Tectonic reconstruction of the northern Andean blocks: Oblique convergence and rotations derived from the kinematics of the Piedras–Girardot area, Colombia

A detailed kinematic study in the Piedras–Girardot area reveals that approximately 32 km of ENE–WSW oblique convergence is accommodated within a northeast-trending transpressional shear zone with a shear strain of 0.8 and a convergence factor of 2. Early Campanian deformation is marked by the incipient propagation of northeast-trending faults that uplifted gentle domes where the accumulation of sandy units did not take place. Maastrichtian unroofing of a metamorphic terrane to the west is documented by a conglomerate that was deformed shortly after deposition developing a conspicuous intragranular fabric of microscopic veins that accommodates less than 5% extension. This extensional fabric, distortion of fossil molds, and a moderate cleavage accommodating less than 5% contraction, developed concurrently, but before large-scale faulting and folding. Paleogene folding and southwestward thrust sheet propagation are recorded by syntectonic strata. Neogene deformation took place only in the western flank of this foldbelt. The amount, direction, and timing of deformation documented here contradict current tectonic models for the Cordillera Oriental and demand a new tectonic framework to approach the study of the structure of the northern Andes. Thus, an alternative model was constructed by defining three continental blocks: the Maracaibo, Cordillera Central, and Cordillera Oriental blocks. Oblique deformation imposed by the relative eastward and northeastward motion of the Caribbean Plate was modeled as rigid-body rotation and translation for rigid blocks (derived from published paleomagnetic and kinematic data), and as internal distortion and dilation for weak blocks (derived from the Piedras–Girardot area). This model explains not only coeval dextral and sinistral transpression and transtension, but also large clockwise rotation documented by paleomagnetic studies in the Caribbean–northern Andean region.