General information on the geology of the northern Patía Valley

Abstract

This work constitutes the basic phase of the project Hydrogeological Study in the Patía Valley, carried out under an agreement between the Corporation for the Development of Cauca (CORPOCAUCA), the Cauca Regional Autonomous Corporation (CRC) and the Institute for Research in Geosciences, Mining and Chemistry (INGEOMINAS), and oriented to the exploration of groundwater for agricultural development and human consumption.

Hydrogeological investigations require different basic phases to obtain the proposed results. The geological mapping of the area to be studied is the first phase and constitutes the foundation for subsequent stages of research; for this reason, geological mapping was carried out at a scale of 1:25,000 of the northern part of the Patía Valley, corresponding to an area of 290 km2 located between the foothills of the Central and Western mountain ranges and the towns of La Fonda and El Estrecho.

In the research area there are lithological units of ages ranging from the Cretaceous to the present. The Cretaceous rocks are volcano-sedimentary of oceanic affinity and are found on the eastern flank of the western mountain range. The Tertiary is represented by sedimentary rocks of the Mosquera Formation and the Esmita Formation, which include conglomerates, lithic sandstones, feldspathic and claystones and form the western flank of the Central Cordillera. The Upper Tertiary-Quaternary and Quaternary rocks and deposits are located in the Patía Valley plain and are volcano-sedimentary rocks and colluvial and fluvial deposits, respectively.

The area is longitudinally limited by the Patía and Romeral river fault systems, located to the west and east of the Patía Valley, respectively, with a general direction of approximately N35ºE. There is a third fault system, with approximate direction N75ºW, transversal to the first two systems and whose geomorphological expression is evident to the east of the Patía Valley, in sedimentary rocks of the Esmita Formation.

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