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Detrital serpentinite from the Guajira Peninsula, Colombia

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Edited by: Thomas W. Donnelly
https://doi.org/10.1130/MEM130-p55

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Abstract

Small lenses of detrital serpentinite, completely surrounded by massive serpentinite, occur within a sequence of Mesozoic phyllites and metasiltstones in the Cerros de Parashi area, Guajira Peninsula. These lenses, which are as much as 30 m thick, consist of poorly sorted breccias that grade irregularly upward into bedded serpentinite sandstone and shale. Graded bedding is well developed in the sandstones, and channel structures and cross-bedding are also common. Two chemical analyses of serpentinite sandstone and shale show them to be of normal serpentinite composition. The original detrital serpentine minerals in these rocks were lizardite and chrysotile, but they have been partially replaced by antigorite during a period of upper greenschist facies metamorphism. The detrital serpentinites were formed by large submarine turbidity currents or mudflows, and the massive serpentinites surrounding them are believed to have been emplaced by gravity sliding.

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Publication type Book chapter
Publication Subtype Book Chapter
Title Detrital serpentinite from the Guajira Peninsula, Colombia
DOI 10.1130/MEM130-p55
Volume 130
Year Published 1971
Language English
Publisher Geological Society of America
Description 22 p.
Larger Work Type Book
Larger Work Subtype Monograph
Larger Work Title Caribbean geophysical, tectonic, and petrologic studies
First page 55
Last page 76
Country Colombia
Other Geospatial Cerros de Parashi, Guajira Peninsula
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