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The geotectonic evolution of Ecuador in the phanerozoic
Article · January 1993
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Second ISAG, Oxford (UK),21 -231911993 215
THE GEOTECTONIC EVOLUTION OF ECUADOR IN THEPHAPTEROZOIC
Martin LITHERLAND', John A ASPDEN' and Arturo EGUEZ'
1. International Division, British Geological Survey,
Keyworth, Nottingham,NG12 5GG, UK.
2. Dept de Geologia, Escuela Politecnica Nacional, 'Apartado
,17-1-2759, Quito Ecuador
RESUMEN: Durante
el
Cretacico se acrecionaron terrenos
continentales paleozoicos y terrenos oceanicos jurasicos y
cretacicos. Estructuras mas tardes, relacionados al levantiamento
de los Andes, puede relacionarse a la reactivacion
de las fallas
de acrecion.
KEY WORDS: Ecuador, terrane, accretion
INTRODUCTION
Studies of the metamorphic rocks of the Ecuadorian Andes by the
British Geological Mission and CODIGEM (ex-INEMIN) (Aspden and
Litherland, 1982), and the subsequent preparation of national
geologic and tectono-metallogenic maps in collaboration with
Quito Polytechnic, has led to a new interpretation of the
geotectonic evolution of Ecuador involving terrane accretion
f ollowed by normal *IAndean1l subduction.
TER-ES (Fig. 1)
1 The
Amazonic craton, underlying the eastern lowlands' of
Ecuador, comprises Precambrian metamorphic rocks overlain or
intruded by essentiallyunmetamorphosedPhanerozoic units. Whilst
the Precambrian rocks may have resulted from Proterozoic
collisions, during the Phanerozoic the craton acted as a stable
block at the margin of Gondwana.
2 The Loja terrane occurs as two Andean-trending tectonic
,units
within the Cordillera Real. Rocks comprise low- to medium-grade
semipelitic schists and paragneisses,all'of presumed Palaeozoic
depositional age, associated with amphibolites and foliated,
migmatitic and mylonitic S-type granites of the Tres Lagunas
216 Second ISAG, Oxford (UIC), 21-23/9/1993
suite datedby U-Pb at 228 + 3 Ma: regarded as the metamorphic
age .
3 The A m o t aaC
pnehda u et he rar a n e s containsemipelitic
metamorphic rocks, of Palaeozoic depositional age, amphibolites,
and foliated S-type granites dated by U-Pb at 2 2 8 f 1 (the
metamorphie age): a lithologieal associationpractically
identieal to the Loja terrane (above). The rocks of the Amatope
terrane trend E-W in Eeuador; those of the Ckaueka terraneare
largely buried, but emall windows and float indications in the
south around Chaucha and tectonic lenses in the Pujili ophiolite
further rnorth suggest its extension as basement to the Inter-
Andean Valley.
4 The S a l a d oa n d A l a o t e r r a n e s of the Cordillera Real comprise
Jurassic greenstones of basalt to andesite in composition, with
associated greenschists, pelitie schists and metagreywackes.
Geochemistry indieates the Alao voleanics to be typical of
oceanie island arc basalts, but those show of more
Salado
crustal
contamination. The latter are al50 associated withJurassic cals-
alkaline plutons, the Wbitagua-Zamora Chain, paralle1 ts a
similar, but undeformed, magmaticalong arcthe adjacent western
margin of the Amazoniematon.
5 The Pinon t e r r a n e cornprises Cretacesus oeeanie crust overlain
by Cenoaoic f o r e a r c basins. The Pfnon-Maeuchi terrane is overlain
by the Palaeocene-Eoeene Macuchi island arc of calc-alkaline
affinity (Bourgois etal, 1990).
1 The Cosanga f a u l t separates undeformed rocks of the stable
Amazonie craton in the east from deformed and metamorphosed
Triassie-to-Cretaceou% rocks in t h e West. Im particular it
separates
theundeformed
Late-TriassiePiuntza wolcano-
sedimentary unitfrom S-type granites and migmatites the of
same
age int h e Cordillera Real.
2 The B a n o sf a u P t
zone is a regional, Andean-tremding, dextral
shear zone rocks of theAlao terrane.
affecting the Jurassic
3 The Peltetec f a u P t zone is marked by an ophiolitie melange
with Middle/Upper Jurassic palynoflora in the sedimentary phase.
4 The Raspas f a u l t zone comprises serpentinites, eelsgites,
bluesehists, greensehists and pelitic schists. It is parallel
with the dextral shearing event associated with the production
of the 228 Ma S-type granites in the adjacent Amotape and Chaucha
terranes. R K-Ar date gave a Lower Cretaceous age (Feiningerand
Silberman, 1982).
5 Both t h e P u j i l i a n dG u a y a q u i lf a u l t zones contain ultrasnafic
and mafie rocks regarded as derived from the Power p o r t i o n s sf
the Cretaeeous Pinon oceanic erust.
1 The Palaeozoic sediments of the L o j a , Amotape and Chaucha
Second ISAG, Oxford (UK),21-231911993 217
terranes were sheared, metamorphosed and intruded by S-type
granites at around 228 Ma, possibly related to proto-Tethyian
rifting or collision.
2 In the early Cretaceous the Amatope and Chaucha terranes were
SW along with the Jurassic Alao island arc; the
accreted from the
Loja terrane may be para-autochthonous. Over the Cordillera Rea
this collision resulted in strike-slip and nappe
tectonics'and
regional metamorphism.
3 The Pinon-Macuchi terrane may have been juxtaposed in Late
Cretaceous times, but was finally accreted towards the end of
Eocene judgingfromthe presence of reworked continental material
in Eocene formations.
TERRANE BOUNDARY REACTIVATION
In the Oligocene the formation and consequent subduction of the
Nazca
.plate
produced
a
continental
volcanic
arc,
with
intermontane basins, bounded by a coastal f'orearc and an Amazonic
backarc basin. Major Andean uplift occurred in the Pliocene and
many of the accompanying Compressive and extensional faults can
be identified as reactivated terrane boundaries, in particular
the Cosanga, Peltetec, Pujili and Guayaquil faults. Opening up
of the Pujili and Peltetec faults to form the Inter-Andean
IlgrabenIr may have produced the conduits for the c hdouble
a h of
Plio-quaternary volcanoes (Litherland and Aspden, 1992).
REFERENCES
ASPDEN, J.A. and LITHERLAND,M. 1992. The geology and Mesozoic
collisional history of the Cordillera Real, Ecuador.In: R.A.
Oliver, N. Vatin-Perignon and G . Laubacher (Editors), Andean
Geodynamics, Tectonophysics,205, 187-204.
BOURGOIS, J., EGUEZ, A., BUTTERLIN, J. and DE WEVER, P. 1990.
Evolution geodynamique de la Cordillere Occidental des Andes
d'Equateur: la decouverte de la formacion eocene dlApagua.
C. R .
Acad. Sei. Paris, t. 311, Serie II,p. 173-180.
FEININGER,T. and SILBERMAN, M.L. 1982. K-Ar geochronology of
basement rocks on the northern flanks of the Huancabamba
Deflection, Ecuador. USGS Open File Report, No 82-206.
LITHERLAND, M. andASPDEN, J. A. 19,92. Terrane-boundary
of the Northern Andes.
reactivation: A control on the evolution
Journal of South American Earth Science,'
5 , 71-76.
Second ISAG, Oxford (UK),21-23f9f1993
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