Professional Documents
Culture Documents
The Precambrian rocks of Colombia, mainly exposed as isolated inliers along the Eastern
Cordillera and as part of the Guyana Shield in the easternmost Llanos flatlands, are part
of the crustal nucleus known as the Amazon Craton (AC) of South America. Although
outcrops of Precambrian age are relatively scarce, these ancient rocks comprise at least
75% of the continental Colombia basement; most of them lying covered below the
Phanerozoic sediments of the Llanos, Caguan and Putumayo basins.
The geochronological characteristics of the Garzón-Santa Marta metamorphic belt in the
Eastern Cordillera are relatively well understood (Kroonenberg 1982, Restrepo-Pace
1999, Cardona 2003), but very few studies have dealt with the basement geochronology
at the east of the Borde Llanero fault system (Priem et al. 1982) and no work has been
done to establish the transition and structure of the Precambrian mobile belts between the
Eastern Cordillera and the Guiana Shield.
The objective of this project is to use rock samples from borehole cores, cuttings, and
outcrops to give insights into the geochronological structure of the Colombian basement
and establish correlations with the provinces defined for the craton (Teixeira et al. 1989,
Tassinari 1981, 1996, Tassinari & Macambira 1999 [Figure 1]). For this purpose, the
analytical techniques used will be: Rock classification and characterization by means of
optical microscope petrography and electron microprobe analyses (EPMA); U-Th/Pb
dating on zircons using a multicollector LA-ICP-MS for obtaining rock crystallization
ages; major and trace element whole-rock compositions to classify them geochemically;
and Sm-Nd, Rb-Sr and Pb-Pb isotopic analyses to trace source provenance and for
modeling of petrogenetic processes.
The obtained results may provide us invaluable information for assessing tectonic and
paleogeographic problems about the role of the northwestern Amazon Craton during the
assembly of Nena, Rodinia and Gondwana supercontinents (Brito-Neves 2004).
- Provincias corticales Precámbricas de Colombia oriental -
Estructura geocronológica del Cratón Amazónico al NW de Sur América y sus
implicaciones tectónicas
Mauricio Ibañez-Mejia
University of Arizona – Tucson, AZ
Panama Venezuela
x
ple
om
aC
tac
Parguaza Ima
Western
Colombian
Grenvillean
Granitoids
Guyana
Oceanic
Province
Province?
Colombia Roraima
Group
LLB
?
CB
PB ?
Ecuador ?
Peru Amazon
Brazil Basin
Solimoes
Amazon Craton
Geochronological Provinces Basin
Archean provinces. Imataca Complex and
Central Amazonian Province (>2.3 Ga)
Lithologies
Precambrian sediments
Unknown Limit
LLB Llanos Basin Colombia western oceanic province
Political boundaries
References. Bolivia: Litherland et al. 1989. - Brazil: Tassinari 1996, Tassinari & Macambira 1999. - Colombia: INGEOMINAS 2007. - Guyana: Cole & Heesterman 2001. - Venezuela: Hackley et al. 2004
Figure 1) Geochronological provinces of Western Amazon Craton and it’s relation with
the Colombian basement. Modified from Litherland et al. 1989, Tassinari 1996, Tassinari
& Macambira 1999, INGEOMINAS 2007, Cole & Heesterman 2001, Hackley et al.
2005.
References
Brito-Neves, B.B. 2004. A história dos continentes. Trajetórias e tramas tectônicas. In:Geologia
do Continente Sul-Americano: Evolução da obre de Fernando Flávio Marques de Almeida,
123-149. Beca produções culturais, São Paulo, Brazil.
Cole, E., Heesterman, L.J. 2001. Geological map of Guyana: Scale 1:3’500.000. Guyana
Geology and Mines Commission.
Hackley, P.C., Urbani, F., Karlsen, A.W., Garrity, C.P. 2005. Geologic shaded relief map of
Venezuela: Scale 1:750.000. USGS Open File Report 1038 – 2005.
Kroonenberg, S.B., 1982. A Grenvillian granulite belt in the Colombian Andes and its relation to
the Guiana Shield. Geologie en Mijnbouw 61 (3), 325–333.
Litherland, M., Annells, R.N., Darbyshire, D.P.F., Fletcher, C.J.N., Hawkins, M.P., Klinck, B.A.,
Mitchell, W.I., O’Connor E.A., Pitfield, P.E.J., Power, G., Webb, B.C. 1989. The
Proterozoic of Eastern Bolivia and it’s relationship to the Andean mobile belt. Precambrian
Research 43, 157-174.
Priem, H.N.A., Andriessen, P., Boelrijk, N.A.I.M., De Boorder, H., Hebeda, E.H., Huguett, A.,
Verdurmen, E., Verschure, R., 1982. Geochronology of the Precambrian in the Amazonas
region of southeastern Colombia (Western Guiana Shield). Geologie en Mijnbouw 61 (3),
229–242
Restrepo-Pace, P.A., 1995. Late Precambrian to Early Mesozoic tectonic evolution of the
Colombian Andes, based on new geochronological, geochemical and isotopic data. Ph.D.
Thesis, University of Arizona, 195p.
Tassinari, C.C.G., 1996, O mapa geocronológico do Cráton Amazônico no Brasil: Revisão dos
dados isotópicos. Tese de Livre Docencia IGc-USP, São Paulo, Brazil. 139p
Teixeira, W., Tassinari, C., Cordani, U., Kawashita, K., 1989. A review of the geochronology of
the Amazonic Craton: tectonic implications. Precambrian Research 42, 213–227.