NOTES ON THE REGION ABOUT CAICARA, VENEZUELA 241 



while at the same time the quartz veins become more and more 

 frequent. Some of these quartz veins strike parallel to the general 

 cleavage planes^ that is N. and S., while others run E. and W., 

 and W.N.W. and E.S.E. The disintegration of the granite by 

 means of exfoliation was most strikingly exhibited on the top. 

 At one place a dike of gray to bluish-white quartz cut the granite 

 in a direction N.N.W. and S.S.E., which most probably determined 

 the initial direction of the southwestern spur of the cerro. Along 

 the line of contact, the granite seems to have become changed 

 locally into gneiss with lamination in a direction N.N.W. and 

 S.S.E. This was, however, the only instance of a gneissic phase 

 observed in the bulk of the granite. 



Of the series of cerros on the southeast side of the Orinoco, the 

 Cerro de Caicara comes first and lies immediately south of the 

 village of Caicara. It rises to a height of 127 meters above sea- 

 level and extends about 2 km. to the south, along the bank of the 

 stream. It consists entirely of a more or less fine-grained gneiss 

 of light color, but on weathering becomes a dark purple. At 

 different levels the gneiss is highly charged with various grades 

 of iron oxide, which exhibit beautiful shades of color, ranging from 

 tan through ochre yellow to a dark bloody red. The direction of 

 lamination is, in most cases, parallel to the general strike of the 

 rocks. 



About 3 km. south of Caicara lies the Cerro de Arinoza, which 

 attains a height of 146 meters, while its foot is 71 meters above 

 sea-level. Only the lowest levels of this hill consist of a close- 

 grained quartzose granite such as was encountered in the Cerro 

 de Cabruta. The structure of this granite is in places pegmatitic 

 and the cleavage planes run N. and S., and E. and W., as do quartz 

 and pegmatite veins. Higher up in the slope, however, the granite 

 yields to a medium-grained gneiss, the laminations of which run 

 S. 20 E. and dip at an angle of 27 to the northeast. 



The Cerro de los Spiritos is situated about 5 km. east of Pan 

 de Azugar, and nearly 8 km. S.S.E. of the village of Caicara. 

 About 200 feet high, it trends in a general N.W.-S.E. direction for 

 over 5 km. With a possible exception of Pan de Azugar, as 

 indicated above, it is the only cerro southeast of the Orinoco within 



