OLOGI C
GE A
la serena
Stratigraphy of Lo Valdés Formation (Upper Jurassic –
Lower Cretaceous) in Central Chile
a b
Christian Salazar * and Wolfgang Stinnesbeck
a
Área Paleontología, Museo Nacional de Historia Natural, Parque Quinta Normal s/n, Casilla 787, Santiago, Chile
b
Institut für Geowissenschaften, Universität Heidelberg, INF 234, Im Neuenheimer Feld 234, 69120 Heidelberg, Germany
*email: christian.salazar@mnhn.cl
Abstract. The Lo Valdés Formation in central Chile
represents a complete and fossil-rich sedimentary
succession of Tithonian-Hauterivian age (Late Jurassic –
Early Cretaceous). Originally defined by González and
described in detail by Biro, the unit has been recently
analized by Salazar and Stinnesbeck. They redefined and
split the unit into two separate formations, the Baños
Morales Formation that is dominated by volcanic rocks,
and the Lo Valdés Formation as an exclusively
sedimentary unit. According to the new proposal, the
Baños Morales Formation is 760 m thick in the type
locality, and separated into two members, La Cuesta and
Placa Verde Members. Ammonites and other molluscs
are present in restricted sedimentary layers between thick
volcanic units and indicate an early – middle Tithonian
age of the formation. The re-defined Lo Valdés Formation
consists of siliciclastic and carbonate sedimentary rocks.
In the type locality it is 539 m thick and divided in three
members, Escalador, Placa Roja and Cantera members.
The ammonite assemblage indicates a late Tithonian to
late Hauterivian age for the formation. The lithological
composition and biotic content of the Lo Valdés
Formation allows for an interpretation of shoreface,
offshore transition and offshore environments.
Key words: Sedimentology, Facies, Late Jurassic, Early
Cretaceous, Chile.
1 Introduction
The Upper Jurassic and Lower Cretaceous sedimentary
succession in central Chile is well represented by the Lo
Valdés Formation. The unit was originally defined by
Gonzalez (1963) and described to be 1635 m thick. Biro
(1964, 1980) gave a detailed documentation of the
biostratigraphy, re-measured the type section to 1456 m
thickness, and divided the unit in three lithostratigraphic
members (from bottom to top): “Spilitas”, “Arenáceo”
and “Calcáreo” members. The ammonite assemblage of
the Lo Valdés Formation was assigned to the Early
Tithonian to Hauterivian, or even Barremian (Biro 1964,
Hallam et al. 1986).
The explicit difference in rock composition prompted us
to propose a formal separation of the volcanic “Spilitas”
member from overlying sedimentary units of the Lo
Valdés Formation s.str. This suggestion is based on the
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concept of formations as homogenous stratigraphic and
sedimentological units (e.g., lithology, mineralogical
composition, texture, primary sedimentary structures and
fossil content; Coe et al 2003, Catuneanu 2006, Nichols
2009). Recently Salazar and Stinnesbeck (submitted)
proposed to separate the volcanic “Spilitas” member
from the sedimentary “arenáceo-calcáreo” members of
Biro (1964) and proposed the name Baños Morales
Formation for the spilite-dominated member overlying
the Rio Damas red beds. The Lo Valdés Formation is
reserved for the sedimentary- succession overlying this
volcanic-dominated unit.
2 Methodology
Rock samples and fossil material were collected in
sections at Lo Valdés, Cajón del Morado and Cruz de
Piedra, located in the high Andes Cordillera in central
Chile. Lithological description are based on Wright
(1992); sedimentological and stratigraphical concepts
follow Coe et al. (2003), Catuneanu (2006), and Nichols
(2009).
3 Stratigraphy
3.1. Baños Morales Formation
The Baños Morales Formation proposed by Salazar and
Stinnesbeck (submitted) is defined as a predominantly
volcanic unit of andesite porphyry and intercalated
restricted sedimentary layers. The type locality of this
new stratigraphic unit is located close of the Baños
Morales village, on the south side of the El Volcán river
valley, 70°02`57``W and 33°49`41``S. The Baños
Morales Formation overlies the Río Damas Formation
and underlies the Lo Valdés Formation as redefined. In
the type locality, the unit is 760 m thick. Two members
are differentiated, the “La Cuesta” and “Placa Verde”
Members, with 117 and 643 m thickness respectively
(Figure 1). La Cuesta Member is composed by a 15 m
thick interval of silty limestone. Between 15 m to 87.5 m,
a limestone unit is intercalated with andesite. The interval
between 87.5 and 117.5 m section consists of silty
wackestone. The Placa Verde Member is 643 m thick.
 ST 14 BIOESTRATIGRAFÍA Y PALEONTOLOGÍA ANDINA

From 117.5 to 418.5 m, it consists of andesite porphyry,

with 2.4 mm long phenocrystals of plagioclase and
common pillows and ellipsoidal structures. Between
418.5 and 637.5 m porphyritic andesite contains
phenocrystals of plagioclase that are 5 mm long.
Upsection, from 637.5 to 653.25 m, there is a mixed
clastic-carbonate sedimentary unit, and overlying, from
653.25 to 760 m, another unit of andesite. The Lo Valdés
Formation, overlies the Baños Morales Formation
(Figure 1). Chemical and physical conditions of low
metamorphism of this volcanic sequences were given by
Calderón (2008). The ammonite assemblage presented by
Biro (1964) was re-studied by Salazar and Stinnesbeck
(submitted); these latter authors assigned an early-middle
Tithonian age to the Baños Morales Formation.

3.2 Lo Valdés Formation

The Lo Valdés Formation as redefined by Salazar and

Stinnesbeck (submitted) is 519 meters thick at the type
locality and consists of sedimentary rocks (“arenáceo”
and “calcáreo” members). These were divided into three
members (from bottom to top): Escalador, Placa Roja and
Cantera Members. In the type locality, an andesitic dike
of 20 m thickness disconformably cuts through the base
of the Placa Roja Member. This dyke is post-sedimentary
and was therefore not considered to form part of the
sedimentary column. It is not included in the description
of the Lo Valdés Formation.

The Escalador Member forms the base of the unit and is

73 m thick. The unit consists of well-sorted and fine
grained calcareous sandstone with occasional
horizontal and cross lamination,

Figure 1. Cross section of the Baños Morales Formation in the

Type Locality, with differentiation of lithological Members. *
T-H: Upper Tithonian to Hauterivian.

ammonoids, inoceramids, oysters, trigoniids and other

bivalves, rare gastropods and corals (Figure

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 AT 5 Bioestratigrafía y Paleontología andina

2). The Placa Roja Member is 193 m thick and consists

of intercalated layers of siltstone, calcareous siltstone and
silty limestone. Ammonoids, bivalves, oysters,
inoceramids, gastropods, annelids, scarce echinoderms
and algae were detected (Figure 2). The Cantera Member
is 252 m thick and consists of sandy and silty limestone
and calcareous siltstone. The fossil assemblage consists
of ammonoids, bivalves, oyster, inoceramids, scarce
echinoderms, bryozoans and sponge spicules.
An unfossiliferous volcanoclastic breccia with angular
clasts of silty limestone overlies the Lo Valdés Formation
with a possibly conformable contact (Figure 2).

The fossil assemblage and biostratigraphy of the Lo

Valdés Formation was presented by Biro (1964) and
redefined by Salazar and Stinnesbeck (submitted).
Corongoceras alternans, Substeueroceras koeneni,
Argentiniceras noduliferum, Spiticeras damesi,
Cuyaniceras transgrediens, Favrella angulatiformis and
Crioceras andinum were detected. These taxa allow for
an assignation of the Lo Valdés Formation to the Late
Tithonian to Late Hauterivian. A detailed systematic
description of the ammonite assemblage and
biostratigraphic discussion of the Lo Valdés Formation
are discussed by Salazar (2012) and work in progress.

3.3 Depositional setting

The lithological composition and fossil content of the Lo
Valdés Formation allows for a differentiation into
shoreface, offshore transition and offshore environments.
The Escalador Member represents shoreface facies of a
storm-dominated shelf, with transgressive shallow
marine intervals. Offshore transition facies are present in
the Placa Roja Member and are reflected by
rhythmically-bedded siltstone, calcareous siltstone,
wackestone and packstone. The presence of disseminated
pyrite and high concentration of organic matter indicate
low oxygen and low energy environments. Offshore Figure 2. Stratigraphic column of the Lo Valdés
(outer-ramp) environments are identified towards the top Formation in the type locality, with differentiation of
of the section (Cantera Member) and are reflected by an lithological Members. V.B.: unnamed volcanoclastic
breccia.
increase in silty wackestone and calci-mudstone and
decrease in faunal richness and abundance.

Acknowledgements
We are grateful to Pablo Bernabé, Loreto Donoso,
Thomas Eggers, Danilo González, Jorge Knabe, Luis
Rivas, Gerd Sielfeld, Natalia Varela, Marko Yurak and
Patricio Zambrano (former Universidad de Concepción,
Chile) and Prof. Dr. Luis Arturo Quinzio and Gerardo
Flores (Universidad de Concepción, Chile). Dr. Hannes
Löser (Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México at
Hermosillo), Joachim Fillauer (Universität Heidelberg,
Germany), Claudia Piccoli and “Moncho” from Baños
Morales and Carabineros de Chile. Financial support to

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this project was given by BMBF CHL13WTZ-22 and
Fondecyt de Iniciación 11140176.
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