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An appraisal of basin development at the trailing edge of the Northern Andes, SW Ecuador-NW Peru

Abstract:

The southernmost region of the Northern Andes was subject to the collision and accretion of the Caribbean Large Igneous Province (CLIP) during Late Cretaceous. A process that led to the entrapment of an oceanic crustal sliver, defining the underlying forearc basement in the region. The interaction of the trailing edge of the accreted sliver with the continental margin, under an oblique subduction regime, led to the development of a localized outer wedge (Santa Elena High). The resulting forearc configuration drove the development of two near orthogonal but genetically related basins: 1) the Progreso forearc basin controlled by the development of an outer forearc high and the further process of tectonic escape; and 2) a transform boundary related basin that records the periods of transtension and tectonic escape. In this chapter, a series of seismic profiles together with wells, outcrops, chronological data and gravity anomalies constraints are presented to highlight the basin configuration, which represents one of the most significant forearc depocenters of the Andean margin.