Basin compartmentalization and drainage evolution during rift inversion: evidence from the Eastern Cordillera of Colombia

Abstract

The Cenozoic stratigraphic infill of hinterland and foreland basins in central Colombia holds the record of basin development during tectonic inversion of rift in the context of subduction orogenesis. A comprehensive review of detrital U–Pb geochronologic and thermochronologic data reveals that activation of interconnected fault systems in the hinterland Magdalena Valley and the Eastern Cordillera occurred coevally since Paleocene time. Longitudinal basins were fed by detritus shed from the Central Cordillera carried along axial drainage systems in open basins in times where slow deformation rates prevailed. Faster deformation since Oligocene resulted in the transient formation of internally drained basins. Differential along-strike exhumation and subsidence patterns in the Eastern Cordillera and the foredeep, respectively, document tectonic acceleration since late Miocene, which we attribute to superimposed collision of the Panama arc leading to oroclinal bending in the Cordillera. Our data documents that the inherited structural grain led to the formation of longitudinal drainage patterns, even in closed basins, which seem to be a general feature of early stages of inversion. We hypothesize that the presence of more humid climatic conditions and faster tectonic rates along the range’s eastern margin favoured the development of internally drained basins, as has also been shown in the Central Andes.Supplementary material:Methods details (zircon grains preparation, zircon U–Pb measurements, laboratory conditions and input constraints for AFT thermal modelling) and repository are available at http://www.geolsoc.org.uk/SUP18628

Thick-skin-dominated orogens; from initial inversion to full accretion: an introduction

“…This resembles lateral sand compaction in sandbox experiments before the appearance of the first, large-displacement faults (see Koyi 1995Koyi , 1997. By analogy, the internal deformation of the axial flat region of the Eastern Cordillera has served the same purpose since the Paleocene (see the timing in Mora et al 2013;Hermeston & Nemčok 2013), before the onset of intensive deformation along the Eastern Cordillera flanks, which was rapid during the Oligocene -Early Miocene and accelerated during the Late Miocene -Recent Silva et al 2013).…”

“…1), for example, the Ouachitas, the Apennines, the Balkans, the Carpathians, the Southern and Western Alps (Arbenz 1989;Shumaker 1992;Doglioni 1993a, b;Kley & Eisbacher 1999;De Donatis et al 2001;Nemčok et al 2006;Stuart et al 2011); (2) provinces located in a retro-wedge setting ( Fig. 1), for example, the Rocky Mountain basement uplifts, the Coastal Cordillera of Venezuela, the Central Cordillera of Colombia, the Eastern Cordillera of Colombia and Peru, the Sub-Andes of Ecuador, the Salta and the Sierras Pampeanas regions of the Argentinian Andes (Eva et al 1989;Oldow et al 1989;Lowell 1995;Allmendinger et al 1997;Baby et al 2013;Jimenez et al 2013;Mora et al 2013;Moreno et al 2013;Silva et al 2013;Tesón et al 2013); and (3) provinces having an intra-plate position, for example, the North Sea region, the High Atlas and, perhaps, the Sierra de Perija and Merida Andes (Chigne et al 1996;Teixell et al 2003;Zanella & Coward 2003;Bayona et al 2013). Orogens can be subdivided, following Doglioni (1993a, b), into those whose advance vectors oppose the mantle flow and those whose advance vectors have the same direction as mantle flow (Fig.…”

“…This volume attempts to follow this strategy by examining the factors involved in the energy balance behind inversion and the potential subsequent full accretion from thick-skin regions worldwide (Baby et al 2013;Carola et al 2013;Carrera & Muñoz 2013;Iaffa et al 2013;Kober et al 2013;Moretti et al 2013;Nemčok et al 2013;Teixell & Babault 2013;Fig. 8a-d) and by considering the systematic data collection from the Northern Andes, an example of the forceful retro-wedge scenario (Bayona et al 2013;Caballero et al 2013a, b;Hermeston & Nemčok 2013;Jimenez et al 2013;Mora et al 2013;Moreno et al 2013;Silva et al 2013;Teixell & Babault 2013;Tesón et al 2013;Fig. 8a).…”

“…They record a total shortening of 20 -25% across the High Atlas, 25-30% across the Eastern Cordillera of Colombia and about 40% across the Pyrenees. While Teixell & Babault (2013) reconstructed the complex deformation sequence in the Pyrenees and understood that mountain building comes from the numerous large-scale footwall edge short-cut faults through the rift margin, a less deformed record of the Eastern Cordillera allows one to see that a slow Paleocene -Eocene deformation was followed by the faster Oligocene-Early Miocene deformation and then by an accelerated deformation that took place since Late Miocene Silva et al 2013). Work on the timing of these (1) the faster Oligocene-Early Miocene deformation was characterized by the coeval activity of the main inversion faults and footwall short-cut faults, with inversion faults accommodating displacement rates, which were larger than rates of short-cut faults; and, (2) the fastest Late Miocene-Recent deformation was characterized by coeval activity of the main inversion faults and footwall short-cut faults, with short-cut faults accommodating displacement rates, which were larger than rates on the inversion faults.…”

“…They record a total shortening of 20 -25% across the High Atlas, 25-30% across the Eastern Cordillera of Colombia and about 40% across the Pyrenees. While Teixell & Babault (2013) reconstructed the complex deformation sequence in the Pyrenees and understood that mountain building comes from the numerous large-scale footwall edge short-cut faults through the rift margin, a less deformed record of the Eastern Cordillera allows one to see that a slow Paleocene -Eocene deformation was followed by the faster Oligocene-Early Miocene deformation and then by an accelerated deformation that took place since Late Miocene Silva et al 2013). Work on the timing of these pulses of deformation by Jimenez et al (2013) reveals that:…”