Regional provenance from southwestern Colombia fore‐arc and intra‐arc basins: implications for Middle to Late Miocene orogeny in the Northern Andes

• DOI: 10.1111/ter.12167
• Publication Date: 2015-06-13T07:05:07Z
• Authors: Sebastián Echeverri; Agustín Cardona; Andrés Pardo; Gaspar Monsalve; Victor A. Valencia; Carlos Borrero; Sebastián Rosero; Sergio López
• Keywords: 13. Climate action; 15. Life on land; 01 natural sciences; 0105 earth and related environmental sciences

AbstractAndean orogenic processes controlled the spatial and temporal distribution of the magmatic and sedimentary record. This contribution integrates new U/Pb zircon ages, heavy mineral analyses and biostratigraphic constraints from the Neogene sedimentary record of the fore‐arc and intra‐arc basins and volcano‐plutonic rocks of southwestern Colombia, to reconstruct these orogenic processes. The results reveal continuous arc magmatism since the Late Oligocene, with a major post‐Middle Miocene magmatic peak and exhumation. When integrated with other geological constraints, the tectonic evolution of the margin includes Eocene‐Oligocene oblique convergence with limited magmatic activity, followed by the initiation of a Late Oligocene‐Early Miocene arc that migrated to the east in the Middle Miocene, when it experienced a major increase in magmatic activity, crustal deformation, exhumation and thickening. This orogenic evolution is related to the shallowing of the slab dip due to the subduction of the Neogene Nazca Plate.