Chronology of Cenozoic tectonic events in western Venezuela and the Leeward Antilles based on integration of offshore seismic reflection data and on-land geology

Gorney, David; Escalona, Alejandro; Mann, Paul; Magnani, M. B.

doi:10.1306/11280606002

Cited by 43 publications

(123 citation statements)

References 34 publications

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“…[86] Gorney et al [2007] describe a pattern of collision and large-scale clockwise rotation of the Caribbean arc to form the Bonaire offshore basin and now inverted onland Falcon basin ( Figure A18). Paleomagnetic data by Hargraves and Skerlec [1982] suggest a ''saloon door'' style of deformation with clockwise tectonic rotations up to 90°s ince the early Cretaceous.…”

Section: A322 Northern Venezuelamentioning

confidence: 99%

Collisional model for rapid fore‐arc block rotations, arc curvature, and episodic back‐arc rifting in subduction settings

Wallace

Ellis

Mann

2009

Geochem Geophys Geosyst

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104

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[1] We review geophysical and geological data from 23 active and ancient plate boundaries to document a compelling spatial and temporal relationship between collision, plate boundary curvature, rapid tectonic rotations, and the occurrence of back-arc rifting. Our observations support a conceptual model where the change from subduction to collision causes rapid fore-arc rotation (when viewed in a reference frame relative to the bounding tectonic plates), leading to marked plate boundary curvature. Our global compilation reveals that most active back-arc rifts are associated with rapidly rotating fore arcs and nearby collisions. Thus, we propose that collision and rapid fore-arc rotations play a major role in the evolution and kinematics of back-arc basins. We conduct numerical modeling to better understand the physical processes behind these observed rapid tectonic rotations at convergent margins. Our results suggest that the presence of an indentor or choke point in the subduction system (e.g., collision) can generate rapid rotation of the fore arc about a nearby pole and lead to back-arc rifting. The rate of fore-arc rotation and back-arc rifting depends on the incoming indentor velocity and can be greatly enhanced by slab rollback and the presence of a low-viscosity back arc. Where viscosity of the back arc is low, fore-arc rotation dominates; where back-arc viscosity is high, the formation of strike-slip faults and tectonic escape dominates. Our observational and model-derived results illustrate that shallow crustal forces produced by the entry of buoyant features into subduction zones are a fundamental mechanism for the generation of fore-arc block rotations, plate boundary curvature, back-arc rift evolution, and tectonic escape in subduction systems. Rollback of the subducting slab within the mantle will certainly enhance the processes we describe but it is not the only driving force. Wallace, L. M., S. Ellis, and P. Mann (2009), Collisional model for rapid fore-arc block rotations, arc curvature, and episodic back-arc rifting in subduction settings, Geochem. Geophys. Geosyst., 10, Q05001,

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Section: A322 Northern Venezuelamentioning

confidence: 99%

Collisional model for rapid fore‐arc block rotations, arc curvature, and episodic back‐arc rifting in subduction settings

Wallace

Ellis

Mann

2009

Geochem Geophys Geosyst

Self Cite

104

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“…Efforts were made to develop a single processing flow that was applicable to the entire profile, consistent with the processing flow adopted for the rest of the BOLIVAR reflection profiles [Christeson et al, 2008;Clark et al, 2008a;Gorney et al, 2007]. Details of the main processing steps are shown in Table 2.…”

Section: Seismic Reflection Data Analysismentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Analysis of the MCS data and the seismic sequences identified in the region [Gorney et al, 2007] show that the basin opened in the Paleogene, with normal faults rifting the upper Cretaceous basement rocks and crust. The deep marine Eocene-Oligocene deposits, notably thickening toward the south (Figure 10c), and the lower middle Miocene units are topped by a regional unconformity of middle Miocene age that several authors suggest correlates to the onshore middle Miocene inversion of the Falcón basin [Audemard, 2001[Audemard, , 1993Gorney et al, 2007]. The main grain of normal faults in the basin strikes roughly NW -SE with a minor E-W trend, parallel to the presentday strike-slip system trend.…”

Section: Bonaire Basinmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Regardless of mode of formation, all authors agree that the Bonaire basin represents the offshore continuation of the Falcón basin to the west. Stratigraphic correlations [Gorney et al, 2007] suggest that the two basins were part of the same sedimentary system during the Paleogene and most of the Neogene, until the post-middle Miocene ($10-7 Ma), when the development of the Boconó fault triggered the northeastward propagating inversion of the Falcón basin and led to the emergence of the Falcón region [Audemard, 2001[Audemard, , 1993Biju-Duval et al, 1982;Boesi and Goddard, 1991;Macellari, 1995]. It is therefore reasonable to infer that the same crustal type floored the two basins at their formation in the Paleogene.…”

Section: Bonaire Basinmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…It is therefore reasonable to infer that the same crustal type floored the two basins at their formation in the Paleogene. Well data onshore and offshore Falcón penetrated a basement associated with a Late Cretaceous intra-arc setting [Gonzalez de Juana et al, 1980]. However, a comparison between the wide-angle velocity models along 67°W and along a companion BOLIVAR profile crossing the plate boundary and the Falcón region along 70°W longitude [Guédez, 2007] shows that today the Falcón and Bonaire basins exhibit different crustal and upper mantle structures (Figure 11b).…”

Section: Bonaire Basinmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Crustal structure of the South American–Caribbean plate boundary at 67°W from controlled source seismic data

Magnani¹,

Zelt²,

Levander³

et al. 2009

J. Geophys. Res.

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[1] We present the results of new seismic reflection and wide-angle data across the SE Caribbean plate boundary. The 550 km long N-S profile crosses the structures involved in the active 55 Ma long continent-arc oblique collision between the Caribbean (CAR) and the South American (SA) plate. From the north to the south these structures include the accretionary prism, the extinct volcanic arc (Leeward Antilles arc), the Tertiary Bonaire basin, the continental-size dextral strike-slip fault system (San Sebastián-El Pilar fault), the allochthonous exhumed terranes, and the authocthonous fold and thrust belt (Caribbean Mountain system) and foreland basin. The wide-angle data show that these elements are characterized by different velocity structures and that they are separated by sharp lateral velocity variations. The Leeward Antilles arc exhibits a velocity structure similar to that of the Lesser Antilles active volcanic arc, indicating that the extinct arc has not been modified by the collision with the SA plate. The data show a $20 km change in crustal thickness across the San Sebastián fault, suggesting that the dextral strike-slip fault is a crustal feature that likely continues in the mantle as a primary strand of the plate boundary between the South American and the Caribbean plates. South of the strike-slip fault and beneath the exhumed eclogitic terranes, the data image a north dipping, high-velocity (>6.5 km/s) anomaly in the upper crust (3-11 km), indicating that high-pressure/low-temperature rocks are the likely lithologies responsible for the high seismic velocities and suggesting that exhumation of these assemblages is enabled by the strike-slip fault.

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Arc‐parallel extrusion of the Timor sector of the Banda arc‐continent collision

et al. 2013

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[1] Structural studies of synorogenic basins in Timor using field and remote sensing techniques provide new structural and geomorphic evidence for syn-collisional extension in the converging plate boundary zone between the Australian Plate and Banda Arc. Fault mapping and kinematic analysis at scales ranging from outcrop (<1 m 2 ) to the dimensions of the active orogen in East Timor (~100 km 2 ) identify a predominance of NW-SE oriented dextral-normal faults and NE-SW oriented sinistral-normal faults that collectively bound large (5-20 km 2 ) bedrock massifs throughout the island. These fault systems intersect at non-Andersonian conjugate angles of approximately 120 and accommodate an estimated 20 km of NE-directed extension across the Timor orogen based on reconstructions of fault-dismembered massifs. Major orogen-parallel ENE-oriented faults on the northern and southern sides of Timor exhibit normal-sinistral and normal-dextral kinematics, respectively. The overall pattern of deformation is one of lateral crustal extrusion sub-parallel to the Banda Arc. Stratigraphic relationships suggest that extrusion began prior to 5.5 Ma, before pronounced rapid uplift of the orogen. We link this to progressive coupling of the fore-arc to an underthrust plateau on the Australian Plate and subduction of its ocean crust. Our results enable us to track the structural evolution of the upper crust during dramatic plate-boundary reorganizations accompanying the transition from subduction to collision. The deformation structures that we document suggest that both upper and lower plate deformation during incipient island arc-continent collision was largely controlled by the geometry and topography of the lower plate.

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Chronology of Cenozoic tectonic events in western Venezuela and the Leeward Antilles based on integration of offshore seismic reflection data and on-land geology

Cited by 43 publications

References 34 publications

Collisional model for rapid fore‐arc block rotations, arc curvature, and episodic back‐arc rifting in subduction settings

Collisional model for rapid fore‐arc block rotations, arc curvature, and episodic back‐arc rifting in subduction settings

Crustal structure of the South American–Caribbean plate boundary at 67°W from controlled source seismic data

Arc‐parallel extrusion of the Timor sector of the Banda arc‐continent collision

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