The Bata Formation of Colombia is truly Cretaceous, not Jurassic

F. Etayo Serna
a,
*
, N. Sole De Porta
b
, J. De Porta
b
, T. Gaona
a
a
Departamento de Geociencias, Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad Nacional de Colombia, Santafe de Bogota, Cundinamarca, Colombia
b
Departament dEstratigraa i Paleontologia, Facultat de Geologia, Universitat de Barcelona, C/Mart i Franquis s/n, 08028 Barcelona, Spain
Received 1 May 2001; accepted 1 July 2001
Abstract
The Bata Formation has been a key unit in paleogeographic reconstructions of Colombia since it was rst described as a Jurassic unit.
However, the paleontologic evidence for this age was not beyond doubt. The trigoniids collected from the upper part of the unit were
misidentied and should be referred to the late late Jurassicearly Cretaceous genus Syrotrigonia. On palynomorph evidence, the
Interulobites triangularis, Cyclusphaera psilata, Classopolis, and Balmeiopsis limbatus assemblage indicates that the section should be late
ValanginianHauterivian in age.
q 2003 Published by Elsevier Science Ltd.
Keywords: Bata formation; Microfossils; Bivalves; Early Cretaceous
Resumen
La Formacion Bata ha sido clave en las reconstrucciones paleogeogracas de Colombia desde que fue descrita como una unidad del
Jurasico. Sin embargo la documentacion paleontologica para su datacion no estuvo libre de dudas. Los trigonidos colectados en la parte
superior de la unidad deben asignarse al genero Syrotrigonia de nales del Jurasico y comienzos del Cretacico. Con base en la asociacion de
los palinomorfos Interulobites triangularis, Cyclusphaera psilata, Classopolis y Balmeiopsis limbatus la edad de esta sucesion debe
considerarse Valanginiano tard oHauteriviano.
q 2003 Published by Elsevier Science Ltd.
Palabras clave: Formacion Bata; microfosiles; bivalvos; Cretacico temprano
1. Current status of the Bata Formation
1.1. Name
The stratigraphic section measured at rock outcrops
along the road that follows the Bata River near the town of
Santa Mar a (Boyaca Department, Fig. l) was considered
representative of the (Rhetico)-Liasico by Burgl (1961,
Fig. 9). In his dissertation on the geology of Colombia,
Radelli (1967, pp. 105) cursorily called these beds
Formacion Santa Mar a. It was Geyer (1967, pp. 16)
who rst expressed the need to formalize this unit:
Zumindest der mittlere und obere Teil dieser Bata-
Formation (wie ich die Serie nennen mochte) is sicher
marin. This paragraph was overlooked by Ulloa and
Rodr guez (1979) when they wrote Se propone en este
trabajo el nombre de Formacion Bata, for the same section
described by Burgl. Thus, the formational name must be
credited to Geyer.
1.2. Boundaries
An erosional scar on well-indurated Carboniferous rocks
marks the base of the Bata Formation; it is probably
overthrust at the top by a thick, ne-grained shale unit
interpreted as Berriasian (Burgl, 1961).
1.3. Lithology
The light-colored conglomerate deposits exposed at the
base of the section named Conjunto A by Ulloa and
Rodr guez (1979) was derived from erosion of the
underlying sedimentary rocks. The upper part of the section
0895-9811/03/$ - see front matter q 2003 Published by Elsevier Science Ltd.
doi:10.1016/S0895-9811(03)00048-8
Journal of South American Earth Sciences 16 (2003) 113117
www.elsevier.com/locate/jsames
* Corresponding author.
E-mail address: dgeologia@ciencias.ciencias.unal.edu.co (F.E. Serna).
Fig. 1. Location of the studied area, indicating the location of stratigraphic sections: I. the Bata Formation type locality, II. the Cumbre Formation type locality.
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consists of medium-grained quartz sandstone and ne
conglomerate interbedded with black mudstone layers that
become dominant in the upper part of the section.
1.4. Thickness
Burgl (1961) indicated a thickness of 1300 m for this
section, Ulloa and Rodr guez (1979) presented it as having
1160 m, and our measurements, by the compass and tape
method, of the section above the conglomerate (Conjuntos
A and B) are shown in Fig. 2.
1.5. Conventional age
The trigoniids collected by Burgl (1961) from the upper
part of the unit were identied as Trigonia aff. literata
Young and Bird, Trigonia (Geratrigonia) kurumensis
Kobayashi, and Trigonia lingonensis Dumortier and
referred to the Upper Liassic. Geyer (1973), who collected
fossils at the same locality, concluded that the Trigonia
belong to Vaugonia and described two new subspecies as
Vaugonia niranohamensis santa-mariae and Vaugonia
yokoyamai batauviae that were considered Lower Liassic.
D. Gutierrez (unpublished INGEOMINAS report, 1969)
also concluded that the fauna of the Bata formation belong
to the Liassic (Ulloa and Rodr guez, 1979).
2. New age assignation for the Bata Formation
Three lines of arguments support our assignment of the
Bata formation to the Cretaceous. First is taxonomic
reevaluation of Burgls (1961) and Geyers (1973) deter-
minations. We have measured the fossiliferous interval of
the type locality and collected additional material from the
same fossiliferous beds studied by Burgl (1961, his locality
HB2576) and Geyer (1973). Although we have had an
opportunity to cast Burgls original material, housed at the
Paleontological Collection of the Museo Geologico Jose
Royo y Gomez, INGEOMINAS, Bogota, we could not
locate Geyers specimens in the Paleontological Collection
of the Stuttgart University (Dr M. Senff, pers. comm.).
Through the kindness of Drs T. Setoguchi and I. Hayami, we
were able to examine the plastoholotypes of the Japanese
species with which Geyer compared his specimens. As
previously suggested by Etayo Serna (in Perez and Reyes,
1986, 1997; Etayo Serna and de Porta, in prep.), the valid
assignment of Burgls and Geyers species is to Syrotrigo-
nia, the Peruvian congeneric species described by Lisson
(1930) as Trigonia forti, and Trigonia steinmanni from the
eocretacico of the outskirts of Huaylas (Upper Valangi-
nian, Alleman, 1987). Incidentally, in his paper, Lisson
(1930) remarked that his T. forti presented an afnity with
Trigonia literata Young and Bird.
Geyers Cucullaea (s.l.) sp. ex gr. mabuchii Hayami,
1958 is a common species and the subject of a systematic
study (Gaona, in prep.). By its heterodont dentition, it does
not belong to Cucullaea. We refer our specimens to Cardiids
or Carditids in Fig. 2.
Second, there is the comparative biostratigraphic argu-
ment. Following the revision of the Cretaceous stratigraphic
succession of the Middle Magdalena Valley (Etayo Serna,
1989) the lowermost Cretaceous units are, from bottom to
top: the uviatile Los SantosArcabuco formations (Ber-
riasian?), followed by the intertidal to shallow marine
Cumbre formation and the platform carbonates of the
Rosablanca Formation of Valanginian age. The Cumbre
Formation hence represents the rst marine ingression
during Early Cretaceous times into the Santander massif. In
this unit, we nd the same Carditids as those found in the
Bata Formation and the Berriasian beds of the R o Bata
section (Etayo Serna, 1989; herein, Fig. 2).
Third, there is new paleontological evidence. We
measured and collected from the fossiliferous part of the
type section of the Bata Formation twice (1982 and 1997)
and have studied the palynomorphs of the two sets of
samples (29) with scant recovery except for samples 182056
and PEL8b. The latter belongs to the same bed, just above
the former.
Sample 182056 yielded the following taxa (see Fig. 2):
cf. Cyathidites
cf. Reticulatisporites
cf. Klukisporites
Klukisporites sp.
Verrucosisporites sp.
Taurocusporites cf. segmentatus Stover 1962
Interulobites cf. triangutaris (Brenner) Phillips 1971
Polycingulatisporites trabeculatus Archangelsky 1983
Pteridophytae indet.
Callialasporites dampieri (Balme) Dev 1961
Balmeiopsis limbatus (Balme) Archangelsky 1977
Classopollis sp.
Foraminiferal linings
Dinoagellate indet.
Sample PEL8b yielded the following taxa (see Fig. 2):
Aequitriradites cf. spinulosus (Cook. and Dett.)
Taurocusporites sp.
Trilobosporites sp.
Reticulatisporites sp.
Verrucosisporites sp.
Uvaesporites sp.
Klukisporites sp.
Cicatricosisporites sp.
Gleicheniidites sp.
Pteridophytae indet.
Podocarpidites sp.
Callialasporites cf. dampieri (Balme) Dev 1961
Callialasporites trilobatus (Balme) Dev 1961
Classopollis sp.
F.E. Serna et al. / Journal of South American Earth Sciences 16 (2003) 113117 115
Fig. 2. Stratigraphic sections of the Bata Formation and Cumbre Formations, according to different authors, showing distribution of taphonomic assemblages of bivalves and associated palinomorphs; locations
shown in Fig. 1. Ca, Cb, etc. are provisional paleontological nomenclature.
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cf.Cyclusphaera psilata Volkheimer and Sepulveda
(1976)
Cycadopites sp.
Foraminiferal linings
Dinoagellate indet.
The assemblage of Taurocusporites segmentatus, Inter-
ulobites triangularis, Cyclusphaera psilata, Classopollis,
and Balmeiopsis limbatus appears in the basal Cretaceous of
Argentina (Archangelsky, 1980). For Archangelsky et al.
(1984), the chronostratigraphic assignation of this assem-
blange is Upper ValanginianHauterivian. The assemblage
is equivalent to that described by Volkheimer and
Sepulveda (1976), Archangelsky and Seiler (1980) from
the interval of the Agro Formation dated as late to early
Valanginianearly Barremian. Aguirre-Urreta et al. (1999)
conrm this age.
The palynological content of this part of the Bata
Formation corresponds with the CyclusphaeraClassopol-
lis assemblange of Volkheimer (1980) and the Interulo-
bitesForaminisporis zone of Archangelsky et al. (1984),
which is characterized by C. psitata, B. limbatus, and T.
segmentatus and referred by these authors to the Upper
ValanginianHauterivian.
3. Conclusions
The Trigonia and Vaugonia species, on which the
Jurassic age of the Bata Formation was based, turned out
to be species of Syrotrigonia, a genus known from the Upper
Jurassic (Upper Titonian) to Lower Cretaceous (Leanza,
1993). The palynomorphs recovered from this formation
correspond to those of the Upper ValangianianHauterivian
assemblages of Argentina. Dominance of Pteridophyta
indicates a humid regime, and the abundance of the
Schizaeacea (?) Klukisporites suggest a warm climate.
This change in the assignation of age for the Bata Formation
enhances the paleogeographic interpretation of the Jurassic
of Colombia (cf. Geyer, 1979; Senff, 1995).
Acknowledgements
We thank Drs Takeshi Setoguchi (Kyoto University) and
Itaru Hayami (University of Tokyo) for kindly supplying the
plaster casts of some Japanese Vaugonia and Cucullaea.
Fieldwork was carried out with the assistance of G. Renzoni
and C. Ulloa (1982) and L. D az (1997). We thank Geotec
Ltd for placing their facilities at our disposal and Mr Daniel
Carrillo for drawing the Figures. Reviews by Drs H. Duque
Caro, H. Parent, G. Gonzalez Bonorino, and an anonymous
reviewer of the English text signicantly improved the
manuscript. This research has been supported by the
Universidad Nacional de Colombia, INGEOMINAS and
the Universitat de Barcelona.
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