Present-day structural frame of the Santander Massif and Pamplona Wedge: The interaction of the Northern Andes

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Highlights

  • A new structural model for the Santander Massif and Pamplona Wedge in presented.

  • Our model underlines the current tectonic interaction of different regions in the Northern Andes.

  • A transpressional domino explains the deformation of the Santander Massif.

  • Stress tensors trajectories from the Pamplona Wedge show a radial pattern.

  • A W-E regional compression explains tectonic syntaxis of the Pamplona Wedge and Cocuy Range.

Abstract

Based on regional geology and stress tensor analysis from fault slickensides, we propose a structural model to explain the present-day configuration of a crystalline core in the northern Andes of Colombia (the Santander Massif - SM). The SM has undergone transpressional tectonics in a domino-style, controlled by longitudinal sinistral strike-slip faults as the Bucaramanga Fault. The tectonic style also exhibits NE-SW trending transverse inner faults with dextral strike-slip kinematics. The transpressional regime of the SM differs from the compressive regime that characterizes nearby blocks (northern Perijá Range, southern Floresta Massif, and eastern Pamplona Wedge). Transpressional structures result from a regional W-E horizontal compression corresponding to the current stress field as determined here by cross-cutting relations, mainly observed in the Pamplona Wedge. Stress tensors also show maximum horizontal stress (SHmax) in radial pattern towards the wedge deformation front, whose influence spreads over the SM western border. The W-E regional compression also explains the tectonic syntaxes formed by the Pamplona Wedge to the north and the Sierra Nevada de Güicán or El Cocuy to the south. These two areas are characterized by the opposite outward vergence of their compressive deformation fronts.

Introduction

Present-day interactions between mobile rigid zones in northwest South America seems to be governed by a NE ejection of the Northern Andes, influenced in turn by the oblique convergence of the Nazca Plate, the Caribbean Plate, the collision of the Panamá Arc, and/or the subduction of the Carnegie Ridge beneath the Ecuador-Colombia trench (Gutscher et al., 1999; Taboada et al., 2000; Trenkamp et al., 2002; Audemard, 2014; Mora-Páez et al., 2016, 2019). Transpression dominates crustal deformation in the Eastern Cordillera of Colombia (EC), the easternmost branch of the Northern Andes (e.g., Kammer, 1999; Taboada et al., 2000; Acosta et al., 2004; Acosta et al., 2007; Velandia, 2017; Velandia and Bermúdez, 2018; Siravo et al., 2019) that in turn positively inverted the former Mesozoic transtensional basin (Cooper et al., 1995; Sarmiento-Rojas et al., 2006; Mora et al., 2008; Tesón et al., 2013). Inversion of focal mechanism and structural data reveal a dominant WNW-ESE compression in central EC (Colmenares and Zoback, 2003; Cortés and Angelier, 2005; Cortés et al., 2005; Egbue et al., 2014) and NW-SE oriented compression towards the foothills (Dimaté et al., 2003). In the northern part of the EC, near its junction with the Mérida Andes, a local deflection of the stress regime suggest local accommodation of the orogen (Cortés and Angelier, 2005; Audemard and Castilla, 2016) to the so-called Pamplona Indenter (Boinet et al., 1985). Although this interaction between the northern part of the EC (i.e., the Santander Massif area) and the Mérida Andes has governed the Neogene tectonic framework in this critical zone, where destructive historical earthquakes have occurred (e.g., Cifuentes and Sarabia, 2006, 2007a,b; Rodríguez et al., 2018), the structural model explaining this interaction has received little attention (e.g., Kammer, 1999; Corredor, 2003). In this sense, recent structural and thermochronological data obtained from the Santander Massif (SM) have suggested the onset of uplift since Eocene times (first phases of the Andean Orogeny, e.g., Corredor, 2003), influenced by the Bucaramanga Fault, with an increase in uplift rates since the Miocene as a consequence of the indentation of the Panamá-Chocó Block and fault activity associated to inner structures within the SM (van der Lelij et al., 2016a; Amaya et al., 2017).

The SM, located in the northeastern part of the Eastern Cordillera (Fig. 1), is an igneous-metamorphic core complex that recorded the complicated geological history of the Northern Andes at least since Paleozoic times (Ríos et al., 2003). Recent geochemical and geochronological studies have demonstrated that rocks within the SM have recorded at least four main orogenic-scale events which occurred during the Early Paleozoic (Quetame-Caparonensis/Famatinian Orogeny, e.g., Ríos et al., 2003; Mantilla et al., 2013; Zuluaga et al., 2017), Triassic to Jurassic (e.g., van der Lelij et al., 2016b; Zuluaga et al., 2017; Zuluaga and López, 2019), Cretaceous (e.g., Cooper et al., 1995; Sarmiento-Rojas et al., 2006) and the Andean Orogeny (e.g., Corredor, 2003; Amaya et al., 2017). Moreover, some authors based on stratigraphic (e.g., Cooper et al., 1995; Sarmiento-Rojas, 2001; Sarmiento-Rojas et al., 2006) and detrital zircons provenance analysis (e.g., Horton et al., 2010, 2015; Nie et al., 2012) have suggested that the SM was partially uplifted during Cretaceous times, and it firmly controlled the sedimentation patterns along both the Magdalena Valley and Eastern Cordillera basins.

The Cenozoic tectonic evolution in the vicinity of the SM has been associated with a positive inversion tectonic model where former Mesozoic normal faults were inverted during Miocene-Pliocene times (e.g., Boyacá and Soapaga faults) (Parra et al., 2009, 2010; Ramírez-Arias et al., 2012). In this setting, both thick and thin-skinned tectonic styles have been recognized, especially along the borders of the Floresta Massif, through the southern limit of the SM (Colletta et al., 1990; Toro, 1990; Dengo and Covey, 1993; Cooper et al., 1995, Roeder and Chamberlain, 1995; Toro et al., 2004; Saylor et al., 2012; Tesón et al., 2013). Besides the essential dip-slip component that favored uplifting of basement rocks along the Floresta Massif (Fig. 1), a strike-slip component in a transpressional regime induced by the Bucaramanga Fault has been proposed (e.g., Kammer, 1999; Taboada et al., 2000; Velandia, 2005; Acosta et al., 2007; Velandia, 2017; Velandia and Bermúdez, 2018), even emphasizing the reverse component of the fault (Siravo et al., 2019). Here, we hypothesize that a transpressive regime could propagate into the SM and that positive inversion of Mesozoic normal faults should be a feasible tectonic scenario for some regional N–S trending structures following the reverse fault array observed along the Floresta Massif.

As noted above, most efforts in the SM have attempted to provide geochemical, geochronological, and thermochronological studies (e.g., Ríos et al., 2003; García et al., 2005; Castellanos et al., 2008; Mantilla et al., 2013; Mora et al., 2015; van der Lelij et al., 2016b; Amaya et al., 2017; Zuluaga et al., 2017) but lack enough structural data to support a robust structural configuration and tectonic history of the SM. Making a coherent tectonic setting becomes necessary because of the geological, economic, and neotectonic importance of this zone. Thus, a systematic investigation of the current brittle structures within the SM and surroundings is the main objective of this work. We present a new tectonic model for the SM through structural geology data and stress tensor analysis. The main aim of this effort is to reconcile earlier structural models with a new structural framework that can explain the recent tectonic condition of the SM, as well as the interaction with the Mérida Andes and the structural transition with the surrounding areas, i.e., The Perijá Range and Floresta Massif.

Section snippets

Stratigraphy

The northeast region of the Eastern Cordillera of Colombia is composed of three large zones named from south to north as the Floresta Massif, the SM, and the Perijá Range (Fig. 1). In these complex mountains, the basement is characterized by diverse metamorphic and igneous rocks (Fig. 1) (Vargas et al., 1976; Ward et al., 1977a,b; Vargas et al., 1987, Restrepo, 1995; Gómez et al., 2015; Zuluaga et al., 2017; Zuluaga and López, 2019). From the oldest to the youngest, these igneous-metamorphic

Regional structural analysis

The regional study of the major and secondary structures along the area was achieved through the geomorphological interpretation of shaded relief images from digital elevation models with 30- and 12.5-m resolution (NASA – Alaska Satellite Facility, 2015), as well as the analysis of the regional geological maps (at 1:100,000 scale) and the digital compiled map of the Geological Survey of Colombia (Gómez et al., 2015). This methodology allowed us to determine the effects and displacements of

Results and interpretation

In this section we first describe the main faults and the results of the stress tensor inversion procedure, including limitations of the outcomes.Afterward, we present our interpretation of the expected deformation patterns for the two large domains of the study area: the SM and the Pamplona region.

Discussion

The boundaries and the inner framework of the SM are dominated by a set of structures whose current kinematics are still poorly constrained. We discuss here the implications of the stress tensor analysis and the proposed structural frame compared to previous models. Besides, we explain the current kinematics of major faults of the SM and surrounding areas. Previously, about the regional structures and regarding the borders of the SM related to inversion tectonics, we can say that the most

Conclusions

A regional structural model is proposed for the Santander Massif and surrounding areas, based on the analysis of the major structures and orientations/regimes of current stress tensors. The SM is characterized by transpressional deformation with strike-slip and oblique faults, while the Perijá Range (north) and Floresta Massif (south) are dominated by compressive regimes with reverse faults and parallel folds. The Pamplona Wedge is a different region with more complex kinematics but with

Declaration of competing interest

The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.

Acknowledgments

This study is part of the doctoral dissertation of the first author at the Universidad Nacional de Colombia, supported by Colciencias-Colfuturo (grant PDBC 6172) and the study commission of the Universidad Industrial de Santander. We are especially grateful to Alfredo Taboada for discussions and helpful remarks, also to Eduardo Rossello and Martín Cortés for comments on the first version of the study. Thanks to Diego Osorio and Jorge J. Baquero for assistance during fieldwork. Support of Luis

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