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Thermal history of the southern Central Cordillera and its exhumation record in the Cenozoic deposits of the Upper Magdalena Valley, Colombia

Villamizar-Escalante, N. ; Bernet, M. ; Urueña-Suárez, C. LU orcid ; Hernández-González, J. S. ; Terraza-Melo, R. ; Roncancio, J. ; Muñoz-Rocha, J. A. ; Peña-Urueña, M. L. ; Amaya, S. and Piraquive, A. (2021) In Journal of South American Earth Sciences 107.
Abstract

The roughly 600 km long Central Cordillera of Colombia shows a varied tectonic, magmatic, and exhumation history, despite the reasonably homogenous appearance concerning topography, outcropping lithologies, and strike. Here we show with new geo-thermochronological data the thermal evolution of the southern Central Cordillera since the Early Jurassic. Extensive Jurassic magmatism is recorded by U–Pb crystallization ages of arc plutons intruded by dike swarms and collateral volcaniclastic flows. Inverse modeling of zircon and apatite fission-track ages from Central Cordillera reveals a long period of slow cooling since the Early Cretaceous at rates of 2–3 °C/Myr, based on best-fit t-T path solutions. The Early Cretaceous phase is recorded... (More)

The roughly 600 km long Central Cordillera of Colombia shows a varied tectonic, magmatic, and exhumation history, despite the reasonably homogenous appearance concerning topography, outcropping lithologies, and strike. Here we show with new geo-thermochronological data the thermal evolution of the southern Central Cordillera since the Early Jurassic. Extensive Jurassic magmatism is recorded by U–Pb crystallization ages of arc plutons intruded by dike swarms and collateral volcaniclastic flows. Inverse modeling of zircon and apatite fission-track ages from Central Cordillera reveals a long period of slow cooling since the Early Cretaceous at rates of 2–3 °C/Myr, based on best-fit t-T path solutions. The Early Cretaceous phase is recorded by the cooling of Jurassic granitoids, most likely driven by slow erosional exhumation along the western flank of the Central Cordillera related to the collision and accretion of the Quebradagrande arc against the continental margin. The Late Cretaceous rapid exhumation event caused by the ~80-70 Ma collision and accretion of the Caribbean Large Igneous Province at the western margin of South America observed in other parts of the Central Cordillera, is not detectable in our study area. During the Eocene-Oligocene (ca. 45-31 Ma), the obtained time-temperature paths are compatible with slow cooling rates between 1 and 2 °C/Myr and slow exhumation at long-term average rates of about 0.1 km/Myr. The combination of geo-thermochronological data and petrology of clastic basin sediments presented in this study indicates that the unroofing of the southern Central Cordillera crystalline basement also occurred during the Eocene-Oligocene phase of the Andean Orogeny, as widely recognized by a major unconformity. The exhumation was coeval with the reactivation of crustal structures, such as the Plata-Chusma fault, as evidenced by the syn-tectonic deposits of the Gualanday Group.

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organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
keywords
Cooling history, Exhumation, Fission-track dating, Gualanday Group, Provenance, U–Pb dating
in
Journal of South American Earth Sciences
volume
107
article number
103105
publisher
Elsevier
external identifiers
  • scopus:85099619735
ISSN
0895-9811
DOI
10.1016/j.jsames.2020.103105
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
95e5ff72-6b20-4d3e-890d-7213d5de24c0
date added to LUP
2021-12-23 09:43:19
date last changed
2023-01-17 02:06:39
@article{95e5ff72-6b20-4d3e-890d-7213d5de24c0,
  abstract     = {{<p>The roughly 600 km long Central Cordillera of Colombia shows a varied tectonic, magmatic, and exhumation history, despite the reasonably homogenous appearance concerning topography, outcropping lithologies, and strike. Here we show with new geo-thermochronological data the thermal evolution of the southern Central Cordillera since the Early Jurassic. Extensive Jurassic magmatism is recorded by U–Pb crystallization ages of arc plutons intruded by dike swarms and collateral volcaniclastic flows. Inverse modeling of zircon and apatite fission-track ages from Central Cordillera reveals a long period of slow cooling since the Early Cretaceous at rates of 2–3 °C/Myr, based on best-fit t-T path solutions. The Early Cretaceous phase is recorded by the cooling of Jurassic granitoids, most likely driven by slow erosional exhumation along the western flank of the Central Cordillera related to the collision and accretion of the Quebradagrande arc against the continental margin. The Late Cretaceous rapid exhumation event caused by the ~80-70 Ma collision and accretion of the Caribbean Large Igneous Province at the western margin of South America observed in other parts of the Central Cordillera, is not detectable in our study area. During the Eocene-Oligocene (ca. 45-31 Ma), the obtained time-temperature paths are compatible with slow cooling rates between 1 and 2 °C/Myr and slow exhumation at long-term average rates of about 0.1 km/Myr. The combination of geo-thermochronological data and petrology of clastic basin sediments presented in this study indicates that the unroofing of the southern Central Cordillera crystalline basement also occurred during the Eocene-Oligocene phase of the Andean Orogeny, as widely recognized by a major unconformity. The exhumation was coeval with the reactivation of crustal structures, such as the Plata-Chusma fault, as evidenced by the syn-tectonic deposits of the Gualanday Group.</p>}},
  author       = {{Villamizar-Escalante, N. and Bernet, M. and Urueña-Suárez, C. and Hernández-González, J. S. and Terraza-Melo, R. and Roncancio, J. and Muñoz-Rocha, J. A. and Peña-Urueña, M. L. and Amaya, S. and Piraquive, A.}},
  issn         = {{0895-9811}},
  keywords     = {{Cooling history; Exhumation; Fission-track dating; Gualanday Group; Provenance; U–Pb dating}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  publisher    = {{Elsevier}},
  series       = {{Journal of South American Earth Sciences}},
  title        = {{Thermal history of the southern Central Cordillera and its exhumation record in the Cenozoic deposits of the Upper Magdalena Valley, Colombia}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jsames.2020.103105}},
  doi          = {{10.1016/j.jsames.2020.103105}},
  volume       = {{107}},
  year         = {{2021}},
}