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The geology of the western part of the Borb6n Basin, North-west

Ecuador

C. D. R. Evans & J. E. Whittaker

SUMMARY: The western part of the Borb6n Basin, North-west Ecuador, contains some
5 km of predominantly thin-bedded Tertiary mudstones with rare shallow-water sand-
stones, resting on a basement of Cretaceous basalts. The basin is floored by thin,
discontinuous, turbiditic carbonates of middle Eocene age, which pass up into a 3 km
thick sequence of mudstones, cherty at the base, extending into the mid-Miocene.
Shallow-water sandstones accumulated during the late Miocene and early Pliocene and
were succeeded by deeper water mudstones, which in the Pliocene, are over 1 km thick
and contain resedimented sandstone units. The strata are folded into NE-SW-trending
structures, parallel to the mid-slope basement high centred on the Rio Verde area.
Stratigraphic evidence suggests that much of this folding, and the emergence of the high,
post-dates the late Pliocene (c.2.9 Ma).
Since the middle Eocene the area has occupied the arc-trench gap between the
Ecuador-Colombia oceanic trench, and the volcanic arc of the Andes; it now lies on the
oceanward side of the mid-slope basement high.

Along the west coast of Ecuador and Colombia, Stratigraphy

between the Andes and the Pacific Ocean, lies a
belt of lowlands varying in width from 60-
200 km (Fig. lc). This is the site of the Bolivar
'geosyncline' (Nygren 1950), a thick accumula-
tion of Tertiary sediments resting on a Meso-
zoic, largely basaltic basement. Nygren (1950)
recognized within the 'geosyncline' a number of
basins or 'deeps', three of which, the South
Guayaquil (or Progreso), the Manta (or Man-
abi) and the Borb6n, occur in the coastal
lowlands of Ecuador (the Costa). This paper
deals with the geology of the western part of the
Borb6n Basin (Fig. 2).
The International Ecuadorian Petroleum
Company (I.E.P.C.) drilled three wells in the
Borb6n Basin, including Camarones-1 in the
mapped area, during the 1940s. These wells,
and unpublished oil company reports provided
the basis for the regional stratigraphy (Stain-
forth 1948, 1968; Canfield 1966). Between 1966
and 1972 the Institut Fran~ais du P6trole
(I.F.P.) examined in detail some sections in the
basin and data from their Rio Verde traverse
(Faucher et al. 1970) are included in Fig. l(a).
The area consists of undulating ground rising
up to 400 m above sea-level: much of the
northern coastal strip and valleys are covered
by grassland but primary forest persists inland.
Apart from the coast, new road cuttings and
along the deeper valleys, exposures are few and
deeply weathered. The area was mapped in
1976-77 as part of a collaborative project be-
tween the Institute of Geological Sciences,
London, and the Direcci6n General de Geo-
logia y Minas, Quito.
A 5 km-thick section, extending from Cre-
taceous to upper Pliocene, is exposed in the
western part of the Borb6n Basin. The older
rocks are exposed only in the core of the Rio
Verde anticline; the younger Miocene and
Pliocene strata crop out over most of the area
with the youngest strata forming a belt along
the coast. The stratigraphic nomenclature fol-
lows Faucher et al. (1970); however, changes
are introduced in the upper Miocene and
Pliocene units, mainly after Bristow (1976b).
The units were dated (J.E.W.) using planktonic
foraminifera recovered from over 150 samples
collected across the area.
Pifi6n Formation
Thirty metres of green, basaltic breccia of the
Pifi6n Formation are exposed in the core of the
Rio Verde anticline, near Businga (Cuadro 82.
Faucher et al. 1970). Camarones-1 well
(I.E.P.C. 1944) terminated in 248 m of grey,
fine-grained, basaltic agglomerate, pumiceous
tufts and lavas which were assigned to the
formation on lithological grounds.
Outside the mapped area, the nearest major
outcrops of the formation are 150 km SW of
Esmeraldas in the Montafias de Jama (Fig. 2)
where they form a complex, at least 2000 m
thick, of massive, fine-grained gabbros with
brecciated, altered, pillow basalts near the top
of the section (Evans & ArgueUo 1977).
Feininger (1977) states that ' . . . the chemi-
cal composition, lithology and structure of the

191
 T l,,,,,,a
T
IKil~rnet res
lc . . . . 5 10
Alluvium RECEN T i J L J J i J

Estero Platano == Pacific Ocean

1200m Memb er .I°N
uoper Onzole oLIOCENE
I F. . . . . ion
110"250m~ SSa Member Rfovq

30~ ~Om
} lower Onzole
Formation
1 Angostura
1
4.( 2,50m J Formation
:w , o' 2.7
~..
"Od
o

Viche Formation
Bouguet anomaly map of nortfl west Ecuador Punta
After Femmger 119771Contour =nterva110 miIhgals Gorda
Areas of pos~|ive Souguer s o g a l s [ ~ " 1
Gravity low ~ Grawtv h~gn
basalt (ba) .

Camarones- ! Well - O I / • Borehole ~U

l Pambil Formation
Elevallon 45m 91 " - - + Horizontal strata
u. Onzole Fro. to 212m
OLIGOCENE S~a Member to 412m zo× DiD and strike

ZaoaOnzol
ol"l e-PambilFm.to 1312mFmto 1lOOm 5: - Inferred contact
-- Exposed contact
PitOn Fro. to 1560rn = __
-~ Inferred fault
~= Svnclinal axis
Zaoallo Formation =~ Anticlinal axis
50m [~i~Eo
J Punta Ostiones M. 5_ _ . . . . . ",_- _~y
24~..n + r~a~=Cp ] Pit, On Formation
~= Punta Galera

~'-: :+M;;::i:i-:-.-:-:~l:_i'i":_:._

-~ ===========================================----:--::c:~~ .~- ~ -: - --':'~-*.z~--- -

~:!:!:Zi:!:! !:!-5:!! ~:!:!!:5: ~::~

~. ':: :::::-~::: -5: :-:-5::::::::::::z ::-:::::~: : -:-:- -:-:- :-z . . . . .
:* ,: ::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: ;-:::::.:-i ~-

d odw 79 ° s~w 79' 40' W 79"3o'w ~'2o'~

L

FIG. 1.(a) Geological map of the western part of the Borb6n Basin.
(b) Gravity map of the Borb6n Basin, after Feininger (1977).
(c) Map showing the location of the mapped area in South America.
 Downloaded from http://sp.lyellcollection.org/ at Bibliotheque De Geologie Recherche on June 7, 2012
The geology of the Borbon Basin, Ecuador
' '
81°W
05
Relief
0- 0m 1 i
400m-2000m
20(X)rn-4000m
over 4000m
Quaternary •
volcanoes
Isobaths in kilometres; after
)~
PROGRESO
Lonsdale and ,Kli,tgordf 1978. "NBASIN i
FIG. 2. Physiography of western Ecuador and the adjacent Pacific Ocean.
formation all point to its oceanic orgin' and
suggests that it is ' . . . a remnant of ocean floor
of Cretaceous age'. However, Henderson
(1979) believes that the formation represents
the tholeiitic, primitive, oceanward part of a
volcanic arc more fully represented to the east
in the Western Cordillera of the Andes.
In southern Ecuador, the Pifi6n Formation is
overlain by the Senonian-Maastrichtian, Cayo
Formation (Bristow 1976a) which, over part of
the northern Costa, has been removed by pre-
middle Eocene erosion (Evans & Arguello
1977). The oldest radiometric date for the
formation is 110+10 Ma, Aptian (Goosens &
Rose 1973).
Zapallo Formation
Across much of the Costa the Zapallo
Formation, or its equivalent, has at its base a
thin discontinuous limestone unit, named in this
area, the Punta Ostiones Member. At Punta
Ostiones it consists of about 50 m of brown-
grey, siliceous biomicrites and porcellanites, in
beds 5-50 cm thick, interbedded with thinner,
green, calcareous sandstone and marl. Silica
193
bed area
;~ii! K=lometres
Q. 10o
........... ..,... .......... " " ' 'z . . . . .
occurs as irregular banks, nodules and veins of
chert, and as a matrix in pseudo-breccias (A. F.
Wilkinson, pers. comm.). Rich faunas of plan-
tonic foraminifera of mid-Eocene age are found
with radiolaria in the porcellanites, and cal-
careous algae and bryozoans occur in the
biomicrites. Near Businga, the member consists
of 40 m of bioclastic limestone and it is absent
from the Camarones-1 well. The unsorted na-
ture of the biomicrites and the commonly worn
condition of the fauna and flora, suggest that
the limestones were originally deposited in shal-
low water at the edge of the basin, and redepo-
sited by slumping into deeper water where the
porcellanites accumulated. The member passes
transitionally up into the siliceous mudstones
which comprise the bulk of the Zapallo Forma-
tion.
The formation, which is well exposed in the
river north of Businga and in the road cuttings
east of Mutiles, is at least 400 m thick. It
consists of green-grey, hard, bioturbated, in
part silicified mudstones with thin sandstone
and tuffitic beds. Dykes, lenses and rare beds of
dark brown chert are found, often fractured
and traversed by clear quartz veins. In the
 Downloaded from http://sp.lyellcollection.org/ at Bibliotheque De Geologie Recherche on June 7, 2012
194 C. D. R. E v a n s & J. E. Whittaker
Camerones-1 well the formation, which is
212 m thick, contains in the lower part thin
cherty limestones (I.E.P.C. 1944).
A re-interpretation of planktonic forami-
nifera from the formation, listed in Stainforth
(1948) and Bristow & Hoffstetter (1977), sug-
gests a mid-late Eocene age, and deposition in
bathyal depths.
Pambil Formation
In the Rio Verde the formation is 1600 m
thick (Faucher et al. 1970) and consists of
green-grey, bioturbated, silty mudstones with
local flaggy bedded, fine-grained sandstones.
Near Mutiles, two basalt domes break the
sequence. They are at least 50 m thick and over
400 m long, with an outer crust, up to 8 m
thick, of brecciated basalt traversed by a net-
work of zeolite veins. The domes are concor-
dant and the absence of vesiculation suggests
emplacement beneath a considerable depth of
water.
The Pambil Formation is entirely Oligocene
in age. Its lower part is developed in a primarily
radiolarian facies; the overlying beds contain a
rich foraminiferal fauna indicative of a late
Oligocene age, and deposition in outer shelf to
bathyal depths.
Viche Formation
The Viche Formation, which has a thickness
in excess of 1000 m (Faucher et al. 1970),
consists of a uniform sequence of green-grey to
brown, well-bedded, blocky, bioturbated mud-
stone with thin ribs of sandstone, locally rich in
molluscs and fish scales. Palaeontological evi-
dence indicates that the formation extends from
the early to lower mid-Miocene. The absence of
lowermost Miocene sediments may be attri-
buted to incomplete sampling or a non-
sequence at this stratigraphic level. The benthic
foraminifera suggest deposition in bathyal
depths and give no suggestion of shallowing
towards the top of the unit.
Daule Group
Angostura Formation
North of Carlos Concha and east of the mouth
of the Rio Verde, the Angostura Formation
rests with a sharp, conformable contact on the
underlying Viche mudstones. The formation is
between 40-250 m thick and consists of fine- to
coarse-grained, rusty-orange sandstones with
lenses of bioclastic debris and conglomerates
near the base, and a gradational contact up into
the overlying mudstones of the lower Onzole
Formation. The poorly sorted sandstones are
lithic-feldspathic greywackes and contain abun-
dant, angular quartz, fresh, zoned plagioclase,
red-brown biotite and green hornblende grains.
The basal samples of the overlying formation
contain a late Miocene fauna and the age of the
Angostura Formation is probably mid- to late
Miocene with a possible depositional hiatus
indicated for much of the mid-Miocene.
Onzole Formation
West of the Rio Esmeraldas, the Onzole
Formation is divided into a lower and an upper
(= Punta Gorda Formation auct) unit sepa-
rated by sandstones of the Sfia Member. These
sandstones thin rapidly eastwards and are ab-
sent east of the river where the formation can
only be divided on faunal grounds. A second
sandstone sequence (Estero Platano Member)
occurs towards the top of the formation in the
west of the area.
The lower Onzole Formation is between 300-
500 m thick and composed of uniform, silty
mudstones with thin, poorly graded, fine ribs
and rare beds of sandstone. The late Miocene
fauna found in the mudstones indicates, in the
lower part, deposition in shallow water but
thereafter a gradually deepening environment.
At S6a the member consists of about 250 m
of well bedded greywacke sandstones which
thin eastwards to about 10 m in the Rio Esmer-
aldas. The orange to yellow-grey, bioturbated
sandstones are coarse- to fine-grained, with
pebbly lenses, powdery siltstone intercalations
and locally large, rounded, calcareous concre-
tions. Lenses of worn and broken molluscs and
lignite-rich bedding planes are common. The
lower contact varies from an undulating uncon-
formity to a planar disconformity and the con-
tact with the overlying mudstones is gradation-
al. The member contains shallow water, benthic
foraminifera and the rich, planktonic forami-
nifera in the immediately overlying mudstones
place the member within the early Pliocene.
The upper Onzole Formation consists of
about 1200 m of mudstones with thin-bedded
turbidites and rare, thicker, massive sand-
stones and conglomerates. In the west, the
formation includes about 300 m of re-
sedimented sandstones and mudstones (the
Estero Platano Member) which thin rapidly
eastward and are not defined east of Stia. The
formation is well-exposed along the coast where
it forms cliffs of dark, green-grey, well bedded,
faintly graded mudstones, often intensely
bioturbated. Discontinuous partings and thin
beds of rusty, fine-grained sandstone and sharp-
 Downloaded from http://sp.lyellcollection.org/ at Bibliotheque De Geologie Recherche on June 7, 2012
The geology of the Borbon Basin, Ecuador
ly defined beds of white tuff occur on a deci-
metre scale.
In contrast to the lower part of the formation,
the microfaunas in the upper Onzole Formation
are very rich, well-preserved and wholly of
Pliocene age; the benthic foraminifera suggest
deposition in bathyal depths. The minimum age
for the formation is fixed at early Zone 21,
lower late Pliocene (c.2.9 Ma).
Interbedded with the thin-bedded turbidites,
especially in the east, are dark brown, medium-
grained sandstones up to 1 m thick with uncon-
formable bases and convoluted, internal
laminations. They contain a rich fauna of shal-
low water molluscs and have been transported
by turbidity flows into deeper water. Lenses of
pebbly sandstone and conglomerates up to
50 m thick with step-like, erosive, lower con-
tacts occur near Esmeraldas. Locally the basal
1-3 m contains rounded mudstone boulders up
to 1 m in diameter set in a pebbly mud matrix
which passes up into an irregular sequence of
sands and pebbles with trains of mudstone
blocks. These coarse redeposited sediments
have flowed into the deep water basin, via a
submarine canyon, and are preserved in a series
of channels cut into the thin-bedded turbidites
of the basin floor.
Matrix-supported mudstone breccias up to
5 m thick are found in the formation east of
Punta Galera. They contain rounded to angu-
lar, commonly sheared blocks of local and
exotic mudstone up to 1 m across set in a
muddy matrix, locally rich in sandy lenses.
These breccias are the products of slumps which
have slid into the basin floor from the sub-
marine canyon walls.
At the type locality, on the road between
Estero Platano and Quinque (Fig. la), the
Estero Platano Member consists of about 300 m
of rusty-brown, very regularly bedded, fine- to
medium-grained, well-sorted sandstones sepa-
rated by thin mudstones. In the lowest expo-
sures the individual sandstone beds are about a
metre thick and form over 75% of the succes-
sion. The thickness of the sandstone beds and
the sandstone/mudstone ratio decreases gra-
dually up the unit which, at the top, passes
transitionally into the normal, thin-bedded
turbidite sequence.
The absence of coarse detritus and the well-
sorted nature of the sandstones suggest a source
distinct from that of the conglomeratic lenses
which are found in the formation. The sands of
the Estero Platano Member are similar to the
beach deposits along the north coast: the con-
glomerates are similar to the material on the
floor of the Rio Esmeraldas which debouches
195
into the submarine canyon immediately off-
shore at present (Fig. 2).
Quaternary deposits
Parts of the coastal area, at an elevation of up
to 60 m above sea-level, are covered by up to
4 m of grey, fine sand with gravel and bioclastic
lenses. These are typical of the Tablazo Forma-
tion (Bosworth 1922) a raised beach deposit of
Pleistocene or younger age common along the
coast of Ecuador and northern Peru.
Isolated patches of river gravel, stranded up
to 25 m above the present river level, are found
along the banks of the Rio Esmeraldas along
with a number of low river terraces (Fig. la).
Stratigraphical comparison of the western and
eastern parts of the Borb6n Basin
Stainforth (1968), using data largely from the
eastern part of the basin, identified an axial and
a peripheral stratigraphic sequence and the
study area is typical of the former. The
peripheral sequence, developed along the east-
ern margin of the basin, near the Andean
foothills, is distinguished by having a series of
shallow-water formations interdigitated with
the deep-water mudstones. The oldest three
shallow-water units, the Santiago, Playa Rica,
and the 'lower Angostura' are not recorded in
the western part of the basin. Along the
Andean foothills the Santiago is developed
above the basal Punta Ostiones Member; the
Playa Rica separates the Pambil and Zapallo
Formations and the 'lower Angostura' rests
unconformably on the Pambil Formation. The
'upper Angostura' sandstones of Stainforth
(1968), equivalent to the Angostura Formation
in this paper, are a sequence ' . . . moving slow-
ly basinwards over the Viche Shales' (Stainforth
1968); the base of the formation in the east is
dated mid-Miocene but in the west it is mid- to
late Miocene. In the eastern part of the basin
the overlying Onzole Formation is of shallow
marine character while in the west the analo-
gous lower Onzole Formation was deposited in
a deepening basin.
The early Pliocene event, which led to the
uplift and the deposition of the Sda Member, is
recognized across most of the Costa. Much of
the eastern Borb6n, the Manabi and Progreso
Basins remained positive areas after the uplift.
However, subsidence recommenced in the
western part of the Borb6n Basin where the
upper Onzole Formation accumulated in outer
shelf to bathyal depths. The post-late Pliocene
uplift of the western part of the basin was
associated with the emergence of the Rio Verde
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196 C. D. R. Evans & J. E. Whittaker

anticlinal area and the development, to the subducting under the South American Plate
east, of a new basin where 500 m of sands and (Lonsdale & Klitgord 1978)--and the andesite
gravel (Cachabi Formation) accumulated dur- volcanoes of the Andes (Fig. 2). The gap is
ing the Pleistocene (Bristow & Hoffstetter about 240 km wide in Ecuador, compared with
1977). This situation persists with thick recent a characteristic value of 250 + 50 km for con-
alluvium accumulating in the eastern basin and tinental margin settings (Dickinson 1971).
the western part of the basin continuing to rise. Lonsdale (1978) divided the Costa into a
mid-slope basement high (the coastal range of
hills) with a forearc basin to the east (the
Structure Manabi Basin) and the trench-slope basin to the
west (the Progreso Basin). In the northern
The study area lies on the north-western margin
Costa (Fig. 2) this sub-division is applicable
of the gravity low which delimits the Borbon
only to the post-late Pliocene; the mid-slope
Basin (Fig. lb), but the youngest strata are
basement high had no major topographic ex-
exposed near the coast, well to the north of the
pression prior to this time.
area of thickest accumulation of Tertiary sedi-
The tectonic history of the northern Costa
ments, as defined by the gravity data. An
is divisible into pre- and post-mid-Eocene
ENE-WSW-trending, fault-controlled gravity phases with a further three-fold sub-division of
high, which separates the Borb6n Basin from
the latter into mid-Eocene-mid-Miocene, late
the Manabi Basin to the south, forms the Miocene-late Pliocene and post-late Pliocene
southern margin to the basin.
to Quaternary phases.
The strata are folded into a series of open,
NE-SW-trending structures with wavelengths
upwards of 2 km and sinuous axial traces which Pre-mid-Eocene
are parallel to the main structural feature of the
Feininger (1977) suggested that the basement
area, namely: the anticline which brings the of the Costa, the Pifi6n Formation, was a
older formations to crop in the Rfo Verde area.
remnant of ocean floor which ' . . . now crops
This feature, which extends the length of the
out owing to its having been isolated by a
Costa from the Cerros de Colonche-Chongon
westward jump of the continental border sub-
northwards to the Rio Verde area (Fig. 2),
duction zone in Early Tertiary time'. On gravity
obliquely crosses the axis of the Borb6n Basin
evidence (Fininger 1977), the boundary be-
as defined by the gravity low. Stratigraphic
tween the pre-early Tertiary continental and
evidence indicates that the feature, a mid-slope
oceanic crust lies approximately at the base of
basement high, formed a positive topographic
the western Andes, about 180 km east of the
feature in the Manabf and Borb6n Basins only
present axis of the Ecuador trench. However,
after the late Pliocene.
Henderson (1979) considered the Pifi6n a
The coastal sections (Fig. la) show that the
tholeiitic oceanward part of the arc and sug-
region is divisible into structurally simple areas
gested that the co-linearity of the Cretaceous to
(Esmeraldas to Punta Gorda) and discrete
Eocene and post-Eocene volcanic arc indicated
more complex areas (around Sfia). -The faults
that no change had occurred in the position of
mostly trend between 330 ° and 360 ° with some,
the oceanic trench in the early Tertiary.
east of Esmeraldas, parallel to the coastline. All
The event which resulted in uplift and ero-
are normal faults with no evidence of thrusting.
sion of the Costa and the establishment of the
In the Camarones-1 well slickensided frac-
present forearc regime is dated between late
tures are reported at a depth of 500 m and a
Palaeocene--the youngest date for basaltic
poorly developed cleavage, parallel to bedding,
activity in the Cayo Formation (Goosens &
below 1000 m. The Pliocene mudstones on the
Rose 1973)--and the early mid-Eocene--the
west coast, near Quinque, display a fine, slight-
age of the Punta Ostiones Member. Limestones
ly irregular pattern of dark, linear veins (de-
of the latter unit rest unconformably on the
watering structures?) developed at a steep
weathered top of the Cretaceous basement
angle to the bedding.
(I.E.P.C. 1944) with no evidence for a totally
tectonic contact between the two.
Tectonic history and palaeogeography
Mid-Eocene-mid-Miocene
The Pacific coastal lowlands of Ecuador and
Colombia occupy the 'arc-trench gap' (Dickin- During this interval the sequence was domin-
son 1971) between the offshore bathymetric ated by a thin-bedded turbidite facies, depos-,
trench--the site of the oceanic Nazca Plate ited in a forearc basin, whose main axis of
 Downloaded from http://sp.lyellcollection.org/ at Bibliotheque De Geologie Recherche on June 7, 2012
The geology of the Borbon Basin, Ecuador
deposition trended ENE-WSW. The occur-
rence of cherts only in the older strata indicates
an initially deep basin floor which became
shallower with time. In the late Eocene to
Oligocene, sediment accumulation in the map-
ped area, which is on the north-western margin
of the main deposition axis, was about
100 m/Ma, compared to about 60 m/Ma in
the present Panama Basin (Lonsdale 1978). As
the basin infilled, the shallow-water sequences
associated with the uplift of the basin floor,
extended further oceanward (westwards). Thus
the earliest shallow-water formations were res-
tricted to the eastern, peripheral parts of the
basin and the upper Miocene Angostura
Formation was the first to extend into the
western part of the Borb6n Basin. The Ango-
stura Formation was also the first shallow-water
sequence developed west of the Montafias de
Jama in the Manabi Basin (Evans & Arguello
1977).
The basaltic activity in the upper part of the
Pambil Formation was contemporaneous with
the breakup of the Farallon Plate into the
Nazca and Cocos Plates 27 Ma ago (late Oli-
gocene) (Lonsdale & Klitgord 1978). The effect
of the breakup of the plate on the local stra-
tigraphy was minimal; the facies remained un-
changed although the rate of sedimentation
during the early Miocene was about double that
for the late Eocene-Oligocene.
Late Miocene--late Pliocene
During this interval, between 8 and 2.9 Ma,
two shallow-water sequences transgressed
across the basin to its oceanward margin, inter-
rupting the normal thin-bedded turbidite sequ-
ence. The start of the interval coincided with a
reduction in the rate of subduction (Lonsdale &
Klitgord 1978) under the forearc and therefore
changes in the stresses on the basement.
Sedimentation was more rapid than during
the earlier part of the basin's history with a rate
of 500 m/Ma in some areas. No facies varia-
tions in the Pliocene units can be attributed
directly to the present mid-slope basement
high, though the very rapid accumulation of
sediment, probably in localised fault-controlled
basins, may have been complementary to the
initial rise which eventually resulted in the
mid-slope basement high centred on the Rio
Verde area.
Post-late Pliocene--Quaternary
The youngest Pliocene strata were deposited
in outer shelf to bathyal depths and, in the
197
Esmeraldas-Stia area, a gently dipping succes-
sion over 1200 m thick is now exposed. The
exposure of the Stla Member in this area repre-
sents uplift and erosion of at least 1500 m
(water depth plus thickness of strata removed
by erosion) since the deposition of the unit.
Geomorphological evidence indicates that the
main uplift of the Andes was contemporaneous
with the uplift of the coastal range of hills
(Campbell 1974). With the rise of the mid-slope
basement high the axes of deposition in the
Costa moved eastwards into the Guayas Valley
(Fig. 2) and eastern Borb6n Basin where thick
alluvium and shallow-water sequences accumu-
lated during the Quaternary (Bristow & Hoff-
stetter 1977). This sequence of events is recog-
nized in the coastal lowlands northwards into
Panama, although parts of the forearc in Col-
ombia remain submerged with the offshore
islands (Gorgona Island), equivalent to the
mid-slope basement high in Ecuador (Fig. lc).
Conclusions
The Tertiary stratigraphy of the western part of
the Borb6n Basin is typical of the forearc in the
northern Costa and southern Colombia (Nyg-
ren 1950). The sequence can be summarized as
follows: thin discontinuous limestones which
floor the basin pass up into thin-bedded turbi-
dites which alternate, in the upper part, with
shallow-water sandstones. The sequence is
typical of that in an idealised residual forearc
basin ' . . . where strata lie depositionally on
oceanic or transitional crust trapped between
the arc massif and the subduction zone (Dick-
inson & Seely 1979). The Borb6n Basin is
interesting because of the alternation of shallow-
and deep-water sedimentation. The fluctua-
tions in the depth of the basin floor are caused
by regional tectonic events, such as rates and
direction of subduction which influence the
tectonic stresses on the basement of the arc-
trench gap. The regional character of the events
is indicated by the contemporaneous changes in
the Tertiary stratigraphy of the forearc from
northern Peru to Venezuela (Stainforth 1968).
Karig & Sharman (1975) propose a model of
forearc accretion which includes the oceanward
movement and vertical growth of the trench-
slope break as the basin matures. However, in
the Borb6n Basin the similarity of tectonic
styles and facies of the Eocene-Oligocene and
late Pliocene strata implies no significant migra-
tion of the basin margin since the mid-Eocene.
A similar situation occurs off Guatamala,
where the position of the shelf-edge has re-
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198 C. D. R. Evans & J. E. Whittaker

mained static since the end of the Cretaceous
(Seely 1979). Growth of the trench slope break
as the basin infills appears to have been vertical
in the Borb6n Basin. During the early part of
the basin's history the trench slope break was
obviously d e e p and the basin may have sloped,
almost without a break, from the shore into the
oceanic trench. As the basin infilled and shal-
low water sequences edged oceanwards the
trench slope break rose to become a pro-
nounced topographic feature separating the
forearc basin from the lower trench slope into
the oceanic trench.
Gravity data indicate that the bulk of the
Tertiary sediments accumulated in a basin
whose shape was controlled primarily by faults
in the basement and not the presumed arc-
trench geometry. The balance of influence
changed during the Pliocene and the shape of
the later basins was related to the present
arc-trench system which cut obliquely the ear-
lier dominant trend. However, these basement
faults continue to influence the geology of the
area as is shown by the fault which forms the
southern boundary of the Borb6n Basin. There
is an abrupt change in the strike of the arc
where it intercepts the A n d e a n Massif (Fig. 2)
and an offset in the alignment of the Quater-
nary volcanoes. Thus mega-structures in the
basement, which cross the present arc-trench
geometry at an oblique angle, may divide the
arc and forearc into sectors with differing pat-
terns of sedimentation, uplift and igneous activ-
ity.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS: The authors are grateful to the
personnel of the Direcci6n General de Geologia y
Minas in Quito for the support during the fieldwork
especially Ing. L. Cevallos and St. C. Cardenas.
Thanks are also due to the rest of the staff, past and
present, of the British Mission in the D.G.G.M.
especially Mr W. G. Henderson and Dr A. F. Wilkin-
soN.

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