Syntectonic Cenozoic sedimentation in the northern middle Magdalena

Valley Basin of Colombia and implications for exhumation of the

Northern Andes

Elías Gómez†
Teresa E. Jordan
Richard W. Allmendinger
Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York 14853, USA
Kerry Hegarty
Geotrack International, 37 Melville Road, Brunswick West, Victoria 3055, Australia
Shari Kelley
New Mexico Tech, Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Socorro, New Mexico 87801, USA

ABSTRACT INTRODUCTION mity (MMVU). While the Central Cordillera

Development of the Colombian Middle
Magdalena Valley Basin (MMVB) was
determined by late Cretaceous-early Eocene
uplift of the Central Cordillera to the west,
and subsequent transferal of deformation
to the Eastern Cordillera to the east. These
phases are separated in the tectono-strati-
graphic record by a major unconformity,
the Middle Magdalena Valley unconformity
(MMVU). Paleocene coastal to alluvial facies
underneath the MMVU were deposited in a
foreland basin coupled to Central Cordillera
kilometer-scale uplift. The middle Eocene to
Neogene continental strata that onlap the
MMVU document transformation of the
MMVB into an interior basin due to Eastern
Cordillera deformation recorded by growth
strata in seismic lines and changing prov-
enance and paleoflow patterns. Exhumation
histories of the MMVB bounding ranges are
further constrained by apatite-fission-track
and vitrinite reflectance thermochronology
and volcanic ash chronology. This study
indicates that the MMVB is fundamentally
related to evolution of the entire Andean
margin of South America.
Keywords: stratigraphy, tectonics, thermal
history, geochronology, Colombia.
†
Present address: Shell International Exploration
and Production Inc., E&P Solutions, 200 North
Dairy Ashford, Houston, Texas 77079, USA; e-mail:
elias.gomez@shell.com.
This paper describes the Cenozoic stra-
tigraphy and structure of the Colombian
Middle Magdalena Valley Basin (MMVB)
and addresses the chronologies of deformation
of the bounding Central and Eastern Andean
Cordilleras (Fig. 1). The MMVB is a part of
a foreland basin system of major geologic and
intellectual importance. In terms of volume and
longevity, the Colombian foreland basin system,
consisting of the MMVB and its more distal
neighbor, the Llanos Foothills basin, accom-
panies the Northern Andes for over 400 km
along strike, persisted throughout the Cenozoic,
and accumulated up to 7000 m of strata. This
foreland-basin system affords an opportunity
to learn about continental deformation and
genesis of unconformities through exploration
of its variations from standard foreland basin
behavior. The Colombian foreland basin system
initially overlapped a Mesozoic rift province,
and subsequent inversion of the rift system in
the Eastern Cordillera strongly imprinted the
nature of the foreland basin.
A large reserve of information about Andean
tectonic history rests in the MMVB due to its
location between the two largest Andean ranges
of northern South America. Syntectonic strata
and unconformities record Paleocene-early
Eocene propagation of Central Cordillera defor-
mation followed by erosional retreat of this
range. The resultant time-transgressive pedi-
ment surface at the base of onlapping middle
Eocene-Neogene strata is a major unconfor-
mity, the Middle Magdalena Valley unconfor-
front retreated in the middle Eocene to Recent,
Eastern Cordillera diachronous deformation
generated accommodation in the basin. Prior
to this work, the attributes of the MMVB were
interpreted as linked to Central Cordillera uplift
throughout most of the Cenozoic. The onset of
uplift of the Eastern Cordillera proposed in this
paper is also substantially earlier than that envi-
sioned by previous works. The dominant inter-
pretation was that the MMVB was the proximal
part of a Cenozoic foreland basin coupled to the
Central Cordillera, which was detached from
the distal Llanos Basin due to late Miocene-
Pliocene Eastern Cordillera uplift (Schamel,
1991; Dengo and Covey, 1993).
In recent years, much of the focus on the
relations of plate history to the tectonics of the
Colombian Andes has been related to Caribbean
tectonics (e.g., Pindell et al., 1998). The recon-
struction of deformation of the Central and
Eastern Cordilleras, described herein, informs
a comparison of the evolution of the Northern
Andes, influenced by Caribbean tectonics, to
the Central and Southern Andes, where tectonic
activity is more simply related to subduction of
the Nazca plate. Independently, knowledge has
grown of the chronology and nature of tectonic
evolution of the Central and Southern Andes, in
large part through investigation of basin evolu-
tion and improved chronologic information
(e.g., Mpodozis and Ramos, 1990; Jordan et al.,
1995; Horton et al., 2001). Improved knowledge
of the stages and timing of uplift of the Colom-
bian Andean Ranges, derived from MMVB
history, assists in distinguishing whether the

GSA Bulletin; May/June 2005; v. 117; no. 5/6; p. 547–569; doi: 10.1130/B25454.1; 15 figures; 3 tables; Data Repository item 2005076.

For permission to copy, contact editing@geosociety.org

© 2005 Geological Society of America 547
548
B

Panam

Venezuela

Colombia
GÓMEZ et al.

South
America
Ecuador
Per

Geological Society of America Bulletin, May/June 2005

0 300 km

Figure 1. (A) Shaded relief map of Colombia and nearby regions illus-
trating the general tectonic and physiographic setting of the Middle
Magdalena Valley Basin (MMVB) within white polygon, and surround-
ing Andean ranges in northwestern South America. (B) Geologic map
of the MMVB and adjacent mountain ranges and basins showing the
locations of structural cross sections and main structures discussed in
this paper. Map sources: Geotec, 1988; Schamel, 1991.
 SYNTECTONIC SEDIMENTATION IN THE MIDDLE MAGDALENA VALLEY BASIN

Central and Eastern Cordilleras of Colombia are

highly similar to the Central Andes but slightly
overprinted by Caribbean or collisional influ-
ences or instead are markedly different.
Traditionally, a distinction has been made
between the Northern Andes and the Central
Andes in relation to the role of terrane accretion.
Colombia’s oceanic Western Cordillera was
progressively accreted from Cretaceous through
Eocene time (Barrero, 1979; Etayo-Serna et al.,
1983), whereas the Panamá-Baudó arc accreted
during the middle Miocene to Pliocene (Duque-
Caro, 1990; Dengo and Covey, 1993; Fig. 1A).
A second category of distinction between the
Central Andes and Northern Andes is caused by
extensive tectonic erosion of the Central Andean
margin (removal of the forearc lithosphere by
subduction), which controlled the preservation
of the western margin and may have caused
significant eastward migration of the Central
Andean uplift. Because of these distinctions, we
emphasize a comparison of the tempo of tectonic
evolution of the Northern and Central Andes. We
use the northern Chile–southern Bolivia–north-
ern Argentine Andes (20–24°S) as the Central
Andean reference zone. Major steps in Central
Andean evolution that merit comparison are
Jurassic-early Cretaceous backarc extension, late
Cretaceous-Paleocene compression, a Paleo-
cene-Eocene interval of broad erosion and local-
ized deformation, an Oligocene-early Miocene
interval of reorganization of deformation, and
lastly, a major surge in the degree of continental
shortening early in the Miocene, which led to the
development of the modern Andean volcanic arc
and thrust systems.
From a resource perspective, the Colombian
foreland basin system has been one of the most
prolific petroleum areas of the entire Andean
belt. This paper provides data relevant to the
MMVB main oil reservoirs and traps, which
are of Cenozoic age. Maturity trends of marine
source rocks, found within the underlying Cre-
taceous sequence, are also partially explained
by Cenozoic tectonics and sedimentary burial.

DATA, METHODS, AND

ORGANIZATION OF THIS PAPER

Surface and subsurface descriptions of stra-

tigraphy and structure form the basis of our
studies. Surface stratigraphic columns provided
facies, paleocurrent, and petrographic data
(Figs. 2 and 3). Regional distributions of sedi-
mentary units and unconformities were mapped
Figure 2. Geologic map of the northern and central MMVB showing the locations of struc- in the subsurface in a grid of 2800 km of 2-D
tural and seismic sections as well as stratigraphic columns and places mentioned in this reflection seismic lines and 99 well logs with
paper. See location in Figure 1B. Map sources: Servicio Geológico Nacional (1966, 1967), formational tops provided by several oil com-
Ward et al. (1977). Locations of apatite-fission-track samples and values of vitrinite reflec- panies. Selected seismic lines were converted to
tance (Ro), discussed in text, are also shown. depth using velocity models derived from well

Geological Society of America Bulletin, May/June 2005 549

 GÓMEZ et al.

Figure 3. Composite stratigraphic column illustrating the stratigraphic subdivisions (after Morales et al., 1958) and main lithologic character-
istics of the MMVB Cenozoic deposits. Field descriptions were originally conducted at the decimeter scale; thicknesses were measured with a
1.5-m-long Jacob staff and tape and compass. The stratigraphic positions of petrographic samples are also illustrated; samples with an asterisk
were also used for apatite-fission-track thermal history analyses. Vitrinite reflectance samples of the Lisama, La Paz, and Esmeraldas forma-
tions are underlined. The positions of zircon-fission-track dated reworked tuffs appear in bold italics. See Figure 2 for location of measured
sections; outcrops of the Los Corros and La Cira fossil horizons were studied at the localities of Uribe-Uribe and Oponcito River, respectively.
Refer to Table 2 and Figure 5 for detailed facies descriptions of the Lisama, La Paz, Esmeraldas, Colorado, and Real units.

550 Geological Society of America Bulletin, May/June 2005

 SYNTECTONIC SEDIMENTATION IN THE MIDDLE MAGDALENA VALLEY BASIN
data and stacking velocities. Uplift and erosion
episodes of the MMVB bounding ranges are
also constrained by structural cross sections and
growth strata displayed in seismic data from the
Eastern Cordillera foothills. Thermal histories
derived from apatite-fission-track analyses and
vitrinite reflectance studies provide additional
information on episodes of uplift and sedimen-
tary burial. We also report two fission-track ages
from upper Miocene volcanoclastic beds.
After describing the MMVB geologic setting,
we evaluate the depositional ages and describe
the facies and composition of Cenozoic units.
We continue with descriptions of the subsurface
stratigraphic and structural geometry of the
MMVB and present relevant thermal-history
information. Regional and local data sets are
then synthesized into palinspastic reconstruc-
tions of MMVB evolution. Finally we compare
the mechanisms of tectonic evolution of the
Andean foreland basin system of Colombia with
the Central Andes of South America.
GEOLOGIC SETTING
The MMVB overlies continental-affinity
basement of Proterozoic to Paleozoic age, which
also constitutes the crystalline core of the Cen-
tral and Eastern Andean Cordilleras (Fig. 1A).
To the west of the Romeral fault system, along
the western flank of the Central Cordillera, are
oceanic terranes, which were accreted to South
America through several collisions from the
early Cretaceous through the Cenozoic (Bar-
rero, 1979; Etayo-Serna et al., 1983). To the east
of the Romeral fault (Fig. 1A), granulite-grade
metamorphic basement in the Eastern Cordillera
is overlain by Paleozoic low-grade metasedi-
mentary rocks (Restrepo, 1995). More extensive
exposures of crystalline basement are found in
the Central Cordillera; low- to medium-pressure
metasedimentary rocks are dominant in this
range (Etayo-Serna et al., 1983). Mesozoic and
Cenozoic calc-alkaline plutons intrude the meta-
morphic complexes of the Eastern and Central
Cordilleras and the oceanic terranes to the west
of the Romeral fault (Aspden et al., 1987).
Mesozoic rifting characterized the MMVB
and the Eastern Cordillera areas (Etayo-Serna
et al., 1983). Triassic to Jurassic synrift red
beds locally reach 5000 m in thickness and are
exposed in the cores of the Eastern Cordillera
Arcabuco and Los Cobardes anticlines and in
the San Lucas Range of the Central Cordil-
lera (Fig. 1B; Cediel, 1968; Bogotá and Aluja,
1981). Mesozoic extension in these localities
is recorded by unconformity-bounded units,
rotated-block morphology, spatially variable
thicknesses, bimodal subaerial volcanogenic
strata and mafic intrusives (Julivert, 1958; Fabre
Geological Society of America Bulletin, May/June 2005
and Delaloye, 1982; Bayona et al., 1994). A
marine transgression of the Colombian territory
during the Cretaceous led to a transgressive-
regressive megasequence mostly composed of
shales, limestones, and chert beds (Macellari,
1988), which reaches a maximum thickness of
4 km in the Eastern Cordillera foothills along
the northern MMVB.
Late Cretaceous to Eocene oblique accre-
tion of the Western Cordillera (Fig. 1A) caused
northward propagation of uplift of the Central
Cordillera (Campbell, 1968). Tectonic inversion
of Mesozoic grabens in the Eastern Cordillera
area also initiated at that time and continued
throughout the Cenozoic (Julivert, 1963; Gómez,
2001). But the most intense pulse of Eastern Cor-
dillera uplift has been attributed to accretion of
the Panamá-Baudó arc, which started at 12.9 Ma
(Duque-Caro, 1990; Dengo and Covey, 1993).
The structural configuration of the Cen-
tral Cordillera is not well understood. It may
involve a combination of strike-slip and reverse
faulting such that the Central Cordillera may
represent a crustal-scale, thick-skinned, positive
flower structure (D. Barrero, personal commun.,
1989, 1999). A significant component of com-
pressional deformation must have occurred to
generate important uplift and exposure of pre-
Mesozoic basement, which reaches altitudes
of 3500 m in places where it is not overlain by
Pliocene volcanic edifices. The age of the major
phase of deformation of the Central Cordillera
at the latitude of the MMVB is pre-middle
Eocene, as constrained by relations across the
MMVU described below.
The Eastern Cordillera is flanked by fold-
and-thrust belts with opposite vergence, which
overthrust the MMVB and Llanos Basin to the
west and east, respectively (Fig. 1B). The NE
structural trend of the Eastern Cordillera changes
to NNW north of 7°N, and it also splits into two
Andean branches, the Santander Massif and
Perijá Range to the NW, and the Mérida Andes
to the NE. The Bucaramanga Fault constitutes
the western boundary of the Santander and Santa
Marta Massifs and is a NNW-trending left-lat-
eral strike-slip fault with a major component of
west-verging, reverse movement (Fig. 1; Camp-
bell, 1968). Estimates of the amount of sinistral
displacement of the Bucaramanga fault range
between 100 and 115 km; offset features include
crystalline and Mesozoic stratigraphic units of
the Central Cordillera relative to the Santa Marta
Massif and the Ranchería Basin relative to the
northern MMVB (Fig. 1B; Campbell, 1968;
Forero, 1974; Pindell et al., 1998).
In map view, anticline-syncline pairs arranged
in an eastward stepping pattern from south to
north characterize the Eastern Cordillera thrust-
and-fold belt along the MMVB (Fig. 1B) This
pattern may reflect the distribution of Mesozoic
normal faults, whose reactivation as reverse
faults is interpreted to have driven Eastern Cor-
dillera uplift (Schamel, 1991). The master faults
of this system are known as the La Salina fault
system. Trailing anticlines are fault-bend folds
cored by Mesozoic rocks, whereas hanging-wall
synclines carried above detachment surfaces are
composed mostly of Tertiary rocks. Hanging
wall fault-propagation anticlines, sometimes
associated with blind thrusts, constitute the
westernmost structures of the Eastern Cordillera
foothills along the MMVB.
AGE, OUTCROP STRATIGRAPHY, AND
PETROGRAPHY OF CENOZOIC ROCKS
In this section, we describe the ages, facies,
and compositions of the MMVB Tertiary rocks
as derived from surface data. The most complete
and best exposed Paleocene-lower Oligocene
rock record (Lisama, La Paz, and Esmeraldas
formations) occurs in the eastern flank of the
Nuevo Mundo syncline along the Sogamoso
River; outcrops of the overlying Oligocene-
Miocene rocks (Mugrosa, Colorado, and Real
units) are found in the La Cira-Infantas oil field
area along the Pan-American road (Figs. 2 and
3; Morales et al., 1958; Ramón, 1998).
Chronology of MMVB Cenozoic Fill
The most important stratigraphic bound-
ary within the MMVB Cenozoic record is the
MMVU, between Paleocene and middle Eocene
units in Figure 3. We defer the description of
this surface and other Cenozoic unconformities
to a later section in this paper. Here, we review
the age assignments of Cenozoic units as a
first step to understanding the evolution of the
MMVB (Fig. 4). The palynological assignment
of the Lisama Formation to the Paleocene (Van
der Hammen and Garcia, 1966) has not been
disputed. In contrast, various authors working
with different fossil groups reached conflicting
interpretations of the ages of the middle Eocene
to lower middle Miocene La Paz, Esmeraldas,
Mugrosa, and Colorado formations. Only the
upper Miocene Real Group and the Pliocene
Mesa Group have been dated by geochronology
of interbedded volcanic rocks.
The Eocene-Miocene stratigraphy was based
on identification of the Los Corros, Mugrosa, and
La Cira fossil horizons located at the tops of the
Esmeraldas, Mugrosa, and Colorado formations,
respectively (Fig. 3). These horizons consist of
thin layers of packstones of bivalves and gastro-
pods within muddy intervals that are up to 15 m
(Los Corros), 8 m (Mugrosa) and 106 m thick
(La Cira; Wheeler in Pilsbry and Olsson, 1935).
551

The Los Corros and La Cira are composed of
fresh-water mollusks and a few slightly brack-
ish-water elements; the Mugrosa Fossil horizon
is composed exclusively of fresh-water mollusks
(Pilsbry and Olsson, 1935; Nuttal, 1990). The La
Cira horizon can be traced toward the south as
far as the boundary with the upper Magdalena
Valley Basin (Fig. 1B; Nuttal, 1990), whereas
the Los Corros and Mugrosa fossil horizons
are restricted to the central and northern parts of
the MMVB. Cenozoic age assignments derived
from the fossil horizons are imprecise. Pilsbry
and Olsson (1935) tentatively assigned a late
Eocene age for Los Corros, a middle Oligocene
age for the Mugrosa, and a late Oligocene-early
Miocene age for La Cira Horizon.
Somewhat different palynological ages have
been assigned to the La Paz Formation in the
same section in the eastern flank of the Nuevo
Mundo syncline (Figs. 1B and 2). This unit is
late Eocene according to Ramírez (1988) and
middle Eocene according to Rueda (1996, in
Olaya, 1997). For younger strata, Nuttal (1990)
reviewed the work of palynologists who based
the age assignments of pollen zones on plank-
tonic foraminifera zones (e.g., Hopping, 1967)
and who applied those ages to palynological
evidence associated with the MMVB fossil
horizons. He stated that the Los Corros horizon
is more likely to be early Oligocene rather than
Eocene; the Mugrosa is late Oligocene, and
the La Cira is middle Miocene (Nuttal, 1990).
Other MMVB palynologic determinations
(Ramírez, 1988; Rueda, 1996 in Suárez, 1997
and Olaya, 1997) place the Los Corros in the
late Eocene, the Mugrosa horizon in the early
Miocene, and the La Cira horizon in the early to
middle Miocene.
The age of the Real Group is constrained by
palynological and foraminiferal comparisons
and by radiometric dating. Pollen found at the
base of the Real Group, just above the La Cira
horizon, lies within the lower part of the forami-
niferal zone Globorotalia fohsi fohsi (Hopping,
1967; Nuttal, 1990), whose time span is brack-
eted between 12.7 Ma and 12.5 Ma (Berggren et
al., 1995). We obtained two zircon-fission-track
ages from reworked tuffs in the upper part of
the Real Group (samples PA-V4c and PA-V13;
Fig. 3, Table 1). They gave ages of 7.0 ± 1.2 and
6.2 ± 0.8 Ma, which are interpreted as related
to volcanic activity that was nearly simultane-
ous with deposition. Thus, the maximum age
of deposition of the Real group is constrained
to the late middle to late Miocene time interval
12.7 Ma to 6.2 ± 0.8 Ma (Serravallian to Mes-
sinian). The Mesa Group in its type area, the
southernmost MMVB, is a volcanoclastic unit
dated as Pliocene, based on K/Ar dating of pum-
ice levels (Thouret, 1989).
552 Geological Society of America Bulletin, May/June 2005
GÓMEZ et al.
Cenozoic Facies, Sedimentary Environments,
and Paleoflow
Decimeter-scale descriptions and measure-
ments of lithofacies, facies associations, and
paleoflow of the MMVB Cenozoic units were
carried out in the Eastern flank of the Nuevo
Mundo syncline and in the La Cira-Infantas
oil field area (Figs. 2, 3, and 5; Table 2). The
Paleocene Lisama Formation overlies the Maas-
trichtian shallow marine Umir Formation with a
transitional contact and records regressive sedi-
mentation in deltaic and alluvial plains (Table 2,
Fig. 5; Ramírez, 1988; Gómez, 2001). The La
Paz Formation mudstones and sandstones above
the MMVU were deposited in fluvial settings and
indicate complete transformation of the MMVB
into a continental basin (Ramírez, 1988; Suárez,
1997). Fossiliferous packstones and mudstones
of the Los Corros, Mugrosa, and La Cira hori- Figure 4. Synthesis of age assignments for
zons (Fig. 3, not shown in Fig. 5) record the the MMVB Cenozoic units. Vertical bars
establishment of mollusk communities in well- describe the maximum age range of each
oxygenated ephemeral lakes or backswamps in unit permissible by data from the eastern
the MMVB floodplain. Slightly brackish mol- flank of the Nuevo Mundo syncline (Lisama,
lusks of the Los Corros and La Cira horizons La Paz, and Esmeraldas formations) and the
may relate to minor marine influence. La Cira-Infantas area (Mugrosa, Colorado,
Two distinct units compose the La Paz Forma- Real, and Mesa units). Uncertainties of the
tion in the eastern flank of the Nuevo Mundo paleontologic age assignments of the bound-
syncline (Figs. 3 and 5). Bioturbated silty mud- aries of Eocene–early Miocene units may be
stones predominate in the lower La Paz, whereas as great as 5–10 m.y. Ages of the Real and
the upper La Paz is a multistoried stack of Mesa Groups are constrained by zircon-fis-
cross-bedded sandstones. In general, the La Paz sion-track and K/Ar dating, respectively.
Formation at this locality displays an upward- The superimposed thicker bars represent
coarsening trend of facies, which is followed our preferred interpretation of depositional
by an upward-fining trend that continues into ages. See text for discussion and sources of
the Esmeraldas Formation. This trend records data and further discussion. The time gap
autocyclic wandering of fluvial channels across associated with the MMVU time-transgres-
the MMVB floodplains (Gómez, 2001). Axes sive surface is the shortest in the Eastern
of trough cross-bedding indicate a predominant flank of the Nuevo Mundo syncline; see
NE orientation of paleoflow for the La Paz and descriptions of subsurface structure and
Esmeraldas formations in the eastern flank of the stratigraphy of the MMVB in the text for
Nuevo Mundo syncline. further information on time and geographic
The Mugrosa Formation conformably overlies distributions of the MMVU. Geologic time
the Esmeraldas Formation in the La Cira-Infantas scale after Berggren et al. (1995).
TABLE 1. ZIRCON-FISSION-TRACK AGES FOR THE REAL GROUP
Sample Number of ρs × 105 ρi × 106 ρd × 105 Central age Chi2 Uranium content
number grains (tracks/cm2) (tracks/cm2) (tracks/cm2) (Ma ± 2 S.E.) (%) (ppm)
PA-V4c 19 6.28 11.65 2.84 7.0 ± 1.2 50 513
(190) (1763) (4010)
PA-V13 20 7.35 15.66 2.97 6.2 ± 0.8 97 685
(489) (5212) (4010)
Notes: ρs—spontaneous track density. ρi—induced track density (reported induced track density is
twice the measured density); number in parentheses is the number of tracks counted for ages and
fluence calibration or the number of tracks measured for lengths. ρd—track density in muscovite detector
covering CN-5 (10 ppm); reported value determined from interpolation of values for detectors covering
standards at the top and bottom of the reactor packages (fluence gradient correction). S.E.—standard
error. Chi2—Chi-squared probability. λf = 1.551 × 10-10yr–1, g = 0.5. Zeta = 492 ± 50 for apatite, 449 ± 49
for zircon.
 SYNTECTONIC SEDIMENTATION IN THE MIDDLE MAGDALENA VALLEY BASIN

TABLE 2. LITHOFACIES OF THE CENOZOIC SEDIMENTARY FILL OF THE NORTHERN MMVB

Facies Description
code
Gm Meter-scale thick layers of horizontally bedded, clast supported, subrounded, pebble
conglomerates. Beds display irregular bases and frequent pebble imbrication. Gm
also appears as thin lenses at the bases of St/Sla sandstones.
Gt Meter-scale thick beds of clast supported, subrounded to rounded, pebble
conglomerates. Internal structure consists of decimeter-thick sets of trough cross-
bedding. Bases of beds are sharp and irregular.
St Fining upward, decimeter- to meter-scale thick beds of fine- to medium-grained
sandstones with internal trough cross-bedding. Beds are elongate or lens-shaped
and have irregular bases.
Sla Similar to St but conspicuous inclined surfaces of discontinuity (lateral accretion
surfaces) transect the sandstone beds from base to top.
Sr Centimeter- to decimeter-thick beds of very fine and fine-grained sandstones with
ripple cross-lamination. Beds are elongate or lens-shaped and display undulated
bases. Dessication cracks and ferruginous crusts are common at the top.
Sm Centimeter- to decimeter-thick beds of very fine and fine-grained sandstones. Beds
display intense burrowing and root bioturbation.
Fl Millimeter- to centimeter-thick interlaminations of mudstone, siltstones, and very fine
grained sandstones.
Fm1 Meter-scale thick beds of variegated mudstones with varying degrees of bioturbation.
Fm2 Meter-scale thick beds of light gray, siliceous, silty mudstones, with abundant oxidized,
vertical root casts.
Fcf Decimeter-scale thick beds of dark gray mudstone containing fresh and brackish water
fossil mollusks.
Pcf Centimeter- to decimeter-scale thick beds of packstones of mollusk remains.
Fco Centimeter- to decimeter-scale thick beds of dark gray, pyritic, carbonaceous
mudstones.
C Millimeter- to centimeter-thick coal seams.
Vr Reworked andesitic tuffs.
Note: Gravel, sandstone, and mudstone facies codes taken from or modified after Miall (1988).
Interpretation
Bedload sheets deposited in deepest parts of gravelly fluvial
channels (thicker beds), lag deposits at the bases of
sandy channels (thin lenses) (Allen, 1983; Miall, 1988).
Upper-flow regime migration of linguoid gravel bars (Allen,
1983; Miall, 1988).
Scouring of channels followed by migration of lower-flow
regime sand dunes along the bottom (Miall, 1988).
Fluvial point-bar deposits. Lateral accretion surfaces bound
high-stage sedimentary increments (Miall, 1992).
Lower-flow regime sedimentation in fluvial channels, natural
levees, and crevasse splays (Miall, 1988, 1992).
Falling-stage channel deposits and bioturbated crevasse
splay deposits (Miall, 1988, 1992).
Passive channel fill or overbank deposits (Miall, 1988,
1992).
Flood basin deposits and paleosoil formation (Retallack,
1988).
Flood basin deposits. Development of well-drained soils
(Retallack, 1988).
Back swamp, lake sedimentation (Miall, 1988, 1992).
Back swamp, lake sedimentation (Miall, 1988, 1992).
Poorly drained swamp deposits (Miall, 1988, 1992).
Poorly drained swamp deposits (Miall, 1988, 1992).
Channel reworking of volcanic ash and lapilli deposits.

oil field locality. Its lower part, known opera-
tionally as the “C sandstones” in the subsurface
of the La Cira-Infantas field, does not crop out
in this area (Dickey, 1992; Gutiérrez, 2001). The
exposed upper Mugrosa Formation, equivalent
to the subsurface “B sandstones” of the La Cira-
Infantas oil field (M. Gutiérrez, 2000, personal
commun.), display well-preserved sandstone-
mudstone point-bar sequences, which reflect
high rates of accommodation relative to sedi-
ment supply (Fig. 5; Ramón, 1998). Thick beds
of epiclastic volcanic material appear in the
upper half of the Real Group section. Zircon-fis-
sion-track ages, reported before, were obtained
from two of these beds. In the La Cira-Infantas
area, trough cross-bedding indicates southeast-
ward and northward paleoflow directions for
the upper Mugrosa Formation and Real Group,
respectively.
The Pliocene Mesa Group rests conformably
upon the Real Group and is reportedly com-
posed of massive conglomerates, cross-bedded
lithic sandstones, and mudstone layers; this unit
is 575 m thick (Morales et al., 1958). Occur-
rence of the Mesa Group is restricted to the
MMVB areas to the west of the Eastern Cordil-
lera thrust-and-fold belt.
Petrography of the MMVB Cenozoic
Sandstones and Conglomerates
A subset of 11 sandstone samples from the
Lisama, La Paz, Esmeraldas, and Real units
was selected for thin-section analyses, which
involved identifying 300 fine- to medium-
grained sand grains (Fig. 6). Half of each thin
section was stained with sodium cobaltinitrite
to identify potassium feldspar. Mesa (1995)
studied the petrography of the Mugrosa and
Colorado sandstones on 296 thin sections from
well cores in the La Cira-Infantas oil field.
This author identified 350–400 grains per thin
section; a subset of 148 thin sections was also
stained with sodium cobaltinitrite in order to
identify potassium feldspar (Mesa, personal
commun., 2004).
Most of the MMVB Cenozoic sandstones
are litharenites and sublitharenites with the
exception of the Mugrosa and Colorado sand-
stones, which are predominantly feldspathic
(Mesa, 1995; Fig. 6A). The components of the
Cenozoic sandstones are grains of polycrystal-
line and monocrystalline quartz, metamorphic
fragments (schist, micaceous gneiss, and phyl-
lite), sedimentary clasts (chert and mudstone),
feldspar grains, and scarce igneous fragments
(Fig. 6B). Metamorphic grains are the most
abundant lithic components of the Lisama For-
mation, below the MMVU. Above the MMVU,
the percentage of sedimentary grains increases
abruptly, largely replacing the metamorphic
rock fragments. Sedimentary grains of the
lower La Paz are composed predominantly of
dark mudstones with organic-matter streaks
and foraminifera casts. Potassium feldspar
increases and polycrystalline quartz and sedi-
mentary grains decrease upward into the upper
La Paz. The decreasing trends in contents of
polycrystalline quartz and sedimentary grains
continue upward into the sandstones of the
Esmeraldas Formation.
Mesa’s (1995) study reveals a homogeneous
composition of the Mugrosa and Colorado
feldspathic sandstones. Of the total feldspar
grains, 15%–30% of sand-size grains, the ratio

Geological Society of America Bulletin, May/June 2005 553

554
GÓMEZ et al.

Geological Society of America Bulletin, May/June 2005

Figure 5. Summary of MMVB Cenozoic facies, paleoflow, and interpretations of sedimentary environments. Refer to Table 2 for facies codes and Figure 3 for lithofacies and
symbols legend. In all cases, rose diagrams of paleoflow synthesize measurements of axes of 3D exposures of trough cross bedding. Each measurement corresponds to indi-
vidual channel sandstone bodies within multistoried stacks of sandstones (e.g. upper La Paz) or embedded within mudstones (all other units).
 SYNTECTONIC SEDIMENTATION IN THE MIDDLE MAGDALENA VALLEY BASIN

A quartzite (40%–95%). Chert pebbles of the Real

Group contain Cretaceous foraminifera.

SUBSURFACE STRATIGRAPHY AND

STRUCTURE OF THE MMVB

Description of the Middle Magdalena

Valley Unconformity (MMVU)

The MMVU is a major tectonic and strati-

graphic boundary that truncates deformed
pre-Eocene rocks throughout the MMVB and
Eastern Cordillera foothills; a succession of rel-
atively undeformed middle Eocene to Neogene
strata onlap this surface. As illustrated by Fig-
B ures 7 and 8, the MMVU dips regionally toward
the east, with modifications near the Infantas
paleohigh (Morales et al., 1958) and small NE-
trending anticlines in the northernmost MMVB
(Cáchira arch). The NE-trending anticlines
are underlain by positive flower structures,
the probable result of strike-slip deformation
(Fig. 7A). Westward, the MMVU is continuous
with the eastern slope of the Central Cordillera
along most of the MMVB (Figs. 7C and 8), but
such continuity is locally disturbed by the Can-
tagallo fault (Fig. 7B). Surface geologic map-
ping indicates intense faulting of the Central
Cordillera crystalline rocks (e.g., Geotec Ltda,
1988). Figure 8A shows the plan-view distri-
bution of crystalline basement and Mesozoic
and Paleocene sedimentary rocks underneath
the MMVU. The subsurface area of preserved
Cretaceous rocks is larger than the area of
Paleocene deposits, which are restricted to the
Figure 6. Thin-section petrography of northern MMVB sandstones. (A) Classification of northeastern portion of the MMVB. Region-
MMVB sandstones (e.g., Folk, 1974). (B) Variations of MMVB sandstone grain composi- ally, the thickness of preserved Mesozoic and
tions through Cenozoic times. The stratigraphic positions of the samples are indicated in Paleocene rocks increases eastward toward the
the right side of these figures (see also Fig. 3). These figures also synthesize Mesa’s (1995) foothills of the Eastern Cordillera and decreases
petrographic study of the Mugrosa and Colorado formations in the La Cira-Infantas area. northward toward the Cáchira arch (Figs. 7B
See text for further discussion. A table summarizing the thin-section petrographic determi- and 7D). Angularity between units below and
nations for the Lisama, La Paz, Esmeraldas, and Real units is available in the GSA Data above the MMVU decreases toward the east
Repository (Table DR1).1 across the MMVB. In the eastern flank of the
Nuevo Mundo Syncline (Fig. 7B), the angular
relation between the Lisama beds and onlap-
ping La Paz strata is about one degree, which
of potassium feldspar to plagioclase is ~3–1. age (traces–2%) of hornblende in this section of makes the MMVU difficult to distinguish at the
An increase in sedimentary grains and decrease the Real Group. surface. However, an early to middle Eocene
in feldspar percentage differentiate the Real Conglomeratic levels are mostly restricted sedimentary hiatus at this locality is revealed by
Group from the Colorado sandstones. Wheeler to the La Paz and Colorado formations and the ages of the Lisama and La Paz Formation
(in Pilsbry and Olsson, 1935) indicated that the the Real Group. Gravel compositions were (e.g., Fig. 4).
Real sandstones are characterized by abundant determined for 120–200 clasts in representative
hornblende, which is rarely present in older 1-m2 outcrop areas. The conglomeratic beds at Distribution of Onlapping Middle Eocene
rocks. However, we only found a small percent- the base of the La Paz are made of pebbles of to Neogene Units
white quartzite (78%), siliceous siltstone and
chert (15%), and rock fragments such as phyl- The thickness of the middle Eocene to
1
GSA Data Repository item 2005076, thin-sec- lite (4%), red siltstone (1%), sandstone, and Neogene deposits above the MMVU increases
tion petrography of Cenozoic sandstones from the
northern MMVB, is available on the Web at http://
rhyolite (2%). Granules and pebbles of the Col- regionally toward the ESE, as shown by the con-
www.geosociety.org/pubs/ft2005.htm. Requests may orado Formation and Real Group are composed toured depth to the MMVU (i.e., thickness of
also be sent to editing@geosociety.org. predominantly of siliceous siltstone and white post–early Eocene strata, Figs. 8A and 8B). The

Geological Society of America Bulletin, May/June 2005 555

 GÓMEZ et al.

B, C, D

Figure 7. Structural cross sections perpendicular (A, B, C), and parallel (D) to the MMVB strike; sections are based on surface and subsur-
face information. See Figures 1B and 2 for locations. (A) Structure underneath the MMVU is characterized by positive flower structures.
(B) The Infantas paleohigh was buried during sedimentation of the upper Eocene–lower Oligocene (?) Esmeraldas Formation. The Can-
tagallo fault is an early Paleogene structure that was reactivated during the Pliocene. (B)–(C) The Eastern Cordillera foothills consist of
two superimposed fold-and-thrust belts of late Oligocene to early middle Miocene (e.g., Lisama anticline) and Pliocene (Guayabito, Opón
anticlines) ages. Both generations of folds are truncated by out-of-sequence faulting (e.g., La Salina fault). (D) The northern Cáchira arch
was overlapped by the lower middle Miocene topmost beds of the Colorado Formation. Sections (A), (C), and (D) also reveal truncation of
tilted Cenozoic strata beneath the MMVB. Sections (B) and (D) show the location of apatite-fission-track samples, accompanying values of
vitrinite reflectance (Ro), and derived thermal history interpretations. See Figure 2 for stratigraphic locations of Paleogene AFTA and Ro
samples in section (B). The La Salina reverse fault is a reactivated Mesozoic normal fault as highlighted by the differences in thickness of
the Jurassic synrift rocks (e.g., Cediel, 1968; Rabe, 1977) across the fault in sections (B) and (C).

556 Geological Society of America Bulletin, May/June 2005

 SYNTECTONIC SEDIMENTATION IN THE MIDDLE MAGDALENA VALLEY BASIN

N N

Figure 8. (A) Contoured depth to the MMVU in the subsurface of the MMVB between the Central and Eastern Cordilleras and subcrop distribu-
tion of Paleocene and older rocks beneath the MMVU, according to the seismic and well data. Contour map of the MMVU modified after Geotec-
Maxus (1993). (B) “Worms-eye view” of onlapping middle Eocene to Neogene sedimentary units above the MMVU, according to seismic and well
data. Other sources of data: Morales et al. (1958), Ramírez (1988), Olaya (1997), Suárez (1997), Ramón (1998). See text for discussion.

middle Eocene-Neogene succession reaches a
maximum thickness of 7000 m in the footwall
of the La Salina fault (Eastern Cordillera foot-
hills). The time gap represented by the MMVU
decreases from west to east as shown by com-
parison of Figures 8A and 8B. Sedimentary
onlap of the MMVU began with the La Paz and
Esmeraldas formations (Figs. 7B, 7C, and 8B).
The middle-upper Eocene La Paz is limited in
extent to the eastern quarter of the MMVB, with
a correlative accumulation in the westernmost
MMVB informally called the Cantagallo sand-
stones (Suárez, 1997). The upper La Paz mul-
tistoried sandstones are missing on the western
flank of the Nuevo Mundo syncline, replaced
by flood-plain mudstones and sandstones,
described by Suárez (1997) in well cores from
the Provincia anticline (Fig. 2). The westward
change to finer-grained facies occurs as the La
Paz thins to the west. Description of the Can-
tagallo sandstones also relies on well data and
subsurface mapping. This unit is a 600-m-thick
stack of conglomeratic sandstones, interpreted
as an alluvial fan deposit associated with activ-
ity of the Cantagallo fault (Suárez, 1997).
The upper Eocene-lower Oligocene Esmer-
aldas Formation is more broadly distributed
and is everywhere younger than the La Paz. In
most of the northern MMVB, an unconformity
separates the La Paz and Esmeraldas units. The
La Paz-Esmeraldas unconformity is expressed
on seismic data as truncated reflectors of the
underlying Cantagallo sandstones and onlap

Geological Society of America Bulletin, May/June 2005 557

 GÓMEZ et al.

terminations of the overlying Esmeraldas reflec-

tors (Figs. 9 and 10). The Oligocene-lower mid-
dle Miocene Mugrosa and Colorado formations
extend farther to the west and north (Figs. 7C,
7D, and 8B). The Cáchira Arch was a structural
high in the northernmost MMVB throughout
the sedimentation of middle Eocene-lower Mio-
cene rocks. Only middle and upper Miocene
rocks represented by the uppermost Colorado
Formation and the Real Group are found above
Cretaceous rocks in the northernmost part of the
MMVB. The Real Group occurs throughout the
MMVB. The base of the Real Group is con-
formable in the central parts of the basin areas
but becomes an angular unconformity toward
the east, where these rocks rest upon the eroded
crests of late Oligocene-early middle Mio-
cene folds in the Eastern Cordillera foothills,
as shown below. Throughout the MMVB, a
regional unconformity truncates southeastward
dipping Neogene strata (e.g., Fig. 7; Ramírez,
1988). This unconformity coincides with the
present surface of the MMVB and joins the
MMVU (i.e., Central Cordillera slope) toward
the west.

Structure, Growth Strata, and Deformation

Chronology of the Eastern Cordillera
Foothills

Décollement surfaces and footwall ramps

of the Eastern Cordillera thrust-and-fold belt
occur at several stratigraphic levels along the
MMVB (Figs. 7B and 7C). This variability
has two causes. First, Cretaceous and Paleo-
cene rocks, mainly incompetent shales, are
unevenly distributed due to subsequent ero-
sion. Second, the MMVB Tertiary stratigraphy
is characterized by strong lateral and vertical
facies changes between competent sandstones
and incompetent mudstones.
Eastern Cordillera folds displayed in Fig-
ure 7B formed due to slip on the La Salina fault
system below them. From east to west, the La
Salina fault ramps across Cretaceous rocks and
has a footwall flat in the upper Cretaceous rocks,
which splays into two ramps across Paleogene
units. The ramps, as preserved in the footwall,
are listric. The Lisama anticline is a hanging-
wall fault-propagation fold associated with the
westernmost leading thrust ramp, which has its
tip in the Mugrosa Formation. A minimum early
middle Miocene time limit for the formation of
the Lisama anticline is set by its position under-
neath undeformed beds of the Real Group. The
Nuevo Mundo syncline is bounded to the west
by the second splay of the major La Salina fault
system. This splay juxtaposes a hanging wall flat
above a footwall ramp. This is the youngest ramp
of the thrust system, as it cuts across beds of the
Figure 9. Depth-converted seismic section across the western side of the MMVB, to the west
of the Infantas paleohigh. See Figure 2 for location. Strata of the Cantagallo sandstones
(equivalent to the La Paz Formation) onlap the MMVU. Reflectors of the Cantagallo sand-
stones are also truncated against a subtle unconformity that separates this unit from the
overlying Esmeraldas Formation. This unconformity merges with the MMVU toward the
east margin of the seismic section. Cenozoic units above the composite Cantagallo-Esmer-
aldas-MMVU surface show conformable relations in this section. The Cantagallo fault was
active during the deposition of the Cantagallo sandstones and Esmeraldas Formation and
was reactivated during the Pliocene–Pleistocene, as revealed by cross-cutting relations with
the Real Group. See text for discussion.
Real Group and it is not folded by the underlying Growth strata of the same age are also found at
Lisama anticline. The eastern flank of the Nuevo the backlimb of the Provincia anticline (10 km
Mundo syncline corresponds to the forelimb of to the north, Figs. 2 and 12) and the forelimb of
the Los Cobardes fault-bend anticline. the Los Cobardes anticline (Fig. 10). Smaller-
The age of formation of the Lisama anticline scale units of onlapping strata are bounded by
is better constrained by a wedge of divergent unconformities (i.e., growth unconformities) in
growth strata, equivalent in age to the upper the backlimb of the Provincia anticline (Fig. 12).
Mugrosa and Colorado formations (upper Oli- The overall geometry of these synorogenic
gocene-lower middle Miocene), which flanks strata is consistent with sedimentary accumu-
the backlimb of the Lisama anticline (Fig. 11). lation contemporaneous with progressive limb

558 Geological Society of America Bulletin, May/June 2005

 SYNTECTONIC SEDIMENTATION IN THE MIDDLE MAGDALENA VALLEY BASIN

Figure 10. Depth-converted seismic section across the Nuevo Mundo syncline. See Figure 2 for location. At this location, the MMVU is a
subtle angular unconformity that separates the Lisama Formation from the onlapping La Paz Formation. Another subtle angular uncon-
formity constitutes the boundary between the La Paz Formation and the overlying Esmeraldas Formation. Strata of the middle Eocene to
lower Oligocene La Paz, Esmeraldas, and lower Mugrosa formations thin toward the west. Strata of the upper part of the Mugrosa Forma-
tion and the Colorado Formation thin toward the east instead. This eastward thinning correlates with late Oligocene to early middle Mio-
cene growth strata of the Provincia and Lisama anticlines (e.g., Figures 11 and 12) and suggests synsedimentary deformation of the eastern
flank of the Nuevo Mundo syncline (forelimb of the Los Cobardes anticline). See text for further discussion.

rotation of the associated folds (e.g., Anadón et
al., 1986; Ford et al., 1997).
Growth unconformities grade out away from
the Provincia and Lisama folds into correla-
tive conformities. These compound surfaces,
locally unconformable but elsewhere conform-
able, record the competition between vertical
accumulation of sediment and coeval structural
uplift, the rates of which varied through time.
Folding first caused displacement of sedimen-
tation toward the basinal areas. Later, fluvial
deposits onlapped the growing folds as accu-
mulation rates overcame uplift rates. The nature
of the upper boundary of the synorogenic strata
of the Provincia anticline varies along its axis
from angularly unconformable in the zone of
highest structural relief (Fig. 12A), where ero-
sion reached the lower Mugrosa Formation,
to paraconformable toward the plunging tips
of this fold (Fig. 12B). The upper Mugrosa
and Colorado formations also thin toward the
eastern flank of the Nuevo Mundo Syncline
(i.e., forelimb of the Los Cobardes anticline;
Fig. 10), which indicates that initial folding of
the Los Cobardes was also contemporaneous
with the deposition of these units. The bending
of the Nuevo Mundo Syncline axial surface
from near vertical upward to a moderate dip
to the west (Fig. 10) resulted from folding of
the originally nonparallel upper Mugrosa and
Colorado beds (e.g., Ford et al., 1997) during
younger Pliocene-Pleistocene deformation,
which led to the present configuration of the
Nuevo Mundo syncline.
In contrast with Figure 7B, Figure 7C shows
two younger Plio-Pleistocene faults. The west-
ernmost fault is a low-angle thrust that ramps
across Cretaceous and Tertiary rocks, has its
tip in the Mugrosa Formation, and merges with

Geological Society of America Bulletin, May/June 2005 559

 GÓMEZ et al.

a steeper ramp that cuts across the basement

farther east. Two hanging wall anticlines are
associated with this fault. The Guayabito anti-
cline, to the west, is a leading fault-propagation
fold, whereas the Opón anticline, to the east,
is a fault-bend fold that formed in response to
the change in dip of the underlying fault ramp.
The La Salina fault cuts the Opón anticline and
has an approximate throw of 8 km. This reverse
fault is the youngest tectonic feature in the cross
section, as it is not folded by underlying fault
movements and truncates older folds (e.g., with
flanking Eocene-Oligocene growth strata) along
the length of the basin (Gómez et al., 2003).

SUMMARY OF THERMAL-HISTORY
CONSTRAINTS ON MMVB EVOLUTION

In this section, we summarize results of

thermochronological studies based on modeling
of detrital apatite-fission-track ages and track
length distributions, and apatite compositions
(Table 3), combined with vitrinite reflectance
analyses. These studies and techniques are fully
addressed elsewhere (Gómez, 2001; Green et
al., 1989). Apatite-fission-track and vitrinite
reflectance (Ro) samples were collected from
Mesozoic and Tertiary sandstones and mud-
stones in the Los Cobardes anticline (eastern
flank of the Nuevo Mundo syncline), La Cira-
Infantas oil field (Infantas-1613 well), and the
northernmost MMVB (Catalina-1 well; Figs. 2,
7B, and 7D).
Vitrinite reflectance indicates that mature
to overmature Cretaceous strata of the Los
Cobardes anticline forelimb (Ro = 0.6%–1.53%,
Ecopetrol-Esso, 1994; Fig. 7B) were heated
above the oil window and reached maximum
paleotemperatures between 110 and 170 °C
(e.g., Burnham and Sweeney, 1989). Modeling
of apatite-fission-track ages and length distribu-
tions suggests that two cooling events, ascribed
to uplift and erosion, affected this locality. The
apatite-fission-track parameters of all Creta-
ceous and Paleogene samples are consistent
with cooling from from peak paleotemperatures
in the order of 80–110 °C commencing some-
time during the past 5 m.y., as constrained by
sample RS-SS-2 (Table 3). With geothermal
gradients between 20–30 °C/km and a surface
temperature of 30 °C, this thermal episode may
reflect erosion of ~3 km of sedimentary section.
The Ro paleotemperatures of 110–170 °C were
most likely reached before an older cooling
episode, whose evidence is preserved by the Figure 11. Seismic line across the backlimb of the Lisama anticline. See Figure 2 for loca-
Cretaceous samples Tablazo-1-SS and Umir-SS tion. A wedge of growth strata characterized by divergent reflectors of the upper Mugrosa
(Fig. 7B, Table 3). These samples require cool- and Colorado formations fringes the backlimb of the Lisama anticline. These strata reveal
ing through ~120 °C sometime during the late that formation of this fold happened during the late Oligocene to early middle Miocene time.
Cretaceous-Paleogene time window 80–30 Ma Synorogenic geometries of the Lisama anticline were first found by geologist M. Suárez
owing to removal of 3–4 km of sedimentary (personal commun., 1999).

560 Geological Society of America Bulletin, May/June 2005

 A B

Geological Society of America Bulletin, May/June 2005

SYNTECTONIC SEDIMENTATION IN THE MIDDLE MAGDALENA VALLEY BASIN

Figure 12. Seismic lines with examples of upper Oligocene to lower middle Miocene growth strata along the Provincia anticline. See Figure 2 for locations. The upper part of
the Mugrosa Formation and the Colorado Formation constitute a wedge-shaped unit of divergent reflectors that thicken away from the Provincia anticline axis. Packages of
preorogenic and postorogenic parallel reflectors are located above and below this synorogenic unit. Relationship between growth and post-growth strata changes from (A)
angular to (B) concordant toward the southern plunging tip of this fold. The lower surface of the upper Mugrosa-Colorado synorogenic wedge is a surface of onlap. Other

561
minor unconformities exist within this unit.
562
A B
TABLE 3. APATITE-FISSION-TRACK ANALYTICAL RESULTS FOR SAMPLES OF THE EASTERN FLANK OF THE NUEVO MUNDO SYNCLINE (i.e., LOS COBARDES ANTICLINE FORELIMB)
Sample number Stratigraphic unit Number ρs × 10 6 ρI × 105 ρd × 105 Fission track Chi2 Uranium Mean track Number Maximum Onset of Maximum Onset of
of grains (tracks/cm2) (tracks/cm2) (tracks/cm2) age (%) content length of tracks paleotemp cooling paleotemp cooling
(Ma ± 1 S.E.) (ppm) (µm ± 1 S.E.) measured (ºC) (Ma) (ºC) (Ma)
RS-SS30 Esmeraldas 9 1.596 2.962 1.128 118.2 ± 10.1 <1 30 11.18 ± 0.53 10 >110 45–0
‡
(244) (453) (1733) 65.8 ± 30.1
RS-SS26 Esmeraldas 5 0.471 3.546 1.059 27.6 ± 5.3 8 38 10.24 ± 2.07 6 >110 45–0
(32) (241) (1707)
RS-SS21 Esmeraldas 4 0.633 1.966 1.066 67.1 ± 11.4 2 21 9.74 ± 74 15 (>100 45–15)† 80–100 15–0
‡
(47) (146) (1707) 73.5 ± 20.2
RS-SS17 La Paz 15 0.401 2.103 1.074 40.1 ± 4.1 <1 22 11.62 ± 0.32 11 (>110 56–30)† 80–100 15–0
‡
(125) (655) (1707) 40.3 ± 7.7
RS-SS14 La Paz 8 0.356 2.878 1.081 26.2 ± 4.2 97 30 8.94 ± 1.36 4 (>110 56–20)† 95–110 15–0
(45) (364) (1707)
RS-SS10 La Paz 26 0.689 3.208 1.089 45.8 ± 3.2 <1 34 11.56 ± 0.19 132 (>110 56–20)† 80–100 10–0
(318) (1480) (1707) 40.8 ± 5.1‡
RS-SS8 La Paz 4 0.130 1.112 1.096 25.1 ± 8.9 5 12 no confined tracks (>110 56–0)†
(9) (77) (1707)
RS-SS5 La Paz 28 0.386 1.822 1.104 45.8 ± 3.2 1 19 10.52 ± 0.24 118 (110–120 56–20)† 90–120 10–0
‡
(317) (1496) (1707) 45.5 ± 4.6
GÓMEZ et al.

RS-SS2 Lisama 20 0.131 1.506 1.111 19.0 ± 2.3 <1 15 9.85 ± 0.46 21 (>110 65–30)† 100–110 5–0
(77) (883) (1707) 22.3 ± 4.2‡
RS-SS1 Lisama 25 0.308 1.646 1.119 40.9 ± 3.3 <1 17 10.25 ± 0.39 51 (>110 65–30)† 90–110 15–0
‡
(216) (1156) (1707) 36.0 ± 5.3
Umir-SS Umir 20 0.350 1.738 1.472 56.1 ± 4.9 44 13 12.73 ± 0.40 23 >120 80–30 50–90 30–0

Geological Society of America Bulletin, May/June 2005

(Cretaceous) (169) (840) (2335)
Tablazo-1-SS Tablazo 21 1.140 3.560 1.488 90.0 ± 6.4 <1 27 11.14 ± 0.28 24 >110 124–15 80–95 15–0
(Cretaceous) (305) (952) (2335) 65.5 ± 17.1‡
Santos-SS Santos 13 1.534 1.959 1.504 220.2 ± 18.5 <1 15 12.08 ± 0.28 15 (<100 145–80)† 70–80 80–0
(Cretaceous) (278) (355) (2335) 234.1 ± 50.3‡
Giron-SS Giron 2 0.167 2.565 1.512 18.7 ± 7.9 63 19 no confined tracks (>110 178–0)† >110 30–0
(Jurassic) (6) (92) (2335)
Notes: ρs—spontaneous track density in internal surface. ρi—induced track density in mica external detector. ρd—track density in mica external detector. Brackets show number of tracks counted. S.E.—
standard error; Chi2—Chi-squared probability. Ages calculated using dosimeter glass CN5, with a zeta of 380.4 ± 5.7 for samples Umir-SS, Tablazo-1-SS, Santos-SS and Giron-SS. Ages calculated using
dosimeter glass CN5, with a zeta of 392.9 ± 7.4 for all other samples.
†
Episodes shown in parentheses are allowed, but not required by the apatite-fission-track data.
‡
Central age, used where sample contains a significant spread of single grain ages (Chi2<5%).
 SYNTECTONIC SEDIMENTATION IN THE MIDDLE MAGDALENA VALLEY BASIN
overburden. Apatite-fission-track parameters in
other samples allow this event but do not require
it. As clarified in the next section, the oldest
cooling event can be attributed to formation
of the MMVU during the early Eocene. The
youngest episode of cooling correlates well
with Eastern Cordillera Pliocene deformation,
also documented by cross sections.
According to vitrinite reflectance data, the
maturity of Cretaceous oil-source rocks seems
to decrease toward the west of the Eastern
Cordillera foothills and toward the north along
the MMVB. The Cretaceous rocks drilled by
the Infantas-1613 well (e.g., Fig. 2) are early to
middle mature (Ro = 0.44%–0.8%) and reached
maximum paleotemperatures on the order of
125 °C. Those of the northernmost MMVB are
early mature (Ro = 0.52%–0.56%), as mea-
sured in the Catalina-1 well (Fig. 7D) and were
never heated above ~115 °C. The present depth
ranges of the Cretaceous sections of the southern
Infantas-1613 and northern Catalina-1 wells are
1303–3262 m and 695–1950 m, respectively.
The variation in maximum paleotemperatures
between these two wells may be partially
explained by the history of onlap of the MMVU,
which shows delayed burial of the northernmost
MMVB by a thinner sedimentary pile (Fig. 7D).
DATA INTEGRATION AND
INTERPRETATION OF MMVB
CENOZOIC HISTORY
Paleocene–Early Eocene
Several data sets along the MMVB indicate
that Central Cordillera kilometer-scale uplift
progressed from south to north during late Cre-
taceous to early Eocene times (Campbell, 1968).
Fission-track ages of zircons of the Central Cor-
dillera Mariquita Stock, west of the southern-
most MMVB (Fig. 1B), indicate cooling below
250 ± 50 °C and erosion of 7–13 km of rock col-
umn since the Campanian (Gómez et al., 2003).
Cooling below 250 ± 50 °C in the northern
Central Cordillera happened essentially during
the Paleocene according to Toro’s (1999) fis-
sion-track study on zircons from the crystalline
basement near Medellín. In the southernmost
MMVB (Guaduas syncline, Fig. 1B), a coarsen-
ing upward sequence of Maastrichtian marine
shales to Maastrichtian braid-delta deposits to
Paleocene alluvial-fan conglomerates records
transformation of this region from a marine
basin into a piedmont area (Gómez, 2001).
Northward propagation of Central Cordillera
uplift is recorded in the northern MMVB by
delayed change to continental facies and Cen-
tral Cordillera provenance, both of which occur
Geological Society of America Bulletin, May/June 2005
in the Paleocene Lisama Formation (Fig. 13A;
Campbell, 1968). Growing marine influence
toward the north is revealed by marine fauna
found in the northernmost MMVB (Lebrija-1
well, Ramírez, 1988; Fig. 13A) and Paleocene
shallow marine deposits and coal bearing layers
in the Ranchería Basin (Cáceres et al., 1980).
The Ranchería Basin was the northeastern
continuation of the Paleocene MMVB prior to
left-lateral movement of the Bucaramanga fault
(Campbell, 1968).
Kilometer-scale uplift of the Central Cordil-
lera is the only explanation for the extensive
occurrence of deformed crystalline basement
and Mesozoic rocks underneath the MMVU
(Figs. 1B, 7, and 8A). In addition to the reported
magnitudes of unroofing derived from zircon-
fission-track data, remnants of Jurassic and Cre-
taceous rocks in the Central Cordillera (Fig. 1B)
and subsurface of the MMVB indicate sedimen-
tation and subsequent erosion of 5–10 km of
Mesozoic sedimentary rocks before deposition
of onlapping middle Eocene-Neogene deposits.
The magnitude of unroofing underneath the
MMVU decreases toward the east (e.g., Figs. 7A
and 7B) in the direction of decreasing paleoalti-
tude of the early Paleogene Central-Cordillera
uplift. Thermal history constraints reveal that
3–4 km of sedimentary section were eroded
from the Nuevo Mundo syncline area sometime
during the 80–30 Ma time window (Gómez,
2001). At this locality, the MMVU represents
an early to middle Eocene sedimentary hiatus
(~15 m.y. long; e.g., Fig. 3) and is the only major
unconformity to which such a magnitude of ero-
sion can be ascribed. Therefore, we attribute this
denudation to propagation of Central Cordillera
uplift into the MMVB during the early to Middle
Eocene (55 to ca. 45 Ma; e.g., Schamel, 1991).
Middle Eocene–Early Oligocene
The relief of the Central Cordillera has been
smoothed since middle Eocene as erosion
replaced expanding deformation as the domi-
nant local process; the proof of this process is
the MMVU, which is a pediment surface that
resulted from erosional retreat of cliffs and
taluses (Gómez et al., 2003). The boundary
between the Central Cordillera and MMVB
began to move progressively westward and
northward, as the middle Eocene to Neogene
sedimentary fill onlapped the residual Central
Cordillera pediment surface (the MMVU;
Figs. 13B and 13C). The upper La Paz amal-
gamated sandstones, which are restricted to
the eastern flank of the Nuevo Mundo syncline,
mark the position of the main fluvial channels,
which wandered within areas of maximum sub-
sidence of the alluvial plain (e.g., Mackey and
Bridge, 1995) and transported sediment toward
the northeast to the Maracaibo basin (Forero,
1974). The Cantagallo sandstones accumulated
simultaneously west of the Infantas paleohigh
(Suárez, 1997), within the paleo Central Cordil-
lera catchment area.
As illustrated by the subcrop pattern of the
MMVU (Fig. 8A), a vast area of Jurassic and
Cretaceous rocks was exhumed during the early
Eocene propagation of the Central Cordillera
into the MMVB. Jurassic rocks sourced rhyolite
and red-bed clasts to the basal La Paz Formation
conglomeratic beds. The area of exposed Creta-
ceous rocks in the slope of the Central Cordil-
lera decreased through time due to erosion and
sedimentary overlap, which is reflected in fewer
sedimentary grains in the upper La Paz and
Esmeraldas formations. Cretaceous and Jurassic
grains may have been shed also by the Arcabuco
anticline and its continuation into the Santander
Massif in restored position as suggested by
regional paleogeography (Gómez, 2001). The
subtle unconformity between the La Paz-Can-
tagallo sandstones and Esmeraldas formations
(Fig. 14) records tilting of the terminal La Paz
depositional surface toward the west (west of
the Infantas paleohigh) and toward the east
(east of Infantas paleohigh), which most prob-
ably resulted from uplift of the Infantas high.
Strata of the overlying Esmeraldas Formation
onlapped the composite La Paz/Esmeraldas-
MMVU unconformity and buried the Infantas
paleohigh (Fig. 14).
The Esmeraldas Formation in the western
MMVB is a stack of sandstones whose facies
are similar to those of the Cantagallo sandstones
(Suárez, 1997). Thus, the Esmeraldas Formation
may also represent a high-gradient piedmont
deposit in the western side of the MMVB that
changed eastward to the lower gradient flood-
plain and channel deposits studied in the Nuevo
Mundo Syncline (Fig. 13C). Paleoflow mea-
surements indicate that the northern MMVB
rivers continued flowing toward the Maracaibo
Basin. Sedimentation of the Los Corros fos-
sil horizon may represent low gradient of the
Esmeraldas river system as an adjustment to a
contemporaneous sea-level highstand (Fig. 14),
whose impact propagated from the Maracaibo
Basin at approximately the Eocene-Oligocene
boundary (33–34 Ma; e.g., Haq et al., 1988).
Oligocene–Early Middle Miocene Evolution
A boundary of greater stratigraphic and tec-
tonic importance than the Los Corros, Mugrosa,
and La Cira horizons exists within the Mugrosa
Formation, which correlates with initial defor-
mation of the Eastern Cordillera. In the Eastern
Cordillera foothills, this boundary is a growth
563
564
N N
GÓMEZ et al.

Geological Society of America Bulletin, May/June 2005

PA: Provincia anticline
LA: Lisama anticline
LC: Los Cobardes anticline
AA: Arcabuco anticline

Figure 13. Synthesis of MMVB paleogeography through the Cenozoic. (A) Paleocene, (B) middle to late Eocene, and (C) late Eocene–earliest Oligocene. The contoured depth
to the MMVU (from Fig. 8A) is also shown in (B) and (C) and reflects the mountain drainage that brought sediment from the Central Cordillera to the MMVB depocenters.
(D) Late Oligocene to early middle Miocene and (E) late Miocene. These palinspastic maps restore ~110 km of strike-slip movement along the Bucaramanga fault and the
tectonic shortening across the Eastern Cordillera (e.g., Campbell, 1968; Forero, 1974; Dengo and Covey, 1993; Gómez, 2001). See text for sources of data and discussion.
 SYNTECTONIC SEDIMENTATION IN THE MIDDLE MAGDALENA VALLEY BASIN

W E
Lisama-Provincia Nuevo Mundo

250 m
Cantagallo fault anticlines syncline

0m
0
Pliocene
L Unconformities at crest
10 of Lisama-Provincia
Oligoc. Miocene

M anticlines

Growth
strata
20 E
L

Long-term eustatic Sea Level Curve

30 E
Age (Ma)

L
40 La Paz-Esmeraldas
Eocene

M Cantagallo unconformity
sandstones
50
E MMVU
60 L Infantas paleohigh
Pal.

70 Maast.
Camp.
0 20 km GU: Growth unconformity
CC: Correlative conformity
Mollusk fossils Alluvial fan sandstones
Lacustrine deposits Overbank deposits
Delta and coastal plain deposits Fluvial-channel sandstones
Shallow marine mudstones Lacuna
MMVU: Middle Magdalena Valley unconformity
Figure 14. Chronostratigraphic diagram illustrating the temporal relations among unconformities and sedimentary facies of the northern
MMVB. The time gap associated with the MMVU decreases toward the east of the MMVB to a minimum of 10–15 m.y. in the Nuevo Mundo
syncline area. The gray rectangles superimposed on the long-term eustatic sea-level curve (right side of diagram, Haq et al., 1988) highlight
the correlations between sea-level highstands and occurrence of the Los Corros and La Cira fossil horizons. See text for discussion. Geologic
time scale after Berggren et al. (1995).

unconformity at the base of growth strata formed
of the upper Mugrosa and Colorado formations,
which flank the Nuevo Mundo syncline and
the Provincia and Lisama anticlines. The intra-
Mugrosa surface becomes a correlative con-
formity toward the central parts of the MMVB
(Fig. 14). Initial deformation of the Eastern Cor-
dillera foothills was rooted in incipient inversion
of the La Salina normal fault and also appears
to correlate with a major change in paleoflow
direction in the La Cira-Infantas area. In this
area, early Oligocene drainage remained ori-
ented toward the north while the lower part of the
Mugrosa Formation accumulated, but changed
toward the southeast during sedimentation of the
upper Mugrosa Formation (Fig. 13D).
The MMVB history fits well with broader
regional relations (Fig. 13D). In restored posi-
tion, the late Oligocene-early Miocene MMVB
anticlines are part of a larger morpho-structural
unit whose northeastward continuation was
located in the Perijá Range. Simultaneous
deformation with similar vergence in the Perijá
Range is revealed by structural studies (Kellogg,
1984) and is also constrained by late Oligocene-
early Miocene apatite-fission-track cooling ages
(Shagam et al., 1984). The La Salina fault (East-
ern Cordillera) and Tigre fault (Perijá Range;
Kellogg, 1984) appear to belong to the same
structural trend in restored position. Widespread
late Oligocene to early Miocene deformation
to the northeast of the MMVB may have been
linked to initial strike-slip activity of the Santa
Marta-Bucaramanga fault, which has since then
been accommodated by reverse faulting and
inversion of Mesozoic grabens in the Santander
Massif and Eastern Cordillera (Kovas et al.,
1982; Toro, 1991; Pindell et al., 1998).
We interpret that the Eastern Cordillera-Perijá
Range-Santander Massif structural barrier
closed the connection between the MMVB and
the Maracaibo Basin and caused a major diver-
sion in fluvial drainage toward the SE to the
Llanos Basin, across valleys between discontin-
uous hills of the Eastern Cordillera. Drainages
were no longer able to drain water and sedi-
ment as effectively as before the emplacement
of such a barrier, which caused aggradation of
fluvial deposits in the MMVB; the combination
of low regional gradient and local folding is
expressed by excellent preservation of small-
scale sedimentary features and fine-grained
facies in the upper Mugrosa Formation (Fig. 5)
and accumulation of local lacustrine deposits
composed exclusively of fresh-water mollusks
(Mugrosa fossil horizon; e.g., Burbank et al.,
1996; see also Olaya, 1997; Ramón, 1998). The
early to early middle Miocene is also a time of
global eustatic sea-level rise (Fig. 14; Haq et
al., 1988), which may have contributed to the
tectonically enhanced accommodation of the
MMVB. The adjustment of the MMVB gradi-
ent profile to the ensuing highstand is recorded
by the early middle Miocene deposits of the
La Cira fossil horizon, which contain slightly
brackish water mollusks.

Geological Society of America Bulletin, May/June 2005 565


High percentages of feldspar in the sand-
stones of the Mugrosa and Colorado formations
reflect deeper levels of erosion and enlarged
exposure of Mesozoic granodioritic plutons in
the Central Cordillera (Mesa, 1995). Cretaceous
rocks of the Cáchira arch remained exposed
until the Cáchira arch was buried by the upper-
most 100 m of the Colorado Formation strata of
likely early middle Miocene age. Only at this
time was a connection established between the
MMVB and the Lower Magdalena Valley Basin
and not 18 m.y. earlier during the early Oligo-
cene as interpreted by Villamil (1999). Simul-
taneous marine sedimentation in the Lower
Magdalena Valley Basin has been documented
by Duque-Caro (1980).
Late Middle Miocene-Late Miocene
Evolution
The late middle to late Miocene is a time
of another major MMVB readjustment. Paleo-
drainage direction changed toward the north
as the result of progressive confinement of
the MMVB between the Central and Eastern
Cordilleras (Hoorn et al., 1995) and north-
ward overlap of the Cáchira Arch (Fig. 13E).
Metamophic and igneous clasts most probably
were derived from the Central Cordillera; most
of the Central Cordillera Cretaceous sedimen-
tary cover had already been eroded or buried
under MMVB onlapping sediments. The large
percentages of sedimentary clasts of the Real
Group were mostly shed by Eastern Cordillera
sources such as the crest of the Los Cobardes
anticline, the Santander Massif, and central
parts of the Eastern Cordillera, which were
being deformed contemporaneously (Shagam
et al., 1984; Dengo and Covey, 1993). Strata of
the Real Group were deposited in the area of the
Eastern Cordillera foothills, although erosion
subsequently stripped them from areas south of
the Nuevo Mundo syncline. Epiclastic deposits
found in the upper Real Group were sourced by
andesitic volcanism in the Cauca Valley (e.g.,
Etayo-Serna et al., 1983; Thouret, 1989).
Pliocene-Recent Evolution: Mesa Group
and Regional Context
The Pliocene Mesa Group sedimentation cor-
relates with reactivation of the La Salina fault
system, which led to the present geometries of
the Nuevo Mundo syncline and the Los Cobardes
anticline. Thermal history constraints, discussed
before, reveal erosion of 3 km of sedimentary
section in the eastern flank of the Nuevo Mundo
syncline within the past 5 m.y. The MMVB
Neogene strata dip eastward and are truncated
against the surface of the MMVB (Ramírez,
566 Geological Society of America Bulletin, May/June 2005
GÓMEZ et al.
1988; Gómez, 2001). We interpret this rotation as
the MMVB response to Plio-Pleistocene Eastern
Cordillera tectonic loading and Central Cordillera
erosional unloading. The tilting directions, south-
eastward in the northern MMVB and eastward
in the southern MMVB, reflect the distribution
of Eastern Cordillera topography, whose width
and altitude are the largest between 5.5º and 7º N,
and diminish to the north in the Santander Massif
(e.g., Fig. 1A).
DISCUSSION
In this section, we discuss the relevance of our
results with regard to two major aspects: (1) vari-
ations from standard foreland basin behavior,
and (2) comparisons with the Central Andes.
Two major related features of the MMVB are not
widely discussed in treatments of typical retro-
arc foreland basin systems. These are the major
diachronous unconformity that subdivides the
Cenozoic column, the MMVU, and the impact
of thick-skinned deformation on long-term evo-
lution of the basin system. Unconformities are
of course common in continental basins; within
foreland basin systems, wedgetop (piggyback)
basins, the distal sectors of foredeep basins, and
zones adjacent to or above a forebulge, which are
especially prone to unconformity development
(Jordan, 1995; DeCelles and Giles, 1996). Both
episodic tectonic activity and eustatic sea-level
changes are common reasons for unconformity
development. Yet the large-scale features of
the MMVU, captured by onlap across a major
mountain front pediment, do not fit those molds.
In particular, the MMVU traverses the proximal
to distal sectors of the early Cenozoic basin; its
stratigraphic hiatus decreases toward the east but
lasted at least 15 m.y. at any one location. The
MMVU is not tied to fluctuations in a generally
steady shortening history but rather to the termi-
nation of deformation in one thick-skinned belt
(the Central Cordillera) and transferal of defor-
mation to a parallel but separate thick-skinned
zone (the inverted Mesozoic basin in the Eastern
Cordillera). The kilometer scale of erosional
downcutting across the MMVU is not appropri-
ate to forebulge uplift (hundreds of meters; e.g.,
Jordan, 1995).
The MMVB-Llanos basin system is unusual
among long-lived foreland basin systems in
its connection to thick-skinned uplifts. The
preconditioning of the continental lithosphere
by a magmatic arc (Central Cordillera) and rift
system (Eastern Cordillera) may have reduced
the opportunity for upper-crustal shortening to
be accommodated by thin-skinned thrusting as
is typical. Arguably, the reason for the major
eastward transfer in the locus of the shortening
and uplift from the Central Cordillera to the
Eastern Cordillera is related to the mechanics
of thick-skinned deformation or to collisional or
Carribean tectonics. However, as noted below,
similar transfers and timing exist widely in the
Andean system, which suggests that the major
attributes of the MMVB-Llanos basin system
might be typical of the entire Andean foreland.
As noted earlier, published interpretations
emphasize the role of late Cretaceous to Eocene
accretion of the Western Cordillera (Barrero,
1979; Etayo-Serna et al., 1983), which drove
deformation and uplift of Colombia’s Central
Cordillera. In contrast, it is well documented
that there has been no terrane accretion along
the Central Andean margin during the Creta-
ceous and Cenozoic (Jordan and Gardeweg,
1989; Beck et al., 1994). Nevertheless, a strong
tectonic similarity exists. In the Central Andes
(Fig. 15), late Cretaceous to Paleocene collapse
of Mesozoic backarc basins triggered the first
major stage of shortening-related Andean uplift,
dominated by inversion tectonics (Mpodozis
and Ramos, 1990). One could argue that this
collapse of the Chilean continental margin is
fundamentally analogous to the Western Cor-
dillera accretion to the Colombian Andes. The
similarity may be masked by the difference in
relative modern locations caused by younger
Central Andean tectonic erosion, such that the
Colombian uplift (Central Cordillera) is cur-
rently in the core of the Andean mountains,
whereas the Chilean uplift (Domeyko Range)
lies now in the low elevation Neogene forearc.
Similarities of the timing of Northern Andean
and Central Andean tectonic evolution outweigh
their differences. We have shown that there was
kilometer-scale uplift of the Central Cordillera
between late Cretaceous and early Eocene time
(see also Gómez et al., 2003). In this time inter-
val in what is now the Chilean forearc region, the
Domeyko Range was inverted, forming the core
of the Andean ranges with kilometer-scale uplift
but only modest horizontal shortening (Fig. 15).
The middle Eocene and Oligocene record of the
MMVB basin and neighboring ranges is espe-
cially marked by the MMVU, with onlap across
the pediment cut above the Central Cordillera
uplift. The Chilean late Paleocene to Eocene
paleogeographic record is less well resolved.
However, a major feature is the long-distance
transport of large volumes of detritus eastward
from Domeyko Range and accumulation across
the eastern flank of that paleo-uplift across a
major erosional unconformity throughout its
foreland basin, the Salar de Atacama basin.
The northern Chile relations represent a situ-
ation potentially analogous to the development
of the MMVU. In both the Central and Northern
Andes, the Oligocene and early Miocene are
times of major reorganization of deformation
 A

Geological Society of America Bulletin, May/June 2005

G
SYNTECTONIC SEDIMENTATION IN THE MIDDLE MAGDALENA VALLEY BASIN

Figure 15. (A) Regional location map for Salar de Atacama Basin in northern Chile; inset map shows location of regional map relative to South America. (B) to (G) Sequential
cartoon cross sections X–Y illustrating the evolution of the Salar de Atacama Basin since the deformation that occurred at approximately the Cretaceous-Paleocene bound-
ary. See Figure (A) for location of X–Y cross section. Strata in the same stratigraphic sequence as the age of the cross section are highlighted in gray. Evolution of the Salar de
Atacama Basin is potentially analogous to the MMVB. (B) Paleocene sequence H fills the tectonic subsidence generated by Cretaceous–earliest Paleocene folding and thrusting
(or reverse faulting) at the western margin of and within the Salar de Atacama Basin. (C) Eastward rotation and erosional truncation of sequence H. (D) Eocene sequence J
represents sediment shed from tectonically active highlands located tens of kilometers west of the Salar de Atacama Basin. (E) Oligocene–early Miocene sequence K fills an
extensional basin, whose western boundary was a set of east-facing normal faults. (F) Minor thrusting within the western sector of the Salar de Atacama Basin. The middle
to upper Miocene sequence L fills remnant accommodation space that was modified by localized subsidence. (G) Accommodation space for sequence M accumulation is con-
trolled by a complex combination of local deformation (e.g., SFS, Salar fault system) and basin-wide remnant accommodation. The evolution depicted by Figures (E) to (G) is
contemporaneous with segregation of the interior Altiplano basin from the exterior sub-Andean foreland basin, to the east of the Salar de Atacama basin. See text for further

567
discussion. Figure courtesy of Jordan, T.E., Mpodozi, C., Muñoz, N., Blanco, N., Pananont, P., and Gurdewes, M.

and related basins. In the MMVB, this was the
time of shifting drainage directions (northeast-
ward, then eastward, and finally northward), in
response to initiation of widespread shortening
and gradual uplift in the Eastern Cordillera.
Similarly, in the Central Andes, the major Oli-
gocene foreland basin, located in what is now
the Altiplano plateau, was followed in the late
Oligocene–early Miocene by major deforma-
tion of its eastern flank, which led to segregation
of the interior Altiplano basin from the exterior
Subandean foreland basin (Horton et al., 2001;
Elger, 2003). Lastly, the Neogene history of the
Central Andes is characterized by long-term
progression of thin-skinned crustal shorten-
ing, coupled to steady evolution of a marginal
Subandean foreland basin system as well as to
continued accumulation in relict foreland basins
now trapped in the interior of the orogenic belt.
There is a noteworthy similarity between the
spatial and temporal pattern of Neogene uplift
of the Eastern Cordillera of Colombia, the for-
mation of a marginal foreland basin (the Llanos
area), and persistence of an inherited interior
basin (the MMVB) with the situation in the
Central Andes. Consequently, the major aspects
of the late Cretaceous through Cenozoic evolu-
tion of the Northern Andes seem fundamentally
related to the evolution of the entire Andean
margin. We interpret that Caribbean tectonics
and terrane accretions added extra complexity
and modified the magnitudes of shortening and
uplift of Colombia’s Central and Eastern Cordil-
leras, but the overall result was modest variabil-
ity on the continental-scale Andean pattern.
CONCLUSIONS
The MMVB data document late Cretaceous-
early Eocene uplift of the Central Cordillera
and subsequent transferal of deformation to
the Eastern Cordillera, in a manner consistent
with Andean-margin thick-skinned evolution.
The MMVU is a regional pediment surface
that records the Central Cordillera uplift and
erosional histories. Accommodation space was
large during the depositional phases separated
by this surface, as suggested by abundant Ceno-
zoic flood-plain lithofacies (e.g., Paola, 2000;
Fig. 14). The MMVB accommodation was most
likely related to the evolution of the bounding
ranges because crustal loads produced by tec-
tonic activity cause subsidence (Jordan, 1995).
Thus, accumulation of Paleocene strata can
be explained by tectonic subsidence and large
sediment supply related to uplift of the Central
Cordillera. In contrast, regional westward onlap
and eastward thickening of middle Eocene-
Neogene strata during massive Central Cordil-
lera erosion are consistent with subsidence
568 Geological Society of America Bulletin, May/June 2005
GÓMEZ et al.
provoked by Eastern Cordillera loading. Proof
of Eastern Cordillera deformation is provided
by growth strata, thermal history, and sediment
provenance. The subtle unconformity between
the La Paz and Esmeraldas (Fig. 14) represents
a short-term base-level fall overprint on regional
accommodation due to minor reactivation of the
older Central Cordillera mountain front (i.e.,
Infantas high).
Initial deformation of the Eastern Cordillera
foothills along the MMVB was diachronous,
older in the south than in the north, as demon-
strated by the ages of associated growth strata.
Middle Eocene-Oligocene synorogenic beds are
found in the Guaduas syncline of the southern-
most MMVB (e.g., Fig. 1B; Gómez et al., 2003).
Younger initial Eastern Cordillera deformation
along the northern MMVB is shown by upper
Oligocene-early middle Miocene growth strata
(upper Mugrosa and Colorado formations) asso-
ciated with the Los Cobardes, Provincia, and
Lisama anticlines (Fig. 14). Continued deforma-
tion in the Los Cobardes anticline during the late
Miocene is indicated by abundant Cretaceous
clasts in the Real Group. Intense Pliocene-Pleis-
tocene Eastern Cordillera deformation shown
by structural relations and thermal history con-
straints produced eastward flexural tilting of the
MMVB. Shifting MMVB paleoflow, to the NE
during the middle Eocene–early Oligocene, to
the SE during the late Oligocene–early Miocene,
and back to the north since the late Miocene is
consistent with evolution of the Eastern Cor-
dillera and consequent transformation of the
MMVB from a foreland into an interior basin.
Quaternary growth strata (Julivert, 1958, p. 20),
stream offsets (Campbell, 1968), and shallow
seismicity (Taboada et al., 2000) indicate con-
tinued Eastern Cordillera tectonic activity. Thus,
the MMVB is likely still experiencing flexural
adjustment contemporaneously with continued
formation of the MMVU in the present slopes of
the Central Cordillera.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
This study was supported by grants and fellow-
ships from the Petroleum Research Fund (ACS-PRF
#32818-AC8), National Science Foundation (Faculty
Award to Women in Science and Engineering award
GER-9022811 to T.E. Jordan), and the Instituto
Colombiano para el desarrollo de la ciencia y la
tecnología (Colciencias). Cornell University, the
Geological Society of America, the American Asso-
ciation of Petroleum Geologists, Shell Oil Company
Foundation, Shell E&P Solutions, and Ecopetrol
also contributed funding to this research. Ecopetrol,
Esso Colombiana, and Maxus Energy provided well
and seismic data. The geochronological and thermo-
chronological studies were conducted by Geotrack
International (AFTA studies), New Mexico Tech
(fission-track ages of volcanic interbeds), and Dr.
Alan Cook (Keiraville Konsultants, Ro analyses).
The Instituto Colombiano del Petróleo and Harken
International provided rock samples from the
Infantas-1613 and Catalina-1 wells, respectively,
for AFTA and Ro studies. We also thank Edgar
Baquero, Mario Suárez, Juán Pablo Reyes, Iván
Olaya, Juán C. Ramón, Timothy Cross, and Carlos
Jaramillo for helpful discussions. Critical reviews by
Peter De Celles, Paul Heller, Brian Horton, Timothy
Lawton, Wilfried Winkler, Yildirim Dilek, and Allen
Glazner helped us to improve this paper.
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