Geology of the Ciales Quadrangle Puerto Rico
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Geology of the Ciales Quadrangle Puerto Rico By HENRY L. BERRYHILL, ]R. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY BULLETIN 1184 Prepared in cooperation with the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico Economic Development Administration, Industrial Research Department UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE, WASHINGTON : 1965 UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR STEWART L. UDALL, Secretary GEOLOGICAL SURVEY Thomas B. Nolan, Director The U.S. Geological Survey Library catalog card for this publicatio~ appears after page 116. For sale by the Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Printin~t Office Washin~tton, D.C. 20402 CONTENTS Page Abstract__________________________________________________________ 1 Introduction______________________________________________________ 2 Previouswork_________________________________________________ 3 Acknowledgments______________________________________________ 3 Geography________________________________________________________ 3 Location, settlement, and accessibility____________________________ 3 Physiographic setting_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ __ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 5 Topography of the Northern Foothills ___________________ "" __ __ 7 Topography of Mountainous Interior________________________ 9 Climate_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 9 Drainage_____________________________________________________ 12 Land utilization________________________________________________ 12 Geologic formations________________________________________________ 13 Generalfeatures_______________________________________________ 13 Upper Cretaceous rocks_________________________________________ 17. Stratified volcanic and sedimentary rocks_____________________ 17 Nomenclature of clastic and pyroclastic rocks_____________ 18 Rio Orocovis Formation_________________________________ 19 Magi.ieyes Member__________________________________ 21 Lower sequence________________________________ 22 Upper sequence ____________________________ ·-·- 23 Basalt tuff member _____________________ ·- _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 24 Perchas Lava Member __________________________ ·-__ 25 Avispa Lava Member______________________________ 28 Petrography______________________________________ 30 Lavas of the Magi.ieyes and Perchas Members_____ 30 Lava of the A vispa Member____________________ 36 Tuffs_________________________________________ 39 Conditions of origin_________________________________ 41 Magi.ieyes and Perchas Member£---~-----_-~-__ 41 Avispa Lava Member__________________________ 44 Age and regional correlation_________________________ 44 Manicaboa Formation__________________________________ 45 Distribution_______________________________________ 45 Thickness and stratigraphic relations_________________ 46 Lithology_________________________________________ 46 Conditions of deposition_______ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ __ _ _ 4 7 Age and regional correlation ____________ ·----------- 49 Pozas Formation______________________________________ 49 Ming·1illo Lava Member____________________________ 50 Blacho Tuff Member____ _ _ __ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 51 Upper breccia member_____________________________ 53 Petrography______________________________________ 54 Conditions of origin_________________________________ 58 Age and regional correlation________________________ 61 III IV CONTENTS Geologic formations-Continued Upper Cretaceous rock-Continued Page Intrusive rocks ________________ ~___________________________ 61 Basalt________________________________________________ 61 Altered gabbro(?)______________________________________ 62 Altered andesite(?)______________________________________ 62 Upper Cretaceous or lower Tertiary rocks _________________ ---------- 63 Sedimentary rocks__ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ __ _ _ __ __ _ _ 63 Carreras Siltstone ____________________ -~_________________ 63 Intrusive rocks ___ -~_______________________________________ 65 Granodiorite __ ~_______________________________________ 66 Petrography ________________________ -~_____________ 66 Age and mode of emplacement_______________________ 68 Syenite and other intrusive rocks________________________ 69 Dikes---------------------~---------------~----------- 72 Unconformity at base of middle Tertiary rocks_____________________ 72 Middle Tez tiary rocks__________ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ __ __ _ _ 7 3 Generalfeatures___________________________________________ 73 San Seba.stian Formation-----------------~------------- 75 Sand and gravel member__________________________ _ 75 Sandy limestone member---------------~----------- 76 Lares Limestone____ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ __ __ _ _ _ _ _ _ 77 Cibao Formation_______________________________________ 78 Rfo Indio Limestone Member_______________________ 81 Almirante Sur Sand Member_________________________ 81 Quebrada Arenas Limestone Member__________________ 81 Aguada Limestone__ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ __ 82 Quaternary rocks____________________ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ __ _ _ __ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 82 Stream terrace deposits________ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ __ _ _ 83 Alluvium_________________________________________________ 83 Stream bed deposits_ __ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ __ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 83 Flood-plain deposits____________________________________ 83 Limestone sink deposits__________________________________ 84 Colluvium______________________________________ __ __ __ _ _ _ _ 84 Residuum_________________________________________________ 85 Structure_________________________________________________________ 87 Structure of Upper Cretaceous and Upper Cretaceous or lower Tertiary rocks________________________________________________ 89 Cerro Cedro graben___________ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ __ _ _ _ __ __ _ _ _ _ 89 Pesas wrenched horst_______________________________________ 93 Jaguas-Cuchillas faulted synclinal belt_________________________ 94 Cibuco syncline___________________________________________ 95 Damian Arriba fault________________________________________ 96 Quebrada El Gato fault ____ ~------------------------------- 96 Rfo Grande de Manati fault zone_____________________________ 96 Metamorphism__ _ _ _ __ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ __ _ __ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 98 Structure of the middle Tertiary rocks____________________________ 99 Geomorphology _________ ~ _ _ _ _ __ _ _ __ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ __ _ 100 Early Tertiary(?) surface________________________________________ 100 Effects of post-early Miocene uplift______________________________ 101 Principal geomorphic features ___ ------------------------________ 102 Economic geology_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ __ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 104 Copper_______________________________________________________ 106 CONTENTS V Economic geology-Continued Page Galena and barite_____ __ __ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ __ 106 Limestone--------------------------------~------------------- 107 Sandstone____________________________________________________ 107 Miscellaneous building materials_________________________________ 107 Engineering geology_______ __ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 108 References cited___________________________________________________ Ill Index_____________________________________________________________ 113 ILLUSTRATIONS [Plates are in pocket] PLATE 1. Geologic map of Ciales quadrangle. 2. Composite columnar sections of Upper Cretaceous formations in the Ciales quadrangle. 3. Geologic sections of Ciales quadrangle. Page FIGURE 1. Index map showing location of Puerto Rico_______________ 4 2. Map showing location of Ciales quadrangle_______________ 6 3. Generalized topographic map of Puerto Rico______________ 8 4. Sketch of view from Highway 155 near Cerro Quiros showing topography of the northern part of the Ciales quadrangle_ 10 5. Sketch of view to southwest from road along south boundary of barrio Pasto showing topography of the southern part of the Ciales quadrangle________________________________ 11 6. Generalized g:eologic map of eastern Puerto Rico__________ 14 7-9. Pillow structures in the Perchas Lava Member: 7. Lava flow showing pillows, bank of Highway 155 at curve near northwest boundary of barrio Gato____ _ _ 26 8. Concentration of amygdules as concentric bands in outer pillows___________________________________ 27 9. General shape and size of pillows___________________ 27 10. Texture and mineralogy of lava in the Magueyes Member, Rio Orocovis Formation______________________________ 32 11. Texture and mineralogy of feldspathic lava flow, Perchas Member, Rio Orocovis Formation_____________________ 33 12. Texture and mineralogy of lava from the Avispa Lava Mem- ber, Rio Orocovis Formation__________________________ 37 13. Texture and mineralogy of the basalt tuff member, Rio Oro- covis Formation_____________________________________ 40 14. Texture and mineralogy of welded part of an ash-flow deposit, Blacho Tuff Member_________________________________ 56 15. Map of eastern Puerto Rico showing location of ash-flow deposits relative to plutonic intrusives__________________ 60 16. Probable areal, structural, and stratigraphic relations of Carreras Siltstone to underlying rocks__________________