La Quinta Formation

La Quinta Formation
La Quinta Formation
Stratigraphic range: Hettangian—Aalenian;
	The La Quinta Formation near its type section in Táchira, Venezuela
Type	Geological formation
Underlies	Río Negro Formation
Overlies	Mucuchachi Formation
Thickness	up to 11,000 ft (3,400 m)
Lithology
Primary	Sandstone
Other	Tuff, conglomerate
Location
Coordinates	8°09′N 72°01′W / 8.15°N 72.02°W
Approximate paleocoordinates	0°06′N 42°42′W / 0.1°N 42.7°W
Region	Cesar-Ranchería & Maracaibo Basins; Serranía del Perijá & Cordillera de Mérida
Country	Colombia; Venezuela
Type section
Named for	La Quinta quarry
	La Quinta Formation (Venezuela)

The La Quinta Formation is a Jurassic geologic formation which crops out in the Cordillera de Mérida and Serranía del Perijá of western Venezuela and northeastern Colombia. The formation is also present in the subsurface of the Cesar-Ranchería and Maracaibo Basins. At its type locality near La Grita, Táchira, it consists of a basal dacitic tuff followed by interlayered sandstones, tuffs, siltstones and rare limestones.^[1] Dinosaur remains including Laquintasaura,^[2] Tachiraptor, and Perijasaurus^[3] are among the fossils that have been recovered from the formation.^[4]

U–Pb zircon analysis demonstrates that the formation dates to 200.91+0.55 Ma at its base^[2] and a maximum age of 174.8 Ma.^[3]

^ Barret et al., 2008, p.164
^ ^a ^b Barret et al., 2014
^ ^a ^b Rincón AF, Raad Pájaro DA, Jiménez Velandia HF, Ezcurra MD, Wilson Mantilla JA (2022). "A sauropod from the Lower Jurassic La Quinta Formation (Dept. Cesar, Colombia) and the initial diversification of eusauropods at low latitudes". Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology. 42 (1): e2077112. Bibcode:2022JVPal..42E7112R. doi:10.1080/02724634.2021.2077112. S2CID 251501541.
^ Weishampel, et al. (2004). "Dinosaur distribution." Pp. 517-607