Maracaibo Basin

High school (ages 12+)
Geography

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Date:

Step 1 · Read the article

Open the article and read it at the level above. Then answer the questions below in your own words.

https://smallwhale.org/articles/maracaibo-basin

Write what each word means, using the article.

Do not copy the article. Write two things you learned, the way you would explain them to a friend.

Answers below are taken from the article’s stored facts, so they match what the student read.

1. How big is Maracaibo Basin?Approximately 36,657 square kilometers
2. What is the location?Northwestern Venezuela, South America
3. What is the geological classification?Foreland basin
4. Where is the Maracaibo Basin located?It is in northwestern Venezuela, right next to the Andes mountains and the Caribbean plate. The basin sits close to the coast where Lake Maracaibo is.
5. Why does the Maracaibo Basin have so much oil?The basin has thick layers of sandstones, shales, and limestones that trap oil and gas made from ancient plants and animals. These layers keep the oil from escaping, so it stays in the ground.

Foreland Basin: A large-scale geological depression that forms adjacent to an actively uplifting mountain range.
Hydrocarbon Maturation: The geological process where organic matter transforms into oil and natural gas under heat and pressure.
Stratigraphy: The branch of geology concerned with the study of rock layers and their sequence, used to interpret Earth's history.
Orogenic Belt: A region of the Earth's crust that has been significantly deformed by tectonic forces, typically forming mountain ranges.