@article{LeonCardonaMejiaVelezetal.2019, author = {Le{\´o}n, Santiago and Cardona, Agust{\´i}n and Mejia Velez, Dany and Botello, G. E. and Villa, V{\´i}ctor and Collo, Gilda and Valencia, Victor A. and Zapata, Sebastian Henao and Avellaneda-Jimenez, D. S.}, title = {Source area evolution and thermal record of an Early Cretaceous back-arc basin along the northwesternmost Colombian Andes}, series = {Journal of South American earth sciences}, volume = {94}, journal = {Journal of South American earth sciences}, publisher = {Elsevier}, address = {Oxford}, issn = {0895-9811}, doi = {10.1016/j.jsames.2019.102229}, pages = {16}, year = {2019}, abstract = {Identifying the provenance signature and geodynamic setting on which sedimentary basins at convergent margins grow is challenging since they result from coupled erosional and tectonic processes, which shape the evolution of source areas and the stress regime. The Early Cretaceous evolution of the northern Andes of Colombia is characterized by extensional tectonics and the subsequent formation of a marginal basin. The Abejorral Formation and coeval volcano-sedimentary rocks are exposed along the western flank and axis of the Central Cordillera. They comprise an Early Cretaceous transgressive sequence initially accumulated in fluvial deltaic environments, which switched towards a deep-marine setting, and are interpreted as the infilling record of a marginal back-arc basin. Available provenance data suggest that Permian-Triassic metamorphic and less abundant Jurassic magmatic rocks forming the basement of the Central Cordillera sourced the Abejorral Formation. New detailed volcanic and metamorphic lithics analyses, conventional and varietal study of heavy minerals, detrital rutile mineral chemistry, allowed us to document changes in the source areas defined by the progressive appearance of both higher-grade and more distal low-grade metamorphic sources, which switched from pelitic to dominantly mafic in composition. Crystallochemical indexes of clay minerals of fine-grained rocks of the Abejorral Formation suggest that samples located close to the Romeral Fault System show characteristics of low-medium P-T low-grade metamorphism, whereas rocks located farther to the northeast preserve primary diagenetic features, which suggest a high heat-flow accumulation setting. We interpret that the Abejorral Formation records the progressive unroofing of the Central Cordillera basement that was being rapidly exhumed, as well as the incorporation of distal subduction-related metamorphic complexes to the west in response either to the widening of extensional front or the reactivation of fault structures on the oceanward margin of the basin. Although the deformational record of the Abejorral Formation would have resulted from over-imposed episodes, our new geochronological constraints suggest that this sedimentary sequence must have been deformed before the Paleocene due to the presence of arc-related intrusive non-deformed magmatic rocks with a crystallization age of ca. 60 Ma.}, language = {en} } @article{EzpeletaParraColloetal.2022, author = {Ezpeleta, Miguel and Parra, Mauricio and Collo, Gilda and Wunderlin, Cecilia and Borrego, Angeles G. and Sobel, Edward and Glodny, Johannes}, title = {Thermochronometry unveils ancient thermal regimes in the NW Pampean Ranges, Argentina}, series = {Basin research}, volume = {34}, journal = {Basin research}, number = {6}, publisher = {Wiley}, address = {Hoboken}, issn = {0950-091X}, doi = {10.1111/bre.12693}, pages = {1983 -- 2012}, year = {2022}, abstract = {Reconstructing thermal histories in thrust belts is commonly used to infer the age and rates of thrusting and hence the driving mechanisms of orogenesis. In areas where ancient basins have been incorporated into the orogenic wedge, a quantitative reconstruction of the thermal history helps distinguish among potential mechanisms responsible for heating events. We present such a reconstruction for the Ischigualasto-Villa Union basin in the western Pampean Ranges of Argentina, where Triassic rifting and late Cretaceous-Cenozoic retroarc foreland basin development has been widely documented, including Miocene flat-slab subduction. We report results of organic and inorganic thermal indicators acquired along three stratigraphic sections, including vitrinite reflectance and X-ray diffractometry in claystones and new thermochronological [(apatite fission-track and apatite and zircon [U-Th]/He)] analyses. Despite up to 5 km-thick Cenozoic overburden and unlike previously thought, the thermal peak in the basin is not due to Cenozoic burial but occurred in the Triassic, associated with a high heat flow of up to 90 mWm(-2) and <2 km of burial, which heated the base of the Triassic strata to similar to 160 degrees C. Following exhumation, attested by the development of an unconformity between the Triassic and Late-Cretaceous-Cenozoic sequences, Cenozoic re-burial increased the temperature to similar to 110 degrees C at the base of the Triassic section and only similar to 50 degrees C 7 km upsection, suggesting a dramatic decrease in the thermal gradient. The onset of Cenozoic cooling occurred at similar to 10(-8) Ma, concomitant with sediment accumulation and thus preceding the latest Miocene onset of thrusting that has been independently documented by stratigraphic-cross-cutting relationships. We argue that the onset of cooling is associated with lithospheric refrigeration following establishment of flat-slab subduction, leading to the eastward displacement of the asthenospheric wedge beneath the South American plate. Our study places time and temperature constraints on flat-slab cooling that calls for a careful interpretation of exhumation signals in thrustbelts inferred from thermochronology only.}, language = {en} }