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Geological Society of America Bulletin

Development of the Colombian foreland-basin system as a consequence of

diachronous exhumation of the northern Andes
Elías Gómez, Teresa E. Jordan, Richard W. Allmendinger and Nestor Cardozo

Geological Society of America Bulletin 2005;117, no. 9-10;1272-1292

doi: 10.1130/B25456.1

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 Downloaded from gsabulletin.gsapubs.org on December 15, 2012
Development of the Colombian foreland-basin system as a consequence of
diachronous exhumation of the northern Andes
Elías Gómez†
Teresa E. Jordan
Richard W. Allmendinger
Nestor Cardozo
Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York 14853, USA
ABSTRACT
This study addresses multiple controls
on foreland-basin accommodation and con-
tributes to enhanced understanding of the
evolution of the northern Andes. The Middle
Magdalena Valley Basin (MMVB), Eastern
Cordillera, and Llanos Basin are part of a
Late Cretaceous–Cenozoic foreland-basin
system, east of the Colombian Central Cordil-
lera. Mechanical modeling indicates that the
primary control on complex distributions of
sedimentary thicknesses, facies, and uncon-
formities was lithospheric flexure in response
to crustal loads from the Central and Eastern
Cordilleras. Shorter-wavelength folding and
paleoaltitude determined the local character
of strata. Our mechanical modeling consists
of the application of orogenic and sedimen-
tary loads extracted from geologic data on
a continuous elastic lithosphere. The results
validate two major basin configurations. The
first configuration was a Maastrichtian–early
Eocene foreland basin coupled with Central
Cordillera uplift. Growth strata record con-
tinuous sedimentation in the Eastern Cordil-
lera, whereas regional unconformities in the
Llanos Basin (distal foreland basin) reflect
isostatic adjustments of the basin’s amplitude
and wavelength to Central Cordillera episodic
uplift and tectonic quiescence. The second
major basin configuration was characterized
by Central Cordillera erosion since middle
Eocene times recorded by a regional pediment
surface. In the absence of Central Cordil-
lera effective loading, loads from onlapping
sediments and Eastern Cordillera piggyback
sub-basins provoked post–middle Eocene
†
Present address: Shell International Exploration
and Production Inc., E&P Solutions, 200 North
Dairy Ashford, Houston, Texas 77079, USA; e-mail:
elias.gomez@shell.com.
GSA Bulletin; September/October 2005; v. 117; no. 9/10; p. 1272–1292; doi: 10.1130/B25456.1; 17 figures; 1 table; Data Repository item 2005148.
1272
accommodation in the MMVB and Llanos
Basin. Intensified Eastern Cordillera uplift
during the Neogene produced basinal tilting
recorded by unconformities in the MMVB.
This study highlights the importance of assess-
ing the causes of tectonic accommodation as a
foundation for interpretation of the evolution
of large foreland and intermontane basins.
Keywords: basin analysis, subsidence, uncon-
formity, paleogeographic controls, Colombia,
Northern Andes.
INTRODUCTION
The Middle Magdalena Valley Basin
(MMVB), the now-uplifted Eastern Cordil-
lera area, and the Llanos Basin belong to a
large Andean foreland-basin system east of the
Central Cordillera (Fig. 1), which formed in
response to Late Cretaceous–Cenozoic conver-
gent-margin tectonics. This region provides an
opportunity to study various scales of tectonic
controls on accommodation of sedimentary
basins coupled to large orogens. In this context,
the main objective of this paper is to explain the
mechanical causes of the complex distributions
of Maastrichtian-Cenozoic facies and unconfor-
mities that resulted from diachronous exhuma-
tion of the Central and Eastern Cordilleras. We
integrate numerous data sets and use mechanical
models to test the validity of interpretations of
tectonic accommodation. This study contributes
two main sets of results: first, knowledge of the
controls on basinal wavelengths and amplitudes,
which can be applied to foreland and intermon-
tane basins elsewhere; and second, enhanced
understanding of the evolution of the northern
Andes region, as the chronologies of interaction
between tectonic subsidence, sedimentation, and
mountain deformation proposed in this paper are
substantially different from those envisioned by
previous works.
For permission to copy, contact editing@geosociety.org
© 2005 Geological Society of America
The attributes of the Colombian foreland-
basin sedimentary fill, locally reaching 10 km
in thickness, can be grouped into two main scale
categories. The first category involves features
and stratigraphic changes that occur over hori-
zontal scales of hundreds of kilometers, which
reflect regional isostatic responses to tectonic
and sedimentary loading and erosion. This
group includes an eastward change from con-
tinental sedimentation in the MMVB to coastal
environments that predominated over a large
portion of the Llanos Basin history and regional
unconformities in the MMVB and Llanos Basin
region. The second scale of attributes involves
features with extents of kilometers to tens of
kilometers such as growth unconformities and
local distributions of facies, associated with
shorter-wavelength synsedimentary folding.
This study is the continuation of recent
MMVB papers (Gómez et al., 2003, 2005),
summarized in a later section, which provide
data necessary to reconstruct the links between
sedimentary fill and mountain evolution.
The MMVB contains the best record of dual
development of the Central and Eastern Cordil-
leras. The strata in this basin record Maastrich-
tian–early Eocene eastward propagation of the
Central Cordillera mountain front, followed by
a record of middle Eocene–Neogene erosion of
the Central Cordillera and simultaneous Eastern
Cordillera deformation. In order to investi-
gate the effects of tectonic loading and stratal
accumulation on the final accommodation
histories from the MMVB to the Llanos Basin
across the Eastern Cordillera, we performed
the following basin-analyses steps, whose
results are described sequentially through this
paper: (1) quantitative assessment of subsid-
ence derived from backstripped sedimentary
columns; (2) analyses of accommodation pat-
terns, as retrieved from sedimentary thicknesses
and facies, and interpretations of mechanisms
of subsidence and genesis of unconformities;
 BF:Bucaramanga fault
PA: Provincia anticline Santa Marta

e
LA: Lisama anticline

ng
Massif

a
NM: Nuevo Mundo syncline

j R
LC: Los Cobardes anticline

r i
AA: Arcabuco anticline

Pe
GS: Guaduas syncline
Panam Pliocene-Quaternary deposits
VA: Villeta anticlinorium
Plio-Pleistocene volcanoes

n
sin a
Venezuela FS: Fusagasug syncline

US: Usme syncline
BA: Bogot anticline
0 100
Colombia
Ra
Ba cher
Cenozoic sedimentary rocks
Cretaceous marine rocks
LMVB Jurassic red beds and volcanics
Pre-Mesozoic basement and
200 km Mesozoic plutons

BF
N LMVB, MMVB, UMVB:
Lower, Middle, and Upper
Magdalena Valley Basins
South Southern MMVB
America (Figure 2A)
Mas

PA
Santa sif
nder

Ecuador
Peru NM
Central LC Metropolitan region
Downloaded from gsabulletin.gsapubs.org on December 15, 2012

LA Thrust fault
0 300 km Cordillera
Medell n Strike-slip fault
AA Anticline
VB

Boyac Syncline
MM

NW SE Eastern Cordillera
MMVB Eastern Cordillera Llanos Basin
Romeral

Geological Society of America Bulletin, September/October 2005

fault system
sin s
Ll
a
B ano

VA Bogot
0 50 100 km GS
FS BA
DEVELOPMENT OF THE COLOMBIAN FORELAND-BASIN SYSTEM AND NORTHERN ANDES

Neogene sedimentary rocks US

Jurassic-Paleogene sedimentary rocks Chronostratigraphic sections
VB

Pre-Mesozoic basement and (Data Repository items)

Mesozoic plutons
UM

Eastern Cordillera cross section (Figure 1C)

Figure 1. (A) Shaded relief map of Colombia and nearby regions in northwestern South America illustrating the general tectonic and physiographic setting of the Central
Cordillera, Middle Magdalena Valley Basin (MMVB), Eastern Cordillera, and Llanos Basin, which are the subject areas of this paper. (B) General geologic map of the MMVB,
adjacent Central and Eastern Cordilleras, and Llanos Basin with localities mentioned throughout this paper. Main map source: Geotec Ltda (1988). (C) Structural section
across the Eastern Cordillera simplified after Dengo and Covey (1993, see location in Fig. 1B).

1273
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(3) testing of hypotheses by means of two-
dimensional mechanical modeling of subsid-
ence; and (4) extrapolation of two-dimensional
modeling results to investigate broader regional
evolution of the northern Andes.
GEOLOGIC SETTING
The basins considered in this paper lie on
Proterozoic to Paleozoic continental basement
of South America, which is bounded to the west
by the Romeral fault system along the western
flank of the Central Cordillera (Etayo-Serna et
al., 1983, Fig. 1A herein). Mesozoic and Ceno-
zoic calc-alkaline plutons intrude older meta-
morphic complexes of the Eastern and Central
Cordilleras as well as accreted oceanic terranes
to the west of the Romeral fault (Etayo-Serna et
al., 1983). Lithospheric stretching characterized
the MMVB and Eastern Cordillera areas during
the Mesozoic (Etayo-Serna et al., 1983). Trias-
sic to Jurassic synrift red beds are exposed at the
core of Eastern Cordillera anticlines (Fig. 1B).
Three main rifted sub-basins persisted during
the Cretaceous to the east of the Central Cor-
dillera. The Magdalena-Tablazo and the Cocuy
sub-basins (Fabre, 1983a, 1983b) were located
to the west and east of the present Santander
Massif and merged toward the south into the
Cundinamarca sub-basin at the present location
of Bogotá and the Villeta anticlinorium (Fig. 1B
herein, Sarmiento, 1989). A marine transgres-
sion during the Cretaceous deposited a trans-
gressive-regressive megasequence of mainly
shales and limestones (Macellari, 1988).
The Late Cretaceous–Tertiary exhumation of
the Central and Eastern Cordilleras was linked
to the evolution of the western active margin
of South America. Late Cretaceous–Eocene
oblique accretion of the Western Cordillera
caused northward propagation of uplift of the
Central Cordillera (Campbell, 1968; Etayo-
Serna et al., 1983). Compressional deformation
and tectonic inversion of Mesozoic grabens
in the Eastern Cordillera area were also initi-
ated at that time and continued throughout the
Cenozoic (Julivert, 1963; Gómez, 2001). The
most intense pulse of Eastern Cordillera uplift
started at 12.9 Ma and has been attributed to
accretion of the Panamá-Baudó arc (Dengo and
Covey, 1993).
No estimates of orogenic shortening exist for
the Central Cordillera. This range may represent
a crustal-scale, positive flower structure (D.
Barrero, 1989, 1999, personal commun.). A
significant component of compressional defor-
mation generated important uplift. The Central
Cordillera basement reaches altitudes of 3500 m
in places where it is not overlain by Pliocene
volcanoes. As explained later, the age of major
1274 Geological Society of America Bulletin, September/October 2005
GÓMEZ et al.
deformation of the Central Cordillera at the
latitude of the MMVB is pre–middle Eocene, as
evidenced by a major unconformity, the Middle
Magdalena Valley unconformity (MMVU).
The Eastern Cordillera increases its width
from south to north (1°N to 7°N, Fig. 1A).
North of 7°N, the Eastern Cordillera structural
trend changes to NNW, and it also splits into
a NW branch, the Santander Massif and Perijá
Range, and a NE branch, the Mérida Andes. The
Eastern Cordillera south of 7°N is characterized
by oppositely verging fold and thrust belts,
which overthrust the MMVB and Llanos Basin
(Figs. 1B and 1C). Discrepant values of shorten-
ing between 68 and 170 km have been obtained
from regional cross sections at the same locality
and reflect different interpretations of the rela-
tive importance assigned to basement-involved
faulting versus thin-skinned styles of deforma-
tion (Figs. 1B and 1C; Colletta et al., 1990;
Dengo and Covey, 1993; Cooper et al., 1995;
Roeder and Chamberlain, 1995; Taboada et al.,
2000). The orientation of these cross sections
(120°SE) is perpendicular to the structural trend
of the Eastern Cordillera. The timing of Eastern
Cordillera deformation derived from these cross
sections is late Miocene to Pliocene. However,
growth strata provide strong evidence of Late
Cretaceous–early Miocene Eastern Cordillera
deformation, as discussed later.
The Bucaramanga Fault along the western
sides of the Santander and Santa Marta Massifs
is a left-lateral strike-slip fault with a component
of west-verging, reverse movement (Fig. 1B).
Left lateral movement along this fault started
during the late Oligocene and has been accom-
modated by reverse faulting in the Santander
Massif and Eastern Cordillera (Toro, 1991).
Estimates of the total amount of sinistral dis-
placement range between 100 and 115 km (e.g.,
Pindell et al., 1998); offset features include crys-
talline and Mesozoic rock units of the Central
Cordillera relative to the Santa Marta Massif
and the Cesar-Ranchería Basin relative to the
MMVB (Campbell, 1968; Fig. 1B).
CONSTRAINTS ON SEDIMENTARY
FILL EVOLUTION
This major section describes impor-
tant aspects of the sedimentary fill of the
MMVB, Eastern Cordillera, and Llanos Basin
(Figs. DR1–DR31), which are essential for our
reconstructions of basin configurations in later
sections of this paper.
1
GSA Data Repository item 2005148, Figures DR1–
DR5 and Tables DR1–DR3, is available on the Web at
http://www.geosociety.org/pubs/ft2005.htm. Requests
may also be sent to editing@geosociety.org.
Middle Magdalena Valley Basin
Here we synthesize conclusions of MMVB
studies by Gómez et al. (2003, 2005). An out-
standing feature in the MMVB and adjacent
Eastern Cordillera foothills is the MMVU
(Figs. DR1A and DR1B, see footnote 1). This
surface bevels deformed pre-Eocene rocks
and is overlain by onlapping middle Eocene
to Neogene strata. Stratigraphic features of the
southern MMVB reveal that two long-lasting
events produced the MMVU (Fig. DR1A, see
footnote 1): (1) Late Cretaceous–early Eocene
eastward migrating Central Cordillera uplift,
and (2) consequent formation of a westward-
expanding pediment zone, a process still active
in the present Central Cordillera slope. Zircon
and apatite fission track data point to erosion
of 7–13 km of Central Cordillera rocks since
the Late Cretaceous, which has translated into
large sediment supply to the basins to the east
(Gómez et al., 2003, 2005).
In the southern MMVB, the record of Cen-
tral Cordillera uplift is a Maastrichtian-Paleo-
cene sequence of marine to alluvial fan facies
(Fig. DR1A, see footnote 1) with paleoflow and
petrography indicative of Central Cordillera
provenance. Plutonic granitic clasts appear in
the Paleocene Hoyón conglomerates and indi-
cate early Tertiary erosion of deep levels of the
Central Cordillera. Northward propagation of
Central Cordillera uplift is recorded by a change
to continental facies and Central Cordillera
provenance, both of which occur in the Paleo-
cene Lisama Formation of the northern MMVB
(Fig. DR1B, see footnote 1; Campbell, 1968).
MMVB Paleocene deposits were partially
eroded during continued early Eocene eastward
propagation of Central Cordillera uplift.
The Central Cordillera has been erosionally
beveled since middle Eocene times. Its boundary
with the MMVB has moved westward since then
as alluvial deposits onlapped over the residual
pediment (the MMVU, Fig. DR1A) and local
paleohighs (Fig. DR1B, see footnote 1). Eastern
Cordillera folding controlled middle Eocene–
Neogene sedimentation and was diachronous
along the MMVB as indicated by the ages of
associated growth strata (Figs. 2A, 2B, DR1A,
and DR1B, see footnote 1). Specifically, middle
Eocene–Oligocene deformation of the Villeta
anticlinorium, east of the southern MMVB,
is indicated by growth strata in the lower and
middle parts of the San Juán de Río Seco Forma-
tion (Figs. 2A, 2B, and DR1A, see footnote 1). In
the northern MMVB, younger deformation of the
Los Cobardes, Provincia, and Lisama anticlines
(Fig. 1B) is recorded by growth strata of late
Oligocene–early middle Miocene age equivalent
to the upper part of the Mugrosa and Colorado
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DEVELOPMENT OF THE COLOMBIAN FORELAND-BASIN SYSTEM AND NORTHERN ANDES

Figure 2. (A) Geologic map

of the southern Middle Mag-
dalena Valley Basin (MMVB)
showing the locations of the
seismic lines in Figures 2B and
2C. (B) Portion of a depth-
converted seismic line across
the Guaduas syncline. The
lower and middle San Juán de
Río Seco synorogenic wedge is
made of smaller-scale syntec-
tonic units, which are bounded
by growth unconformities
(GU). Overall divergence of
strata and lateral offsets of the
anticlinal axial surface along
the growth unconformities
were produced by pulses of
synsedimentary deformation
(e.g., Ford et al., 1997). The
overlying portion of the San
Juán de Río Seco Formation
and the Santa Teresa Forma-
tion completely overlapped
this Eastern Cordillera uplift.
(B) Seismic line across the
southern MMVB west of the
Guaduas syncline. Strata of the
San Juán de Río Seco Forma-
tion truncate against the base
of the Honda Group, and Neo-
gene strata truncate against
the surface of the southern
MMVB. These configurations
were produced by basin rota-
tion in response to loading
pulses from the Eastern Cor-
dillera. See Gómez et al. (2003,
2005) for full description and
interpretation of MMVB seis-
mic information.

Geological Society of America Bulletin, September/October 2005 1275

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GÓMEZ et al.

Formations (Fig. DR1B, see footnote 1). Three

Cenozoic fossil horizons record adjustments of
the MMVB alluvial plain profile (Fig. DR1, see
footnote 1), two of which correlate with eustatic
highstands (Los Corros and La Cira–Santa Teresa
units, e.g., Haq et al., 1988).
Eastern Cordillera deformation also produced
regional-scale unconformities due to flexural
tilting. Two of these surfaces occur to the west
of the Eastern Cordillera thrust and fold belt.
The older is an unconformity at the base of
the Honda Group in the southern MMVB; the
youngest is the present surface of the MMVB
(Figs. 2A and 2C). Both surfaces merge with
the MMVU (i.e., slope of the Central Cordil-
lera) and both truncate progressively older strata
toward the west. These unconformities indicate
eastward rotation of the basin in response to
episodes of increased tectonic loading from
the Eastern Cordillera combined with Central
Cordillera erosional unloading (Gómez et al.,
2003, 2005).

Eastern Cordillera

The Upper Cretaceous–Paleogene Eastern

Cordillera sedimentary record is composed
of three sequences in the Bogotá and Boyacá
regions (Fig. DR2, see footnote 1). The first
sequence, Upper Cretaceous–lower Paleocene
Guadalupe Group and Guaduas Formation,
shallows upward, recording sea withdrawal
from this region (Fabre, 1983b; Sarmiento,
1994). The Guadalupe-Guaduas sequence is
overlain by two fining-upward sequences of
upper Paleocene–lower Eocene and middle
Eocene–Oligocene ages, both with fluvial
sandstones at their bases (Cuervo and Ramírez,
1985; Acosta and Beltrán, 1987). Nonmarine
conditions were firmly established in the Sabana
de Bogotá area during the second sequence but
marine influence increased toward the north
(Fig. DR2, see footnote 1). In the third sequence
(middle Eocene–Oligocene), fluvial sandstones Figure 3. Upper Cretaceous–Oligocene growth strata of the Usme syncline. (A) Geometry of
of the Regadera Formation (Hoorn, 1988) and the Usme syncline extracted from structural data provided by Julivert (1963). (B) Detailed
equivalent Picacho Formation are transitional mapping of the eastern flank of the Usme syncline by Julivert (1963) reveals the occurrence
upward into mudstones with foraminifera and of unconformities. (C) Reconstruction of the geometry of strata and unconformities in
oolitic iron of the Usme and Concentración Figure 3B results in a westward-thickening wedge of strata with internal angular uncon-
Formations, which record renewed marine formities, which become conformable surfaces toward the west. Upper Cretaceous–lower
influence in the Eastern Cordillera (Hubach, Oligocene strata are thicker and conformable at the core of this syncline. (D) The geometries
1957; Acosta and Beltrán, 1987). The Eastern of growth strata of the Pyrenees associated with progressive limb rotation (Ford et al., 1997)
Cordillera Paleogene rocks are unconformably are similar to the stratal configurations found in the Usme syncline and MMVB.
overlain by upper Miocene to Pliocene alluvial
and lacustrine deposits (Marichuela and Tilatá
Formations). They formed in intramontane set-
tings during the most intense phase of Eastern folds (Figs. 1B and 3; Julivert, 1963). Upper to an absence of Maastrichtian beds (Gp4 and
Cordillera uplift (Helmens, 1990). Cretaceous–Oligocene strata are conformable at Gs in Figs. 3B and 3C) on the eastern flank, sev-
The Usme syncline provides detailed infor- the core of this syncline but become thinner and eral other unconformities occur within the over-
mation to reconstruct Late Cretaceous–Paleo- unconformable toward the eastern flank, where lying Paleogene section. We interpret that these
gene relations typical of Eastern Cordillera angular relations locally reach 90°. In addition geometries resulted from progressive rotation of

1276 Geological Society of America Bulletin, September/October 2005

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DEVELOPMENT OF THE COLOMBIAN FORELAND-BASIN SYSTEM AND NORTHERN ANDES

the MMVB correlates with two major time-

transgressive unconformities in the Llanos
foothills, which merge into a single composite
unconformity further east in the Llanos Basin
(Fabre, 1983b; Cooper et al., 1995). The older
surface truncates deeper levels of the Guaduas
Formation and Guadalupe Group from west to
east (Sarmiento, 1994). The Guaduas Forma-
tion and upper Guadalupe Group are absent
in the Llanos Basin, where upper Paleocene
sandstone-rich stuarine and coastal plain mud-
stones of the Barco and Los Cuervos overlie
Campanian rocks (Cooper et al., 1995). A sec-
ond major unconformity separates these units
from the overlying upper Eocene to Neogene
eastward onlapping megasequence. The upper
Eocene–lower Miocene strata of the Llanos
Figure 4. Paleontologic age assignments of Upper Cretaceous–Paleogene units of the Basin consist of alluvial plain, coastal plain, and
Eastern Cordillera are overlapping in the Bogotá and Boyacá (names within parentheses) estuarine valley-fill deposits; the continental
regions. Therefore, there is no chronological basis to postulate the occurrence of a regional character of these deposits increases toward the
unconformity equivalent to the MMVU in central areas of the Eastern Cordillera. Wider east. Sedimentation initiated with deposition of
bars indicate our preferred interpretation of depositional ages. The palynologic ages of the Mirador Formation sandstones and contin-
Paleogene units of the Boyacá region (gray bars) are broadly similar to the ages of their ued with deposition of four eastward stepping,
equivalents in the Bogotá area (black bars). Most important sources of ages: Hubach (1957), coarsening upward sequences in the Carbo-
Van der Hammen (1957), Germeraad et al. (1968), Acosta and Beltrán (1987), Hoorn (1988), nera Formation (Fig. DR3, see footnote 1).
Helmens (1990), and Céspedes and Peña (1995). The Carbonera is capped by the León Shale,
which marks a major marine transgression.
Major Eastern Cordillera uplift is indicated by
the eastern limb of the Usme syncline, as in the (Fig. 4), which indicates that major-rank uncon- provenance of the middle Miocene–Pliocene
case of similar syntectonic strata found in the formities do not exist in the Sabana de Bogotá Guayabo Formation (Cooper et al., 1995).
MMVB (Fig. 2B) and in the Pyrenees (Ford et region. In contrast, the duration of the time
al., 1997, Fig. 3D herein). Julivert (1963), Raas- gap associated with the MMVU in the Eastern GEOHISTORY ANALYSIS OF THE
veldt (1956), and Laverde (1989) also document Cordillera western foothills is on the order of MMVB AND EASTERN CORDILLERA
variable patterns of unconformities, thicknesses, 10–15 m.y. (Fig. DR1, see footnote 1).
and facies in other folds located south of the The preservation of Upper Cretaceous–Oligo- As a first step to extract the signal of tectonic
Bogotá region and along the Upper Magdalena cene Eastern Cordillera growth strata (Fig. 3) subsidence to the east of the Central Cordil-
Valley Basin, which are evidence of broader required continuous accumulation of sediment lera, we carried out one-dimensional geohis-
Paleogene Eastern Cordillera synsedimentary over a time scale (~1 m.y.) substantially less tory analyses of three columns exposed in the
deformation. than the total duration of each unit (Fig. 4; e.g., southernmost MMVB (Villeta anticlinorium
In contrast with the MMVB, there are no Crowley, 1984; Anders et al., 1987; Anadón et and Guaduas syncline), northern MMVB (Los
physical or chronological bases to postulate the al., 1986; Ford et al., 1997). We emphasize that Cobardes anticline and Nuevo Mundo syn-
occurrence of an unconformity equivalent to the although minor temporal gaps exist within Upper cline), and the Cocuy anticlinorium (Boyacá
MMVU in central areas of the Eastern Cordil- Cretaceous–Paleogene strata flanking Eastern region, Figs. 1B, 5A–5C; Fabre, 1983b, 1985;
lera, as previous works did (e.g., Cooper et al., Cordillera folds, the mechanisms that produced Sarmiento, 1989; Gómez, 2001). The backstrip-
1995; Pindell et al., 1998; Villamil, 1999). The these unconformities were associated with local ping techniques are described by Allen and
vertical bars in Figure 4 describe the maximum synsedimentary folding rather than with regional Allen (1992). The sedimentary columns were
time duration of each Maastrichtian to Cenozoic uplift and pedimentation of the Central Cordil- decompacted assuming a depth-dependent,
stratigraphic unit of the Eastern Cordillera per- lera, as in the case of the MMVU. exponentially decreasing porosity function. In
missible by data. Maastrichtian–early Paleocene order to estimate the tectonic subsidence, the
ages are based on ammonites, foraminifera, and Llanos Foothills and Llanos Basin subsidence driven by the load of sediment was
pollen (Etayo-Serna, 1964, 1985; Sarmiento, subtracted from the total (decompacted) subsid-
1994). The age assignments of the overlying The Late Cretaceous–Cenozoic stratigraphy ence; corrections for varying water depth and
Paleogene units rely on palynology and are of the Llanos foothills and Llanos Basin has long-term eustatic sea level (Haq et al., 1988)
coarse due to incomplete palynologic sampling been comprehensively studied by Cooper et were applied. Summary tables of stratigraphic
(Hubach, 1957; Van der Hammen, 1957; Hoorn, al. (1995; Fig. DR3, see footnote 1). The main attributes and physical parameters used for
1988), owing in part to the occurrence of growth sediment source areas of these regions were the backstripping are available (Tables DR1–DR3,
unconformities at sampling sites (e.g., eastern Guyana Shield, during the Late Cretaceous to see footnote 1). Constraints on Tertiary paleo-
flank of the Usme syncline; Hoorn, 1988). early middle Miocene, and the Eastern Cordil- altitudes are poor (see error bars in Fig. 6). We
Despite incomplete palynologic sampling, the lera since the late middle Miocene (Cooper have assumed an average altitude between 0 m
ages of successive Paleogene units overlap et al., 1995). The MMVU unconformity of and 500 m for the MMVB, which corresponds

Geological Society of America Bulletin, September/October 2005 1277

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GÓMEZ et al.

Eustatic Sea Level (m) Figure 5. Geohistory plots of the MMVB and
N MMVB 250
A Eastern Cordillera extracted from backstrip-
0 ping of sedimentary columns. (A) Northern
0
MMVB (Los Cobardes anticline and Nuevo
2 Mundo syncline). (B) Southern MMVB (Vil-
leta anticlinorium and Guaduas syncline).
4 (C) Cocuy region of the Eastern Cordillera,
modified after Fabre (1983b). See Figure 1B
Depth (km)

6 for locations. Facies, ages, and water depths

of Cretaceous units from Sarmiento (1989),
8

uplift
Fabre (1985), and Etayo-Serna (personal
10 commun., 2000). Late Cretaceous–Mesozoic
parts of the subsidence curves are enlarged
12 in Figure 6, with error bars. Curves of sub-
synrift thermal sidence corrected for sediment load nearly
14 subsidence subsidence overlap the final tectonic subsidence curves
(SS) (TS) because the correction for long-term eustatic
16 change is small.
200 180 160 140 120 100 80 60 40 20
Age (Ma)
Jurassic Cretaceous Paleogene Neogene

Eustatic Sea Level (m)

S MMVB 250 to the present altitude limits of the MMVB
alluvial plain. Facies in the Cocuy region and
0
0 Llanos Basin reflect eustatic influence and indi-
B cate lower altitudes.
2
Mesozoic Subsidence
Depth (km)

6 The backstripped sections illustrate the sub-

uplift

sidence history of the Mesozoic Magdalena-

8 Tablazo, Cocuy, and Cundinamarca extensional
sub-basins (Fig. 1B). Mesozoic synrift subsid-
10 synrift TS ence in these localities is independently recorded
subsidence by unconformity-bounded units, rotated-block
12 morphology, spatially variable thicknesses,
140 120 100 80 60 40 20
Age (Ma) bimodal subaerial volcanogenic strata, and mafic
Cretaceous Paleogene Neogene intrusives (Julivert, 1958; Fabre and Delaloye,
1982). Lithospheric extension is expressed on the
Eustatic Sea Level (m) backstripped curves as rapid and temporally vari-
Cocuy 250 able tectonic subsidence (Fig. 5). Subsequently,
0 smooth decline of the subsidence curves indi-
0
cates postrift thermal contraction during litho-
C spheric cooling (Allen and Allen, 1992).
Depth (km)

2
The synrift tectonic subsidence of the north-
4 ern MMVB lasted until the end of the Jurassic
(2993 m, 59 m/m.y., Fig. 5A). Synrift subsid-
6 ence in the Villeta anticlinorium (Cundinamarca
SS
thermal
subsidence sub-basin) until the Coniacian is indicated by
8 the stair-shaped synrift tectonic subsidence
140 120 100 80 60 40
until 87 Ma (2892 m, 56 m/m.y. average rate,
Age (Ma)
Cretaceous Paleogene Fig. 5B). This history correlates well with
Hauterivian to Coniacian gabbroic sills of the
compacted rock thickness northern part of the Villeta anticlinorium (Fabre
decompacted and Delaloye, 1982; Rodríguez and Ulloa,
part of subsidence 1994a, 1994b), which attest to extension and
(total subsidence)
explained by load injection of mafic magmas due to partial adia-
sediment load corrected of strata
batic melting (Turcotte and Schubert, 1982).
tectonic subsidence This prolonged synrift subsidence explains the
accumulation of ~7 km of Cretaceous strata in

1278 Geological Society of America Bulletin, September/October 2005

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DEVELOPMENT OF THE COLOMBIAN FORELAND-BASIN SYSTEM AND NORTHERN ANDES

the Villeta anticlinorium area, the thickest in the Age (Ma)

Eastern Cordillera. The synrift subsidence in 80 60 40 20 0
the Eastern Cordillera Cocuy region (1960 m, Eustatic Sea Level Curve 250 m
A
73 m/m.y.) spans the Berriasian to Aptian time
interval (144–117 Ma, Fig. 5C), according 0m
Umir Lis MMVU Paz

Esm
Mug Col Real
to subsidence history and mafic magmatism
(Fabre, 1983b). 2 Northern MMVB

Depth (km)
Thermal sagging spanned the Cretaceous in TS FS FS
the northern MMVB (933 m, 12 m/m.y.), the Umir: Umir Formation
3 Lis: Lisama Formation
late Coniacian–Maastrichtian in the southern Paz: La Paz Formation
MMVB (195 m, 10 m/m.y.), and the Aptian– Esm: Esmeraldas Formation
Maastrichtian in the Cocuy region (893 m, 4 Mug: Mugrosa Formation
18 m/m.y.; Figs. 5A–5C). Thermal subsidence Col: Colorado Formation
Real: Real Group
curves are suggestive of stretching factors (β)
of 1.4, 1.2, and 1.6, respectively (Gómez, 2001). Cretaceous Paleocene Eocene Oligocene Miocene
However, these values most likely underes-
timate β, given the heat loss during the long Age (Ma)
rifting (Allen and Allen, 1992). Previously, it 80 60 40 20 0
was suggested that thermal sagging of a passive Eustatic Sea Level Curve 250 m
margin produced subsidence east of the Central
B
Cordillera during most of the Cretaceous (Pin- 0m
Buscav Se Hoy MMVU Arm Alm Cruz ST
Ol

Southern MMVB
dell, 1993; Roeder and Chamberlain, 1995). +Cim
However, the temporally and spatially variable 2 Ol: Olini Group
Depth (km)

subsidence histories described in this section Buscav: Buscavidas Shale

most likely correspond to back-arc subsidence Cim: Cimarrona Formation
3 Se: Seca Formation
behind a magmatic arc in the Central Cordillera
Hoy: Hoy n Formation
(e.g., Aspden et al., 1987; Cooper et al., 1995). San Ju n de R o Seco Formation:
4
TS FS FS Arm: Armadillos member
Late Cretaceous to Neogene Subsidence Alm: Alm cigos member
Cruz: La Cruz member
Cretaceous Paleocene Eocene Oligocene Miocene ST: Santa Teresa Formation
The Late Cretaceous–Cenozoic subsidence
curves (Figs. 6A–6C) highlight two aspects of
Age (Ma)
regional accommodation. First, continuous sub-
sidence characterized the Maastrichtian–Paleo-
80 60 40 20 0
Eustatic Sea Level Curve 250 m
cene and middle Eocene–Neogene times in the C
MMVB and the Late Cretaceous–Oligocene
0m
in the Cocuy region. Tectonic subsidence was L Pin T G L US Pic Conc
S Cocuy region, E. Cordillera
larger than the contemporaneous oscillations
of eustatic sea level. The resultant long-term 2
Depth (km)

high accommodation explains the preserva-
tion of abundant muddy deposits in the Upper
Cretaceous–Cenozoic sedimentary record. For
the two MMVB sites, the intervals of subsid-
ence are separated by a time of uplift. Second,
sediment loading was the most important force
driving total subsidence and amounts for ~70%
of the total Tertiary subsidence, as illustrated
by the difference between total subsidence and
tectonic subsidence in Figure 5.
Independent of manipulation of error bars in
the subsidence plots, tectonic subsidence rates
seem to have increased during the late Maas-
trichtian–Paleocene in the southern MMVB
(Fig. 6B, 433 m, 37 m/m.y.) and during the
Paleocene in the northern MMVB (Fig. 6A,
290 m, 32 m/m.y.) relative to the Cretaceous
thermal subsidence. The tectonic subsidence
curve of the Cocuy region (Fig. 6C, 413 m,
11 m/m.y.) does not show this behavior. The
increased rates of tectonic subsidence of the
L: La Luna Formation
Pin: Los Pinos Formation
3 T: Tierna sandstone
Pin: Los Pinos Formation
G: Guaduas Formation
TS FS
4 LS: Lower Socha Formation
US: Upper Socha Formation
Pic: Picacho Formation
Conc: Concentraci n Formation
Cretaceous Paleocene Eocene Oligocene Miocene
TS: thermal subsidence MMVU: Middle Magdalena Valley unconformity
FS: flexural subsidence period of unconformity formation
Figure 6. Late Cretaceous–early Miocene tectonic subsidence of the (A) northern MMVB,
(B) southern MMVB (Gómez, 2001), and (C) Eastern Cordillera (Cocuy region, modified
after Fabre, 1983b). Vertical and horizontal error bars represent uncertainties in paleoalti-
tude and stratigraphic ages, respectively. See text for discussion.
southern and northern MMVB correlate with subsidence rates were much higher than the
Central Cordillera uplift and appear to sup- rate of contemporaneous long-term sea-level
port interpretations of foreland basin subsid- drop (−1 m/m.y., Haq et al., 1988), one might
ence triggered by Central Cordillera loading suppose that the basin would have remained
(Dengo and Covey, 1993). Because tectonic flooded by marine waters. The regressive facies

Geological Society of America Bulletin, September/October 2005 1279

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GÓMEZ et al.
N wavelength of regional subsidence. Retro-
NM: Nuevo Mundo syncline
LC: Los Cobardes anticline
NM AA: Arcabuco anticline
B-C: Boyac -Cocuy outcrops
GS: Guaduas syncline
VA: Villeta anticlinorium
FS: Fusagasug syncline
US: Usme syncline
AA LLF: Llanos foothills outcrops
LC
B-C
GS
VA
LLF
US
FS
Figure 7. Early Paleocene palinspastic base map constructed by combining Dengo and
Covey’s (1993) and Díaz’s (1994) reconstructions with restored sections from other authors
(numbered lines). This retrodeformation, perpendicular to the Eastern Cordillera structural
strike, also restores the continuity between stratigraphic units of the Central Cordillera and
Santa Marta Massif and between the MMVB and the Cesar-Ranchería basin across the
Bucaramanga fault. See text for discussion and other sources of data. Features marked as
“reference outcrops” form a template visible in the paleogeographic maps of Figures 8, 10,
15–17, DR4, and DR5 (see footnote 1). See also Figure 1B for present location of outcrops.
(Fig. DR1, see footnote 1) clarify that this was RECONSTRUCTION OF LATE
not true. Thus, under conditions of enhanced CRETACEOUS–CENOZOIC BASIN
accommodation relative to Late Cretaceous GEOMETRIES AND HYPOTHESES
times, the MMVB Maastrichtian–Paleocene OF MECHANISMS OF LONG-TERM
sea withdrawal is explained by the large input SUBSIDENCE
of sediment from the Central Cordillera. The
combined enhanced tectonic subsidence and In this section, we describe the construction
facies patterns refute the interpretation that of a palinspastically restored base (Fig. 7),
Paleocene regression was caused by decreasing which serves as a template for reconstruction
accommodation resulting from Central Cordil- of two major basin configurations of Late Cre-
lera deformation combined with the drop of taceous–early Eocene and middle Eocene–Neo-
eustatic sea level (e.g., Villamil, 1999). gene ages (Figs. 8–11). We also correlate the
Early Eocene kilometer-scale uplift in the previously summarized information from the
MMVB is indicated by apatite-fission-track MMVB, Eastern Cordillera, and Llanos Basin
parameters from both the Central Cordillera along the cross sections in Figures 9 and 11.
basement and Mesozoic–lower Paleogene
sedimentary rocks of the MMVB (Gómez Palinspastic Reconstruction
et al., 2003, 2005). Middle Eocene to early
middle Miocene subsidence rates of the south- As previously described, deformation
ern MMVB (468 m, 15 m/m.y.) and northern has modified the original geometries of the
MMVB (649 m, 21 m/m.y.) are lower than Colombian basins, and therefore palinspastic
Maastrichtian–Paleocene values. reconstruction is required to reconstruct the
1280 Geological Society of America Bulletin, September/October 2005
deformation perpendicular to the Eastern
Cordillera structural grain, a condition of pure
shear, should also restore the original continu-
ity between the Central Cordillera and the
Santa Marta Massif and between the northern
MMVB and the Cesar-Ranchería Basin across
the Bucaramanga fault (e.g., Fig. 1B). This
constraint favors structural models that predict
at least 150 km of Eastern Cordillera crustal
shortening (e.g., Dengo and Covey, 1993;
Roeder and Chamberlain, 1995). Dengo and
Covey’s (1993) cross section (Fig. 1C) is well
suited for restoration because they describe
their supporting data and validate their section
with a gravity profile. Their restoration of East-
ern Cordillera shortening also best restores the
~110 km of sinistral offset along the Bucara-
manga fault. We used this restoration to move
the Paleogene and Jurassic outcrops of the
northern part of the Eastern Cordillera and
the Central Cordillera–MMVB block to their
position in the early Eocene (Fig. 7). Retrode-
formation generates an opening between the
present trace of the Bucaramanga fault and the
northern MMVB, whose partial filling requires
counterclockwise rotation of the Santander and
Santa Marta Massifs by ~12º. The remaining
unfilled space may represent compressional
deformation in the MMVB and Santa Marta
Massif. A long-term history of pedimentation
indicates that no important Central Cordil-
lera shortening has occurred since the middle
Eocene (Gómez et al., 2003). Thus, we treat
the Central Cordillera and MMVB as a single
rigid block, which is transported toward the
NW during restoration. No estimates of Late
Cretaceous–early Eocene Central Cordillera
shortening are available. Thus, no further
retrodeformation of this range is attempted.
The Llanos Basin area, overlying the Guyana
Shield, is assumed to remain fixed during
restoration. The palinspastically restored base
of Díaz (1994), based on numerous balanced
cross sections, was used to restore the southern
portion of the Eastern Cordillera at the latitude
of Bogotá. Restoration of the Eastern Cordil-
lera foothills is also constrained by cross sec-
tions across the MMVB, Llanos foothills, and
the Perijá range (Fig. 7).
Palinspastic restoration is an exercise with
considerable assumptions and error. Simple
shear conditions may lead to more accurate
restored maps, but they require oblique fault
displacement and rotation of thrust slices, which
are unconstrained. Our restoration is simple,
meets major regional constraints, and offers
a better approximation of pre-Neogene basin
dimensions for the subsequent basin analyses
than do modern spatial relations.
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DEVELOPMENT OF THE COLOMBIAN FORELAND-BASIN SYSTEM AND NORTHERN ANDES

Late Cretaceous to Early Eocene Basin

Geometry and Hypothetical Causes N
The restored isopach map and cross section
of Maastrichtian–lower Eocene strata to the east
of the Central Cordillera reveal an asymmetric
distribution of sedimentary thicknesses (Fig. 8).
The reconstructions of geometric and temporal
relations among strata are shown by the restored
cross section and accompanying chronostrati-
graphic diagram in Figures 9A and 9B. Thick-
nesses decrease toward the east from the Eastern
Cordillera to the Llanos Basin (Figs. 8 and 9A).
Maastrichtian to Paleocene rocks in the southern
MMVB have a maximum thickness of 1897 m.
However, they were truncated beneath the
MMVU, and their initial total thickness was
greater; thermal history parameters indicate
erosion of a lower Paleogene sedimentary sec-
tion up to 3 km thick in the Guaduas syncline
(Gómez et al., 2003). The maximum thickness
preserved of the Maastrichtian–lower Eocene
section is in the western side of the Sabana de
Bogotá region (~2400 m). Diminished thick-
nesses toward the east resulted from diminished
eastward accommodation and the presence of
two regional unconformities. The thickness of
Maastrichtian–lower Eocene strata in the Cocuy
region is 1109 m (Fabre, 1985) and diminishes
to zero toward the Llanos Basin region. Geohis-
tory analyses suggest that Maastrichtian–early
Eocene tectonic subsidence decreased eastward
from 500 m in the southern MMVB to 205 m in
the Cocuy region (Fig. 9A, inset). The deposi-
tional topographic slope likely decreased from
alluvial-fan gradients (>2°) in the west to lower
alluvial- and coastal-plain gradients in the East-
ern Cordillera and Llanos Basin (<0.4°, e.g.,
Blair and McPherson, 1994; Díaz, 1994).
The wedge-shaped sedimentary fill in
Figure 9A resembles the typical geometry of Figure 8. (A) Palinspastically restored distribution of preserved thicknesses of Maastrichtian–
a foreland basin, where isostatic subsidence is lower Eocene strata to the east of the Central Cordillera. Outlines of the Central Cordillera,
distributed laterally by lithospheric flexure across Santa Marta Massif, restored positions of the Eastern Cordillera boundaries, and some
distances of hundreds of kilometers from the Eastern Cordillera outcrops are provided for reference (e.g., Figs. 1B and 2). (B) Cross sec-
mountain belt. The details of wavelength and tion displaying a large vertical exaggeration (5×) to illustrate thickness variation of strata. A
amplitude depend on the flexural rigidity of the much larger vertical exaggeration is needed to represent internal distributions of facies and
lithosphere (Jordan, 1981, 1995). Flexural sub- unconformities (see Fig. 9A).
sidence diminishes to zero on the distal margin,
where there may be a flanking peripheral bulge. In
an ideal foreland basin, the mountain front moves quiescence, surface processes strip material from ties in the eastern sector (Llanos region) may
toward the foreland with a self-similar geometry, the mountain and transfer it to the basin, resulting point to alternating periods of Central Cordil-
and foreland basin subsidence and fill migrate in isostatic rebound of the source area. But the lera eastward-progressing uplift and tectonic
simultaneously with it. Periods of active deforma- lack of tectonic subsidence in the basin causes quiescence. The distribution of the regional
tion and tectonic quiescence produce variations accumulation over a wider zone, which results unconformities in Figures 9A and 9B indicate
in the basin’s flexural profile. Enhanced tectonic in depression of the peripheral bulge. Sequence that the basin wavelength decreased from more
thickening in the mountain belt produces a basin boundaries cap the quiescent-phase strata (Flem- than 320 km during the Maastrichtian to 150 km
that is relatively narrow and deep, with enhanced ings and Jordan, 1990). during the Danian and from more than 350 km
preservation potential of fine-grained facies. At If a Maastrichtian–early Eocene foreland in the latest Paleocene to 150 km during the
those times, the marginal bulge becomes a site basin existed east of the Central Cordillera, early Eocene. We hypothesize that the phase
of erosion and sediment bypass. During tectonic then the two Paleogene regional unconformi- of basin widening to 350 km correlates with

Geological Society of America Bulletin, September/October 2005 1281

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late Paleocene tectonic quiescence, isostatic
rebound of the Central Cordillera, and ensu-
ing depression of the Llanos peripheral bulge.
Similarly, the Danian and early Eocene stages
of basin narrowing may reflect times of Central
Cordillera shortening and uplift and westward
displacement of sedimentation to the locus of
maximum subsidence. The area of maximum
thickness in the Sabana de Bogotá region marks
the final early Eocene position of the zone of
maximum accommodation. Continuous sedi-
mentation characterized this region, although
the foreland basin was disrupted by small
synsedimentary folds (e.g., Usme Syncline)
that produced growth unconformities of limited
extent (not shown in Fig. 9).
Middle Eocene to Neogene Basin Geometry
and Hypothetical Causes
Regional deformation at the latitude of the
MMVB changed from the Central Cordillera
to the Eastern Cordillera during the middle
Eocene–Neogene. Pedimentation was the domi-
nant process in the Central Cordillera, whereas
widespread Eastern Cordillera deformation is
revealed by thermal-history and provenance data
of the MMVB and by growth strata flanking the
Usme and Fusagasugá synclines and the Villeta,
Provincia, and Lisama anticlines (Fig. 1B;
Gómez et al., 2003, 2005). Basin geometry also
1282 Geological Society of America Bulletin, September/October 2005
GÓMEZ et al.
differed during the middle Eocene to Neogene,
compared to the previous patterns, as shown
by the distribution of thicknesses of units of
these ages (Fig. 10). These strata thin regionally
toward both the west and east due to sedimen-
tary onlap onto the Central Cordillera pediment
surface and the Guyana Shield (e.g., Figs. 10,
DR1, and DR3, see footnote 1). Maximum
preserved thicknesses of middle Eocene–Neo-
gene strata are in the MMVB (~7000 m) and
Llanos foothills area (~4500 m). Stratigraphic
thicknesses are not well constrained in the
Eastern Cordillera area (gray-shadowed area in
Fig. 10A). Scarce outcrops of these ages in this
region have maximum preserved thicknesses on
the order of ~1500 to ~1700 m.
The cross sections in Figure 11 synthesize
our interpretation of middle Eocene–Oligocene
basin geometry. Eastern Cordillera anticlines
segmented the region to the east of the Central
Cordillera, as revealed by growth strata in the
Usme and Guaduas synclines. Conglomer-
atic piedmont facies indicate a high-gradient
topographic profile in the southern MMVB,
which decreased eastward across the synclinal
basins of the Eastern Cordillera to coastal-plain
gradients in the Llanos Basin. The gradient of
the residual slope of the Central Cordillera
(MMVU) was persistently steeper than the top-
ographic gradient of the Guyana Shield to the
east, which resulted in faster onlap further east.
Figure 9. (A) Palinspastically
restored cross-section configu-
ration of the Maastrichtian to
early Eocene foreland basin
adjacent to the Central Cor-
dillera. Vertical exaggeration
~65×. (B) Corresponding chron-
ostratigraphic section. See text
for discussion.
There is no evidence that Central Cordillera
tectonic thickening in the middle Eocene–Neo-
gene caused basinal subsidence. Unlike during
the Maastrichtian–early Eocene, during this
later time the MMVB strata passively onlap
westward onto the Central Cordillera, sug-
gesting progressive decrease in its elevation
(Gómez et al., 2003). Erosional denudation of
the Central Cordillera would have contributed
flexural uplift to the MMVB rather than subsid-
ence. Isostatic adjustment to erosion explains
the net decrease of Central Cordillera altitude.
The explanation for tectonic subsidence in the
MMVB and Llanos Basin rests ultimately with
Eastern Cordillera thickening. A small amount
of tectonic subsidence was amplified into a
larger amount of total subsidence (e.g., Fig. 5)
because sediment was trapped between the Cen-
tral Cordillera and uplifts in the Eastern Cordil-
lera and between these uplifts and the Guyana
Shield (Fig. 11). Onlap of these sediments
toward the west and east caused additional
loading and flexural subsidence. Sediment
compaction also contributed a modest amount
of space (~6% of total subsidence according to
backstripping) and increased toward the east in
the MMVB and toward the west in the Llanos
Basin because the sedimentary fill was thicker
in those directions.
The contribution of Eastern Cordillera tec-
tonic loading to subsidence increased through
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DEVELOPMENT OF THE COLOMBIAN FORELAND-BASIN SYSTEM AND NORTHERN ANDES

time as this range evolved into a continuous

and wide topographic feature. For example, N
Neogene pulses of Eastern Cordillera uplift
have clear manifestations in the MMVB where
Cenozoic strata are regionally tilted toward the
east (e.g., Fig. 2C). The mechanisms of MMVB
Neogene tilting and erosional truncation of
strata are similar to those that generated Paleo-
gene unconformities in the Llanos Basin area,
the difference being that the Llanos Paleogene
surfaces were produced by flexure under Cen-
tral Cordillera loading.

MECHANICAL MODELING: TESTING

HYPOTHESES OF BASIN SUBSIDENCE

In this section, we test the mechanical viabil-

ity of our interpretations of subsidence mecha-
nisms. The simplest test is to compute in two
VA
dimensions the flexural deformation produced
by Central and Eastern Cordillera crustal loads
BA
on an infinite, elastic lithosphere of constant
thickness (Turcotte and Schubert, 1982). If the
mechanical controls are as previously hypoth-
esized and the geologic constraints are accurate,
this modeling should reproduce the basin con-
figurations that were interpreted from geologic
data; failure of the mechanical models to fit the
observations would invalidate our hypotheses.
Numerical experiments were conducted
according to procedures described by Car-
dozo and Jordan (2001). The two-dimensional
modeling strategy involves the conversion of
tectonic and sedimentary loads into rectangles
of equal width (w), but different height (hi) and
density (ρi) (Fig. 12). The deflection profile
[ui(x)] of each one of these elements (ρi • g • hi)
is then computed based on differential equations
that describe the flexure of an elastic lithosphere
(Turcotte and Schubert, 1982). The total dis- VA: Villeta anticline BA: Bogot anticline
placement profile [u(x)] is equal to the sum of
all the deflection profiles of the rectangular ele- VA BA
ments. The sum of the load profile [h(x)] and the
displacement profile [u(x)] is the relative topo-
graphic profile [rt(x)], which displays elevation Figure 10. (A) Palinspastically restored distribution of thicknesses of middle Eocene–Neogene
relative to an initially undeformed reference strata in the MMVB, Eastern Cordillera, and Llanos Basin. See text for discussion. Outlines
datum (Fig. 12). of the Central Cordillera, Santa Marta Massif, restored positions of the Eastern Cordillera
We selected four cases to simulate the flex- boundaries, and some Eastern Cordillera outcrops provided for reference (e.g., Figs. 1B
ural response to crustal loads of the Central and and 2). (B) Cross-section view of stratal-thickness variation. Vertical exaggeration, 2×.
Eastern Cordilleras. Discrete sedimentary loads
(w = 10 km, Fig. 13) were extracted from the
cross sections in Figures 9A and 11A. Discrete basin interpretation. This hypothesis relies on iterations. As discussed earlier, kilometer-scale
sedimentary thicknesses were decompacted by the assumption that there was crustal thicken- paleoaltitudes of the Central Cordillera can be
a factor of 6%, an average extracted from back- ing of the Central Cordillera. But because there inferred from its remnant topography, its degree
stripping. In all cases, we evaluated the fit of the are not accurate structural data of this range of denudation as revealed by thermal history
model approximations of paleotopography by demonstrating the amount of crustal shortening, parameters of basement rocks, the early unroof-
comparing it to the facies pattern in the basin. the paleoaltitude of the Central Cordillera is the ing of Mesozoic granitic plutons revealed by
The first three experiments (Maastrichtian, best record of crustal thickness changes. In our provenance data of lower Tertiary conglomer-
early, and late Paleocene configurations) test experiments, the Central Cordillera tectonic ates, and effects on MMVB facies (Gómez et
the Late Cretaceous–early Eocene foreland load profiles are the best choices after several al., 2003, 2005). Iterative testing showed that

Geological Society of America Bulletin, September/October 2005 1283

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GÓMEZ et al.

the best choice of lithospheric elastic thickness

(t) for modeling was 35 km. This value is inter-
mediate between elastic thicknesses associated
with rifting (0–30 km) and cold continental
lithospheres (45–90 km), which represent
extreme values for the Colombian lithosphere
during Mesozoic and late Tertiary times, respec-
tively (Turcotte and Schubert, 1982; Allen and
Allen, 1992; see also Kellogg et al., 1995;
Roeder and Chamberlain, 1995).

Modeling Results

The three first experiments evaluate the flex-

ural responses to uplift and tectonic quiescence of
the Central Cordillera (Figs. 13 and 14). Experi-
ments 1 and 2 (Figs. 14A and 14B) simulate
Maastrichtian–early Paleocene eastward-advanc-
ing uplift of this range. The third experiment
simulates the redistribution of crustal loads
associated with late Paleocene Central Cordil-
lera tectonic quiescence and erosion (Fig. 14C).
The reference datum is a middle Maastrichtian
surface at the bases of the Cimarrona Formation
and Tierna sandstone (Fig. 9A).
Our first model (Fig. 14A) evaluates the
Maastrichtian configuration beneath the La
Seca and Guaduas Formations (Fig. 9A). The
maximum modeled Central Cordillera paleoalti-
tude is 2000 m. The depositional profile of this
model is steeper on the western side of the basin
and gentler in the eastern side, as predicted by
piedmont and coastal facies, respectively. A
topographic low between 100 and 200 km in the
horizontal distance axis of Figure 14A is consis-
tent with the locus of sedimentation of shallow
marine mudstones (Díaz, 1994). Most of the
Figure 11. Palinspastically restored cross-section configuration of (A) late Eocene–Oligo- accommodation space is produced by flexure,
cene and (B) late Oligocene Colombian basins to the east of the Central Cordillera. Long- with a maximum thickness of 250 m being
term subsidence was produced by loading from Eastern Cordillera folds and onlapping accommodated above the undeformed reference
sediments. See text for explanation. datum in the western side of the basin.
In the second experiment (early Paleocene,
Fig. 14B), we increased the height of the Cen-
tral Cordillera loads and moved the boundary
between this range and the sedimentary basin
toward the east (e.g., Fig. 9). Total subsidence
next to the Central Cordillera is amplified
more than two times relative to Maastrichtian
subsidence (compare Figs. 14A and 14B). The
modeled position of the forebulge is displaced
toward the west relative to its Maastrichtian
position, which is consistent with the forma-
tion of a Late Cretaceous–Danian unconformity
along the eastern side of the basin. The con-
tinuation of this surface in the modeled basin
Figure 12. Conceptual description of our two-dimensional mechanical models after Cardozo is delineated by the dashed line in Figure 14B,
and Jordan (2001). Loading of an elastic lithosphere overlying a semifluid asthenosphere representing the deflected position of what had
(left) is solved analytically using the analogy of an infinite beam on an elastic foundation been the Maastrichtian topography. The flat
(middle and right). See text and Table 1 for explanation of constants and variables. Dark topography of the eastern side of the basin,
and light gray denote mountain and sedimentary material, respectively. east of 320 km in the horizontal-distance axis

1284 Geological Society of America Bulletin, September/October 2005

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DEVELOPMENT OF THE COLOMBIAN FORELAND-BASIN SYSTEM AND NORTHERN ANDES

of Figure 14B, truncates westward-tilted Maas- TABLE 1. MECHANICAL PARAMETERS FOR 2-D FLEXURAL MODELING
trichtian–earliest Paleocene beds. Toward the E 70 Gpa
west, the slope of the depositional profile is the ν 0.25
steepest in the region adjacent to the Central t 35 km
Cordillera, where alluvial fan deposition is ρi 2400 kg/m3 (sedimentary rocks at shallow burials)
documented. This model suggests that a total ρi 2700 kg/m3 (crystalline rocks, consolidated sedimentary rocks)
ρm 3300 kg/m3
subsidence of 1700 m and paleoelevations on g 9.8 m/s2
the order of 300 m next to the Central Cordillera
Note: E—Young’s modulus, Gpa—Gigapascals, ν—Poisson’s ratio, t—
provided enough space to accommodate most of elastic thickness, ρi—crust density, ρm—mantle density, g—Earth’s gravity.
the lower Paleocene alluvial sediments sourced
by the Central Cordillera (Fig. 14B). Erosion
and sediment bypass dominated in the eastern
sector of the basin. Paleocene paleoflow in the
Sabana de Bogotá region was oriented toward
the NNE (Laverde, 1989), which reflects the
effects of a northward slope gradient and intra-
basinal folding. These features are ignored in
these two-dimensional models.
In the third experiment (Fig. 14C), we reduced
the height of the Central Cordillera loads to
simulate late Paleocene tectonic quiescence
and erosion. The boundary between Central
Cordillera and the foreland basin is kept at the
same position as in the early Paleocene model.
The interpreted loads of quiescent-phase strata
correspond approximately to the Cacho and
lower Bogotá and the Barco and Los Cuervos
Formations (Fig. 9). Erosion produces isostatic
rebound of the Central Cordillera and proximal
depocenter, but the redistributed sedimentary
load produces displacement of the forebulge
toward the east relative to its early Paleocene
position (compare Figs. 14B and 14C). Thus
a broader late Paleocene basin is created. The
elevation of the depositional profile diminishes
from ~300 m in the western side of the basin to
0 m at the eastern side. Most of the upper Paleo-
cene quiescent-phase strata are accommodated
between the undeformed reference datum and
the graded topographic profile in the western
side of the basin (west of 300 km). In the east-
ern part of the basin (east of 300 km), however,
most of these strata (e.g., Barco and Los Cuer-
vos) are accommodated below the undeformed
reference datum in the space provided by flex-
ural subsidence. This configuration is consistent
with a corresponding west-to-east change from
continental to coastal-plain facies.
In our fourth experiment, we chose the late
Eocene–early Oligocene basinal configuration
in Figure 11A to test whether Eastern Cordillera
tectonic and sedimentary loading explain subsid-
ence in the absence of Central Cordillera load-
ing. This basin configuration postdated the final
episode of uplift and eastward expansion of the
Central Cordillera during the early Eocene. For
lack of constraints, we disregard the paleoeleva-
tion of the Central Cordillera slope in the west- Figure 13. (A) Maastrichtian, (B) early Paleocene, and (C) late Paleocene discrete load con-
ern margin of the late Eocene–early Oligocene figurations [h(x)] derived from Figure 9A. (D) Early Oligocene load configuration derived
basin and assume a flat initial reference datum from Figure 11A. See text for discussion.

Geological Society of America Bulletin, September/October 2005 1285

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GÓMEZ et al.

that corresponds to the surface of the Late Creta-

ceous–early Eocene foreland basin. The loads of
Eastern Cordillera sedimentary fill and folds in
Figure 13D produce the deformed configuration
in Figure 14D. The final configuration of the
early Oligocene deflection profile in the west-
ernmost part of the basin (100–160 km in hori-
zontal scale of Fig. 14E) includes an assumed
paleoelevation of the Central Cordillera, which
restores the westward onlapping configuration
of strata. Thicknesses up to 400 m are accom-
modated between the undeformed reference
datum and the graded depositional profile in
the western part of the basin. The gradient of
the depositional profile decreases toward the
east, while flexural subsidence accommodates
all the sediment in the easternmost sector of the
basin (east of 500 km, Fig. 14E). In general, the
combination of flexural subsidence and lower
paleoaltitudes explains the persistent eustatic
signature of upper Eocene–lower Miocene
strata in the Llanos Basin area (e.g., Figs. 14
and DR3, see footnote 1).

INTEGRATED INTERPRETATION
OF BASIN DEVELOPMENT AND
EXHUMATION OF THE CENTRAL
AND EASTERN CORDILLERAS

The successful fit between the results of the

two-dimensional mechanical models and the
patterns of sedimentary thicknesses and facies
east of the Central Cordillera indicate that the
first-order characteristics of the sedimentary fill
were simply controlled by flexural variations.
We can now extrapolate these results and assess
the degree to which regional distributions of
unconformities and facies were also determined
by similar mechanisms or by secondary controls
such as eustatic variation. The pictures of evo-
lution in Figures 15–17, DR4, and DR5 (see
footnote 1) illustrate this discussion.

Late Cretaceous–Early Eocene Foreland

Basin

Expanding Central Cordillera uplift created

a wedge-shaped foreland basin to the east with
regional drainage oriented toward the NE to the
Maracaibo Basin (Figs. 15 and 16; Campbell,
1968). Central Cordillera deformation was
episodic, which produced shifting positions of
flexural subsidence and marine-influenced sedi-
mentation. At all times, the basin topographic
axis lay east of the maximum accommodation
areas, and it migrated toward the Central Cor-
Figure 14. Modeled relative topography profiles [rt(x)] for (A) Maastrichtian, (B) early dillera during times of enhanced deformation
Paleocene, (C) late Paleocene, and (D) and (E) early Oligocene times. These simulations sat- (Figs. 15 and 16, cross sections). Two periods
isfactorily replicate the subsidence mechanisms and basinal configurations first interpreted of uplift during the Maastrichtian–Danian and
from geological data sets. See text for discussion. the early Eocene enhanced subsidence next to

1286 Geological Society of America Bulletin, September/October 2005

 N
N

FS: Fusagasug syncline

US: Usme syncline
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Geological Society of America Bulletin, September/October 2005

DEVELOPMENT OF THE COLOMBIAN FORELAND-BASIN SYSTEM AND NORTHERN ANDES

Figure 15. Synthesis of (A) Maastrichtian and (B) early Paleocene (Danian) depositional environments, paleogeography, and flexural subsidence (in insets). See text for discus-
sion. Main sources of data: Julivert (1963), Campbell (1968), Fabre (1983a, 1983b), Díaz (1994), Sarmiento (1994), Cooper et al. (1995), Gómez et al. (2003, 2005).

1287
1288
N N

FS: Fusagasug syncline

US: Usme syncline
GÓMEZ et al.
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Geological Society of America Bulletin, September/October 2005

Figure 16. Synthesis of (A) late Paleocene and (B) early Eocene depositional environments, paleogeography, and flexural subsidence (in insets). See text for discussion. Main
sources of data: Julivert (1963), Hoorn (1988), Céspedes and Peña (1995), Cooper et al. (1995), Cazier et al. (1995), and Gómez et al. (2003, 2005).
 N N
PA: Provincia anticline
LA: Lisama anticline
LC: Los Cobardes anticline
AA: Arcabuco anticline
VA: Villeta anticlinorium
GS: Guaduas syncline
FS: Fusagasug syncline
US: Usme syncline
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Geological Society of America Bulletin, September/October 2005

DEVELOPMENT OF THE COLOMBIAN FORELAND-BASIN SYSTEM AND NORTHERN ANDES

Figure 17. Synthesis of (A) middle Eocene and (B) late Oligocene–early Miocene depositional environments and paleogeography. See text for discussion and Figures DR4 and
DR5 (see text footnote 1) for the late Eocene–early Oligocene and late Miocene reconstructions. Main sources of data: Bürgl (1955), Hubach (1957), Julivert (1963), Restrepo
et al. (1975), Kellogg (1984), Ulloa (1985), Cooper et al. (1995), and Gómez et al. (2003, 2005).

1289
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the Central Cordillera, while erosive uncon-
formities developed in the eastern sector of the
basin (Figs. 15A, 15B, and 16B). Maastrichtian-
Danian sea withdrawal was caused by increased
sediment supply from the Central Cordillera
and from exposed areas of the Guyana Shield
(Figs. 15A and 15B). Late Paleocene redis-
tribution of sedimentary loads during Central
Cordillera tectonic quiescence created flexural
space for renewed coastal sedimentation in the
Llanos area (Fig. 16A), which filled an irregular
topography incised during the previous ero-
sional period (e.g., Cazier et al., 1995). Ample
tectonic subsidence generated a narrower basin
in the early Eocene and facilitated the impact of
a sea-level rise (Haq et al., 1988) to be felt to the
north (upper Socha, Fig. 16B).
The Late Cretaceous–Danian unconformity
of the eastern sector of the foreland basin was
attributed previously to reverse faulting in the
Llanos foothills (Sarmiento, 1994; Villamil,
1999). However, this erosional surface has a
large geographic extent and cuts older strata
monotonically toward the Guyana Shield. Such
characteristics are diagnostic of regional-scale
controls of the kind exerted by regional flexure
rather than local faulting. The stratigraphic hia-
tuses associated with the MMVU of the MMVB
and the Llanos Paleogene unconformities
decrease toward the Eastern Cordillera, where
there are age-equivalent strata, albeit the strata
contain minor temporal gaps related to local
folding. Previous models correlated the MMVU
with the younger Paleogene unconformity of
the Llanos Basin across the Eastern Cordillera
and postulated a period of regional uplift and
erosion of all the Colombian territory during the
middle Eocene (Cooper et al., 1995; Pindell et
al., 1998; Villamil, 1999). However, the magni-
tude and duration of such an event are not con-
sistent with preserved Maastrichtian-Oligocene
growth strata of the Eastern Cordillera, whose
formation required continuous sedimentation.
The sweeping regional-uplift interpretation also
makes it very difficult to explain the mechanical
causes of subsequent subsidence of such a vast
crustal uplift, which accommodated km-scale
thick piles of younger Cenozoic strata through-
out the Colombian territory.
Middle Eocene to Neogene: Effects of
Eastern Cordillera Diachronous Uplift
No foreland basin coupled to the Central Cor-
dillera has existed since middle Eocene times;
long-term subsidence in the MMVB and Llanos
Basin resulted from Eastern Cordillera sedimen-
tary and tectonic loading. Crustal loading by
Eastern Cordillera anticlines and westward and
eastward onlapping sediments caused long-term,
1290 Geological Society of America Bulletin, September/October 2005
GÓMEZ et al.
regional subsidence. The middle Eocene to early
Oligocene reconstructions (Figs. 17A and DR4,
see footnote 1) highlight the coexistence of two
different sedimentary systems, each with NE-
directed drainage. Sedimentation in the west
(MMVB) was continental, a likely result of a
higher paleoaltitude and larger supply of sedi-
ment from the Central Cordillera. Farther to the
east, a marine transgression is recorded by facies
of the Eastern Cordillera and the Llanos Basin
(Cooper et al., 1995). The spatial parallelism of
these drainages is explained by an intervening
zone of deformation along the western half of
the Eastern Cordillera. The southern part of this
drainage divide was the Villeta anticlinorium, as
revealed by flanking middle Eocene–Oligocene
growth strata (Gómez et al., 2003).
During the late Eocene, shallow marine con-
ditions were established to the east of the Eastern
Cordillera divide (Fig. DR4, see footnote 1). The
peak of this transgression broadly correlates with
a global sea-level highstand at the Eocene-Oligo-
cene boundary (ca. 33–34 Ma, Haq et al., 1988).
Its effect propagated into the northern MMVB
(Los Corros fossil horizon) from the Maracaibo
basin around the northern part of the Eastern
Cordillera divide (Fig. DR4, see footnote 1).
No physical evidence of this transgression exists
in the southernmost MMVB because this area
was at a higher altitude, and the growing Villeta
anticlinorium formed a barrier. Oligocene–early
middle Miocene sedimentation of the Llanos
areas expanded toward the east (Fig. 17B) and
remained close to sea level (Carbonera Forma-
tion) due to the combination of low paleoalti-
tudes and creation of flexural accommodation by
tectonic and sedimentary loading.
Major changes in basin configuration hap-
pened during the late Oligocene–early middle
Miocene due to deformation to the NE of the
MMVB (Gómez et al., 2005; Fig. 17B herein).
In palinspastically restored position, the Los
Cobardes, Provincia, and Lisama anticlines are
part of a larger morphostructural unit whose
northeastward continuation was the Perijá
Range. Simultaneous deformation of the Perijá
Range is documented by structural studies (Kel-
logg, 1984). We interpret that the Eastern Cor-
dillera–Perijá Range–Santander Massif struc-
tural barrier further raised the MMVB base level
and forced the MMVB rivers to flow toward the
Llanos Basin region across the Eastern Cordil-
lera region (Gómez et al., 2005). In the south-
ern MMVB, lower to lower middle Miocene
sediments overlapped the Villeta anticlinorium
(Gómez et al., 2003, Fig. 17A herein). Another
global eustatic sea-level rise (Haq et al., 1988)
probably contributed to the early to early middle
Miocene tectonically enhanced accommodation
of the Colombian basins. The ensuing highstand
is recorded by the León Formation (Llanos
Basin) and the slightly brackish deposits of the
Santa Teresa Formation (southern MMVB) and
the La Cira fossil horizon (northern MMVB).
The MMVB paleodrainage returned to the
north during the late middle to late Miocene
(Fig. DR5, see footnote 1) due to Eastern Cor-
dillera continued uplift and sedimentary overlap
of the Cáchira Arch (older northern boundary
of the MMVB, Gómez et al., 2005). Neogene
pulses of Eastern Cordillera uplift also caused
episodes of MMVB flexural tilting and partial
erosion of Neogene deposits (e.g., Fig. 2C).
CONCLUSIONS AND DISCUSSION
The Colombian foreland basin system east of
the Central Cordillera overlapped a Mesozoic
rift province, and subsequent inversion of the
rift system in the Eastern Cordillera modified
the nature of the foreland basin. Long-term
tectonic accommodation was controlled by
isostatic adjustments to variable distributions
of crustal tectonic loads, in combination with
sediment supply from tectonic highlands, and
paleoaltitude of depositional profiles. Eustasy
was a secondary factor, and its geographic
distribution was controlled by flexural accom-
modation and local deformation. Although
mechanically related, at least four different
types of unconformities can be recognized in
the foreland basin system, which reflect a range
of scales of variation in the wavelength of tec-
tonic accommodation. First, the MMVU in the
western sector of the foreland system resulted
from eastward-migrating Late Cretaceous–early
Eocene Central Cordillera uplift and consequent
long-term erosion since the middle Eocene. Sec-
ond, Paleogene unconformities formed on the
distal eastern side of the Late Cretaceous–early
Eocene foreland basin (e.g., Llanos area) due to
lithospheric flexure and erosional beveling dur-
ing periods of Central Cordillera uplift. Third,
similar unconformities, but formed by eastward
tilting under the load of the Eastern Cordillera,
are found in the Neogene MMVB. Fourth,
shorter wavelength folding produced local
growth unconformities and modified drainage
patterns in the subsiding basin between the
MMVB and Llanos area. Growth strata are
the most important evidence of Late Creta-
ceous–Neogene diachronous Eastern Cordillera
deformation, prior to massive Pliocene uplift.
The two-dimensional mechanical models
seem to explain variations in accommodation
at a broad regional level in the palinspastically
restored area east of the Central Cordillera,
which suggests that mechanical controls were
relatively simple during the Cenozoic. Thus,
there is no need to utilize alternative modeling
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DEVELOPMENT OF THE COLOMBIAN FORELAND-BASIN SYSTEM AND NORTHERN ANDES

techniques that invoke broken plates or thermal
weakening of the lithosphere. These models are
better suited for cases in which simple flexural
approaches cannot explain complex distributions
of sedimentary thicknesses and facies, as exem-
plified by foreland basins flanking the Central
Andes (e.g., Cardozo and Jordan, 2001).
This paper highlights the importance of
assessing the mechanical causes of accom-
modation and unconformities to understand the
evolution of tectonic basins. Time correlations
based on sequence stratigraphy, if they assume
simultaneous base-level variations that are sensi-
tive to choice of datum, are not appropriate for
basin analysis at scales comparable to the dis-
tances over which tectonic controls act. For the
MMVB–Eastern Cordillera–Llanos system, we
find that there are four different scales of tectonic
control on unconformities. At each of these spa-
tial scales, in relatively distal basin areas far from
zones of active deformation, it may be difficult to
recognize the tectonic control on unconformities
and correlative conformities. It would be just as
easy to ascribe these surfaces to eustasy even if
that explanation were erroneous. This discussion
illustrates the importance of placing the detailed
local studies within a thorough regional study, at
which scale the tectonic controls are clear.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
This study was supported by grants and fellow-
ships from the Petroleum Research Fund (ACS-PRF
no. 32818-AC8), the National Science Foundation
(Faculty Award to Women in Science and Engineering
award GER-9022811 to T.E. Jordan), and the Instituto
Colombiano para el desarrollo de la Ciencia y la Tec-
nología (Colciencias). Cornell University, the Geologi-
cal Society of America, the American Association of
Petroleum Geologists, Shell Oil Company Foundation,
Shell E&P Solutions, and Ecopetrol also contributed
funding to this research. We also thank geologists
Matthew Burns and Francisco Gómez for helpful
discussions. Critical reviews by Rebecca Dorsey,
Brian Horton, Ken Ridgway, Allen Glazner, Cynthia
Evinger, Frédéric Mouthereau, Yildirim Dilek, and an
anonymous reviewer helped us to improve this paper.
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