Campanian-Maastrichtian paleogeography and reservoir distribution in

the Upper Magdalena Valley of Colombia.

VELOZA-FAJARDO, GABRIEL; MARIO DE FREITAS and MARTIN MANTILLA
Hocol S.A. Carrera 7 No 116 43 Piso 16, Bogot, Colombia.
[email protected]
ABSTRACT.
Integration of stratigraphic, structural,
petrologic, seismic, well interpretation and
biostratigraphic data allows for a new interpretation
of the Upper Cretaceous sequence of the Upper
Magdalena Valley. Thickness changes among
similar depositional environments and between the
Neiva and Girardot Sub-basins (from 130-1300 ft
respectively) allow us to constrain CampanianMaastrichtian deformation, previous to Andean
deformation.
Eleven stratigraphic cycles were defined
based on the observed relationships between
energy features and stacking patterns. The Lower
and Upper Lidita Fms., Santonian and Middle
Campanian, respectively, were chosen as datum
levels, assuming that these units are flooding
surfaces (isochronal surfaces). Sequences Kml1Kml5 represent the interval between the two liditas
and are thicker towards the NE area of the
basin, getting thinner to the S. Those
sequences are composed basically of middle
to upper shoreface changing laterally to
deltaic deposits in the NE, to lower shoreface
and upper offshore environments towards the
W and S. The sequences Kmu1-Kmu5,
above the Upper Lidita Fm. are thicker in the
NW portion of the basin and get thinner
toward the south and east due to the erosion
to the south of the Neiva sub-basin. These
sequences are composed basically of
deposits ranging from lower shoreface in the
south, to upper shoreface towards NE.
We suggest that the Upper
Maastrichtian-Paleocene, Guaduala Fm.,
rests paraconformably upon the Upper
Cretaceous
sequence,
overlapping
progressively distal and older deposits
towards the south, where the upper
regressive cycles and the Upper Lidita were
eroded or bypassed, or both, as a response
of the Central Cordillera uplift

INTRODUCTION.
The Upper Magdalena Valley
(UMV) is a intermontane basin bounded
by the Chusma Fault system in the W
and by the Garzn-Suaza Fault system
in the E flank; the northern and southern
limits are the Girardot Fold belt and the
Altamira Fault respectively. It is
comprised by two sub-basins named
Girardot (GSB, northern portion) and

Neiva (NSB, south) separated by the Natagaima

and Pata highs, which expose the pre-Cretaceous
basement (Figure 1). The UMV is the third most
important hydrocarbon province in Colombia. Five
decades of exploration resulted in the discovery of
35 oil fields, which produce from three main
reservoirs. The Campanian-Maastrichtian interval
contains the best reservoir rocks in the basin.
Most of the previous attempts to establish
the paleogeography and reservoir potential
assessment of the Campanian-Maastrichtian
section in the UMV were limited to localized data
and centered on specific topics, being poorly
representative of the entire basin and not properly
addressing the regional tectonic implications. This
motivated us to develop a new stratigraphic
interpretation and reservoir assessment for the

Campanian-Maastrichtian sequence, using a

comprehensive database. Integration of
subsurface and surface data allows us to
better constrain the tectonostratigraphic
factors that governed the sedimentation and
preservation of the Campanian Maastrichtian
deposits, with important
implications for
hydrocarbon exploration.

REGIONAL SETTING.
The Upper Magdalena Valley (UMV) is
an NE-SW elongated intermontane basin
separating the Central and Eastern Cordilleras
of Colombia (Figure 1). The UMV extends for
nearly 400 km, with an average width of 50
km.
Some
key
references
for
the
understanding of the structure, stratigraphy
and hydrocarbon potential of the basin include
the following: Corrigan (1967), Beltran & Gallo
(1968, 1979), Cediel et al (1981), Kroonenberg
& Diederix (1982), Macia et al (1985), Butler &
Schamel (1988), Mojica & Franco (1990),
Schamel (1991), Van der Wiel (1991), Buitrago
(1994), Fabre (1995), Sarmiento (2001).
The generalized stratigraphy of the
UMV is presented in Figure 2. The UMV basin
is underlain by continental crust, which has
been interpreted as either the prolongation of
the Guayana shield, or an allochthonous,
Grenville terrane which collided with South
America in the Proterozoic (Kroonenberg,
1982; Forero, 1990). Proterozoic high grade
metamorphics make the bulk of the Garzon
Massif (Kroonenberg & Diederix, 1982).
Paleozoic low grade metamorphics, part of a
large metamorphic belt that extended to the
Santa Marta Massif in northern Colombia, are
preserved in parts of the Central Cordillera and
the Garzon Massif (Irving, 1975; McCourt et al,
1984). Triassic sediments unconformably
overlie the metamorphic basement, and
comprise continental siliciclastics (Luisa Fm.)
and marine carbonate rocks (Payande Fm.,
Cediel et al, 1981; Macia et al, 1985). The
Jurassic represents a major thermal event and
contains vast amounts of intrusives and
volcaniclastics (Saldaa Fm.) generated by
continental stratovolcanoes and deposited as
an infill of rifted blocks in the medial-distal
parts of a magmatic arc associated with a
convergent margin to the west (Bayona et al,
1994). The Jurassic-Triassic section, regarded
as the economic basement for hydrocarbon
exploration in the UMV, outcrops along both
fronts of the Central and Eastern Cordilleras
and in a series of basement uplifts within the
basin (Figure 1).

The Cretaceous unconformably overlies

the Jurassic in the UMV and records a major
marine transgression from the north. In the
northeast of the Girardot sub-basin, bordering the
ECC, Cretaceous deposition started in the
Barremian. The section gets progressively thinner
southwards, containing Aptian fluvial deposits as
the older unit in the Neiva sub-basin. In the early
stages of this transgression, deposition of fluvial
to estuarine sands (Caballos Fm.) created the
main reservoir rock of the basin. During maximum
extension of the transgression in the Turonian,
deposition of the La Luna and equivalent units of
Venezuela and Ecuador took place. This
represents the principal hydrocarbon source rock
in northern South America (Villamil et al, 1999).
The Cretaceous ended with a regressive cycle,
when shallow marine sands (Monserrate Fm.,
also a major reservoir rock) were deposited. A
major change in sedimentation to continental
conditions occurred in the Maastrichtian and is
associated with the accretion of the Western
Cordillera. The Guaduas Gr. (Maastrichtian to
Paleocene) contains mostly coastal plain
mudstones (San Francisco Fm.) which grade into
siltsones and thin sandstones (Teruel Fm.).
Eocene and younger deposited contain
alternating sequences of conglomerates and
sands capped by claystones and represent
molasses from the adjacent rising cordilleras
(Beltran & Gallo, 1968; Anderson, 1972;
Guerrero, 1993 and others). In the late Cenozoic
significant volcanic activity is recorded in
volcaniclastic deposits (van Houten, 1976; van
der Wiel, 1991 and others).
The UMV was part of a Jurassic back-arc
rift which has undergone inversion during
compressional and transpressional tectonic
pulses from Late Eocene to Recent (Schamel,
1991; Cooper et al, 1995; Sarmiento, 2001),
resulting in a complex array of compartments with
varying structural styles. The existence of
previous sets of Paleozoic and Mesozoic faults
and weakness zones affecting basement and the
pre-Cretaceous section strongly controlled the
subsequent structural development during
Tertiary compression (Butler & Schamel, 1988; de
Freitas, 2001). Zircon and apatite fission-track
data suggests that the Central Cordillera presents
an uplift of 7-13km since Campanian times, while
the Eastern Cordillera has suffer an uplift of at
least 3-4km sometime between 65-30 in the
Villeta Anticlinorium area (Gomez et al, 2003).
Late Cretaceous Eocene accretion of Western
Cordillera led to northward propagation of uplift of
the Central Cordillera and to onset of
compressional inversion of Mesozoic grabens in
the Eastern Cordillera (Gomez et al, 2003).

Central and Eastern Cordillera led to the creation

of opposite vergent fold belts and tectonic
wedges, arranged in a mosaic of rhomboid blocks
separated by NE-SW transfer zones (de Freitas,
2001).
Hydrocarbon exploration in the UMV in
the last 50 years resulted in the discovery of 30 oil
fields. The petroleum geology of the basin has
been reviewed by Buitrago (1994), Fabre (1987),
Navarro & Cordoba (2002) and, more recently, by
Sarmiento & Rangel (2004).
Petroleum Systems
Hydrocarbon accumulations in the Neiva
subbasin of the UMV are part of two proven
petroleum systems (Buitrago, 1994): the VilletaCaballos(!) and the Villeta-Monserrate(!). The first
straddles along the western portion of the basin,
to the west of the San Jacinto fault system, and
the second and most prolific, occurs between that
fault system and the front of the Eastern
Cordillera. Representative fields of these systems
are San Francisco and
Tello, respectively.
Hydrocarbon exploration in the UMV initiated in
the late 1940s and resulted in the discovery of
over 30 oil fields to date, of which the San
Francisco field, discovered by Hocol in 1985, is
the largest (~200 mmbbl of recoverable reserves).
The petroleum systems of different sectors of the
basin have been reviewed by Buitrago (1994),
Fabre (1995), Navarro & Cordoba (2002) and
Sarmiento & Rangel (2004).
All hydrocarbon discoveries in the UMV
are assumed to be sourced from rocks of the
Villeta Group (Albian to Coniacian). Main
reservoirs in the basin are the sandstone intervals
of the Caballos Fm. (Aptian-Albian), the
Monserrate
Fm.
(Campanian-Maastrichtian),
which is the focus of this study, and the Honda
Group (Miocene).
Actually, four tectonic plates interact in
the NW corner of South America. Nazca and
Caribbean plates moves toward the E and SE
respectively; South America Plate moves
westward and the Cocos Plate moves northeastward. Focal mechanism determinations
indicates that the stress field present in the
NW corner of South America has varied since
Late Cretaceous principally in two phases,
from E-W to SW-NE during Maastrichtian-Late
Paleocene to NW-SE since early EocenePleistocene in the southern Middle Magdalena
Valley (Corts et al, 2005), generating oblique
reactivation of previous fault sets and en
echelon structures. Configuration of the
previous extensional sub-basins and the
unique position of the UMV between the

STRATIGRAPHIC MODEL.
Controversy about the stratigraphic
nomenclature of the Upper Cretaceous of the
UMV has occurred in the past years because of
the interpretation of the stratigraphy presented in
each area, where regional concepts were applied
to local studies. The stratigraphy defined in the
GSB differs of the one defined for the NSB (Table
No 1), where just one sandstone level is present
above the Lower Lidita Fm., were no formal
stratigraphic nomenclature has been defined for
this sub-basin.
Eleven informal units or cycles, named
from base to top Kml1-5, Upper Lidita Unit and
units Kmu1-5 were defined for this time span
(from Campanian Middle Maastrichtian). Units

Kml1-5 are time equivalent deposits with the

Arenisca Dura Fm. of the Cordillera Oriental
area and rest conformably over the limestones
and shales of the Villeta Gr.; and deposits of
the cycles Kmu1-5 are equivalent with the
deposits of the Arenisca Labor-Tierna of the
same area. The equivalent units between GSB
and NSB are presented in Table 1.
Database and Methodology.
Almost 100 wells and 40 surface
sections were analyzed and correlated with the
purpose of a better understanding of the
depositional environments and of the
depositional sequences. All the wells were
adjusted to a unique set of logs, then those
wells were corrected for dip (when dipmeter
data were available) for obtaining the true
stratigraphic thickness (TST).
The wells and surface sections were
adjusted with the palynology reported (when
available) to define the presence of the
regional markers named before, which are well
defined horizons of Santonian and Middle
Campanian age respectively. More than 200
petrographic samples were tied to each
defined interval. Four hundred points were
counted for each thin section (Veloza, 2005) in
order to identify composition of framework and
accessory grains, as well as interstitial material
(when plates were available). Detrital modes
exclusive of carbonate grains, heavy minerals
and authigenic minerals were calculated from
point-count results and plotted in ternary
diagrams. When no point data were available,
estimations were used to made the sample
classification. Once correlated, the thickness
and facies of each interval defined were
mapped finding order to establish special
relationships
between
thickness
and
depositional environments. An example of the
methodology used is shown in Figure 3.

Two reference levels, Lower and Upper

Lidita Fms. were used as regional maximum
flooding surfaces (Guerrero et al, 2000). We
assume those units to be approximately
isochronal across the basin. The facies
association for each interval was defined on the
basis of cores and lithologs description and
observations of the outcrops.
Eleven stratigraphic parasequences or
stratigraphic cycles were defined. These
parasequences represent relatively conformable
successions of genetically related bedsets,
bounded by marine flooding surfaces and their
correlative surfaces (Van Wagoner et al, 1990).
Boundaries of shallow marine parasequences
(marine flooding surfaces) are essentially flat,
relatively condensed sections that represent
abrupt deepening and could present marine
carbonate, phosphate or glauconitic deposits.
Deepening is usually accompanied by minor
submarine erosion or non-deposition but not by
subaerial exposure, and presents reworked
sediments from underlying strata. Parasequences
are formed due to oscillations in the balance
between sediment supply and accommodation
space created. Sets of parasequences are
successions of genetically related parasequences
forming a distinctive stacking pattern bounded by
major marine flooding surfaces and their
correlative conformities. In some cases one or
both limits of a set is the same of a sequence
boundary. The concept of facies dislocation is
used to determine the nature of the top of the
sequence (Monserrate Fm. top) , where rocks of a
shallower facies rests directly on rocks of a
significant deeper facies (Emery & Myers, 1996).
A facies dislocation implies a fall in relative sea
level and the development of a subaerial
unconformity. It thus marks a sequence boundary
or its correlative conformity.

Litostratigraphy
and
sedimentary
environments.
Five principal areas were defined in
this study on the basis of similar depositional
environments and thicknesses. These areas
are named Fusa, Ortega, North Neiva, South
Neiva and Altamira, each with its own
stratigraphy, depending of the depositional
environment and how the tectonic evolution
affected the preservation of these deposits
(Figure 1).
From north to south, in the Fusa area,
the deposits of the Kml units represent
environments from upper offshore (Kml1) to
middle
shoreface (Kml3) and eventually
mouth bar deposits are present. These
intervals
are
represented
by
three
progradational cycles, from the Kml1 to Kml3.
The Kml4, Kml5 and Upper Lidita intervals
represent the transgression of the sea level,
with deposits ranging from middle shoreface to
offshore, where the last cycle was deposited.
The average thickness of this interval in the
Fusa area is 160 feet. The Kmu deposits in
this area range in environments from middle
shoreface to foreshore. Sequences Kmu1Kmu3 are principally progradational and Kmu4
and Kmu5 are agradational, representing
environments where the accommodation
space created was compensated with the
sediment influx. The average thickness of this
sequence is 70 feet.
In the Ortega area, the depositional
environments in the Kml cycles range between
offshore and the transition to lower shoreface.

These deposits present an agradational path, and

minimal deflections were observed in the curves.
Such response of the curves obey to the high silt
content of the rock, typical of those environments.
The average thickness of this interval is 90 feet.
The Kmu sequence is principally agradational
from the Kmu1 to Kmu3 intervals, and becomes
progradational in the Kmu4 and Kmu5 sequences.
The Kmu5 represents an abrupt facies shift, from
marine to alluvial environments, which records the
uplifting of the Central Cordillera and that was
preserved in this area when the accommodation
space exceeded the rate of uplift and sediment
supply. This interval has an average thickness of
80 feet and increases northward until 200 feet.
In the North Neiva area the curves
presents a progradational path in all the cycles of
the Kml interval. The environments vary from
lower shoreface to middle shoreface, and
eventually mouth bar deposits appear. Of the
Kmu interval only sequences 1 and 2 were
preserved in the northern portion of the area. In
the Cebu-5 well the upper Kmu2 interval was
eroded or non deposited. The average thickness
is 70 and 60 feet for Kml and Kmu, respectively.
In the South Neiva area just a few wells
have all the Kml interval complete.
In the
northern portion of this area the uppermost level
found is the Upper Lidita, which is in
unconformable contact with the Guaduala Group.
The depositional environments range from lower
shoreface to upper offshore, and eventually
mouth and mouth bars deposits are found. The
Kml cycles in this area present principally a
progradational path. The thickness of this interval
ranges from 40-60 feet.

In the Altamira area few cycles are

preserved, namely the Kml1 to 3. These cycles
represent a progradational path, as found in all
of the study area. These deposits have always
been interpreted as offshore deposits. In our
interpretation, based mostly on petrography of
surface samples, they represent high energy,
near shore environments (middle to upper
shoreface), which occurred far from clastic
sediment input, allowing the development of
biogenic habitats structures. The average
thickness of the sedimentary sequence in this
area is 50 feet.
Sandstone petrology
All the available petrographic samples
compiled from various works, petrography of
surface (Osorio & Rodriguez, 2000; Veloza,
2005; Reyes et al, 2003 and others) and wells
samples (Atadero-1, Rio Saldaa-2 among
others) were plotted in map view for each
sequence identified, with the aim of identifying
variations in the source area (Figure 4). Almost
all the studied macroscopic and microscopic
samples analyzed during the development of
this study are compositionally and texturally
mature and submature.
Comparison of composition (QFL) and
provenance (QtFLt) ternary diagrams (when
detailed descriptions were available) from
base to top does not indicate a unique
provenance area, although it is clear that all
the samples fall in the uppermost corner of the
triangle,
being
classified
between
quartzarenites,
subarkoses,
and
sublitharenites (feldspars and lithic fragments
range from 0-8%, Figure 4). In the provenance
diagrams, all the samples fall in the orogen
recycled and craton interior areas, which
indicates that there are at least two source
areas. Those areas are the Guyana Shield,
that supplies all the quartz present
(supermature sediments), the ancestral
Central Cordillera (in a distal position), which
supplies the igneous, metamorphic clasts, and
a probable third area provides the sediments
previously deposited south and westward, and
which were eroded and redeposited in the
north, evidence of the presence of this
sediments are the abundant intraclasts
fragments. In the southern portion of the basin
(Altamira area) the presence of packstone
biomicrites and grainstone bioesparites
indicates that high energy conditions prevailed
during this time. However, these sediments
have previously been misinterpreted as distal
(offshore or shelf) environments. The presence
of
subarkoses,
sublitharenites
and

quartzarenites in all the study area suggests that

those source areas were active since at least
Lower Campanian times.
Macroscopic samples, mostly from in the
Ortega area, from surface sections and cores
(Ecopetrol-ICP, 2000; Dunia, 2003), exhibit chert,
quarzite, and pink quartz clasts of 8mm (fine
medium pebble grain size) average diameter.
Although those clasts do not appear in the
petrographic results, their presence clearly
indicates reworking of older sedimentary and
metamorphic rocks. They are particularly frequent
in the Kmu5 (equivalent to La Tabla and
Cimarrona Fms.). Therefore this cycle represents
the main evidence for the first recorded pulse of
the uplifting of the Central Cordillera, and it bears
no genetic relationships with the underlying cycle.

Biostratigraphy.
Integration of biostratigraphic information
from many wells, and surface samples from
published reports (Ecopetrol-ICP, 2000; Guerrero
et al, 2000; Tchegliakova & Mojica, 2001) allow us
to develop a chronostratigraphic framework for
this
study.
Almost
all
the
published
biostratigraphic information of the UMV has been
obtained for the northern portion of the basin,
GSB.
The intervals used as datum for
correlation purposes were the Lower and Upper
Lidita Fms. (Santonian and Middle Campanian,
respectively) which represents regional flooding
surfaces and are the less diachronous surfaces.

In the Ortega area biostratigraphic reports

from the Toldado Field and Rio Saldaa wells
(Ecopetrol-ICP, 2000) suggest an Santonian
age for the Lower Lidita level, Lower
Campanian for the Kml interval, Middle
Upper Campanian for the Upper Lidita and
Upper Campanian Middle Maastrichtian for
the Kmu sequence.
This chronostratigraphic framework is
retained for the Fusa area, where few samples
of the Atadero-1 well were analyzed. However,
for this area a subtle paraconformity was
identified on the top of the Guadalupe Gr.
(Bayona et al, 2003), where the Middle
Maastrichtian time span is absent.
In the North Neiva area, private
reports from the Cebu-5 well (Robertson
Research, 1984) indicate a Santonian age for
the interval identified as Lower Lidita level, and
indicate
an
undefined
CampanianMaastrichtian? age for the overlying layers.
The same conclusion was achieved by
palynological analysis made on the Yaguar
area, in the Los Mangos-60 well (Duque-Caro,
1998), where the Upper Lidita level appear on
top of the analyzed interval.
In the southernmost portion of the
UMV, in the Iskana-1 well, palynological
samples indicate a lack of biozones on the top
of the Cretaceous sequence, where the
interval defined as Caliza del Tobo represents
the Campanian-Early Maastrichtian and the
overlying deposits of the Guaduala Fm. yield
palynomorphs
that
suggest
a
late
Maastrichtian age (Tepma, 2001).
All these observations are in
agreement with the angular unconformity
observed in northern Ecuador, where the
Cretaceous marine strata of the Napo Fm.
(Albian-Campanian) is overlain by the
Maastrichtian-Paleocene Tena Fm. (Balkwill et
al, 1995; Vaca et al, 2005; Barragn et al,
2005), and south Colombia, in the Putumayo
area between the Rumiyaco and Las Iglesias
Fms. (Mora et al, 1998).
DISCUSSION
In the UMV, the Campanian - Lower
Maastrichtian sequence varies considerably in
thickness, from 130 feet in the south to 1,300
feet in the north (Figures 5, 6). This ten-fold
thickness
variation
reflects
major
environmental changes in the basin. The
Santonian-Lower
Campanian
deposits
(Arenisca Dura Fms time equivalents) shifted
facies from offshore to middle shoreface.
Also, the absence of the Labor-Tierna Fms.

time equivalents reflects the erosion or nondeposition during the Late Campanian-Middle
Maastrichtian time span, at least in the NSB. We
suggest that a progressive, south to north uplift of
the ancestral Central Cordillera, from the
Campanian through to Maastrichtian produced a
paraconformity between the strata of the
Guaduala (or Seca) Fm. and the Monserrate Fm.
in this area, shifting depositional environments
from alluvial plain to lower shoreface,
respectively.
Apart from the evident stratal patterns
shown in the well correlation of Figure 5 and the
gross thickness of the studied interval, evidences
that support this hypothesis include: 1) absence of
biozones of the middle Campanian- lower
Maastrichtian in the Fusagasuga (Bayona et al,
2003) and in the Altamira areas (Tepma, 2001),
where detailed biostratigraphic analyses were
developed. 2) Abrupt change of facies between
the Guaduala Fm. and Monserrate Fm. in the
NSB and in the southern portion of GSB. 3)
Velocity anomalies on top of Monserrate Fm (De
Freitas, in prep.) that suggest subaerial exposure
of the sediments. 4) The presence of feldspars
(mostly microcline), lithic fragments in low
amounts and intraclasts, indicating a far source
area or reworked sediments or both. We favour
the last hypothesis because of the observed
results in the ternary diagrams of provenance
(Figure 4).
Figure 7 shows our paleogeographic
reconstruction for the Early Campanian and Early
Maastrichtian times. Main sediment input into
UMV in the Early Campanian was thorugh a delta
between Bogota and Neiva. High energy
carbonate deposits occurred to the south in the
NSB (Figure 7A). The Early Maastrichtian
paleogeography reflects the south to north uplift of
the Central Cordillera, with important facies shift
and a noticeable contribution from a westerly
derived source Figure 7B). The Kmu cycles are
only fully developed in the GSB and the
northernmost NSB, being absent in the southern
NSB, where the Guaduala is paraconformable
over the Kml cycles. Coarse clastics derived from
the Central Cordillera developed in the western
flank of the GSB during the uppermost cycle
Kmu5, directly overlying shales of the Nivel de
Lutitas Fm. (Figure 8). These deposits, assigned
to the La Tabla and Cimarrona Fms., form
important reservoirs in this part of the basin.
Figure
8
summarizes
the
chronostratigraphic framework for the Late
Cretaceous of the UMV.
We indicate local
formation names as used in the literature for
reference. The progressive disappearance of
sediments from the Mid Campanian to Early

Maastrichtian towards the south reflects the

Central Cordillera uplift.

Reservoir distribution
The Campanian Maastrichtian
section contains important hydrocarbon
reservoirs in the UMV. A series of oil and gas
fields produce from sandstones of this interval,
including Dina, Tello and Guando. The
Guando field is currently responsible for the
highest daily production in the basin (>33,000
bopd).
Reservoir
characteristics
and
distribution in the basin are controlled primarily
by the original depositional environments and
the burial history, which is strongly marked by
the tectonic pulses that affected the UMV and
adjacent areas since the Campanian. A quality
assessment of the reservoir quality of three
main sequences is shown in Figure 9.
The overall reservoir distribution and
quality of the Campanian Maastrichtian
interval may be summarized as follows:
The Kml cycles are regionally the most
important reservoirs in the basin. They
are particularly well developed in the
eastern margin of the GSB and the
northern
NSB
(Figure
9A),
corresponding to the Monserrate, Dura
and El Cobre sands (Figure 8);
Distal facies corresponding to the
Nivel de Lutitas y Arenas form non
reservoirs in the Ortega area, western
portion of the GSB (Figure 9A);
In most of the central area of the GSB,
the best reservoir facies (attaining
more than 20% porosities) have been
removed during the early Andean
event in the Oligocene (De Freitas et
al, this volume). The outline of subcrop
of the upper Cretaceous in the basin is
indicated (Figure 9A);
In the NSB, reasonable reservoirs of
the Kml occur, with patches of good
quality zones being observed. Along
the eastern and southern margin of
the basin, carbonate facies associated
with the El Tobo limestones form poor
reservoir rocks (Figure 9A);
The Kmu cycles present a similar
pattern in the GSB but disappear
towards the south of the NSB (Figures
6, 8 and 9B). Very good quality sand
reservoirs are restricted to the NE
GSB and northernmost NSB. The
subcrop pattern is the same as the
Kml;
The development of good coarse sand
reservoirs in the Ortega area, along the
western margin of the GSB, belonging to

the uppermost cycle Kmu5 reflects the

uplift of the Central Cordillera (Figure
9C). These westerly derived deposits
immediately overlie
fine grained
deposits which are non reservoirs
(Figure 9B).

CONCLUSIONS
Eleven cycles were recognized in the
Campanian to early Maastrichtian sequence in
the Upper Magdalena Valley of Colombia. A
ten-fold thickness variation is observed from
south to north (130 ft to 1,300 ft, respectively).
Together with facies changes and stratal
relationships, this thickness variation is
interpreted to reflect a progressive south to
north uplift of the Central Cordillera from the
Campanian onwards. A paraconformity
developed
between
the
MaastrichtianPaleocene Guaduala Fm and the Campanianearly Maastrichtian cycles studied.
The
Campanian-Mastrichtian
sequence contains important reservoirs in the
basin. Their distribution and quality are
controlled primarily by their depositional
environments and subsequent burial history.
The early Andean compressional event
(Oligocene) removed vast amounts of prime
reservoirs from this interval. Carbonate non
reservoir
rocks
developed
along
the
southeastern margin of the Neiva subbasin
during the Kml cycles. Good coarse sand
reservoirs developed in the western Girardot
subbasin, reflecting the uplift of the Central
Cordillera during the uppermost cycle kmu5
(Early Maastrichtian).
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
We are thankful to Hocol S.A. for permission to
publish these ideas. GV wants to thank Martin and
Mario for all the aid, support and the teachings
received during this months. Discussion with many
geologists improved this document.

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