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Thermotectonic history of the Farallones del

Citará batholith (Colombia’s Western Cordillera)
through multi- system...

Presentation · August 2013

DOI: 10.13140/RG.2.2.23860.86409

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 Thermotectonic history of the Farallones del Citará
Batholith (Colombia’s Western Cordillera) through multi-
system,vertical profile thermochronology/geochronology:
Tectonic, geomorphic and climatic implications
Restrepo-Moreno, S.A.1,2,3,4, Min, K.3, Bernet, M.5, Barbosa, A.4, Marín-Cerón, M. I.6,
Juliana, J.6, Hardwick, E. 5, Pardo, A4.

1 Ingeniería Geológica, Escuela de Ingeniería de Antioquia. Km 2 + 200 Vía Aeropuerto J.M.Córdova,

Envigado (Colombia), Ph: (574) 354 90 90, Fax: (574) 386 11 60. sergiorm@ufl.edu
2 E. Geociencias y Medio Ambiente. U. Nacional de Colombia. Carrera 80 No 65-223,
Medellín (Colombia), Ph: (574) 425 51 00.
3 Department of Geological Sciences, University of Florida. 241 Williamson Hall, Gainesville, FL 32611 (USA),
Ph: (352) 392-2231, Fax: (352) 392-9294. kmin@ufl.edu
4 Instituto de Investigaciones en Estratigrafía, U. de Caldas. Calle 65 Nº 26 – 10, Manizales (Colombia),
Ph: (578) 781500 Fax: (578) 781501 andres.pardo@ucaldas.edu.co dunito8@hotmail.com
5 Institute des Sciences de la Terre, Université Joseph Fourier. 1381 Rue de la Piscine BP 53, 38041
Grenoble (France), Ph: (334) 76514075, Fax: (334) 76514058. matthias.bernet@ujf-grenoble.fr
6 Departamento de Geología, Universidad EAFIT. Carrera 49 N° 7 Sur - 50 Medellín (Colombia).
Ph: (574) 2619500 x 9805. mmarince@eafit.edu.co, juliana@eafit.edu.co

Tipo: Oral.
Ponente: S. A. Restrepo-Moreno

Key words: Farallones del Citará Batholith, low-temperature thermochronology, vertical profile, Morphotectonic
history, Topography-Climate-Tectonics interactions, Western Andes of Colombia

Abstract

The Farallones del Citará (FC) Batholith is a geometrically complex (relatively elongate), axial monzodiorite body
that supports the highest mountain massifs of the Colombian Western Cordillera. Such a topographic barrier
clearly causes a rain-shadow effect that maintains the bulk of Pacific atmospheric moisture restricted to the
western flank of the Western Cordillera and the Pacific Plains, making the Chocó region, with a mean annual
precipitation in excess of ~10 m/yr, one of the wettest subaerial environments on Earth. Lloró, a small town at
the western base of the Farallones del Citará and bathed by the Atrato river has the highest precipitation in the
world at ~13.5 m/yr. The FC’s sierra-like topography, represented by deep canyons with a local relief in excess of
3 km and peak elevations of nearly 4 km, suggests that rapid uplift and fluvial incision have marked its geomorphic
evolution, potentially exerting large scale controls on macroclimatic patterns and development of important
fluvial networks (e.g., the Atrato river). Concurrence of important tectonic, geomorphic, and climatic process
around the FC serves a perfect opportunity to document feedback mechanisms among these variables.

However, the morphotectonic history of such an interesting lithologic unit remains unresolved due to the paucity
of thermochronologic and geochronologic information.To understand the exhumation history, particularly for the
shallow crustal section, we performed single-grain apatite (U-Th)/He (AHe) dating and apatite/zircon fission track
(AFT and ZFT, respectively) analyses for 11 samples collected along a vertical profile corresponding to elevations
of ~1600-2700 m. For 6 of the samples, we also derived zircon U/Pb ages and Hf isotopic data though LA-ICP-
MS. Low-T thermochronology data (AHe, AFT, and ZFT) indicate a single event of significant cooling via erosional

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 exhumation at ca. 10 Ma.The marked pulse of uplift-exhumation is represented by virtually concordant ages for all
the thermochronologic-geochronologic systems utilized. This important morphotectonic phase quickly followed
plutonic emplacement near the Serravallian-Tortonian transition as indicated by our U/Pb ages. Interestingly, and
despite of the fact that the Farallones Batholith is located at the locus of convergence between the Panama-
Chocó Block (PCB) and South America, this plutonic massif does not record the late stages of the Eu-Andina
orogenetic phase (or simply the Andean Phase, from ~7 Ma to present), which have been traditionally considered
as the most important mountain building intervals in the region. This tectono-thermal history is in clear contrast
with that of a neighboring, much older plutonic unit (~240 Ma), the Pueblito Diorite, situated at about the same
latitude but to the east of the Cauca Romeral Fault System. Preliminary AFT results show no indication of a
Miocene pulse of uplift-exhumation for this older plutón that only records an Eocene event. These findings imply
the “blocky”, asynchronous nature of morphotectonic response in the region. We are currently undertaking a
series of similar studies in other intrusive and sedimentary sequences of the Western Cordillera and the Cauca
river canyon, aiming at establishing a clearer thermotectonic framework for the region in the context of the
geodynamic interactions between the Farallon-Nazca system and the PCB with the South American margin. The
establishment of the FC as a conspicuous topographic barrier in the middle Miocene took place after the onset of
collision of the PCB, and it is possibly the product of continued docking of said crustal block.This morphotectonic
episode created a major topographic feature north of the Istmina Deformation Zone, point of initial collision,
and established a new climatic pattern in the region; thus providing the raw materials (plenty of water and
topography!) for the development of two short fluvial networks with some of the highest relative sediment load
and water discharge in the world, the Atrato and San Juan rivers.

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