Abstract

The Boavita-La Uvita region is located around latitude 6°22' north and longitude 72°38' west of Greenwich; they are municipalities in the north of the department of Boyacá (Colombia). This region corresponds to the central part of the Eastern Cordillera, a little southwest of the Sierra Nevada del Cocuy. It is an eastern area drained by the Chicamocha River, which, in turn, is part of the eastern slope of the Magdalena River.

About 50 km² were studied in detail, a small fraction of the eastern side of Plate I-13 (of the Geological Map of Colombia) and which geologically correspond to the northernmost continuation of the formations and structures at Paz de Rio.

It is mentioned, still, as a hypothesis, the recumbent Chicamocha Anticline whose axial plane, today almost horizontal, turned to the west until it rested on the Girón formation, the so-called Chicamocha Anticline corresponds to the crest of the former.

The different coal outcrops visited are described, especially one in the Guayabal gully, in the Cabuyal Village, 6 kilometers to the S 30º W of Boavita, which reaches 10.80 meters thick. In addition, the situations of sands and stones for crushing and construction; clays for brick making; gypsum; iron minerals; diatomite; favorable zones for obtaining underground water and the probable importance of some thin beds of phosphate limestones interstratified with lidites (lower member of the Ermitaño formation), which are present to the E and W of Boavita, are mentioned.

The report should be considered preliminary about mineral deposits; however, the potential coal reserves existing to the southwest of Boa Vita (Veredas de Ochacá, Cabuyal, and Lagunillas) are estimated to be abundant. Several recommendations are made, especially that of planning and developing a reforestation program. The report is illustrated with two explanatory photographs, three geological plans, seven explanatory outlines of outcrops, and an index map. Chemical analyses by Álvaro Murcia A. are attached.