.
7. García González et al., 2009, p.27
8. García González et al., 2009, p.50
9. García González et al., 2009, p.85
10. Barrero et al., 2007, p.60
11. Barrero et al., 2007, p.58
12. Plancha 111, 2001, p.29
13. Plancha 177, 2015, p.39
14. Plancha 111, 2001, p.26
15. Plancha 111, 2001, p.24
16. Plancha 111, 2001, p.23
17. Pulido & Gómez, 2001, p.32
18. Pulido & Gómez, 2001, p.30
19. Pulido & Gómez, 2001, pp.21-26
20. Pulido & Gómez, 2001, p.28
21. Correa Martínez et al., 2019, p.49
22. Plancha 303, 2002, p.27
23. Terraza et al., 2008, p.22
24. Plancha 229, 2015, pp.46-55
25. Plancha 303, 2002, p.26
26. Moreno Sánchez et al., 2009, p.53
27. Mantilla Figueroa et al., 2015, p.43
28. Manosalva Sánchez et al., 2017, p.84
29. Plancha 303, 2002, p.24
30. Mantilla Figueroa et al., 2015, p.42
31. Arango Mejía et al., 2012, p.25
32. Plancha 350, 2011, p.49
33. Pulido & Gómez, 2001, pp.17-21
34. Plancha 111, 2001, p.13
35. Plancha 303, 2002, p.23
36. Plancha 348, 2015, p.38
37. Planchas 367-414, 2003, p.35
38. Toro Toro et al., 2014, p.22
39. Plancha 303, 2002, p.21
40. Bonilla et al., 2016, p.19
41. Gómez Tapias et al., 2015, p.209
42. Bonilla et al., 2016, p.22
43. Duarte et al., 2019
44. García González et al., 2009
45. Pulido & Gómez, 2001
46. García González et al., 2009, p.60

Bibliography

• Galvis Arenas, Beatriz Elena; Valencia Escobar, José Leonardo (2009), Contribución en la determinación de los posibles paleoambientes de las rocas Cretáceas Tempranas sobre la vía Tunja-Villa de Leyva (entre Alto del Arrayán - Peaje Sáchica) y sectores aledaños, departamento de Boyacá, Universidad de Caldas, pp. 1–127
• Gómez Cruz, Arley de Jesús; Bermúdez, Hermann D.; Vega, Francisco J. (2015), "A new species of Diaulax Bell, 1863 (Brachyura: Dialucidae) in the Early Cretaceous of the Rosablanca Formation, Colombia", Boletín de la Sociedad Geológica Mexicana, 67: 103–112, doi:10.18268/BSGM2015v67n1a8, retrieved 2017-04-04
• Rojas, Alexis; Sandy, Michael R. (2019), "Early Cretaceous (Valanginian) brachiopods from the Rosablanca Formation, Colombia, South America: Biostratigraphic significance and paleogeographic implications", Cretaceous Research, 96: 184–195, Bibcode:2019CrRes..96..184R, doi:10.1016/j.cretres.2018.12.011, retrieved 2019-02-11
• Villamil, Tomas (2012), Chronology Relative Sea Level History and a New Sequence Stratigraphic Model for Basinal Cretaceous Facies of Colombia, Society for Sedimentary Geology (SEPM), pp. 161–216

Maps

• Bernal Vargas, Luis Enrique; Mantilla Figueroa, Luis Carlos (2006), Plancha 85 - Simití - 1:100,000, INGEOMINAS, p. 1, retrieved 2017-06-06
• Bernal Vargas, Luis Enrique; Mantilla Figueroa, Luis Carlos (2006), Plancha 96 - Bocas del Rosario - 1:100,000, INGEOMINAS, p. 1, retrieved 2017-06-06
• Vargas, Rodrigo; Arias, Alfonso (2009), Plancha 97 - Cáchira - 1:100,000, INGEOMINAS, p. 1, retrieved 2017-06-06
• Beltrán, Alejandro; Quintero, Claudia I. (2008), Plancha 119 - Barrancabermeja - 1:100,000, INGEOMINAS, p. 1, retrieved 2017-06-06
• Ward, Dwight E.; Goldsmith, Richard; Jimeno, Andrés; Cruz, Jaime; Restrepo, Hernán; Gómez, Eduardo (2010), Plancha 120 - Bucaramanga - 1:100,000, INGEOMINAS, p. 1, retrieved 2017-06-06
• Beltrán, Alejandro; Lancheros, José Alfredo; López, Carolina; Chaquea, Claudia; Patiño, Alejandro; Guerra, Angela; Cabrera, Julio C.; Quintero, Claudia I.; Molano, Simón Emilio (2008), Plancha 134 - Puerto Parra - 1:100,000, INGEOMINAS, p. 1, retrieved 2017-06-06
• Angarita, Leonidas; Carrillo, Víctor; Castro, Alfonso; Daconte, Rommel; Niño, Mario; Pulido, Orlando G.; Rodríguez, J. Antonio; Royero, José María; Salinas, Carlos Ulloa and Rodrigo Vargas, Rosalba (2009), Plancha 135 - San Gil - 1:100,000, INGEOMINAS, p. 1, retrieved 2017-06-06
• Beltrán, Alejandro; Lancheros, José Alfredo; López, Carolina; Chaquea, Claudia; Patiño, Alejandro; Guerra, Angela; Cabrera, Julio C.; Quintero, Claudia I.; Molano, Simón Emilio (2008), Plancha 150 - Cimitarra - 1:100,000, INGEOMINAS, p. 1, retrieved 2017-06-06
• Pulido González, Orlando (2009), Plancha 151 - Charalá - 1:100,000, INGEOMINAS, p. 1, retrieved 2017-06-06
• Ulloa, Carlos E; Rodríguez, Erasmo (2009), Plancha 170 - Vélez - 1:100,000, INGEOMINAS, p. 1, retrieved 2017-06-06
• Renzoni, Giancarlo; Rosas, Humberto (2009), Plancha 171 - Duitama - 1:100,000, INGEOMINAS, p. 1, retrieved 2017-06-06
• Fuquen M., Jaime A; Osorno M, José F. (2009), Plancha 190 - Chiquinquirá - 1:100,000, INGEOMINAS, p. 1, retrieved 2017-06-06
• Renzoni, Giancarlo; Rosas, Humberto; Etayo Serna, Fernando (1998), Plancha 191 - Tunja - 1:100,000, INGEOMINAS, p. 1, retrieved 2017-06-06

External links

• Gómez, J.; Montes, N.E.; Nivia, Á.; Diederix, H. (2015), Plancha 5-09 del Atlas Geológico de Colombia 2015 – escala 1:500,000, Servicio Geológico Colombiano, p. 1, retrieved 2017-03-16