Geology and Mineral Resources of Paraguay A Reconnaissance

INTRODUCTION(1947, 1952) are the only Paraguayan writers who havecontributed materially to the literature; each of theirpapers supplies data on areas or on phases of the geologythat are not to be found elsewhere.Information gleaned from the literature on Paraguayhas been supplemented in part by unpublished factsgenerously furnished by various individuals who havevisited parts of Paraguay. Another valuable source ofinformation is, of course, the literature on the geologyof the neighboring countries. The summary works ofAhlfeld (1946) on Bolivia, of Oliveira and Leonardos(1943) on Brazil, and of Stappeiibeck (1926) on Argentinaare particularly helpful in understanding andcollating the relatively few scattered bits of knowledgeon Paraguay itself.MAPS OF PARAGUAYBase maps on a scale sufficiently large to use fordetailed geologic mapping are not available for any partof Paraguay. There are, however, several sets of mapsthat are adequate for reconnaissance investigations.The Mapa Provisional de la Republica del Paraguay,published in 1945 by the Institute Geogrdfico Militar,is the best base map produced in Paraguay. Publishedon a scale of 1:1,000,000 (1 cm=10 km) as well as onseveral smaller scales, it can be purchased from theInstitute and from several book stores in Asunci6n.Though very generalized in many places, it is particularlyuseful for its delineation of all roads and trails inthe country and for location of towns and settlementsand official spelling of their names. It contains noinformation as to altitudes, but the main topographicfeatures are shown by shading.Various sheets of the Carta Aeronautica de la RepriblicaArgentina, published by the Institute GeograficoMilitar of Argentina in 1945 and succeedingyears, cover the entire Republic of Paraguay. Onscales of both 1:500,000 and 1:1,000,000, they are noteasily available in Paraguay but can be purchased"over the counter" from the Institute GeograficoMilitar offices in Buenos Aires. Like the Paraguayanmap described above, their portrayal of many naturaland cultural features is much generalized, but theyhave great usefulness because of then* detailed data onaerial navigation. Perhaps even more important to thegeologist, they show the elevations of many points andportray the shape of the land by means of reasonablyaccurate contours at intervals of 100, 200, 500, and 1,000meters.The Asimcidn, Corumba, Rio Apa, Rio Pilcomayo,Sucre, and Tucuman sheets of the World Map, of theAmerican Geographical Society published in 1940 andsucceeding years on a scale of 1:1,000,000, with topog-465871 59 2raphy shown in colors by 100-meter intervals, wereused extensively for checking place names and topographicrelationships.A set of preliminary base maps published in 1949and succeeding years by the U. S. Aeronautical ChartService cover all of Paraguay except two small areasone along the Cordillera de Amambay in the northeasterncorner, and the other along the upper reachesof the Rio Paraguay, near the common junction ofParaguay with Bolivia and Brazil. These maps, ona scale of 1:500,000 (1 cm=5 km), are not readilyavailable to the public, but can be obtained for officialuse from the Headquarters, Aeronautical Chart Service,Washington 25, D. C. Prepared from trimetrogonaerial photographs with little or no ground control orfield checking, they are inadequate as to identificationof towns and other human features. Their portrayalof roads is even more inaccurate, particularly as totheir classification and usability. On the other hand,the natural features such as streams and swamps areshown far more accurately than they are on anyother maps known to the author. Land elevationsare shown by 1,000-foot (300 meters) contours andby many point elevations. The detailed portrayal onmost of the sheets of forested and cultivated lands aswell as of swamps and other features is of incalculablevalue to the reconnaissance geologist, not only becausethey help to solve problems of location but becauseall these features have geologic meaning when properlyinterpreted.In addition to the base maps mentioned ajaove, thereare aerial photographs for most of the country. Thoseknown to the author are the trimetrogon photographs,taken by the U. S. Air Force in 1943 through 1945,which were used in compilation of the preliminarybase maps described above. The pictures were takenat altitudes of 20,000 feet, and cover virtually all thecountry except the northeastern corner. The stripsof vertical pictures were extremely useful in both fieldand office for studying and mapping geology. Theoblique pictures were also useful in studying generalrelations, but they are not easily adapted to fieldmapping without special trimetrogon stereoscopicequipment that was not available in Paraguay at thetime of this investigation. Complete sets of printsof the trimetrogon pictures are available for officialuse in Washington, D. C., in the offices of the AeronauticalChart Service and in Asuncion in the InstituteGeografico Militar. In 1952, an exasperatingly incompleteset of prints was also available in the Asuncionoffice of the Institute of Inter-American Affairs.All the maps and pictures described above and muchmaterial from other sources were used in compiling the