12
J.N. Kellogg and W.U. Mohriak
Jurassic to early Cretaceous oceanic lithosphere as the Farallon plate
passed over the Galapagos hot-spot, initiated in mid to late Cretaceous
time (100-75 Ma). The thickened Caribbean volcanic plateau collided
with the Greater Antilles Arc, filling the gap between South America and
nuclear Central America, in late Cretaceous time (80-70 Ma). Subduction
of the Farallon plate commenced behind the plateau. Late Cretaceous
marine terrigenous deposits bordered the Guyana Shield and only at the
Cretaceous-Tertiary boundary did a collisional belt develop on the northwest margin of the South American plate when the Western Cordillera
oceanic arc terrane collided with and overthrust the South American continental margin (Bourgois et al. 1982; Kellogg and Vega 1995). The collisional belt reversed paleoslopes along the North Andean chain to the
east, produced incipient foreland basins with deposits that, with continued uplift, spread eastward and onlapped the western limits of the
Guyana Shield.
The buoyant, indigestible Caribbean oceanic lithosphere drove the Greater Antilles Arc northeastward, accompanied by subduction of proto-Caribbean crust, until it collided with the Bahama platform in late Eocene time.
This collision produced a major eastward change in Caribbean plate motion
that resulted in the accretion of the Sinu-San Jacinto sedimentary wedge or
South Caribbean deformed belt (Duque-Caro 1979; Toto and Kellogg 1992).
Atlantic oceanic lithosphere of the North and South American plates commenced to subduct westward beneath the Lesser Antilles. This produced oblique convergence along the Caribbean-South American margin as the Lesser Antilles volcanic arc and accretionary wedge, the leading edge of the
Caribbean plate, moved eastward along the South American margin. The
southern end of the buoyant volcanic arc collided obliquely with the South
American margin, resulting in a series of nappes and foredeep basins. The
foredeeps were controlled by relative Caribbean advance, and thus young to
the east: Maracaibo/Barinas Basin, latest Paleocene-early Late Eocene; Guarumen Basin, Early Oligocene; Gmirico Basin, Oligocene-Early Miocene;
Maturin Basin, Late Oligocene-Middle Miocene; South Trinidad Basin, Early and Middle Miocene. These foredeeps controlled clastic reservoir deposition, and the rapid sedimentation caused the onset of hydrocarbon generation (Pindell et al. 1998). In late Oligocene time, uplift of the Central
Cordillera of Colombia (unpublished apatite fission-track ages), the Santa
Marta massif, and the Sierra de Perij a (Kellogg 1984) began.
About 6-12 Mathe Panama-Choco island arc arrived on the Caribbean
plate at the northwestern margin of South America (Keigwin 1982; Keller
et al. 1989; Duque-Caro 1990). The arc-continent collision eventually
formed a land bridge between the Americas (3.5 Ma), allowing the migration of mammals, closed the Pacific-Caribbean seaway, drastically chang-
J.N. Kellogg and W.U. Mohriak
Jurassic to early Cretaceous oceanic lithosphere as the Farallon plate
passed over the Galapagos hot-spot, initiated in mid to late Cretaceous
time (100-75 Ma). The thickened Caribbean volcanic plateau collided
with the Greater Antilles Arc, filling the gap between South America and
nuclear Central America, in late Cretaceous time (80-70 Ma). Subduction
of the Farallon plate commenced behind the plateau. Late Cretaceous
marine terrigenous deposits bordered the Guyana Shield and only at the
Cretaceous-Tertiary boundary did a collisional belt develop on the northwest margin of the South American plate when the Western Cordillera
oceanic arc terrane collided with and overthrust the South American continental margin (Bourgois et al. 1982; Kellogg and Vega 1995). The collisional belt reversed paleoslopes along the North Andean chain to the
east, produced incipient foreland basins with deposits that, with continued uplift, spread eastward and onlapped the western limits of the
Guyana Shield.
The buoyant, indigestible Caribbean oceanic lithosphere drove the Greater Antilles Arc northeastward, accompanied by subduction of proto-Caribbean crust, until it collided with the Bahama platform in late Eocene time.
This collision produced a major eastward change in Caribbean plate motion
that resulted in the accretion of the Sinu-San Jacinto sedimentary wedge or
South Caribbean deformed belt (Duque-Caro 1979; Toto and Kellogg 1992).
Atlantic oceanic lithosphere of the North and South American plates commenced to subduct westward beneath the Lesser Antilles. This produced oblique convergence along the Caribbean-South American margin as the Lesser Antilles volcanic arc and accretionary wedge, the leading edge of the
Caribbean plate, moved eastward along the South American margin. The
southern end of the buoyant volcanic arc collided obliquely with the South
American margin, resulting in a series of nappes and foredeep basins. The
foredeeps were controlled by relative Caribbean advance, and thus young to
the east: Maracaibo/Barinas Basin, latest Paleocene-early Late Eocene; Guarumen Basin, Early Oligocene; Gmirico Basin, Oligocene-Early Miocene;
Maturin Basin, Late Oligocene-Middle Miocene; South Trinidad Basin, Early and Middle Miocene. These foredeeps controlled clastic reservoir deposition, and the rapid sedimentation caused the onset of hydrocarbon generation (Pindell et al. 1998). In late Oligocene time, uplift of the Central
Cordillera of Colombia (unpublished apatite fission-track ages), the Santa
Marta massif, and the Sierra de Perij a (Kellogg 1984) began.
About 6-12 Mathe Panama-Choco island arc arrived on the Caribbean
plate at the northwestern margin of South America (Keigwin 1982; Keller
et al. 1989; Duque-Caro 1990). The arc-continent collision eventually
formed a land bridge between the Americas (3.5 Ma), allowing the migration of mammals, closed the Pacific-Caribbean seaway, drastically chang-