BULLETIN OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF AMERICA 



Vol. 29, pp. 637-648 DECEMBER 30, 1918 



PROCEEDINGS OF THE PALEONTOLOGICAL SOCIETY 



AGE OF CERTAIN PLANT-BEAEING BEDS AND ASSOCIATED 

 MARINE FORMATIONS IN SOUTH AMERICA ^ 



BY EDWAKD W. .BERKY 



{Read before the Paleontological Society December 31, 1917) 



CONTENTS 



Page 



Introduction 637 



Canal Zone 639 



Colombia 639 



Ecuador 640 



Peru 641 



Chile 642 



Summary 646 



Introduction 



Tertiary sediments are found at scattered localities throughout the 

 continent of South America^ and the Argentina Tertiaries in particular 

 have been extensively exploited in connection with the study of the varied 

 vertebrate fossils which they contain. Marine Tertiary deposits are found 

 in the latter region as well as around the margin of the Brazilian plateau ; 

 they are widely distributed along the west coast, and in the Andean re- 

 gion they are scattered from Colombia and Venezuela to Tierra del Fuego 

 and beyond. Our knowledge of all of these is very fragmentary and is 

 limited for the most part to incidental descriptions in connection with 

 the study of the contained floras or faunas rather than on detailed areal 

 aiid stratigraphic work. 



In the present brief contribution the discussion is centered on the pre- 

 Pliocene Tertiary of the Andean region and of the west coast, since the 

 data at hand seem sufficient for tentative correlations and it is the beds 

 in this part of the continent that may be expected eventually to unravel 

 the geological history of the Andean chains. In the Andean region itself 



* Manuscript received by the Secretary of tlie Society August 22, 1918. 



(637) 



