--> Palaeogeographic Evolution of the Andean Cordillera, Associated Drainage Systems and Sediment Supply to Offshore Basins

AAPG ACE 2018

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Palaeogeographic Evolution of the Andean Cordillera, Associated Drainage Systems and Sediment Supply to Offshore Basins

Abstract

Since the Cretaceous, the relative movements of the Caribbean, Nazca, Chocó and South America Plates have generated uplift, thrust belts and inter-montane valleys of the northern Andean Cordillera. In such an active tectonic setting, the development of drainage systems is driven by interrelated parallel processes, including tectonics (uplift, faulting and volcanism) and climate, resulting in rapid erosion and large volumes of sediment transported and deposited. In order to facilitate attempts to estimate the quantity and characteristics of these sediments, understanding and constraining uplift evolution and the regional exhumation history is paramount. Thermochronological data was integrated in a regional landscape and drainage analysis and combined with geological control point data to construct detailed palaeogeographic maps and palaeo-digital elevation models (DEMs). The DEMs were coupled with a palaeo-Earth systems model (UK Met Office HadCM3) and a palaeotide model (Imperial College, UK, ICOM) to provide quantitative palaeoenvironmental information for key Cenozoic time slices. This novel combination of known and modelled datasets provides an integrated understanding of the palaeogeographic evolution of the Andean Cordillera, associated drainage systems and sediment supply, allowing the predictive mapping of potential reservoir facies along the northern margin of South America.