Journal of South American Earth Sciences 30 (2010) 121e133

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Journal of South American Earth Sciences

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Syn- and post-accretionary cooling history of the Ecuadorian Andes constrained

by their in-situ and detrital thermochronometric record
R.A. Spikings a,*, P.V. Crowhurst b, W. Winkler c, D. Villagomez a
a
Department of Mineralogy, University of Geneva, 13 Rue des Maraîchers, Geneva 1205, Switzerland
b
Teck Cominco Australia Pty Ltd., Level 2, 35 Ventnor Avenue, West Perth, WA 6005, Australia
c
Geological Institute, ETH-Zentrum, 8092 Zürich, Switzerland

articleinfo abstract

Article history: New 40Ar/39Ar, apatite fission track and (UeTh)/He data from the late Cretaceous indenting and but-
Received 2 October 2009 tressing margins of Ecuador have been combined with previous thermochronological studies to constrain
Accepted 20 April 2010 the timing of syn- and post-accretionary tectonic events in the Ecuadorian Andes to within T1 Ma. Our
interpretations are more accurate than previous hypotheses because i) they are more sensitive to lower
Keywords: temperatures (<60 ○C), ii) we directly compare data obtained from in-situ and detrital rocks, and iii) they
Northern Andes
are constrained by recently published palaeomagnetic, stratigraphic and geochronological data. The
Ecuadorian cordilleras
response of the buttressing Ecuadorian margin to the collision of the Caribbean Plateau and its overlying
Caribbean Plate
Thermochronology
arc was diachronous. Exhumation occurred as an immediate response to collision at w75 Ma, south of
Tectonics S1○300 , whereas the northern region started to exhume at w65 Ma, suggesting that accretion may have
been oblique. Elevated cooling and exhumation rates within speci fic massifs dispersed along the entire
length of the Ecuadorian cordilleras, during 43e30 and 25e18 Ma, are attributed to i) an increase in
convergence rates between the Farallon and South American plates during 42e37 Ma, and an increase in
spreading rates in the southern Atlantic ocean, and ii) a change in the vector of the subducting plate,
which changed from ESE to E at 25 Ma in response to fragmentation of the Farallon Plate. Previous
suggestions that Eocene reactivation of the buttressing margin were driven by collision of the Macuchi
Arc are shown to be incorrect. 40Ar/ 39Ar, zircon fission track, and apatite fission track and (UeTh)/He
analyses from the Eastern Cordillera north of S1○300 reveal well defined periods of rapid cooling and
exhumation at 15 Ma, 9e7 Ma and 5.5e0 Ma. Apatite (UeTh)/He data reveals late Miocene-Recent
cooling and exhumation (≤1.3 km) of the southern Eastern Cordillera by a lower quantity than that
experienced to the north (≤3.5 km). These distinguishable differences in cooling and exhumation are
attributed to the collision of the Carnegie Ridge with the northern SOAM Plate at 15 Ma, and the
subsequent subduction of high topography along the ridge at w5 Ma, which reactivated the serpenti-
nised Campanian suture via dextral transcurrent displacement.
© 2010 Published by Elsevier Ltd.

1. Introduction
Late Cretaceous orogenesis in the northern Andes (north of 5 ○S)
was driven by accretion of an oceanic plateau (the Caribbean
Plateau) and its overlying arc, and hence was unique along the
western South American (SOAM) Plate margin (Hughes and
Pilatasig, 2002; Kerr et al., 2002; Vallejo et al., 2006, 2009).
Several previous studies utilised thermochronological data from
both crystalline rocks in the buttressing and indenting plates
* Corresponding author. Tel.: þ41 22 379 3176/þ41 764284631; fax: þ41 0 22 379
3210.
E-mail addresses: richard.spikings@terre.unige.ch (R.A. Spikings), pvc@
nautilusminerals.com (P.V. Crowhurst), wilfried.winkler@erdw.ethz.ch (W. Winkler).
(Spikings and Crowhurst, 2004; Spikings et al., 2000, 2001, 2005;
Ruiz, 2002), and sedimentary rocks in the proximal Amazon fore-
land basin (Ruiz et al., 2004) to identify periods of rapid cooling and
exhumation that occurred during and after accretion. The proposed
periods of exhumation were subsequently used to a) determine the
time of accretion, and b) identify the driving forces that were
responsible for post-accretionary tectonism. However, recently
published palaeomagnetic, stratigraphic and geochronological data
(Luzieux et al., 2006; Vallejo et al., 2009) have been combined with
new thermochronological data to provide a new set of rigid
constraints that can be used to re-interpret the causes of periods of
exhumation proximal to the late Cretaceous terrane suture in
Ecuador, during the syn- and post-accretionary period.

0895-9811/$ e see front matter © 2010 Published by Elsevier Ltd.

doi:10.1016/j.jsames.2010.04.002
122 R.A. Spikings et al. / Journal of South American Earth Sciences 30 (2010) 121e133
Thermochronological analyses of in-situ crystalline rocks and
their detrital products generates two independent cooling and
exhumation histories of the Andean source regions, which should
be equivalent if the time taken to transport the sediment is esti-
mated accurately. This contribution presents and compares
previous and new multi-phase 40Ar/39Ar, fission track (FT) and
(UeTh)/He data that has been acquired from in-situ igneous and
metamorphic rocks of the Andean cordilleras of Ecuador, and
sedimentary rocks from the present day surface of the Amazon
foreland basin, which have not been heated to temperatures
higher than w100 ○ C (Ruiz et al., 2004). Time (t) e Temperature
(T) constraints obtained by inverse modeling of the data acquired
from the cordilleras and basement of the proximal foreland basin
are compared with those provided by the differences between the
stratigraphic and FT ages of zircons extracted from sedimentary
rocks in the basin. Collectively, the t-T information has been used
to tightly constrain the cooling and exhumation history of the
cordilleras e proximal foreland basin system, in Ecuador. The in-
situ and detrital thermal history constraints are mainly comple-
mentary, and thus provide a robust temporal framework for the
evolution of the orogenic wedge that can be used to constrain
the nature of the driving forces. However, specific differences in
the interpretation of the data acquired from rocks in the cordillera
and the basin allow each approach to be evaluated, after testing
the accuracy of each interpretation against well documented
stratigraphic and structural evidence.
2. Geological framework
Jurassic to Recent convergence between the Pacific and South
American (SOAM) plates has given rise to a series of emergent,
distinguishable tectono-stratigraphic regions (Fig. 1), which can be
divided into an oceanic and a continental province. The continental
province is partly composed of Palaeozoic e lower Cretaceous
metamorphic rocks of the Eastern Cordillera, which together with
Cretaceous and Tertiary sedimentary rocks of the retro-arc Amazon
foreland basin unconformably overlie the Precambrian Guyana
Shield (Litherland and Aspden, 1992; Litherland et al., 1994). The
Eastern Cordillera continues northwards into Colombia and is
believed to be composed of a series of sublinear tectono-strati-
graphic belts, which include island arcs and slivers of continental
crust. Oligocene and Miocene ignimbrities, exposed in the Inter-
andean Depression obscure the western limit of metamorphic
rocks that form the Eastern Cordillera, although it is likely that
rocks of the Eastern Cordillera form part of the tectonised basement
of the Interandean Depression (e.g. Litherland et al., 1994; Hughes
and Pilatasig, 2002). Almost all K/Ar ages (hornblende and bio-
tite) obtained from pre-Cretaceous rocks within the Eastern
Cordillera range between 90 and 50 Ma, with a frequency peak at
w65 Ma (see compilation in Litherland et al., 1994). The degree of
partial resetting cannot be assessed and hence their significance
cannot be determined accurately.
Immediately to the east of the Eastern Cordillera the proximal
Amazon foreland basin is composed of steeply dipping thrust slices
and large antiforms within a series of foothill highs, which are
commonly referred to as the Sub-Andean Zone (SAZ; Fig. 1). Within
the SAZ, conspicuous tectonic uplift is evident exposing Palaeozoic to
Tertiary basement, cover and foreland basin formations. The base-
ment sequence includes Jurassic continental arc rocks of the Mis-
ahualli Fm. and the Abitagua Batholith, which have both been
analysed by thermochronological methods to constrain their exhu-
mation histories (Spikings et al., 2000; Ruiz et al., 2004). Sedimentary
rocks deposited in a foreland basin setting consist of red Maas-
trichtian sandstones and shales of the Tena Fm., which are uncon-
formably overlain by Eocene conglomerates of the Tiyuyaku Fm. The
overlying Oligocene e Recent estuarine and fluvial siliciclastic rocks
generally show a coarsening upward trend (Balkwill et al., 1995).
The oceanic province, which includes the Western Cordillera
and the flat forearc, consists of several late Cretaceous and younger
tectono-stratigraphic units, which formed in island arc and ocean
hotspot settings (e.g. McCourt et al., 1984; Aspden et al., 1987; Kerr
et al., 2002). Recent palaeomagnetic, stratigraphic and geochro-
nological studies by Vallejo et al. (2009) and Luzieux et al. (2006)
suggest that the distinct structural blocks within the oceanic
province formed part of a single terrane (the Caribbean Cretaceous
Oceanic Province; e.g. Kerr et al., 2002) prior to accretion to the
SOAM plate, which fractured and rotated during and after collision.
Earlier estimates of the timing of the initial phase of collision
between the Caribbean Plateau and the Ecuadorian continental
margin clustered at either the Santonian-early Campanian (e.g.
85e80 Ma; Lebrat et al., 1987; Aspden and Litherland, 1992; Kerr
et al., 2002; Spikings et al., 2005), or the late Campanian-Maas-
trichtian (e.g. 75e65 Ma; Spikings et al., 2001; Jaillard et al., 2004).
However, more recent studies unambiguously demonstrate that
the main collision event started at 75e73 Ma (Vallejo et al., 2006).
The suture between the oceanic terrane and the SOAM plate is
defined by a tectonic mélange, which hosts meter scale blocks of
metamorphic rocks that are mainly exposed in the Eastern
Cordillera (e.g. Hughes and Pilatasig, 2002). This feature is referred
to as the Peltetec e Pujilí fault system, and extends southwards
where it intersects the Ecuador Trench in the region of the Gulf of
Guayaquil (Fig. 1).
3. Methods and results
Higher temperature (>300 ○C) thermochronological informa-
tion has been obtained from Ar isotopic data acquired using
standardised CO2-IR laser step-heating of single crystals of horn-
blende and biotite. The external detector method was used to
determine the FT ages of all samples in this and previous FT studies
of crystalline rocks in Ecuador, and all samples were prepared using
identical conditions (standard etching conditions; irradiated in the
same reactor). The detailed analytical procedure for determining
precise (UeTh)/He ages is presented in Spikings and Crowhurst
(2004). Gas extraction was performed using a US Laser Corpora-
tion, 16 W Nd-YAG, continuous-wave laser. Detailed analytical
procedures for all three methods are presented in Appendix A.
Previous studies (Spikings and Crowhurst, 2004; Spikings et al.,
2000, 2001, 2005; Ruiz, 2002; Ruiz et al., 2004) presented multi-
phase 40Ar/39Ar, zircon and apatite FT and apatite (UeTh)/He data
from late Cretaceous and older crystalline rocks within the Western
Cordillera, Eastern Cordillera, Amotape Complex and the northern
SAZ, which were used to constrain the thermal and exhumation
histories of those regions. This contribution presents new horn-
blende and biotite 40Ar/39Ar data from three samples within the
southern Eastern Cordillera (Table 1; Fig. 1), apatite FT data from
three samples within the Eastern Cordillera (Table 2), and apatite
(UeTh)/He data from seven samples in the Western Cordillera and
southern Eastern Cordillera (Table 3).
Hornblendes extracted from granites of the Zamora Batholith in
the southern Eastern Cordillera yield distinguishable 40Ar/39Ar
plateau ages (Figs. 1 and 2) of 174.0 T 1.0 Ma (99RS43) and
142.9 0.5
T Ma (99RS47), attesting to the composite nature of the
batholith. Jurassic radiometric ages have been previously obtained
from the Zamora Batholith, including 187 T2 Ma (Rb/Sr; Litherland
et al., 1994), 145.5 T0.5 (zircon U/Pb; Vallance et al., 2006) and
200e140 Ma (various phases K/Ar; Pichler and Aly, 1983; Litherland
et al., 1994), and therefore it is likely that the 40Ar/39Ar ages are
approximate crystallization ages and can be used as a baseline for
interpreting lower temperature thermochronometric data from the
 R.A. Spikings et al. / Journal of South American Earth Sciences 30 (2010) 121e133 123

Fig. 1. Simplified geology of Ecuador showing the Carnegie Ridge, emergent oceanic province (external forearc and Western Cordillera) and the continental province (Amotape
Terrane, Eastern Cordillera and the Amazon foreland basin), which are separated by the PujilíePeltetec fault system. New sample locations (labeled; Western Cordillera 00RSxx;
Eastern Cordillera 99RSxx, and previously sampled traverses are shown. C: Cutucu region, CF: Cosanga Fault, MP: Manabi Basin, N: Napo region, PB: Progresso Basin, PF: Palanda
Fault, PeF: Peltetec Fault, PuF: Pujilí Fault, PPT: Pallatanga-Piñon Terrane, Q: Quingeo Basin.

same samples. A single biotite crystal from migmatites in the
southern Eastern Cordillera (99RS40) yielded a plateau age of
73.93 T0.27 Ma, which is significantly younger than the Triassic
age of anatexis (U/Pb monazite 227.5T0.8; Aspden et al., 1995;
zircon U/Pb 227.6 3.2
T Ma; Litherland et al., 1994).
Arc related andesites of the Jurassic Upano and Maguazo units
(Litherland et al., 1994), located in the central Eastern Cordillera
(Figs. 1 and 3) yield apatite FT ages of 37 T 4 (sample 99RS82; P(c2)
95%) and 78 T 9 Ma (sample 99RS13; P(c2) 97%), respectively. Mean
track lengths in both samples are 14.83 T 0.34 and 14.54T0.22 mm
(Fig. 2), respectively, which are similar to the mean lengths of
confined, spontaneous fission tracks in rapidly cooled, standard
samples (Gleadow et al., 1986). An arc derived andesite of the Alao-
Paute Unit, which is also located in the central Eastern Cordillera,
yielded an apatite FT age of 33T4 Ma (99RS14; P( c2) 93%) although
an insufficient quantity of track-in-track confined tracks (<10)
were found to generate a statistically useful track length distribu-
tion. The Oligocene-Eocene apatite FT ages fall within the upper
range of apatite FT ages obtained in previous studies of the Eastern
Cordillera, Western Cordillera and the Amotape Complex
(64e3 Ma; Figs. 3 and 4). The Campanian apatite FT age is the oldest
obtained in the cordilleras and the Amotape Complex, although it is
indistinguishable from a single apatite FT age obtained from the
northern SAZ (Fig. 4; 82 T 7 Ma; Ruiz, 2002), and the FT age of
124 R.A. Spikings et al. / Journal of South American Earth Sciences 30 (2010) 121e133

Table 1
Argon isotope data acquired from crystalline rocks exposed in the southern Eastern Cordillera.

Step 36Ar/ 39Ar 37Ar/ 39 Ar 40Ar/ 39Ar 40Ar* (%) Cumulative 39Ar (%) Age Ma
Hornblende
99RS43, J ¼ 0.01661 T 0.00017, granite, Zamora Batholith, S03○ 580 0700 , W78○ 510 4600
1 0.101129 T 0.001113 8.307528 T 0.001850 32.196318 T 0.338257 7.2 3.6 86.4 T 9.7
2 0.013307 T 0.000218 15.198934 T 0.000920 8.878160 T 0.064840 55.7 13.6 175.8 T 2.4
3 0.007116 T 0.000131 13.556125 T 0.000553 7.003553 T 0.038770 70.0 27.3 170.9 T 1.9
4 0.017199 T 0.001690 12.554417 T 0.004316 10.208697 T 0.502192 50.2 1.6 174.8 T 13.8
5 0.016740 T 0.000820 13.350907 T 0.002333 9.939033 T 0.243150 50.2 3.7 172.9 T 6.8
6 0.011654 T 0.000251 14.139492 T 0.000905 8.487566 T 0.074350 59.4 14.6 176.1 T 2.6
7 0.007541 T 0.000138 13.577898 T 0.000504 7.180080 T 0.041060 69.0 28.2 172.3 T 2.0
8 0.013919 T 0.000466 12.765195 T 0.001927 9.544621 T 0.138770 56.9 4.7 183.7 T 4.1
9 0.022830 T 0.001112 10.510013 T 0.002646 11.638277 T 0.330210 42.0 2.6 163.9 T 9.2
steps 2e9 96.4 174.0 T 1.0
99RS47, J ¼ 0.01663 T 0.00017, granite, Zamora Batholith, S04○ 050 3300 , W78○ 380 2300
1 0.017753 T 0.000464 4.237285 T 0.000650 9.464909 T 0.137360 44.6 1.7 131.4 T 4.0
2 0.002536 T 0.000071 4.573032 T 0.000200 5.364134 T 0.021090 86.0 9.9 143.1 T 1.5
3 0.002387 T 0.000031 4.494471 T 0.000120 5.274418 T 0.009250 86.6 21.3 141.7 T 1.4
4 0.002088 T 0.000182 4.264177 T 0.000380 5.263689 T 0.053980 88.3 3.2 143.3 T 2.0
5 0.001976 T 0.000051 4.565588 T 0.000180 5.213575 T 0.015250 88.8 12.2 143.6 T 1.4
6 0.002234 T 0.000042 4.361864 T 0.000110 5.300759 T 0.012330 87.5 18.6 143.4 T 1.4
7 0.001891 T 0.000039 4.529301 T 0.000130 5.218924 T 0.011700 89.3 16.4 144.3 T 1.4
8 0.002917 T 0.000084 4.968423 T 0.000230 5.375203 T 0.024810 84.0 8.2 141.2 T 1.5
9 0.015435 T 0.000870 5.877489 T 0.001910 9.077878 T 0.257930 49.8 0.7 143.3 T 7.3
10 0.004221 T 0.000131 5.053597 T 0.000280 5.796631 T 0.038850 78.5 5.6 142.4 T 1.7
11 0.006283 T 0.000299 5.403141 T 0.000700 6.657940 T 0.088380 72.1 2.2 150.2 T 2.8
steps 2e10 96.0 142.9 T 0.5
Biotite
99RS40, J ¼ 0.01659 T 0.00017, granodiorite, Sabanilla Migmatite, S03○ 580 1600 , W79○ 010 1700
1 0.004696 T 0.000352 0.158526 T 0.000240 4140114 T 0.104200 66.5 1.9 80.5 T 3.1
2 0.001000 T 0.000059 0.031308 T 0.000040 2795892 T 0.017490 89.4 10.7 72.9 T 0.9
3 0.000160 T 0.000032 0.029493 T 0.000020 2604413 T 0.009410 98.2 18.7 74.6 T 0.8
4 0.000195 T 0.000042 0.008362 T 0.000040 2602841 T 0.012360 97.8 13.2 74.2 T 0.8
5 0.000047 T 0.000044 0.042433 T 0.000060 2604493 T 0.013170 99.5 9.1 75.6 T 0.8
6 0.000193 T 0.000040 0.024003 T 0.000060 2564622 T 0.011930 97.8 9.9 73.1 T 0.8
7 0.000299 T 0.000099 0.100597 T 0.000130 2595581 T 0.029320 96.6 3.7 73.3 T 1.1
8 0.000279 T 0.000069 0.044400 T 0.000080 2635794 T 0.020340 96.9 6.4 74.5 T 0.9
9 0.000124 T 0.000049 0.025402 T 0.000040 2531645 T 0.014610 98.5 9.9 72.8 T 0.8
10 0.000199 T 0.000050 0.045226 T 0.000040 2554817 T 0.014700 97.7 9.4 72.9 T 0.8
11 0.000390 T 0.000189 0.136384 T 0.000170 2670635 T 0.056000 95.7 2.5 74.8 T 1.8
12 0.000018 T 0.000104 0.065486 T 0.000090 2608937 T 0.030890 99.8 4.5 76.0 T 1.2
steps 2e12 98.1 73.9 T 0.3

All errors are T2s

37 39
Data are corrected for post-irradiation decay of Ar (T0.5 ¼ 31.5 days) and Ar (T0.5 ¼ 269 years).
Analytical details are presented in Appendix A.

detrital zircons in the Western Cordillera, proximal to the Campa-
nian suture (Spikings et al., 2005).
Apatite (UeTh)/He ages have been determined from five samples
of Triassic migmatites, Jurassic granites and Palaeozoic schists of the
southern Eastern Cordillera (south of 1○300 S; Figs. 1 and 4; Table 3).
Multiple aliquots were analysed from each sample to provide an
internal check of the precision of the data and the ages used in the
interpretation are weighted mean ages of the individual aliquots,
where the ages yielded by each aliquot are indistinguishable (Table
3). The youngest apatite (UeTh)/He age of 7.0 T 0.1 Ma (T2s),
obtained from the Zamora Granite (sample 99RS43; hornblende
40
Ar/39Ar plateau age 174T1 Ma), lies within the range of apatite
(UeTh)/He ages obtained from the northern Eastern Cordillera and
the Western Cordillera proximal to the ocean-continent suture
(Fig. 4; north of 1○300 S; 10.4 T 0.9 Ma e 2.06 T 0.01 Ma; Spikings and
Crowhurst, 2004). However, the remaining ages range between
43.6 T 0.6e21.6 0.8,
T and are the oldest apatite (UeTh)/He ages
obtained from the Ecuadorian cordilleras.
Weighted mean apatite (UeTh)/He ages of 6.3 T 0.3 and
12.2 T0.9 Ma ( 2 Ts) have been determined from a late Cretaceous
agglomerate (Pilaton Fm.; 00RS43) and dacite (00RS31), respec-
tively, located along the eastern border of the Western Cordillera,
proximal to the Campanian ocean-continent suture (Fig. 1). These
ages lie within the range of apatite (UeTh)/He ages obtained from
the northern Eastern Cordillera (north of 1○300 S; 10.4 T 0.9 Ma e
2.06 T 0.01 Ma; Spikings and Crowhurst, 2004).
4. Interpretation and discussion
4.1. Periods of cooling in the Ecuadorian cordilleras
Andesites 99RS82 and -13, sampled from Jurassic-early Creta-
ceous arc sequences in the southern Eastern Cordillera, yield long,
mean spontaneous FT lengths (Fig. 3), indicating that they cooled
rapidly through w110e60 ○C at 37 T 4 Ma (sample 99RS82) and
78 T9 Ma (sample 99RS13), respectively. Biotite plateau 40Ar/39Ar
and zircon FT ages of 73.9 T 0.3 Ma (Table 1) and 57.9T 6.0 Ma
(Spikings et al., 2001) respectively, obtained from migmatites of the
Sabanilla Unit (99RS40) in the southern Eastern Cordillera, suggest
it cooled from w350 ○C to w250 ○C in the late Cretaceous, although
the precise form of the cooling path within that temperature range
is unconstrained. Elevated cooling rates (e.g. >25 ○C/my) during the
Campanian have only previously been identified in i) late Triassic
gneisses of the Amotape Complex, located in southernmost
Ecuador (Spikings et al., 2005; Fig. 5), and ii) the detrital zircon FT
record within blocks of the Palaeocene Saquisilli Fm., within the
Western Cordillera proximal to the Campanian suture, indicating
that the source regions were cooling rapidly (Spikings et al., 2005;
 R.A. Spikings et al. / Journal of South American Earth Sciences 30 (2010) 121e133 125

Fig. 5). Rapid cooling of the rocks of the Eastern Cordillera at

2.05 T 0.05
1.92 T 0.04
1.99 T 0.05
w40 Ma was previously documented by Spikings et al. (2000, 2001;

Dpar T1s
Fig. 5). The Eocene-Oligocene apatite FT age obtained from

(mm)
quartzites (99RS14) of the Jurassic-Early Cretaceous Alao-Paute unit
in the southern Eastern Cordillera records Eocene and younger

Deviation
cooling events, although these cannot be resolved because of a lack
Standard
of FT length measurements.

(m m)
1.36

0.90
ND
Potential thermal histories have been extracted from the new

All apatite separates were counted by R. Spikings using a zeta calibration values of 387 T 17 (CN5 standard glass). Fossil tracks were revealed in apatites by etching in 5 N HNO3(aq) at 21 ○C for 20 s.
Length T1s (mm) apatite (UeTh)/He data acquired from samples in the southern
14.54 T 0.22(39)

14.83 T 0.34(7)
Eastern Cordillera and the Western Cordillera. The same samples
also yielded apatite FT data (Spikings et al., 2001, 2005), and
thermal histories have been derived by simultaneously modeling
Track
Mean

He diffusion and FT annealing in any given sample, using the HeFTy

ND

software (Fig. 5; Ketcham et al., 1999, 2000). Dpar values were used
to assess variations in track annealing kinetics, although they span
FT Age T
1s (Ma)

a narrow range of 2.2e1.85 mm, and hence inter-sample variations

37 T 4
78 T 9
33 T 4

in track annealing kinetics are sufficiently minor to generate

insignificant variations in track annealing properties. The thermal
(ppm)

history solutions yield predicted (UeTh)/He ages and FT data that

are indistinguishable from the actual data, and the thermal history
U

8
6

paths are constrained between w110 and 40 ○C. These thermal

P(c2 )

history solutions have been extended to temperatures within the

(%)

93
97

95

zircon FT partial annealing zone (w220e300 ○C; Yamada et al.,

Density ×106

1995; see also Tagami and O’Sullivan, 2005) when the zircon FT
0.3951(358)

0.7627(916)
0.5456(493)

ages are indistinguishable from periods of rapid cooling obtained

Induced

from inverse modeling of the apatite FT and (UeTh)/He data.

Track

Triassic migmatites (Sabanilla Unit) in the southern Eastern

Cordillera reveal elevated cooling rates during 65e55 Ma
Spontaneous

Density ×106

(w30 ○C/My) and 45e30 Ma (w20 ○C/My), with a younger increase

0.1468(133)

0.1157(139)
0.0866(77)

in cooling rates commencing at e9e5 Ma in sample 99RS41

Track

(5e10 ○C/My; Fig. 5). The timing of the onset of Miocene cooling is
either poorly resolved (99RS41), or not identified (99RS40)
Induced tracks were revealed in muscovite external detectors by etching in 40% HF(aq) at 20 T 0.5 ○C for 45 min.

because cooling occurred from temperatures at the lower limits of

Density ×106

1.254(5925)
1.116(5925)
1.102(5925)

sensitivity of the analytical methods (60e40 ○C). Granites of the

Standard

Jurassic Zamora Batholith, which are located due east of the

Track

Triassic migmatites, east of the Palanda Fault (Fig. 1), experienced

Apatite (UeTh)/He age data from the southern Eastern Cordillera and the Western Cordillera, Ecuador.

elevated cooling rates during 75e65 Ma (5e10 ○C/My), 45e35 Ma

(w10 ○C/My) and 23e18 Ma (w15 ○C/My), and a poorly resolved
Grains
No. of

period of cooling during w15e0 Ma (<5 ○C/My). Clearly, cooling

28
27

25

rates during the Campanian e Eocene were lower to the east of the
Altitude

Palanda Fault than those to the west. Finally, a Palaeozoic schist

1610
3320

(99RS55) located in more central regions of the Eastern Cordillera

(m)

underwent rapid cooling during 25e20 Ma (w15 ○C/My) and

15e0 Ma (<5 ○C/My).
Longitude
W d. m. s.

78 12 03
78 30 50

Inversion of the apatite FT and (UeTh)/He data acquired from

granite 00RS31 (zircon U/Pb SHRIMP age: 87.1 T 1.66 Ma; Vallejo
et al., 2006), located within the Western Cordillera proximal to
S d. m. s.

02 14 59
02 11 00

the Campanian ocean-continent suture (Fig. 1), yields a thermal

Latitude

Numbers in parentheses are the number of tracks counted.

history envelope that shows an elevated cooling rate between 80

and 55 Ma (5e10 ○C/My), followed by heating during 45e35 Ma,
and subsequent cooling during 15e0 Ma (<5 ○C/My). Finally,
Terrane

Salado

a volcanic agglomerate located in the northern part of the Western

Alao
Alao

Cordillera (00RS43), proximal to the ocean-continent suture yiel-

ded indistinguishable late Miocene apatite FT (8.2 T 2.1 Ma;
Alao-Paute
Maguazo

Spikings et al., 2005) and (UeTh)/He ages (7.0 T 0.1 Ma; Table 3),
Upano

suggesting it cooled from >110 ○C to <40 ○C during 10e5 Ma, at

Unit

a high rate of w14 ○C/My. Unfortunately, the sample did not yield
a statistically useful number of confined FT length measurements,
Metaarrenite
Metaarrenite

leading to a semi-quantitative thermal history solution.

Lithology

Andesite

4.2. Comparison with previous thermal history analyses

Sample

99RS82

Previous thermochronological studies from the northern

99RS13
99RS14
Table 2

Andean orogen-foreland system presented i) multi-phase 40Ar/39Ar

and zircon and apatite FT data from five traverses across the Eastern
126 R.A. Spikings et al. / Journal of South American Earth Sciences 30 (2010) 121e133

Table 3
Apatite FT data from the Eastern Cordillera, Ecuador.

Sample Lithology Unit Latitude Longitude Altitude ZFT age AFT age U Th He Ave Grain AC* (UeTh)/
d. m. s d. m. s (m) (Ma) (Ma) (ppm) (ppm) (ncc) Size He age T
(radius 2s (Ma)
mm)
Eastern Cordillera
99RS40 Granodiorite Sabanilla 03 58 14.6 79 01 17.4 1974 T 143 57.9 T 3.0 45.0 T 2.0 1.21 4.51 23.39 170 0.91 44.1 T 3.2
Migmatite
99RS40 1.64 4.83 30.13 130 0.91 42.3 T 3.0
99RS40 1.02 4.34 18.38 92 0.85 43.8 T 3.0
Weighted mean 130 43.6 ± 0.6
99RS41 Migmatite Sabanilla 04 01 05.4 79 01 20.2 1500 T 60 61.2 T 3.3 39.5 T 2.0 1.32 3.13 19.65 180 0.84 36.9 T 1.2
Migmatite
99RS41 3.53 4.74 58.65 145 0.91 38.1 T 1.4
99RS41 4.07 14.2 69.75 115 0.88 40.4 T 1.4
Weighted mean 150 38.3 ± 1.0
99RS43 Granite Zamora 03 58 07.0 78 51 46.0 875 T 20 101.0 T 5.3 34.0 T 3.3 27.39 41.92 0.087 43 0.72 7.5 T 0.4
Granite
99RS43 17.21 33.74 0.079 53 0.74 7.0 T 0.2
99RS43 9.29 26.26 0.036 43 0.72 6.9 T 0.2
Weighted mean 46 7.0 ± 0.1
99RS47 Granite Zamora 04 05 33.3 78 38 23.4 ? 130.7 T 6.4 60.5 T 5.1 0.037 10.2 0.69 90 0.85 28.0 T 1.4
Granite
99RS47 0.072 16.7 1.19 65 0.79 28.5 T 1.4
Weighted mean 78 28.3 ± 0.3
99RS55 Schist Chiguinda 03 00 09.4 78 39 14.9 3379 T 25 55.5 T 3.3 27.9 T 1.9 0.069 2.06 0.64 73 0.80 22.6 T 1.5
Fm.
99RS55 0.033 3.99 0.32 62 0.77 21.0 T 1.2
Weighted mean 68 21.6 ± 0.8

Western Cordillera
00RS31 Dacite Pujilí Fm. 00 51 04.8 78 42 15.6 3015 T 25 75.4 T 3.7 56.5 T 5.0 0.030 4.61 0.16 47 0.69 11.7 T 0.5
00RS31 0.032 5.31 0.20 50 0.74 13.2 T 0.6
00RS31 0.007 1.23 0.05 55 0.77 13.2 T 0.8
00RS31 0.013 1.97 0.07 55 0.72 11.3 T 0.6
Weighted mean 52 12.2 T 0.9
00RS43 Breccia Pilaton N00 41 31.4 78 12 05.0 1138 T 5 13.1 T 0.8 8.2 T 2.1 0.020 4.39 0.08 145 0.90 6.1 T 0.5
Fm.
00RS43 0.023 4.42 0.08 125 0.88 6.0 T 0.4
00RS43 0.025 5.96 0.10 77 0.83 6.8 T 0.4
116 6.3 T 0.3

AC* ¼ Alpha correction.

All fission track ages are from previous work (Spikings et al., 2000, 2001, 2005). AFT: apatite fission track (T1s), ZFT: zircon fission track (T1s).
All apatite separates were counted by R. Spikings using a zeta calibration value of 387 T 17 (CN5 standard glass).
Fossil tracks were revealed in apatites by etching in 5 N HNO3(aq) at 21 T 0.5 ○C for 20 s.
Induced tracks were revealed in muscovite external detectors by etching in 40% HF(aq) at 20 T 0.5 ○C for 45 min. The external detector method was used in all cases.

Cordillera (Fig. 1) and the Amotape Complex (Spikings et al., 2000,
2001, 2005), and scattered locations within the Western Cordillera
(Spikings et al., 2005), ii) Apatite (UeTh)/He data from the northern
Eastern Cordillera (Spikings and Crowhurst, 2004), iii) ZFT and AFT
data from the crystalline basement of the northern SAZ (Ruiz, 2002),
and iv) FT data from detrital zircon and apatite within sedimentary
rocks of the northern SAZ (Ruiz et al., 2004). Those results constrain
the timing and amount of syn- and post-accretionary cooling and
exhumation of regions of the indenting and buttressing plates in the
Northern Andes, through an assumed static geothermal gradient.
Our new thermal history models for the southern Eastern Cordillera
and the Western Cordillera include new, in-situ apatite (UeTh)/He
data, which drastically improved the resolution of the thermal
histories previously obtained in those regions.

Zamora Batholith, granite Sabanilla Unit, migmatite

age (Ma)

250
174.00±1.00 Ma 120
200
100 73.93±0.27 Ma
150
80
40Ar/39Ar

100 142.89±0.54 Ma
60
99RS40, biotite
50 99RS43, hornblende (white) 40
99RS47, hornblende (black) 0 20 40 60 80 100
0
0 20 40 60 80 100 %39Ar released
%39Ar released

Fig. 2. 40Ar/39Ar age spectra obtained from step-heating (CO 2-IR laser) single hornblende and biotite grains extracted from crystalline rocks exposed in the southern Eastern
Cordillera (present work only).
 R.A. Spikings et al. / Journal of South American Earth Sciences 30 (2010) 121e133
Fig. 3. Mean apatite FT length plotted against pooled apatite FT age (T1s ) for samples from the cordilleras of Ecuador and the proximal Amazon foreland basin (Sub-Andean Zone).
New data is labeled with its sample code. Previous data is from Spikings et al. (2000, 2001, 2005) and Ruiz (2002).
A compilation of all hornblende, white mica and biotite
40
Ar/39Ar (plateau), zircon and apatite FT and apatite (UeTh)/He
ages generated from the Ecuadorian cordilleras, Amotape Complex
and the SAZ that are coeval or younger than accretion at 75e73 Ma,
is presented in Fig. 4. Modeled thermal histories that fit the data
show that the cordilleras and the SAZ cooled during well defined
periods, which are mainly common to each region (Fig. 5).
The Campanian buttressing margin south of S1○300 was cooling
at elevated rates during 73e55 Ma. The temporal coincidence of
accretion (75e73 Ma; Jaillard et al., 2004; Vallejo et al., 2006;
Luzieux et al., 2006) and the onset of cooling in several faulted
massifs, combined with the presence of coeval continental red
sandstones and shales of the Tena Fm. in the Amazon foreland basin
(Balkwill et al., 1995), clearly show that cooling was at least partly
driven by exhumation in response to collisional tectonics, that
affected the entire Ecuadorian palaeo-margin. Rapid cooling during
73e55 Ma corroborates extremely short lag-times (<5 Ma; Ruiz
et al., 2004; Fig. 4) between the zircon FT and stratigraphic ages of
detrital zircons in the Amazon foreland basin during 73e53 Ma,
providing further evidence that cooling was driven by exhumation,
and not thermal relaxation following periods of magmatism.
Furthermore, modal dense mineral analyses show that the earliest
occurrence of metamorphic minerals (in particular, garnet and
chloritoid) along the entire extent of the proximal Amazon foreland
basin (Napo and Cutucu regions of the SAZ; Fig. 1) occurs in the Tena
Fm. (Fig. 4), which were derived from exhuming metamorphic rocks
within the Eastern Cordillera (Ruiz et al., 2004; Martin-Gombojav
and Winkler, 2008). The dense mineral assemblages of the under-
lying (pre-Tena Fm.), compositionally mature siliciclastic rocks are
dominated by zircon, tourmaline and rutile, suggesting they were
derived from continental, cratonic crust that has been reworked
several times, located to the east of the foreland basin. Collectively,
these data rigorously support a hypothesis that rock uplift and
erosion occurred in favourably oriented faulted blocks within the
southern margin of the buttressing continental plate as an imme-
diate response (i.e. to within 1 my) to the collision of the CCOP,
which has been previously temporally constrained (75e73 Ma) by
127
geochronological, stratigraphic and palaeomagnetic data (Vallejo
et al., 2006; Luzieux et al., 2006). The peak in the frequency of
occurrence of K/Ar ages obtained from pre-Cretaceous rocks of the
Eastern Cordillera at w65 Ma (Litherland et al., 1994) is probably
a consequence of prolonged elevated cooling in response to the
collision event. The rock column that resided at temperatures cooler
than 40 ○C (colder than the lower apatite HePRZ; see Fig. 5) prior to
accretion at 75e73 Ma, must have been eroded within a period of
w1 my after accretion, giving rise to a cooling record commencing at
w73 Ma, implying that exhumation rates were≤1 km/my, corrob-
orating the results of Spikings et al. (2000) for the buttressing
margin. Thermochronological data from crystalline rocks of the
indenting block proximal to the suture (Western Cordillera) do not
reveal any unambiguous evidence of rapid cooling during
73e55 Ma, suggesting that the collision event did not drive exhu-
mation in that block. This corroborates recent plateau 40Ar/39Ar
(andesitic groundmass) ages of the earliest post-accretionary arc-
sequence (Silante Arc; 65.7 T 4.4e58.1 T 2.0 Ma; Vallejo et al., 2009),
which intruded the accreted Piñon-Pallatanga Terrane (Fig. 1)
within w5 Ma of the accretion event. The accumulation of late
Cretaceous and early Tertiary arc volcanic rocks in the region of the
arc precluded any exhumation that may have occurred in response
to rock uplift, and is probably responsible for heating by either i)
burial, and/or ii) elevating the geothermal gradient during the
Palaeocene to early Eocene, as found in the t-T solutions from the
proximal region of the indenting block (Western Cordillera; Fig. 5).
Furthermore, the composition and density contrast between the
mafic and ultramafic indenting block, and the sialic SOAM plate may
have caused gravity-driven, partial under-thrusting of the indenting
block (e.g. Niu et al., 2003), resulting in flexural down-warping
proximal to the suture.
The entire Eastern Cordillera and Amotape Complex experi-
enced rapid cooling during 43e30 Ma, which only partly overlaps
with elevated cooling rates in the Western Cordillera during
40e35 Ma (Spikings et al., 2005) and the northern Sub-Andean
Zone during 50e40 Ma (Ruiz, 2002; Fig. 4). The timing of the onset
of elevated cooling rates in the cordilleras coincides with the
128 R.A. Spikings et al. / Journal of South American Earth Sciences 30 (2010) 121e133

Fig. 4. A compilation (including present and previous work) of all the multi-phase 40Ar/39Ar (plateau ages only), zircon and apatite FT and apatite (UeTh)/He data published for the
cordilleras, AMOTAPE Province (labeled A) and proximal Amazon foreland basin region (SAZ: Sub-andean Zone; Ruiz, 2002) of Ecuador, where the ages are younger than 80 Ma.
Numerical labels are sample codes and indicate data obtained in this study (Western Cordillera 00RSxx; Eastern Cordillera 99RSxx). Additional data obtained from Spikings et al.
(2000, 2001, 2005), Ruiz (2002) and Spikings and Crowhurst (2004). With the exception of five detrital zircon FT ages, all of the ages are younger than the depositional or
crystallization ages of the rocks. The lag-time between the zircon FT ages of detrital zircons in the SAZ, and their depositional age is shown, along with a simplified stratigraphic
framework (Balkwill et al., 1995) of the Amazon foreland basin of Ecuador (labels are formation names). Grey-shaded regions indicate periods of rapid cooling, deduced from
computed thermal history solutions to the data. A: Amotape Terrane.

deposition of coarse alluvial/fluvial clastics of the upper member of
the Tiyuyaku Fm., and red, terrigenous, fluvial sandstones and
siltstones of the Chalcana Fm. in the Amazon foreland basin, sug-
gesting that cooling was driven by exhumation in response to rock
uplift. The lower member of the Tiyuyaku Fm. was deposited
5e10 my prior to cooling in the cordilleras (Fig. 4), which suggests
that the rocks exposed in the cordilleras were not the source
regions for that member. However, the SAZ was cooling at elevated
rates during deposition of the lower member of the Tiyuyaku Fm.,
suggesting that its crystalline basement and the overlying Tena Fm.
were probably the source rocks for the lower member. Further
evidence for exhumation in the Eastern Cordillera is documented
by fluvial conglomerates in the Quingeo Basin (42e33 Ma) of
southern Ecuador (Fig. 1), which were derived from the Eastern
Cordillera that is presently located to the east of the basin
(Hungerbühler et al., 2002). Elevated cooling rates in the cordilleras
and the SAZ correspond with a sudden reduction in lag-time during
50e36 Ma in the Amazon foreland basin (Fig. 4), providing addi-
tional evidence for increasing exhumation rates in the source
regions during the Eocene. The temporal correlation between
increasing lag-time within the Amazon foreland basin and cooling
of the source regions during 36e30 Ma in the Eastern Cordillera
suggests that either i) the timing of the younger boundary (30 Ma)
of the cooling period, derived by modeling, may be inaccurate, or
ii) the source region for the Tiyuyaku Fm. within the exhuming
cordillera changed at some time between 36 and 30 Ma, from
a region that exhumed rapidly prior to w36 Ma, to a region that did
not exhume rapidly during the Eocene. Previous studies of the
Eastern Cordillera (Spikings et al., 2000, 2001) identified cooling
during the Eocene by inverting the apatite FT data using the
annealing model of Laslett et al. (1987). However, the documented
inaccuracies that exist in the Laslett et al. (1987) model, which
mainly arise due to ambiguity regarding the initial conditions of
track annealing (e.g. the length of an un-annealed FT; e.g. Vrolijk
et al., 1992), should be minimized in the current study because
the thermal histories are also constrained by apatite (UeTh)/He
ages. Therefore, we consider the thermal history models to be
accurate, indicating that cooling of the rocks of the Eastern
Cordillera and Amotape Complex terminated at 30 Ma. Spatial
variations in thermochronological data at the intra-cordillera scale
show that individual massifs did not exhume simultaneously
during any particular cooling period. Rather, cooling and exhuma-
tion periods are recorded in regionally distributed, fault bounded
blocks (Spikings et al., 2000). Therefore, it is likely that there was
a local change of source region within the cordilleras at 36 Ma
from regions which were exhuming at accelerating rates during
 R.A. Spikings et al. / Journal of South American Earth Sciences 30 (2010) 121e133 129

Fig. 5. A) Thermal history envelopes for Jurassic and older rocks of the Eastern Cordillera and the Pujilí Granite of the Western Cordillera, obtained by simultaneously modeling the
thermally activated annealing of fission tracks in apatite (annealing model of Ketcham et al., 1999; models generated using HeFTy v. 1.6.7; Ketcham et al., 2000; Ketcham, 2005) and
diffusion of He within apatite (Farley, 2000). The Dpar parameter was used to asses inter-sample variations in track annealing kinetics (2.2e1.85 m m). Text indicates measured and
predicted apatite FT ages, measured and predicted mean FT lengths and measured and predicted apatite (UeTh)/He ages (of the best fit models; T1s ). APAZ: apatite partial
annealing zone, AHePRZ: apatite helium partial retention zone, ZPAZ: zircon partial annealing zone. The shaded region represe nts the range of solutions where i) the minimum
KolmogoroveSmirnov goodness of fit to any individual parameter is 50%, and ii) they yield predicted (UeTh)/He ages and FT age, mean length and length distribution data that are
indistinguishable from the actual data. The rectangular boxes indicate the bounds that were manually placed on the solutions, which do not bias the models with the exception of
forcing the solutions to a surface temperature of 20 ○ C at 0 Ma. No regional Tertiary unconformities exist within the Eastern Cordillera that could be used to further constrain the
solutions. B) Summary thermal history solutions for the Eastern Cordillera, Amotape Complex, and the Western Cordillera, presented in previous work (Spikings et al., 2000, 2001,
2005). The zircon U/Pb (SHRIMP) age assigned to sample 00RS31 was originally presented in Vallejo et al. (2006).

50e36 Ma, to regions that started to exhume at 36 Ma, and hence
hosted zircons with older FT ages at depths shallower thane7e8 km
(i.e. at temperatures cooler than the zircon partial annealing zone).
40
Ar/39Ar, zircon FT, and apatite FT and (UeTh)/He analyses from
the Eastern Cordillera north of S1○300 yield numerous ages which
are Miocene or younger, and have been utilised to identify several
well defined periods of rapid cooling during 23e18 Ma, at 15 Ma,
9e7 Ma and 5.5e0 Ma (Figs. 4 and 5). Our new apatite FT and
(UeTh)/He data reveal elevated cooling rates during 25e20 Ma in
specific fault blocks of the southern Eastern Cordillera, which was
identified by previous apatite FT analyses in the same region.
Cooling of the southern Eastern Cordillera during the late Miocene-
Recent has also been identified in this study, although it is less well
resolved because a majority of radiometric ages are older than
20 Ma. Thermal modeling of apatite FT data reveals a poorly
resolved period of cooling between 25 and 0 Ma in the SAZ (Ruiz,
2002). Cooling during the Early Miocene correlates with the
deposition of red, fluvial sandstones of the Chalcana fm., and
a reduction of the zircon FT lag-times of its detrital zircons (Fig. 4),
which suggests that cooling was driven by increasing rates of
exhumation of the source regions within the Eastern Cordillera.
Early Miocene cooling has not been detected in the Western
Cordillera, and the thermal history solution for granite 00RS31
suggests that crystalline rocks of its present day eastern flank may
have formed the basement to an Eocene-Miocene intra-arc e
forearc basin that was a depocenter for sediment eroding from the
Eastern Cordillera (Fig. 5). This conclusion corroborates i) the
presence of metamorphic lithic fragments and detrital zircon FT
ages of 322e166 Ma in the Eocene Angamarca Group of the
Western Cordillera (Hughes and Pilatasig, 2002; Spikings et al.,
2005), and ii) the lack of mafic detritus derived from the Western
Cordillera, within the SAZ (Ruiz, 2002; Fig. 4). Spikings et al. (2001)
attributed rapid cooling at w15e13 Ma in the Western Cordillera
and the northern Eastern Cordillera to rock uplift and exhumation
driven by the collision of the Carnegie Ridge with the SOAM Plate.
Our new data suggests the southern Eastern Cordillera also started
to cool at elevated rates at 15 Ma although individual pulses of
cooling since then have not been resolved.
130 R.A. Spikings et al. / Journal of South American Earth Sciences 30 (2010) 121e133
Distinct periods of cooling during the late Miocene-Recent in
the northern Eastern Cordillera and the Western Cordillera
temporally correlate with coarse alluvial fan sedimentation (the
Chambira, Mesa and Mera fms.; Fig. 4) in the Amazon foreland
basin, suggesting that cooling was a result of exhumation. FT ages of
detrital zircons extracted from four samples of Miocene and
younger clastic rocks of the Amazon foreland basin yield an
approximately constant lag-time during 16e0 Ma, which is diag-
nostic of steady-state exhumation. However, the quantitative
thermal history information acquired from in-situ crystalline rocks
reveals at least three distinct periods of cooling and exhumation
since 15 Ma, which is a more reliable and highly resolved thermal
history record than the detrital record because: i) the thermal
history solutions yielded by in-situ rocks exposed in the cordilleras
satisfy 40Ar/39Ar, FT and (UeTh)/He data, whereas those from the
SAZ, and the lag-times obtained from the sedimentary rocks were
only calculated using the FT system, and ii) thirty samples of in-situ
rocks yield thermal history information during 16e0 Ma, whereas
the lag-time trend in the Amazon foreland basin has been deter-
mined from four samples, where the depositional ages are not
constrained better than T 2 my (Ruiz et al., 2004). Clearly, the lag-
time method only reveals an accurate thermal history record of the
source regions when an appropriate temporal sampling density is
used, and an accurate depositional age can be obtained.
4.3. Spatial trends in cooling histories and driving forces
4.3.1. 75e15 Ma
Elevated cooling and exhumation rates during 73e55, 50e30
and 25e18 Ma have been identified along the entire length of the
Eastern Cordillera (N0e ○ 300 to S4○ ; Figs. 4 and 5), suggesting they
were not related to displacement of the Campanian suture, which
swings trenchward in the region of the Gulf of Guayaquil at eS3○, and
thus may have been triggered by plate-scale processes.
Previous stratigraphic, geochronological and palaeomagnetic
analyses tightly constrain the time of accretion of the CCOP with the
NW SOAM Plate at 75e73 Ma, suggesting that rapid exhumation of
some faulted blocks within the southern Eastern Cordillera and the
Amotape Complex occurred as an immediate response to collision.
However, elevated exhumation rates commence at 65 Ma in the
Eastern Cordillera north of S1○300 and in some faulted blocks south
of S1○300 , which may be accounted for by either i) diachronous
collision, resulting in progressively younger cooling and exhumation
ages towards the north, or ii) greater amounts of post-accretionary
exhumation in the northern Eastern Cordillera than the south,
resulting in the erosion of rocks which cooled through the white
mica zone of partial diffusive Ar loss at 65 Ma. Therefore, higher
temperature thermochronological analyses (e.g. apatite U/Pb) may
be required to detect the time of onset of cooling in the northern
Eastern Cordillera, and hence distinguish between these possibili-
ties. The northern Sub-Andean Zone was not cooling rapidly at
75e65 Ma (short mean AFT lengths on Fig. 3; Ruiz, 2002), corrobo-
rating the deposition of the Maastrichtian Tena Fm. in that location.
Consequently, the present day structural boundary of the Eastern
Cordillera, which separates it from the Sub-Andean Zone (Cosanga
Fault; Fig. 1) represents the easternmost region of the buttressing
margin that was exhumed in response to collision of the CCOP.
Previous studies proposed that exhumation of the Eastern
Cordillera during the Eocene was driven by accretion of the primitive
Macuchi arc (e.g. Spikings et al., 2005). However, Vallejo et al. (2009)
presents geochronological, geochemical and stratigraphic data which
supports an autochthonous origin for the arc (e.g. the presence of
detrital zircon grains, which yield LA-ICPMS U/Pb ages of w550 Ma).
FT analyses of the Eastern cordilleras of Peru and Bolivia also record
elevated cooling rates between 43 and 30 Ma, implying that tectonic
reactivation was widespread and affected >1000 km of the SOAM
plate margin. Therefore an increase in convergence rates between the
Farallon and South American plates during 42e37 Ma (Pilger, 1984;
Pardo-Casas and Molnar, 1987), which corresponds with an
increase in spreading rates in the southern Atlantic Ocean (Brozena,
1986; Sébrier and Soler, 1991), may be responsible for increased
compression in the upper plate, rock uplift and exhumation. Elevated
exhumation rates in the cordilleras commenced at 43 Ma, which
approximately coincides with the timing of increased convergence
rates. Thermal history models yielded by Jurassic basement rocks
exposed in the northern SAZ (Ruiz, 2002) reveal elevated cooling
commencing at 50 Ma, although they are only loosely constrained by
FT data from two samples, and hence are not considered to be as
accurate as the cooling periods obtained from the cordilleras.
Rocks of the Triassic Sabanilla Migmatite and Jurassic Zamora
batholith in the southern Eastern Cordillera, which are in tectonic
contact via the Palanda Fault (Fig. 1), yield common periods of
increased cooling and exhumation rates during the Campanian and
Eocene, although the cooling rates to the east of the fault (Zamora
Batholith; 5e10 ○C/My) were significantly lower than those to the
west (Sabanilla Migmatites; 20e30 ○C/My) during 75e70 and
45e40 Ma. Assuming a common geothermal gradient of 30 ○C/km,
this difference suggests the Sabanilla Migmatites were exhuming
quicker than the Zamora Batholith, and implies a vertical
e
displacement of 1 km during the Campanian and ≤1 km during the
Eocene (Fig. 5).
Rapid cooling during 25e18 Ma has not been detected in the
Western Cordillera, which we attribute to the combined effects of i)
a lower quantity of data compared to the Eastern Cordillera, and ii)
only specifically oriented fault blocks within the Eastern Cordillera,
Amotape Complex and the SAZ cooled and exhumed during
25e18 Ma. Rapid cooling and exhumation during 25e18 Ma
corresponds with a change in the vector of the subducting plate,
which changed from ESE to east at 25 Ma in response to the frag-
mentation of the Farallon Plate (Pilger, 1984; Pardo-Casas and
Molnar, 1987), forming the Cocos and Nazca plates. Compres-
sional events have been dated between 25 and 15 Ma in the
Peruvian and Bolivian Andes (Sébrier et al., 1988; Sempéré et al.,
1990; Laubacher and Naeser, 1994), indicating that major plate
rearrangements at 25 Ma affected the South American Plate north
and south of the Huancabamba Deflection.
Fig. 6. Possible temperature and depth ranges of the present day surface of distinct
regions of the Eastern Cordillera at times prior to 75, 45, 30 and 15 Ma, calculated from
the computed models assuming a geothermal gradient of 30 ○ C/km and a surface
temperature of 20 ○ C (Spikings et al., 2000). Significantly more exhumation occurred in
the buttressing margin north of N0○ 300 than in more southern regions, in response to
the collision of the Carnegie Ridge with the trench. ≤1 km of exhumation may have
occurred south of S1○300 , during and after 15 Ma, which was previously unidentified
using AFT alone (Spikings et al., 2001).
 R.A. Spikings et al. / Journal of South American Earth Sciences 30 (2010) 121e133
4.3.2. 15e0 Ma
Along-strike trends in the radiometric ages acquired from the
Eastern Cordillera reveal a paucity of Miocene-Recent ages south of
S1○300 , whereas a significant percentage of ages from the northern
half of the Eastern Cordillera, the entire Western Cordillera and the
northern SAZ are Miocene or younger (Fig. 4). This trend reflects
distinguishable differences in the quantity of cooling along-strike
of the Eastern Cordillera, which can be interpreted as a southward
trending reduction in either i) the amount of exhumation, or ii) the
geothermal gradient. Given that Miocene cooling phases were
accompanied by the deposition of clastic sediments in the Amazon
foreland basin, it is likely that cooling was driven by exhumation,
rather than thermal relaxation following periods of magmatism.
The following discussion assumes that cooling can be entirely
attributed to exhumation through a static geothermal gradient of
30 ○C/km, towards a mean surface temperature of 20 ○C.
The current surface of the Eastern Cordillera along the Colom-
bian border (N0○ 300 ) was at depths ≤3.5 km at 15 Ma (Fig. 6),
whereas currently exposed rocks between S0○ 300 and S1○300
resided at depths ≤ 1.3 km prior to rapid exhumation at 15 Ma.
However, the current surface of the Eastern Cordillera south of
S1○300 was at depths of 0.0e1.3 km immediately prior to exhu-
mation commencing at 15 Ma, and specific locations (e.g. sample
99RS40) may have been within a few hundred meters of the surface
since w30 Ma. Previous thermochronological analyses of the
Eastern Cordillera south of S1○300 extracted thermal history infor-
mation from apatite FT data, and hence were unable to resolve
periods of cooling at temperatures <60 ○C (Spikings et al., 2001).
Therefore, Spikings et al. (2001) did not identify a period of cooling
starting at 15 Ma from temperatures <60 ○C, which has been
detected from the apatite (UeTh)/He ages in the current study
(Figs. 4 and 5). Discrete periods of cooling and exhumation during
15e0 Ma have been detected in the Eastern Cordillera north of
S1○300 , although the thermochronological methods used are unable
to resolve the same periods in the south because the rocks were at
temperatures either close to, or colder than the lower temperature
limit of partial He diffusion within the studied apatites.
Dispersed fault bounded massifs that lie at similar latitudes as
the Campanian ocean-continent suture (Pujilí-Peltetec fault
system; Fig. 1) throughout the Western Cordillera, and within the
northern half of the Eastern Cordillera, started to exhume at 15 Ma.
This time period coincides with the development of the Manabi and
Progresso pull-apart basins over the coastal forearc (Fig. 1;
Steinmann et al., 1999) and extension in southern Ecuador causing
shallow marine ingressions into the southern Internandean
Depression during 16e10 Ma (e.g. Cuenca Basin; Hungerbühler
et al., 2002). The along-strike trends in exhumation of rocks of
the Eastern Cordillera can be accounted for by dextral, transcurrent
reactivation of the Campanian suture (e.g. Hughes and Pilatasig,
2002) as a result of the subduction of the topographically prom-
inent Carnegie Ridge at 15 Ma (Fig. 1). The trend of the suture bends
towards a northerly strike at eS3○, and hence migration of the
allochthonous oceanic region towards the north-northeast via
dextral displacement along the PujilíePeltetec Fault system
(Hughes and Pilatasig, 2002) removed crustal support for the
hinterland to the east of the Gulf of Guayaquil and the southern
Eastern Cordillera, restricting rock uplift to a few, favourably
oriented faulted blocks, resulting in net extension (Hungerbühler
et al., 2002). The same tectonic rearrangement is probably
responsible for a sudden increase in exhumation rates in the
Eastern Cordillera north of S1○300 , and massifs distributed along the
entire length of the Western Cordillera, which experienced rock
uplift during transpression.
Apatite (UeTh)/He data reveals a pulse of elevated exhumation
rates that commence between 5.5 and 3.5 Ma within the Western
131
Cordillera proximal to the suture, and the northern Eastern
Cordillera, although it has not been clearly resolved in the southern
Eastern Cordillera. This time period precisely corresponds with the
formation of the half- and full-ramp Interandean Depression
(Spikings and Crowhurst, 2004; Fig. 1), which is structurally bound
by the Pujilí and Peltetec Faults, located north ofeS3○ (Fig. 1; Winkler
et al., 2005). Therefore, it is likely that rapid cooling and exhuma-
tion during 5.5e0 Ma was also driven by dextral displacement of
the Campanian suture, possibly as a result of the subduction of
a topographically elevated region of the Carnegie Ridge.
5. Conclusions
Multi-phase 40Ar/39Ar, FT and (UeTh)/He analyses of the Ecua-
dorian andean cordilleras and proximal Amazon foreland basin
system yield protracted, non-linear cooling paths that provide
quantitative exhumation information, which constrains the nature
of the driving forces. The in-situ and detrital thermochronological
records are mainly complementary, with the exception of a lack of
resolution in the detrital record for the period spanning 15e0 Ma.
1 Both the in-situ and detrital thermochronological records show
that rapid exhumation (>1 km/my) of favourably oriented fault
blocks within the Campanian buttressing margin (Eastern
Cordillera and Amotape Complex) south of S1○300 , at
73e55 Ma, occurred as an immediate response to the collision
and accretion of the CCOP at 75e73 Ma. Elevated exhumation
rates did not commence north of S1○300 until 65 Ma within the
temperature sensitivity realm of the analytical methods, indi-
cating that collision may have been diachronous, and young to
the north. The proximal indenting margin did not exhume in
response to the collision event, corroborating its burial beneath
the Palaeocene Silante Arc, which developed within w5 Ma of
accretion.
2 Elevated exhumation rates occurred along the entire cordil-
leran system in Ecuador during 45e30 and 25e18 Ma, and are
also extensively documented within the Central Andes sug-
gesting they were driven by plate-scale kinematic changes.
Previous suggestions that Eocene reactivation in Ecuador was
driven by accretion of an island arc (Macuchi Arc; Kerr et al.,
2002; Spikings et al., 2005) are shown to be incorrect, and
we now propose that a sudden increase in convergence rates
between the Farallon and SOAM plates was responsible for
region wide exhumation of the Andean belt. Similarly, early
Miocene reactivation of the Eastern Cordillera and the northern
SAZ occurred as a response to fragmentation of the Farallon
Plate, forming the Nazca and Cocos plates.
3 Along-strike variations in apatite (UeTh)/He and FT data reveal
clear differences in the quantity of cooling and exhumation of
rocks of the Eastern Cordillera since 15 Ma, north and south of
S1○300 . Assuming a constant geothermal gradient along-strike,
the northern Eastern Cordillera has exhumed from a depth of
≤3.5 km since 15 Ma, whereas the surface of more southern
regions was at depths ≤1.3 km at 15 Ma. The low temperature
range of cooling (60 ○ Ce20 ○ C) south of S1○300 precluded its
detection by previous FT studies. The entire extent of the rocks
of the Western Cordillera that are located west of the Pujilí
Fault exhumed rapidly at 15 Ma. Apatite (UeTh)/He data
reveals rapid cooling and exhumation (from w2.3 km to the
present surface; Spikings and Crowhurst, 2004) in the northern
Eastern Cordillera commencing at 5.5e3.5 Ma, although this
has not been detected south of S1○300 . Isolated massifs within
the eastern Western Cordillera also started exhuming in the
Late Miocene. This spatial variation in exhumation is attributed
to dextral transcurrent reactivation of the serpentinised, and
132 R.A. Spikings et al. / Journal of South American Earth Sciences 30 (2010) 121e133
hence mechanically weak Campanian suture, leading to pref-
erential rock uplift and exhumation in the indenting Western
Cordillera and northern buttressing block. We attribute the
main driving force to pulses in increased compressive stress
during the collision the Carnegie Ridge with the upper plate,
which started at 15 Ma.
4 The thermochronological data acquired from in-situ and
detrital rocks are mainly complementary, although a detailed
comparison reveals problems that can arise when utilising
sedimentary rocks. These are: i) The necessity to acquire
radiometric ages from a large quantity of rocks, dispersed with
a high temporal resolution throughout the stratigraphic
column, and ii) The necessity to acquire additional information
from detrital rocks that can be used to determine changes in
provenance, for example, dense mineral assemblages or
geochronological data.
Acknowledgements
Field sampling benefited from the assistance of Dr. Richard
Hughes and Prof. Bernardo Beate. Funding for the project was
provided by the Swiss National Science Foundation, project number
20-56794-99.
Appendix. A
Sample preparation and analysis
Mineral separation and analytical procedures for 40Ar/39Ar and
FT analysis followed those outlined by Spikings et al. (2001).
Hornblende, white mica and biotite separates were sealed in quartz
vials and irradiated in the MTA KFKI reactor (Debrecen, Hungary)
for 16 h. Correction factors for interfering isotopes have been
calculated from 10 analyses of two Ca-glass samples and 22 anal-
yses of two pure K-glass samples, and are: 36Ar/37Ar ¼ 2.603E-
(Ca)
39Ar/37
4 T 2.373E-9, Ar(Ca) ¼ 6.501E-4 T 7.433E-9, and
40 39
Ar/ Ar(K) 1.547E-2
¼ 7.455E-7.
T Apatites and zircons were irradiated
at the Australian HIFAR reactor with average neutron fluences of 1
1016 and 1 × 1015 n/cm2 respectively.
× Neutron flu- ences were
monitored using DRA1 sanidine (40Ar/39Ar analysis; Wijbrans et al.,
1995), CN1 standard glass (ZFT analysis) and CN5 standard glass
(AFT analysis).
Gas was extracted from the ferromagnesian phases at the
Institute for Geology and Palaeontology at the University Salzburg
in a step-wise manner using a Merchantek™ PC controlled, defo-
cused, 25 W CO2-IR laser, cleaned using hot and cold Zr-Al SAES
getters and analysed using a VG-IsotechTM VG3600 mass spec-
trometer. Measurements were recorded by an axial electron
multiplier in static mode. 36Ar, 37Ar, 38Ar, 39Ar and 40Ar isotope
intensities were corrected for system blanks, background, post-
irradiation decay of 37Ar and interfering isotopes. 40Ar/39Ar ages
and errors were calculated following the suggestions of McDougall
and Harrison (1999) using the decay constants of Steiger and Jäger
(1977). The identification of and calculation of plateau ages was
performed using ISOPLOT/EX (Ludwig, 2001).
Fossil fission tracks were revealed in apatite by etching in 5 N
HNO3(aq) at 21 ○C for 20 s. Induced tracks were revealed in muscovite
external detectors by etching in 40% HF (aq) at 21 ○C for 45 min.
Fission tracks were counted at a magnification of 1250 × (apatite)
and 1600×(zircon, dry objective) using computer controlled Zeiss
microscopes and the Kinetec™ stage. Only those apatites mounted
in the plane of the crystallographic c-axis were counted. Lengths of
horizontal confined tracks were measured in apatite grains lying in
the plane of the c-axis using a drawing tube and digitising tablet.
Analytical procedures followed the external detector method
described by Gleadow (1981). Ages were calculated using the zeta
calibration method (Hurford and Green, 1983) and errors were
calculated according to conventional methods (Green, 1981). All
samples were counted by R. Spikings with a zeta calibration factor of
387 T 17 (apatite, CN5 glass).
The detailed analytical procedure for determining precise
(UeTh)/He ages is presented in Spikings and Crowhurst (2004). Gas
extraction was performed using a US Laser Corporation, 16 W Nd-
YAG, continuous-wave laser, with a 100 m m beam, and samples
were heated to w1000 ○ C for 5 min using e1e2 W of power. 4He
abundances were determined by isotope dilution using a pure 3He
spike, which was calibrated on a regular basis against an inde-
pendent 4He standard tank. 4He ‘re-extracts’ were performed
routinely after each analysis to determine whether all of the trap-
ped He gas has been removed or not. The re-extract gas levels were
consistently as low as w0.0034 ncc 4He. The U and Th content of
degassed apatite samples were determined on a Perkin Elmer Sciex
5000a ICP-MS using the Isotope Ratio application.
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