Igneous and tectonic activity in the Central Cordillera during the Meso-Cenozoic
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.32685/0120-1425/bolgeol17.1-3.1969.330Keywords:
Colombia, Andean geotectonic cycle, subsidence, volcanism, folding, plutonism
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Abstract
During the Meso-Cenozoic, the igneous and tectonic activity in the Central Cordillera developed in two stages with distinctive characters.
The first stage of the Jura-Triassic age is associated with the uplift of the Cordillera and occurs on the eastern and western rims. This stage consists of granodiorite and quartz monzonite intrusions, followed by felsic material eruptions, mainly of rhyodacitic composition. During the development of this stage, the mountain range exists as a mountain arc subjected to erosion. Evidence of this phenomenon is found by studying the composition of clasts of the Jura-Triassic formations. In the final stage, a system of faults is developed whose predominant direction is NW. The second stage, called the Andean Geotectonic Cycle, is characterized by a volcanic-plutonic association of orogenic regions, and develops from the Lower Cretaceous to the present times. Four phases characterize the Geotectonic Cycle
Andean:
1) Eruption of dominantly basic lavas during the geosynclinal phase of the cycle. This initial volcanism, typically fissure volcanism, is closely related to the origin of the Romeral fundamental fault.
2) Injection of ultrabasic and basic plutons in the inner zone of the geosyncline during the embryonic stage of folding. From this moment on, the mountain range evolves from an emerged area to a high geosyncline (Ridge) on which Cretaceous sediments (Aptian) are deposited for the first time in the Central Cordillera. Subsequently, an important fault system develops, with a predominant NE and NW direction (Otú and Palestina faults).
3) Development of quartz dioritic batholiths in the central part of the mountain range. Consequently, an intense fracturing originated, and reactivation and tectonic reorientation of the existing faults were produced.
4) Superficial eruptions of basalts, andesites, and rhyolites, after the folding but contemporaneous with the final uplift of the Cordillera. Unlike the first one, this volcanic series occurs in the axial zone of the Cordillera and manifests itself as central volcanoes, which begin to form during the Miocene.
The name Andean Geotectonic Cycle is proposed to encompass all the phenomena of subsidence, volcanism, plutonism, folding, fracturing, and uplift that have occurred since the Lower Cretaceous to the present day and which have given rise to the Colombian Andes.
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