Geology of the Appalachians craton. The collisional belt spread into the Ozark-Ouachita region and through the Marathon Mountains area of Texas. Continent vs. continent collision raised the Appalachian-Ouachita chain to a lofty mountain range on the scale of the present-day Himalaya. The massive bulk of Pangea was completed near the end of the Paleozoic Era (Permian Period) when Africa (Gondwana) plowed into the continental agglomeration, with the Appalachian-Ouachita mountains near the core. Pangea began to break up about 220 million years ago, in the Early Mesozoic Era (Late Triassic Period). As Pangea rifted apart a new passive tectonic margin was born and the forces
Carabobo Field attributed to the formation of the field is when North America separated from Gondwanaland in the Late Triassic/Early Jurassic (~200 million years ago). The rifting in this period is represented by Late Jurassic basalts deposited in the Espino graben. This event led to the northern passive margin of South America. During the Cretaceous Period (~150 million years ago), the passive margin began to subside from organic rich sediments being deposited. This deposition includes the Querecual and San Antonio formations that would become source rocks for the Orinoco Oil Belt. The next tectonic event is referred to as a progressive collision