A paleomagnetic study of over 250 cores from 21 sites sampled over a distance exceeding 250 Km in the early Cretaceous Pinon formation in the Costa of Western Ecuador indicates that the sampled lithologies (essentially MORB‐type basalts and dolerites) carry a stable remanent magnetization, whose direction significantly deviates from that of coeval formations of stable South America. Although both normal and reverse directions have been recorded, the two polarities cannot easily be distinguished because of the low latitude of the ocean floor at the time of formation. The most likely interpretation is that the entire area has undergone 70° clockwise rotation since its genesis. These results thus yield new evidence for an allochtonous origin of this suspect terrane.
Various fossils (invertebrates, vertebrates, plants) and radiometric data have been obtained from the uppermost part of the marine Celendin Fm. and the lowermost part of the overlying Bagua Fm. (redbeds). After description of the stratigraphy and sampled localities, the fossils are discussed in terms of systematics, Ftratigraphy, paleoecology and biogeography. On the basis of ammonites, the uppermost Celendin Fmb. is dated as mid-Campanian. On the basis 0f.a charophyte assemblage and other evidence,
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