--> Abstract: Control of Oblique Collision, Transform Faulting and Uplift on Cenozoic Basin Development Along the Caribbean-South America Plate Boundary, by Xiangyang Xie; #90124 (2011)

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AAPG ANNUAL CONFERENCE AND EXHIBITION
Making the Next Giant Leap in Geosciences
April 10-13, 2011, Houston, Texas, USA

Control of Oblique Collision, Transform Faulting and Uplift on Cenozoic Basin Development Along the Caribbean-South America Plate Boundary

Xiangyang Xie1

(1) Department of Geosciences, University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, AR.

In contrast to the hydrocarbon-rich onshore basins of northern South America, offshore basins of the southern Caribbean Sea have remained under-explored and consequently have yielded only marginal amounts of oil and gas. In this study we pursue an integrated study of provenance and exhumation history using multiple approaches to document the controls of oblique collision, transform faulting and uplift on Cenozoic basin development along the Caribbean-South America plate boundary. This study will focus on three major testable hypotheses, including: a) Thick Eocene sediment packages in the Grenada-Tobago basin represent the offshore portion of the “proto-Maracaibo River”, and are depositionally connected to the Eocene fluvial-deltaic system of the Maracaibo Basin. Oblique convergence and subsequent strike-slip faulting displaced those deep water sediments to their present location; b) Exhumation of the northern Venezuelan Coastal Ranges was diachronic, beginning as early as Eocene time and extending through the Miocene; and c) Miocene uplift of the Merida Andes diverted all drainage systems to the east. The “proto-Orinoco River” became integrated and was the major point source of offshore deposition along the eastern coastal margin. Detailed sedimentologic, stratigraphic, thermochronologic, and geochronologic techniques will be used in concert to document patterns of sediment provenance, exhumation history, and paleodrainage development in northern South America during Cenozoic time. This study aims to produce a systematic provenance analysis and exhumation history which will constrain sedimentary basin evolution along the Caribbean-South America plate boundary. With integration of outcrop and subsurface, results will have important implications to reservoir rocks distribution and offshore hydrocarbon potential within the Caribbean-South America plate boundary.