Geology of the Falcón Basin (NW Venezuela)

ABSTRACT

This paper presents a geological map and cross-section of the Falcón Basin based both on published and unpublished work and on new data collected in the northern and southern basin margins. The geological map covers an area of 4600 km² at 1:100,000 scale. The cross-section is oriented NNW-SSE, traversing perpendicular to the main structures. In general, the structure of the study area results from the inversion of a graben (Oligocene-early Miocene back-arc basin), that started in the middle Miocene due to the convergence between the Caribbean and South American plates. The map, the cross-section and the observations made in the field have been used to generate a tectonostratigraphic reconstruction of the Falcón Basin. The Oligocene-early Miocene sedimentary succession mapped and described is relevant to the hydrocarbon exploration in the Caribbean and in the Gulf of Venezuela, where new hydrocarbon resources have recently been discovered (i.e. Perla gas field).

KEYWORDS:

• Falcón Basin
• back-arc basin
• NW Venezuela
• inverted graben
• tectonostratigraphy

Acknowledgements

The authors are very grateful and acknowledge the helpful reviews by Anna Traforti, Juliane Cron and Mauricio Parra.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

Funding by Repsol Exploración S.A., the Grup de Recerca Reconegut per la Generalitat de Catalunya 2014 SGR 251 ‘Geologia Sedimentària’ and the I + D + i research project CGL2015-69805-P (BIOGEOEVENTS) is appreciated.