Construction of the Eas​​tern Cordillera of Colombia: Insights from the Sedimentary Record   ​

Brian K. HORTON, Mauricio PA​RRA, and Andrés MORA

https://doi.org/10.32685/pub.esp.37.2019.03

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Abstract 

A continuous, long–lived sedimentary record contains important evidence bearing on the geologic evolution of the Eastern Cordillera in the northern Andes of Colombia. Today, this largely isolated NNE–trending mountain range forms a ca. 1–3 km high topographic barrier separating the Magdalena Valley hinterland basin from the Llanos foreland basin. A Mesozoic – Cenozoic history of marine and nonmarine sedimentation affected the Eastern Cordillera and flanking Magdalena and Llanos provinces during contrasting tectonic regimes. (i) Jurassic to earliest Cretaceous extension led to the development and linkage of extensional sub–basins (commonly half graben features governed by normal faults) in selected regions. (ii) A subsequent phase of postextensional thermal subsidence generated a thermal sag basin across a broader region. (iii) In latest Cretaceous to Paleocene time, initial crustal shortening in the Central Cordillera created a regional flexural basin that was successively broken by the Paleocene – Oligocene emergence of thrust/reverse–fault related uplifts within the Eastern Cordillera partitioning the original regional basin into the Magdalena hinterland basin and Llanos foreland basin. (iv) Major Neogene uplift and establishment of an effective topographic barrier occurred as continued shortening became focused along the bivergent eastern and western flanks of the fold–thrust belt comprising the Eastern Cordillera. Shortening commonly involved contractional reactivation of preexisting normal faults and inversion of pre–foreland basin elements. This geologic history is largely expressed in the clastic sedimentary archives of the Eastern Cordillera, Magdalena Valley Basin, and Llanos Basin. Growth strata and cross–cutting relationships among fold–thrust structures and basin fill provide essential timing constraints for individual structures, particularly when integrated with thermochronological data. Regional stratigraphic correlations and sediment accumulation histories help identify shared and divergent stratigraphic histories during progressive basin compartmentalization. Substantial shifts in sediment provenance, identified through U–Pb geochronology, demonstrate the changes in sediment source regions and paleodrainage patterns during several changes in tectonic conditions.

Keywords: Eastern Cordillera, fold–thrust belt, foreland basin, provenance, U–Pb geochronology.​

Un registro sedimentario continuo y prolongado en los Andes del norte alberga evidencia importante sobre la evolución geológica de la cordillera Oriental de Colombia. Actualmente, esta cadena montañosa, en gran medida aislada y de orientación N–NE, forma una barrera topográfica de 1–3 km de altura que separa la cuenca intramontana del valle del Magdalena de la cuenca de antepaís de los Llanos. La sedimentación marina y continental mesozoica–cenozoica tuvo lugar en la cordillera Oriental y las provincias adyacentes Magdalena y Llanos durante regímenes tectónicos contrastantes. (i) Extensión durante el Jurásico al Cretácico más ​temprano tuvo como resultado el desarrollo e interconexión de subcuencas extensionales (comúnmente en forma de semigrábenes controlados por fallas normales) en áreas localizadas. (ii) Una fase subsecuente de subsidencia termal posextensional generó una cuenca de subsidencia térmica en una región más amplia. (iii) Durante el Cretácico más tardío al Paleoceno, el inicio del acortamiento cortical en la cordillera Central generó una cuenca flexural regional que fue posteriormente fragmentada en el Paleoceno–Oligoceno tras la emergencia de altos de basamento relacionada con fallas inversas en la cordillera Oriental, subdividiendo la cuenca regional inicial en la cuenca intramontana del Magdalena y la cuenca de antepaís de los Llanos. (iv) Levantamiento neógeno considerable y el establecimiento de una barrera topográfica efectiva ocurrieron en la medida en que el acortamiento persistente fue acomodado de forma bivergente en el cinturón de pliegues y cabalgamientos marginales de los flancos oriental y occidental de la cordillera Oriental. Este acortamiento involucró la reactivación contraccional de antiguas fallas normales y la inversión de segmentos de cuencas de antepaís preexistentes. Esta historia geológica está registrada en gran medida en los archivos sedimentarios de la cordillera Oriental y las cuencas del valle del Magdalena y de los Llanos. Estratos de crecimiento y relaciones de corte entre estructuras de pliegues y cabalgamientos y el relleno sedimentario proporcionan la información esencial para restringir la temporalidad de deformación en estructuras particulares, especialmente cuando se integran con la evidencia termocronológica. Correlaciones estratigráficas e historias regionales de acumulación de sedimentos permiten discriminar entre fases de desarrollo coincidentes y divergentes durante la historia progresiva de fragmentación de la cuenca. Cambios marcados en la procedencia sedimentaria, identificados mediante geocronología U–Pb, demuestran variaciones en las áreas fuente de sedimentos y en los patrones de drenajes ancestrales asociados a cambios en las condiciones tectónicas.

Palabras clave: cordillera Oriental, cinturón de pliegues y cabalgamientos, cuenca de antepaís, proveniencia, geocronología U–Pb.

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