Neoproterozoic to Jurassic tectono-metamorphic events in the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta Massif, Colombia: insights from zircon U-Pb geochronology and trace element geochemistry

The Geochemical and Isotopic Record of Wilson Cycles in Northwestern South America: From the Iapetus to the Caribbean

“…Variably deformed and variably metamorphosed latest Cambrian-early Devonian (499-414 Ma) intrusions form large parts of the Mérida Andes [2,3] and Santander Massif ( [2,[4][5][6]). Smaller exposures occur in tectonic slivers along the eastern flank of the Cordillera Central (La Aguadita Amphibolites, La Miel Orthogneiss; [7][8][9]; Figure 1), the Quetame and Floresta massifs [10], the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta [11], the El Baul Massif [12] and the Llanos Basin [13]. These Palaeozoic igneous units are not exposed in Ecuador, although they reappear in the northern Eastern Cordillera of Peru [14].…”

“…The intrusions are more numerous within Colombia and crop out in the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta (E.g. El Encanto Orthogneiss; [11,20]) and the central Cordillera Central (Colombia; Rovira Complex; [21,22]), whereas only a single Permian pluton has been found in Ecuador, which is located in the far southern Cordillera Real (Malacatos Complex [23,24]). These geographically dispersed occurrences are interpreted to have formed part of a now dismembered arc sequence that mainly formed on the conjugate margins to a Triassic rift within Gondwana [20,24,25], and is currently preserved intact in the Eastern Cordillera of Peru [14].…”

“…Permian magmatism was modified by prograde metamorphism with peak metamorphic conditions of ~770-830 • C and ~11.5-14 kb [11], which is best preserved in the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta (Colombia), and is recorded in late Permian (254.0 ± 2.3 Ma-251.8 ± 3.8) migmatites in the relict conjugate margin (e.g., Chiapas Massif and Chortis Blocks [27,28]). Low grade metamorphism of the Diamante Fm.…”

“…Triassic granodiorites and monzogranites are abundant in northwestern South America and within Colombia they are found in the Cordillera Central, the basement of the Plato-San Jorge Basin, the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta and the Guajira Peninsula (Figure 1) [7,8,11,[20][21][22][23][24]26,[30][31][32]. Equivalent Triassic rocks in Ecuador are the Tres Lagunas Granite, Moromoro Granite and leucosomes of the Sabanilla Migmatite within the Cordillera Real and Amotape Complex of Ecuador [17,21,[33][34][35][36].…”

“…A distinct group of granitic-dioritic intrusions in the Mérida Andes (e.g., La Grita Diorite) and Santander Massif (e.g., Berlin Orthogneiss) yield zircon U-Pb concordia dates of 499-414 Ma and 484-439 Ma, respectively [2][3][4][5]. These overlap with the age of crystallisation of the protolith of the La Aguadita Amphibolites at 486-2.7/−14 Ma [9], and the La Miel orthogneiss in the Anacona Block of the Cordillera Central (Figure 1) [7,8], which yields U-Pb dates of 470-440 Ma, the Quetame (483 ± 19 Ma; La Mina granodiorite) [10] and Floresta massifs (464 ± 8 Ma; Otenga granite) [10], the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta (449.7 ± 2.0 Ma) [11], the Caribbean Mountains of Venezuela (e.g., Choroni Granite; discordia intercepts), the El Baul Massif [12] and the Llanos Basin [13]. These Palaeozoic igneous units are not exposed in Ecuador, although they reappear in the northern Eastern Cordillera of Peru [14].…”