2

Altamira, Armando, and Kevin Burke, 2015, The Ribbon Continent of South America
in Ecuador, Colombia, and Venezuela, in C. Bartolini and P. Mann, eds.,
Petroleum geology and potential of the Colombian Caribbean Margin:
AAPG Memoir 108, p. 39–84.

The Ribbon Continent of South America

in Ecuador, Colombia, and Venezuela
Armando Altamira
Instituto Mexicano del Petróleo, Eje Central Lázaro Cárdenas Norte #152 Col. San Bartolo Atepehuacan,
Delegación Gustavo A. Madero, Distrito Federal, C.P 07730, México (e-mail: aareyan@imp.mx)

Kevin Burke
University of Houston, Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, 312 Science and Research Bldg.
1, Rm. 312, Houston, Texas 77204, U.S.A. (e-mail: geos63@central.uh.edu)

Abstract
Isotopic ages in volcanic arc igneous and subduction complex rocks in Venezuela and on the
­offshore island of Aruba are consistent with the finding that the ages of arc igneous a­ ctivity
and high pressure–low temperature metamorphism in both of those areas are restricted to
times ­between ca 150 Ma and ca 70 Ma. That age range, and the restriction of fossil ages in the
­subduction complexes to between mid-Jurassic (ca 170 Ma) and late Cretaceous (ca 70 Ma) times,
reveals a match to the ages of volcanic arc rocks that were involved in collision with the ­Andean
Margin of Ecuador more than 2000 km (1242.7 mi) away. The similarity of ages can be explained
if the rocks in both areas are those of the Great Arc of the Caribbean, which has been considered
to have collided with the west coast of South America during the late C ­ retaceous. S
­ ynthesizing
results from Ecuador and Colombia shows that in those areas the Great Arc was ­involved in
­collisions, first with the Caribbean–Colombian Oceanic Plateau (CCOP) and then with the
­Andean Margin of South America. By 70 Ma a ca 200-km(124.2-mi)-wide Ribbon C ­ ontinent
­consisting of fragments of both the Great Arc of the Caribbean and the CCOP was traveling to
the north in a transpressive plate boundary zone (PBZ) along the Colombian coast.
By 65 Ma, as the CCOP began to enter the Atlantic Ocean and a newly formed Caribbean
plate (CARIB) separated from the Farallon plate, parts of the Ribbon Continent began to be
carried in a southern CARIB transform PBZ eastward along the north coast of South America.
We characterize three W–E-trending belts in that part of the Ribbon Continent: (1) a ­Northern
Belt consisting largely of Great Arc of the Caribbean intrusions and subduction complex rocks;
(2) a Central Belt, very well known in Venezuela, consisting of Great Arc of the ­Caribbean
subduction complex rocks; and (3) a fold-and-thrust belt in the Serrania del Interior and Lara
nappes of Venezuela. A receiver function (seismic) study has shown where rocks of the Great
Arc of the Caribbean abut the South American continent along an E–W-trending line in Ven-
ezuela. We find that rocks of both the subduction complex of the Great Arc and rocks of the
Serrania del Interior have been thrust across that boundary in secondary thrusts as the Ribbon
­Continent has propagated to the east in the South Caribbean transform PBZ.

Copyright ©2015 by The American Association of Petroleum Geologists.

DOI:10.1306/13531931M108846

39

13880_ch02_ptg01_039-084.indd 39 10/27/15 10:03 AM

 40  ALTAMIRA and Burke
The structure of the north coast of South America is being radically altered by the northward
movement of the Maracaibo Block as it escapes from deformation related to the collision of the
Panama Arc with Colombia. Restoration of movements within that block during the past 15 My
has been essential to reconstruct the structure and history of the Ribbon Continent on the north
coast of South America.
Introduction: Ribbon Continents
The idea that continents have been assembled from
volcanic arc systems goes back to soon after the estab-
lishment of the plate tectonic theory (e.g., Green and
Ringwood, 1968; McKenzie and Weiss, 1975). For many
years interpretations of the evolution of c­ ontinents
applied Wilson cycle models that pictured their
­assembly from relatively large numbers of island arcs
and the further addition of island arcs to the assembled
continents as well as the episodic breakup and a­ ssembly
of continents and even, occasionally, the assembly
of supercontinents comparable to Pangea that con-
tained most of the then continental mass of the planet.
Advances in the past 25 years have come in parsimony.
First, it is clear that pre-Pangean continents, such as
Rodinia, did not contain all, or even nearly all, of the
then existing continental mass and were not supercon-
tinents. Rodinia, for example, cannot be shown to have
been larger in area than Eurasia and Africa are in sum
today (ca 90 3 106 km2), so that Pangea remains the
only supercontinent (> 150 3 106 km2 in area) for which
there is geological evidence (Burke, 2007). Second, it
is unnecessary to postulate the involvement of large
numbers of ancient arcs in the post-Archean assembly
of continents (Burke, 2007). A small number of large arc
systems that have become highly deformed during the
assembly process better explain the data. For example,
the Altaid assembly of ca 5 × 106 km2 of Asia between
ca 700 Ma and ca 250 Ma is best explained by processes
dominantly involving only two arc systems (e.g.,
­Sengor and Natalin, 1996). Perhaps because of renewed
interest in the Lomonosov ridge, which is a type of rib-
bon continent, large and complex arc systems of Altaid
type are now being recognized as ribbon continents
in such mountain belts as the western Cordilleras of
North and South America (Centeno-Garcia et al., 2008;
Johnston, 2008; Hildebrand, 2009, 2013; Hildebrand and
Whalen, 2014).
Here we identify and briefly describe the history
of a ribbon continent, ca 0.5 M km2 in area, that has
been added to the northwestern Cordillera of South
America within the past 75 My. Isotopic ages (Table
1 and Altamira et al., in press) demonstrate the unity
of the Ribbon Continent and show that its formation
dates from a time when the southern part of the Great
13880_ch02_ptg01_039-084.indd 40
Arc of the Caribbean (Burke, 1988) collided with the
west coast of South America in Ecuador. The cessation
of South America arc system’s igneous and high pres-
sure–low temperature (HP–LT) metamorphic activ-
ity, dated within that southern part of the Great Arc
at ca 70 Ma, can be recognized in many of the parts
of the Ribbon Continent that have subsequently been
redistributed, first along the Colombian west coast of
South America and, since ca 65 Ma, along the north-
ern coast of the continent. The full significance of
the cutoff in high-temperature igneous and meta-
morphic activity at 70 Ma in Venezuela and islands
off the north coast of South America would not have
been so clear without the findings of workers from
Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule Zurich
(ETH) (e.g., Luzieux et al., 2006; Vallejo et al., 2006)
that first established the time of initial assembly of the
Ribbon ­Continent in Ecuador to have been ca 70 Ma.
The Ribbon Continent on the West Coast of
South America
Assembly of the Ribbon Continent in Ecuador during
Late Cretaceous Time
Major components of the Ribbon Continent of the
­C ordillera of northwestern South America were
erupted, deposited, deformed, assembled, accreted to
the Andean Margin of South America, and began to be
redistributed northward along the coast of the conti-
nent by strike-slip movements during a ca 20 My inter-
val between ca 90 Ma (late Turonian times) and ca 70
Ma (mid-Campanian times). Substantial fragments of
this material continue to occupy the Andean forearc of
Ecuador from the Gulf of Guayaquil to the ­Colombian
border (Figure 1). Improved understanding of the his-
tory of this remarkable temporally concentrated epi-
sode of continental evolution has come from recent
field, sedimentological, petrological, geochemical,
paleomagnetic, and isotopic age studies (e.g., Luzieux
et al., 2006; Vallejo et al., 2006; Villagomez and Spikings,
2013). Here we mainly use these results in summarizing
the geology of the faulted blocks that were assembled
in Ecuador to contribute to the newly formed Ribbon
Continent. Outcrops in Ecuador preserve blocks of the
10/27/15 10:03 AM
 The Ribbon Continent of South America in Ecuador, Colombia, and Venezuela  41
Ribbon Continent at or close to the site of their original
assembly. The particular importance of the Ecuadorian
blocks is therefore that they have traveled only a short
distance with respect to South America during the time
since the Great Arc of the Caribbean collided with the
continent. By contrast, only far-traveled fragments of
the Ribbon Continent are exposed in Colombia and
Venezuela and in the offshore islands of the southern
Caribbean that are distributed along the northern coast
of South America as far to the east as Tobago. Blocks of
the Ribbon Continent in those regions have been car-
ried in strike-slip motion, mainly on transform faults,
first along the western and then along the northern
coast of South America for distances up to 3000 km
(1864.1 mi) (Figure 1). We first summarize the charac-
ter of the faulted blocks in Ecuador and explain how
they attained their present distribution as a result of the
sequence of events that culminated in the departure of
the fragments that now occur as fault-bounded blocks
far away to the north and east.
13880_ch02_ptg01_039-084.indd 41
Figure 1. Ribbon Continent in Ecuador and
­ olombia. The Ribbon Continent on the west coast
C
of South America consists of fragments of (1) the
Caribbean–Colombian Oceanic Plateau (CCOP)
and (2) the Great Arc of the Caribbean. In Ecuador,
where the record of the sequential collision of the
Great Arc is best preserved, first with the CCOP
and then with the then active Andean Arc of
South America, some Great Arc blocks overlie the
CCOP and others are caught up in the Pallatanga
collisional suture and fault zone of the Cordil-
lera. Farther north in Colombia, the intensity of
transpressional deformation in the 200-km
(124.2-mi)-wide Ribbon Continent plate boundary
zone (PBZ), which separates the main body of the
CCOP from the continent of South America, has
narrowed the outcrop of the Great Arc to < 100
km (< 62.1 mi) in the Quebradagrande and Arquia
subduction complexes, which are part of the ca
600-km (372.8-mi)-long Romeral suture and fault
zone. Polymetamorphic Complex fragments within
those zones at (1) and (2) are parts of the base-
ment of the then active Andean volcanic arc that
have been incorporated by strike-slip movement
into the Romeral suture and fault zone. Blue schist
and eclogite fragments (*) are the southernmost
of many occurrences of rocks in those facies that
are sporadically distributed in Great Arc subduction
complex outcrops. The Antioquia batholith of Juras-
sic and Cretaceous age within the active Andean
Arc of the late Cretaceous is among the larger
objects on the Earth that indicates a sense of strain
accumulation. Geology at the end of Cretaceous
times is shown on present geography (interpreta-
tion based mainly on work by Luzieux et al., 2006;
Nivia et al., 2006). 100 km (62.1 mi)
The Caribbean–Colombian Oceanic Plateau
in Ecuador
The Caribbean–Colombian Oceanic Plateau (CCOP) is
the large igneous province (LIP) that formed when a
mantle plume reached the surface and established the
parent body of the Galapagos Islands hot spot (Figure 2;
Kerr et al., 1997). Figures 2, 5, 6, and 7 are sketches, but
like situations for similar Cretaceous times have also
been depicted on more formal plate reconstructions
(e.g., Pindell and Kennan, 2001; ­Pindell et al., 2005). We
did not attempt such reconstructions as (1) they tend to
obscure uncertainties about regional geology because
they must close vector triangles, (2) they contain too
many formal uncertainties including multi-plate cir-
cuits with propagating errors about which there is no
consensus, and (3) they contain assumptions about hot
spot population movements in various reference frames
that are also unresolved. Unfortunately, plate rotations
involving the CARIB become robust only for times after
the spreading center in the Cayman trough formed at
10/27/15 10:03 AM
 42  ALTAMIRA and Burke
Figure 2. Sketch map and cross section (based on Luzieux
et al., 2006, figure 9, and Rogers et al., 2007, figure 9)
showing the relations of the Great Arc of the Caribbean and
the Caribbean–Colombian Oceanic Plateau (CCOP) to the
Americas before the arc collided with the plateau and the
polarity of subduction reversed. 10 km (6.2 mi)
ca 50 Ma (Leroy et al., 2000). From that time on, the
CARIB has moved close to due east with respect to both
North and South America.
Other names have been used for the CCOP, but
we use the name that emphasizes its most extensive
areas of preservation in the Caribbean and Colombia.
The Galapagos archipelago lies above the 1% slow
shear-wave velocity contour that occupies the edge of
the Pacific large low shear-wave velocity ­p rovince
(LLSVP) (Garnero et al., 2007) on the core–mantle
boundary (core–mantle boundary., Figure 3). That
observation is significant because Torsvik et al. (2006)
and Torsvik and Burke (2014) demonstrated that
LIPs and hot spots derived from deep-seated mantle
plumes overlie those 1% slow contours at the edges
of LLSVPs on the CMB. Hot spot volcanoes and LIPs
derived from the CMB in those loci make up a dis-
tinct population among non-plate-margin igneous
rocks. The conclusion that the Galapagos Islands
and their parent LIP (CCOP) are directly linked to
the CMB is a robust one (Burke and Cannon, 2014).
Hot spots with a CMB origin, such as the Tristan hot
spot in the South Atlantic, are commonly linked to
13880_ch02_ptg01_039-084.indd 42
Figure 3. Sketch map showing that the Galapagos Islands
today vertically overlie the edge of the Pacific large low
shear-wave velocity province (LLSVP) (Garnero et al., 2007)
at the core–mantle boundary. Hot spot volcanoes with
that property have been shown to have risen from the
core–mantle boundary (Torsvik et al., 2006). South America
is shown in its approximate position with respect to the
LLSVP and the Caribbean–Colombian Oceanic Plateau,
which was the parent large igneous province of ­today’s
Galapagos archipelago at ca 90 Ma, the time of initial
­eruption of the LIP.
their parent LIPs by tracks. Only the youngest part
of the track is preserved in the case of the Galapagos
hot spot because older parts of the track have been
subducted.
Fragments of the CCOP form parts of eight fault-
bounded blocks of the Andean forearc in the coastal
lowlands and the western Cordillera of Ecuador. In
the coastal lowlands, the CCOP forms the basements
of the Pinon, San Lorenzo, Pedernales–Esmeraldas,
and Santa Elena Blocks (Figure 1). In the western
­Cordillera, the CCOP is represented by the basements
of the Rio Desgracia, Naranjal, and Pallatanga Blocks.
Basement is not exposed in the westernmost Cordil-
leran block, the Macuchi Block.
The age of eruption of the CCOP has been deter-
mined from basement gabbros of the Pallatanga
Block that yielded a U/Pb zircon age of 87.1 1 0.83
Ma ­(Luzieux et al., 2006). A hornblende 40Ar/39Ar pla-
teau age of 88.8 1 1.6 Ma from a gabbro within the
basement of the Pinon Block (Pinon Formation) is
not significantly different from the U/Pb zircon age
(Luzieux et al., 2006). Both ages are within the nar-
row range of ages for the CCOP that have recently
been published from widely distributed localities
(e.g., Sinton et al., 1998; Hoernle et al., 2002; Vallejo
et al., 2006). At least partly pelagic sedimentary rocks
(black shales, calcareous lutites, and radiolarites) of
the Calentura F ­ ormation, which overlies the CCOP
in the Pinon Block, yielded fossils of Coniacian age
10/27/15 10:03 AM
 The Ribbon Continent of South America in Ecuador, Colombia, and Venezuela  43

(89–86 Ma) (Luzieux et al., 2006), confirming a finding

of Velasco-Sanchez and Mendoza (2003). They relate
to sedimentary rocks intercalated among volcaniclas-
tic sandstones in the upper parts of the Calentura
­F ormation. We consider that those sandstones are
derived not from the CCOP but from the Great Arc of
the Caribbean and postdate the collision of the Great
Arc with the CCOP.

Great Arc of the Caribbean in Ecuador

The Great Arc of the Caribbean, parts of which out-
crop in Mexico, Nicaragua, the Greater Antilles, and
the Lesser Antilles, on the sea bed of the Aves Swell, on
islands offshore of Venezuela (from Aruba to Tobago),
and on the continent of South America in Venezuela,
Colombia, and Ecuador, is the older of two island arcs
that presently occupy parts of the margin of the CCOP
in the Caribbean (Burke, 1988). Parts of the Great Arc
are now in contact with the CCOP on the western
flank of the Saba Bank and the Aves Swell (Figure 4).
On the northern and southern sides of the Caribbean,
the Great Arc is also in contact with the CCOP in the
North and South Caribbean plate boundary zones
(PBZs), but those contacts are strike-slip dominated
and the original relationship of the Great Arc to the
CCOP is not so readily discernable. Volcanic arc-type
igneous rocks in the Great Arc have yielded isotopic
ages of >100 Ma (e.g., in Tobago) that are older than
the eruption age of the CCOP (ca 90 Ma). For that rea-
son the relationship between the arc and the contigu- Figure 4. Sketch map and E–W crustal cross section
ous CCOP has been interpreted to have been the result (at 15° N) from Donnelly (1994) showing the Aves Swell
of collision (Burke, 1988). An alternative idea, that in contact with the Caribbean–Colombian Oceanic Plateau
the Great Arc never collided with the CCOP, requires (CCOP). The Aves Swell was the active part of what is
the contiguity of the Great Arc with the CCOP west now the Lesser Antillean segment of the Great Arc of the
of the Aves Swell and west of the Saba Bank to be a ­Caribbean until ca 60 Ma. The relationship shown ­requires
the Great Arc, which is older than the CCOP, to have
coincidence (Pindell et al., 2005; Hildebrand, 2013
­collided with the CCOP after that LIP erupted at ca 90 Ma.
for summaries of published reasons for adopting the Evidence in Ecuador places the timing of that collision
alternative idea). In that case the eruption of the CCOP at ca 86 Ma. 500 km (310.7 mi)
plume head fortuitously juxtaposed the plateau and
the arc. Island arc volcanic rocks on top of the CCOP
in Ecuador show that the Great Arc did indeed collide flows, columnar basalts, hyaloclastites, and pillow
with the CCOP and provide the best currently availa- lavas intercalated with sedimentary rocks of the San
ble information about the timing of that collision at ca Lorenzo Formation overlie the CCOP Pinon Forma-
86–80 Ma (Luzieux et al., 2006; Van Melle et al., 2008). tion basement in the San Lorenzo Block. Because San
The Great Arc is represented in the western Cordil- Lorenzo Formation volcanic rocks show subduction-
lera of Ecuador by volcanic and volcaniclastic sedi- related geochemical affinities (Goossens and Rose,
mentary rocks derived from an arc built on the ocean 1973; Reynaud et al., 1999) and contain no continen-
floor, which form much of the Macuchi, Rio Desgra- tal detritus, we interpret the San Lorenzo Formation
cia, Naranjal, and Pallatanga Blocks (Luzieux et al., rocks to represent the Great Arc of the Caribbean and
2006) (Figure 1). The relationship of the Great Arc to to record the collision of the Great Arc with the CCOP
the CCOP in the Ecuadorian forearc is also displayed as having taken place within the Pacific Ocean at, or
in the Pinon, San Lorenzo, Santa Elena, and Peder- close to, Santonian time (ca 86–84 Ma).
nales–Esmeraldas Blocks of the coastal lowlands. For The Pinon, San Lorenzo, Santa Elena, and
example, volcanic arc igneous rocks including basaltic ­Pedernales–Esmeraldas Blocks of the coastal lowlands

13880_ch02_ptg01_039-084.indd 43 10/27/15 12:38 PM

 44  ALTAMIRA and Burke
Figure 5. Sketch map and cross section (based on Luzieux
et al., 2006, figure 9, and Rogers et al., 2007, figure 9)
showing the collision of the Great Arc of the Caribbean with
the Caribbean–Colombian Oceanic Plateau (CCOP) at
ca 86 Ma. Subduction of the Farallon plate to the northeast
­immediately ceased. South limit of the ­Chortis Block
(gray and dashed areas) formed the suture with the Great
Arc of the Caribbean after 75–70 Ma ­collision (Rogers et al.,
2007) (see Figure 7a). 10 km (6.2 mi)
of Ecuador are all in strike-slip contact with fragments
of the CCOP that together with Great Arc fragments
occupy a transform PBZ that separated the main
CCOP body from the late Cretaceous Andean Margin
of South America (Figure 1). Great Arc lithounits in the
coastal lowland CCOP blocks, such as the San ­Lorenzo
Formation, may represent a part of the Great Arc that
collided with the southern margin of the CCOP.
On the basis of the evidence on the San Lorenzo
Block, the Santonian appears to have been the time
of collision and immediate reversal of the subduction
polarity of the Great Arc (Burke 1988) (Figures 5 and
6). After that reversal of polarity, the Great Arc, trave-
ling to the ENE and carrying the CCOP behind it, con-
verged obliquely with the Andean Margin of South
America. Collision of the arc with the already-existing
Andean Arc of Ecuador while traveling to the ENE is
dated by the earliest occurrence of continent-derived
detritus in the Pallatanga Formation within the
Pallatanga Block (Figure 1) during late Campanian
13880_ch02_ptg01_039-084.indd 44
Figure 6. Sketch map and cross section (based on Luzieux
et al., 2006, figure 9, and Rogers et al., 2007, figure 9)
showing how subduction polarity was reversed imme-
diately after the collision between the Great Arc and the
­Caribbean–Colombian Oceanic Plateau (CCOP)
(see Figure 5). Ocean floor generated at Atlantic Ocean
spreading ­centers immediately began to be subducted.
at ca 75 Ma (Jaillard et al., 2004; Luzieux et al., 2006,
figure 3). Paleomagnetic data (Luzieux et al., 2006,
figure 8) show that the collision of the Great Arc with
the Andean Margin of South America can also be
dated by the occurrence of clockwise rotations of dis-
crete fragments of the Pinon and San Lorenzo Blocks
between 75 Ma and 70 Ma (late Campanian to early
Maastrichtian times). From roughly 75 Ma, the Great
Arc and the associated CCOP moved ENE toward the
gap between the ­A mericas and the Atlantic Ocean
beyond. With the establishment of the Panama Arc
on the southwestern flank of the CCOP (presumably
ca 70 Ma), the Caribbean became isolated from the
Farallon plate and entered the Atlantic Ocean as a
newly independent CARIB.
The Pallatanga Suture and Fault Zone
The Great Arc and the attached CCOP were sutured
to the Andean Margin of South America as a result
of collision by ca 70 Ma (Burke, 1988; Luzieux et al.,
10/27/15 10:03 AM
 The Ribbon Continent of South America in Ecuador, Colombia, and Venezuela  45
2006; Vallejo et al., 2006). The structure of that suture
zone is relatively obscure because of the following
reasons:
1. The entire 100- to 200-km (62.2- to 124.2-mi)-
wide sutured body, made up of the CCOP and Great
Arc rocks that had just been assembled to initiate the
establishment of the Ribbon Continent, immediately
became involved in a ca 200-km (124.2-mi)-wide, gen-
erally transpressional, transform PBZ and began to
move northward. For that reason, workers in Ecuador
refer to the structure as the ­Pallatanga fault. We refer
to it as “the Pallatanga suture and fault zone” (PSFZ
in Figure 1) to emphasize that it has the characters of
both types of structures.
2. Today’s active Andean volcanic arc in Ecuador
overlies the Pallatanga fault. The active arc is crested
by the Inter-Andean depression, which is an arc-
crestal rift having similar gravitational collapse origin
to an arc-crestal rift from Peru described by ­Dalmayrac
and Molnar (1981).
3. An active strike-slip fault occupies the site of
the Pallatanga fault on the eastern side of the Inter-
Andean depression in much of Ecuadorian Andes.
That fault extends north-northeastward from the Gulf
of Guayaquil to the southernmost point of the triangu-
lar Maracaibo Block at Bucaramanga, Colombia.
History of the Assembly of the Ribbon Continent
in Ecuador
The descriptions of the geology of the CCOP, the
Great Arc of the Caribbean, and the Pallatanga suture
and fault zone in the foregoing sections enable us to
present a history of the sequence of events involved
in the assembly of the Ribbon Continent in Ecuador:
1. The CCOP erupted at ca 90 Ma (late Turonian
time) (Luzieux et al., 2006), perhaps in the present
latitude and longitude of the Galapagos (0° N 90° W)
(Vallejo et al., 2006). The plateau was centered on the
present site of the Galapagos (Burke and Cannon,
2014) (Figure 3). It may have had an approximately cir-
cular shape and have been 1000 to 2000 km (621.4 to
1242.8 mi) in diameter (Figure 3). The E–W trend of the
­Pinon- and Santa Elena–collided volcanic arc blocks on
the north side of the Gulf of Guayaquil (Luzieux et al.,
2006) (Figure 1) perhaps indicates the shape of the south-
ern border of the CCOP at the time of that collision.
2. Deposition of pelagic sediments of the Calentura
Formation on top of the CCOP during Coniacian times
(ca 89–86 Ma) (Luzieux et al., 2006) marks the inter-
val when the CCOP was an isolated oceanic plateau
within the Farallon plate and was moving along with
that plate. As the plate moved, a hot spot track began
to form on the Farallon plate to the southwest of the
13880_ch02_ptg01_039-084.indd 45
CCOP (Figure 5). That track joined the CCOP to the
then position of the Galapagos hot spot (Figures 2 and
5). Much of the track has now been subducted.
3. Collision of the CCOP with the Great Arc of
the Caribbean in late Coniacian or Santonian times
(ca 86–84 Ma) (Burke, 1988) is recorded in the San
­L orenzo Block of coastal Ecuador and in several
other blocks in the Ecuadorian forearc. After the colli-
sion the polarity of the Great Arc’s subduction direc-
tion immediately reversed, and the combined CCOP
and Great Arc began to move in a generally north-
east direction with respect to North America (Burke,
1988). Farther south, on the coast of Peru, no strong
evidence of collision of the Great Arc, or any other
buoyant object with the Andean Margin of South
America during the ­C retaceous, has been recog-
nized (Hildebrand and Whalen, 2014, for another
view). That observation is consistent with the idea
that the Great Arc and CCOP at the time of their col-
lision with the Andean Margin of South America
extended no farther to the south than the Gulf of
Guayaquil (Burke, 1988) (­Figure 1).
4. The northeastward motion (with respect to North
America) of the combined CCOP and Great Arc during
the late Cretaceous (ca 84–70 Ma) had different conse-
quences in different parts of the Americas ­(Figure 7).
On the southwestern margin of North America in
Mexico, the collision of the Great Arc began in the
west as early as 75 Ma (e.g., Centeno-Garcia et al.,
2008; Ratschbacher et al., 2009) and progressed east-
ward reaching the southern margin of the Yucatan by
ca 65 Ma. The parts of the Great Arc now preserved in
the Greater and Lesser Antilles moved toward a space
between the Americas that was increasing in width in
its north to south dimension between ca 84 Ma and
ca 68 Ma. The southeastern and southern parts of the
Great Arc, which had collided with the Andean coast
of South America in Ecuador and Colombia at ca 70 Ma
(Luzieux et al., 2006), began immediately after that
collision, to move to the north-northeast in a transpres-
sional transform PBZ (Figure 7B and C; Table 2).
Transport of Fragments of the CCOP and the
Great Arc Northward from Ecuador
A ca 150-km (93.2-mi)-wide block of the CCOP lies
beneath the coastal lowlands of the Ecuadorian forearc
­(Figure  1). The southern and western coasts of the
­lowlands contain fragments of the Great Arc in the Pinon,
Santa Elena, San Lorenzo, and Pedernales–Esmeraldas
Blocks that were juxtaposed with the 150-km (93.2-mi)-
wide CCOP Block during the late Cretaceous (75–65 Ma)
10/27/15 10:03 AM
 46  ALTAMIRA and Burke
Figure 7. (A) Slab rollback pulling the Great Arc of
the ­Caribbean into the Atlantic Ocean and related
­transpressional collision of part of the Great Arc and the
­Caribbean–Colombian Oceanic Plateau (CCOP) with
Northwest South America in Ecuador. (B) Map detail in
Ecuador and (C) cross section showing structure within
the ca 200-km (124.2-mi)-wide plate ­boundary zone in
which the newly assembled ­Ribbon Continent, consisting
of blocks of the Great Arc and of the CCOP, ­began to move
to the ­northeast. Rotations in the San ­Lorenzo and Pinon
Blocks were determined ­paleomagnetically ([A] is based on
figure 9 of Rogers et al., 2007 and [B] is based on figure 9 of
Luzieux et al., 2006).
Table 2.  Events at ca 65 Ma illustrating the change of
motion of the Caribbean plate from northeast to east as it
entered the Atlantic.
65 Ma: Ending of collisional igneous activity of the Great
Arc in Yucatan.
65 My: Time needed for the fragment carried farthest to the
east along the north coast of SOAM (Tobago) to travel at ca
20 km/My.
68 Ma: Change of motion, from separation to convergence,
of NOAM with respect to SOAM as estimated using
Atlantic Ocean floor magnetic anomalies.
65 Ma to 55 Ma: Formation of Yucatan and Grenada Basins
in response to shear stresses developed as the Caribbean
plate squeezed its way past the Americas and into the
Atlantic Ocean.
13880_ch02_ptg01_039-084.indd 46
in major, mainly strike-slip, faults, including the Puerto
Cayo fault and the Canande fault (Luzieux et al., 2006)
(Figures 1 and 7B and C). The collision of the Great Arc
with the CCOP has been characterized by ­Luzieux et al.
(2006) and Vallejo et al. (2006) as involving the CCOP, not
only in the Pallatanga Formation but also in the San Juan
unit. This unit is in faulted contact with the Pallatanga
Block and also contains fault juxtaposed fragments of the
Great Arc; e.g., at Peltetec (1.5° S, 78.5° W), rocks of island
arc affinity have yielded early Cretaceous ages. A gra-
nitic block in the Pujili mélange of the Pallatanga Block
yielded a U/Pb age of 85 1 1.4 (2 sigma) Ma (Vallejo et
al., 2006). That block has the geochemical character of an
island arc built on ocean floor (Vallejo et al., 2006). From
its age, the Pujili granitic block seems likely to have been
generated by subduction of the CCOP after collision with
the Great Arc and before collision of the combined CCOP
and Great Arc with the Andean Margin of South Amer-
ica (see Figure 7 b). Vallejo et al. (2006) pointed out the
compositional and age resemblance of the Pujili mélange
block to the Aruba batholith that White et al. (1999) inter-
preted to have formed in the Great Arc and to have been
related to the subduction of the CCOP. Figure 7 (based on
figure 9 of Luzieux et al., 2006) shows that assembly of
the Ribbon ­Continent may have extended into Colombia,
but before discussion of what happened in Colombia, we
first outline the characteristics of the rocks of the newly
assembled Ribbon Continent that were carried away to
the north from Ecuador after the collision of the com-
bined CCOP and Great Arc with the then active Andean
Margin of South America. Identification of rocks with
those specific ages and those specific rock types provides
the basis for recognizing the Great Arc and CCOP frag-
ments within fault-bounded blocks in western Colombia
and on and off the north coast of South America as far
to the east as 61° W. Blocks as far away as Tobago can be
recognized to be parts of the Ribbon Continent by means
of those identifications.
Rocks and Structures of the Ribbon Continent That
Can Be Expected to Outcrop in Fragments Carried
North from Ecuador along the Western and Northern
Coasts of South America
Fragments of the CCOP
Characteristics of LIPs (Ernst and Buchan, 2003)
include the following: (1) huge volumes of igneous,
mainly basaltic, rock; (2) eruption over a short inter-
val, commonly not much more than 1 My; (3) associ-
ated giant dike swarms; and (4) distinctive rare-earth
geochemistry showing that they are not volcanic arc
rocks or mid-oceanic ridge basalts (MORBs). In rela-
tively small fragments, such as those that may occur
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 The Ribbon Continent of South America in Ecuador, Colombia, and Venezuela  47
in subduction complexes, on the west coast of South
America in Colombia, and on and offshore of the north
coast of South America, criteria (1) and (2) cannot
be applied. We suggest that criterion (2), the narrow
range of isotopic ages of a LIP, which for the CCOP is
close to 89 Ma, is likely to be the most useful distinc-
tive criterion. Not all igneous rocks with isotopic ages
close to 89 Ma on the north coast of South America are
necessarily fragments of the CCOP, but basalts of that
age should be considered as likely candidates.
Fragments of the Great Arc
Various island arc environments can be expected
to be represented among a variety of transported
­fragments. Great Arc plutonic rocks from beneath arc
volcanoes will show two diagnostic features: (1) they
will yield igneous (i.e., isotopic systems with high clo-
sure temperatures) ages no younger than ca 70 Ma,
which was when the Great Arc collided with the
Andes in E ­ cuador and, at that time, ceased to erupt
igneous rocks, and (2) they will show isotopic and
trace element compositions characteristic of an island
arc constructed on ocean floor during late Jurassic to
late Cretaceous times.
Forearc sedimentary rocks, accretionary prism
rocks, and HP/LT metamorphosed rocks of the sub-
duction complex are all likely to be represented
among transported fragments. HP/LT metamorphic
rocks of the Great Arc have not been reported from
outcrop in Ecuador where we consider that they lie
at depth. Transport by strike-slip movement has long
been recognized as an effective way of moving rocks
formed at blue schist and eclogite formation depths to
the surface, especially where thrusts are also involved
(Karig, 1980). Blue schists that are inferred to be at
depth in Ecuador are likely therefore to outcrop in the
far-traveled blocks of Colombia and Venezuela. Their
HP/LT metamorphic ages in minerals with high clo-
sure temperatures, like those of the igneous ages of
Great Arc rocks, can be expected to be no younger
than ca 70 Ma. That would have been the last time
when those rocks were at blue schist– and eclogite-
forming depths.
Accretionary prism material in transported blocks
in western Colombia and on the north coast of South
America is likely to be preserved in green schist and
prehnite–pumpellyite facies more commonly than
in blue schist facies. Rocks of the accretionary prism
can also be expected to include graywackes and
shales as well as slivers of deep-water cherts and
carbonate rocks, although carbonate rocks are likely
to be rare. Igneous rocks in accretionary prism frag-
ments are likely to include serpentinized harzburgites
as well as ocean-floor basalts of CCOP and MORB
13880_ch02_ptg01_039-084.indd 47
compositions. Ages of basalts of MORB composition
can be expected to be greater than 90 Ma, reflecting
pre-CCOP eruption ages. Volcanic arc rocks, mainly
basalts, andesites, and rhyolites as fragments within
volcaniclastic rocks, as well as intrusions and flows,
can also be expected to occur in accretionary prism
units, especially as re-sedimented blocks. Faunas and
floras in accretionary prism rocks can be expected to
range throughout the entire pre-collisional history
of the Great Arc, that is, from at least as old as mid-­
Jurassic (ca 170 Ma, or earlier) to late Campanian
(ca 70 Ma) in age.
Fragments of Triassic and Older Intrusives
The collision of the Great Arc with the Andean ­Margin
of South America in Ecuador at 70–75 Ma involved
the juxtaposition of rocks of two arc systems in the
­Pallatanga suture and fault zone (Figure 1). The late
Cretaceous Andean Margin, now exposed in the east-
ern Cordillera of Ecuador, contained Paleozoic to early
Cretaceous metasedimentary and intrusive rocks,
including Triassic migmatites from which Litherland
et al. (1994) reported U/Pb zircon ages of 227 1 2 Ma.
Vallejo et al. (2006) obtained 40Ar/39Ar ages on micas
from those migmatites of ca 68.5 Ma, a time when the
Ribbon Continent was traveling to the north in a trans-
form PBZ. The Triassic-aged migmatites crop out close
to the Pallatanga suture and fault zone (see Vallejo et
al., 2006) (Figure 1). We suggest that Triassic plutonic
rocks as well as similar rocks of Paleozoic and Prote-
rozoic ages occur as tectonically isolated fragments
within the Great Arc subduction complex and are a
minor but significant component of the Ribbon Conti-
nent in Ecuador, Colombia, and Venezuela.
The Romeral Suture and Fault Zone of Colombia:
A Northern, Along-strike, Extension of the Pallatanga
Suture and Fault Zone of Ecuador
Almost 100,000 km2 (62137 mi2) of the CCOP occu-
pies the western Cordillera of Colombia, and a com-
parable area, extending at least to the offshore island
of Gorgona, underlies lower ground farther to the
west and closer to the coast (Nivia et al., 2006).
­Structural ­complexity has been mapped in generally
N–S-­trending faults parallel to the regional strike of
the Cordillera and in cross faults striking between NE
and SE (Figure 1) (Nivia et al., 2006; Correa-Martinez,
2007). As in Ecuador, CCOP outcrops in Colombia
expose mafic (basaltic) and ultramafic rocks as well
as rocks that have been identified as “plateau vol-
canic rocks” (Nivia et al., 2006) and overlying marine
sediments.
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 48  ALTAMIRA and Burke
The Romeral system of Maya and Gonzalez (1996),
a ca 100-km (62.2-mi)-wide and ca 700-km (435-mi)-
long geologically complicated and heavily faulted belt
to which Burke (1988) had applied the name Romeral
suture, lies east of the CCOP outcrop and separates it
from the outcrop of the Cretaceous Andean Margin of
Colombia in which an Andean Arc had been constructed
on a basement called “The Polymetamorphic Complex
of the Central Cordillera” (Restrepo and Toussaint,
1982). That complex consists of rocks similar to those
underlying the Cretaceous Andean Arc of Ecuador. For
consistency with the nomenclature that we use in Ecua-
dor we here use the term “Romeral suture and fault
zone” for that narrow complex area. Maya and Gon-
zalez (1996) and Nivia et al. (2006) distinguished two
complexes within the structure here called the Romeral
suture and fault zone. Those two complexes, the Arquia
Complex and the Quebradagrande Complex , have
been mapped as two parallel ca 500-km (310.7-mi)-long,
north-trending, fault-bounded units. Those complexes,
each of which average ca 25 km (15.6 mi) wide but which
vary in width along strike, separate the western Cordil-
lera of Colombia from the central Cordillera. Nivia et
al. (2006) named bounding faults of the Romeral suture
and fault zone (1) the Cauca-Almaguer fault, on the west
against the CCOP, and (2) the Jeronimo fault on the east
against the Cretaceous Andean volcanic arc that overlies
the basement (“the Polymetamorphic Complex”). The
Silvia–Pijao fault separates the Arquia Complex in the
west from the Quebradgrande Complex.
If the late Cretaceous tectonic history that was estab-
lished by Luzieux et al. (2006) and Vallejo et al. (2006)
for Ecuador can be extended into Colombia, it is neces-
sary that the Arquia and Quebradagrande Complexes,
which separate outcrops of the CCOP to the west from
the late Cretaceous Andean Margin of northern South
America to the east, must contain parts of the Great
Arc of the Caribbean. Those parts of the Great Arc
would have collided with the CCOP at ca 84 Ma (late
Santonian time) and, after a reversal of subduction
polarity, collided with the Andean Margin of South
America at 75–70 Ma. On that interpretation the rocks
of the Arquia and Quebradagrande Complexes (1)
mark the site of suturing of the Great Arc and CCOP
to South America, as well as (2) occupy the fault zone
along which the sutured block began to be displaced
to the north after ca 75 Ma, when rocks of the collided
Great Arc and the CCOP began to travel together to the
NNE. The Silvia–Pijao fault separates the Arquia Com-
plex from the Quebradagrande ­Complex; to the west,
the Cauca-Almager fault places these two complexes
against the CCOP, and on their east the San Jeronimo
fault separates them from the Cretaceous Andean arc
basement. These system of faults and units together
form the Romeral suture and fault zone of this chapter.
13880_ch02_ptg01_039-084.indd 48
They correspond to the structure in Ecuador, along
strike to the south, that we have called the Pallatanga
suture and fault zone (Figure 1).
The Quebradagrande Complex
A description of the Quebradagrande Complex by
Nivia et al. (2006) is consistent with the idea that the
complex is mainly composed of relatively shallow
level subduction complex accretionary prism rocks
of the Great Arc of the Caribbean. The “Quebradag-
rande rocks consist of imbricated slices of strongly
deformed dynamometamorphic rocks with crenula-
tion cleavage and Andean mylonitic foliation that
bears NNE and dips 50° to 70° to the east” (Nivia
et al., 2006). Mylonites include slices up to 1 km
(0.6 mi) thick formed from clay-rich carbonaceous
mudstones intercalated with thin beds of limestones
and cherts. The complex includes both metasedimen-
tary and metavolcanic rocks, the protoliths of the latter
being basaltic to andesitic lavas, and pyroclastic rocks
affected by metamorphism of zeolite, prehnite–pumpel-
lyite, and green schist facies. Imbricated slices of gab-
bro and ultramafic rocks are closely associated with the
Quebradagrande Complex and often show the same
degree of deformation. The rocks of the complex are
further described as being sufficiently deformed that
discrete sedimentary sequences cannot be identified.
Siliciclastic sedimentary rocks that do crop out within
the complex range from breccias and conglomerates
to coarse sandstones with clasts of cobbles and peb-
bles of both volcanic rocks and cherts. Underwater vol-
caniclastic sedimentation involving mass movements
appears to have been involved in the formation of the
complex. Fossils within the metasedimentary rocks of
the complex include ammonites, gastropods, bivalves,
radiolarians, and residues of plants. The faunas have
been suggested by Gonzalez (1980) to have lived in
epineritic to brackish water conditions, although their
present occurrence is in rocks interpreted to be parts of
a turbiditic sequence, and they were possibly depos-
ited in a deep trench. Ages of Quebradagrande fossils
range from Valanginian to Albian (140–100 Ma, Nivia
et al., 2006). In summary, the rocks, structures, faunas,
and metamorphic grade of the Quebradagrande Com-
plex appear compatible with the idea that the complex
mainly consists of fragments of the accretionary prism
or subduction complex of the Great Arc. They satisfy
the criteria defined in an earlier section.
The Arquia Complex: Green Schist and
Amphibolite Facies Rocks, Blueschists, Eclogites,
and Ophiolitic Slivers within the Romeral Suture
and Fault Zone
The Arquia Complex contains metamorphosed mafic
and ultramafic rocks as well as metasedimentary rocks
10/27/15 10:03 AM
 The Ribbon Continent of South America in Ecuador, Colombia, and Venezuela  49
in green schist and amphibolite facies (Nivia et al.,
2006; Correa-Martinez, 2007). Part of the complex
consists of a ca 200-km (124.2-mi)-long discontinuous
belt of metamorphic rocks in blue schist and eclogite
facies cropping out ca 5–10 km (3.1 to 6.2 mi) east of the
Cauca-Almaguer fault (Figure 1). Feininger (1980) and
McCourt and Feininger (1984) suggested that rocks of
the Arquia ­Complex represent parts of a late Jurassic
to late ­Cretaceous subduction complex and mélange
zone with tectonic inclusions of Paleozoic metamor-
phic rocks (Orrego et al., 1980). We suggest that those
tectonic inclusions came from the Polymetamor-
phic Complex of the central Cordilleran basement of
Colombia and were mainly incorporated into the com-
plex by strike-slip movements between 75 Ma and 65
Ma. Arquia Complex lithounits have been suggested
by several authors to be formed of lower Cretaceous
rocks (e.g., Toussaint and Restrepo, 1989; Gonzalez
and Nunez, 1991; Restrepo et al., 1991; ­Gonzalez, 1993,
2001). That, taken with the nature of the contained lith-
ologies, is also compatible with the idea that the Arquia
Complex represents part of the accretionary prism or
subduction complex of the Great Arc of the Caribbean.
Nevertheless there remains a problem because oth-
ers have suggested that the Arquia Complex is of Pale-
ozoic age (e.g., McCourt and Aspden, 1983; McCourt
et al., 1984; Aspden et al., 1987). The occurrence of
Triassic granitoid plutons “intruding schists west of
the Quebradagrande Complex” (Nivia et al., 2006) as
shown on Nivia et al. (2006, figure 1 therein) is not con-
sistent with a Cretaceous age for the complex. N ­ either
is the occurrence of Paleozoic rocks west of the Que-
bradagrande Complex (e.g., Mosquera, 1978; Calle
et al., 1980; Mejia et al., 1983a,b; Gonzalez, 2001). For
all those reasons Nivia et al. (2006, p. 432) recognized
“strong arguments” favoring a Neoproterozoic age for
the Arquia Complex. The same authors have also sug-
gested, mainly on the basis of major and trace element
geochemistry, that the Quebradagrande Complex rep-
resents a “Lower Cretaceous ensialic marginal basin
formed within the central Cordillera of the Colombian
Andes” (Nivia et al., 2006).
A paradoxical situation thus exists: on the basis of
(1) location between the CCOP and the Cretaceous
Andean Margin of South America, (2) along-strike
continuity with the structure in Ecuador, and (3) the
nature of contained rock types and structures, the
Arquia and Quebradagrande complexes of Colombia
both appear to be mainly parts of subduction com-
plexes of the Great Arc of the Caribbean. However,
very different alternative interpretations currently
suggest that the Arquia Complex is of Proterozoic
age and that the Quebradagrande Complex marks
the site of an “ensialic marginal basin” (Nivia et al.,
2006). We attribute those alternative explanations to
13880_ch02_ptg01_039-084.indd 49
inadequate recognition of the importance of major
strike-slip movement within the Romeral suture and
fault zone during the late Cretaceous interval while
the Ribbon Continent was moving to the north in a
transpressional PBZ with respect to South America
(Figure 1). In that interpretation all the occurrences
of old rocks within the two complexes of the zone are
considered to result from tectonic juxtaposition related
to northward movement of blocks of the Ribbon
­Continent by strike-slip motion during late Cretaceous
times (between ca 75 Ma and ca 65 Ma).
Northern Limit of Exposure of North-trending Blocks
of the Ribbon Continent in Western Colombia and the
Change to the E–W Trend Seen in the Blocks of the
North Coast of South America
The northernmost outcrop of the CCOP in northwest-
ern Colombia is at Cerro Matoso (7° 54' N, 75° 33' W)
and that of an ophiolitic sliver in the Romeral suture
and fault zone is about 100 km (62.2 mi) to the south-
east of Cerro Matoso at Ure (7° 50' N, 75° 14' W) in the
Rio Cauca Valley (Correa-Martinez, 2007). These two
occurrences, which are separated by a poorly localized
northern extension of the Cauca-Almaguer fault, are
the northernmost exposures of the Ribbon Continent
in western Colombia (Figure 8). The westernmost out-
crops of the ca 1500-km (932.1 mi)-long string of blocks
of the Ribbon Continent on the north coast of South
America lie nearly 500 km (310.7 mi) to the northeast
of those two localities in the Guajira Peninsula of the
north coast of Colombia. Between La Guajira and
Cerro Matoso and Ure the Ribbon Continent is not
only unexposed but may have been largely squeezed
out as the CCOP and the Lesser Antillean part of the
Great Arc began to enter the Atlantic Ocean (Figure 8).
The area has also been modified since ca 15 Ma by
the collision of the Panama Arc with the west coast of
Colombia (Burke, 1988).
The Ribbon Continent on the North Coast
of South America
Introduction
Bucher (1952) pointed out that the geology of the north
coast of Venezuela indicates that it is occupied by a
major right-lateral strike-slip fault system. That system
was recognized to be a transform fault system when,
one year after he had introduced plate tectonic theory,
Wilson (1966) showed that the CARIB had entered the
Atlantic Ocean from the Pacific Ocean. Wilson’s model
remained the standard model of the structure of the
10/27/15 10:03 AM
 50  ALTAMIRA and Burke
13880_ch02_ptg01_039-084.indd 50 10/27/15 10:03 AM
 The Ribbon Continent of South America in Ecuador, Colombia, and Venezuela  51

Figure 8. The Ribbon Continent of the northwestern South American Cordillera restored to its condition before the collision
of Panama with the west coast of Colombia. The development of the Maracaibo Block, beginning about 15 Ma at the time
of the collision of Panama with Colombia, has greatly modified the structure of the Ribbon Continent on the north coast of
South America. The Santa Marta, Burro Negro, and Bocono strike-slip faults (dotted), which had not begun to move at the
time shown, have been dominant in the evolution of the Maracaibo Block. The La Victoria fault has also been reactivated
within the Maracaibo Block during the past 15 My. On the west coast the major effect of the Panama collision on the Ribbon
Continent has been shortening in a west to east direction. The structure in the northwest corner of South America for an
along-strike distance of ca 400 km (248.5 mi) was destroyed in the Panama collision. The Pallatanga (PA) and Romeral (RO)
faults are major faults on the west coast, which together with the Cuisa (C), Oca (O), San Sebastien (SS), and El Pilar (EP) faults
of the north coast make up a ca 3000-km (1864.1 mi)-long strike-slip system (the PAROCOSSEP system). 50 km (31.1 mi)

CARIB for ca 20 years, with the southern border of the
CARIB plate envisaged as being occupied by a com-
plex E–W-trending, right-­lateral, transform PBZ (e.g.,
Vierbuchen, 1984). A minor modification of Wilson’s
model involved the idea that the Great Arc of the Car-
ibbean had collided with the west coast of South Amer-
ica during late Cretaceous times and that fragments
of the Great Arc had subsequently been carried north
along the west coast before being redistributed within
the E–W-trending transform PBZ on the southern bor-
der of the CARIB during Cenozoic times (Burke, 1988,
figure 6 therein).
Speed (1985) introduced a radically different idea
when he suggested that a volcanic arc system had col-
lided obliquely and progressively from west to east
with the north margin of South America. Speed’s idea
was radical because it called for a convergent plate
boundary between the CARIB and South America,
rather than Wilson’s (1966) transform boundary. Plate
rotations for the time since 49 Ma, when a spread-
ing center formed in the Cayman trough (Leroy et
al., 2000), effectively rule out the possibility of the
existence of such a convergent plate boundary. How-
ever, for the part of the Cenozoic before the ­Cayman
spreading center formed (i.e., from ca 65 Ma to 50 Ma),
there exists the remote possibility of a convergent
CARIB against the South American plate boundary,
although geological evidence of such a boundary has
not been discerned. In contrast, convergence in the
northeastern PBZ of CARIB against North America
between ca 65 Ma and 34 Ma is demonstrated by the
occurrence of volcanic arc intrusions from Cuba to the
Virgin Islands (Altamira-Areyan, 2009). Several later
versions of Speed’s model involving oblique conver-
gence have been published (e.g., Pindell et al., 1988
2005; Ave-Lallemant and Sisson, 2005; Beardsley and
Ave-­Lallemant, 2007).
The large-scale BOLIVAR collaborative geophysi-
cal, geochemical, and geological research program
(Ave-Lallemant and Sisson, 2005) afforded an unprec-
edented opportunity to test the transform PBZ model
against the oblique convergence model. The oblique
convergence model predicts Cenozoic volcanic arc
ages to become progressively younger from west to
east along the Venezuelan Margin, while the trans-
form PBZ model predicts (1) only Cretaceous igne-
ous ages along that margin and (2) no progression
in age of volcanic arc igneous and HP/LT metamor-
phic rocks from west to east. Previously published
results and Table 1 include only two Cenozoic ages
for volcanic arc igneous rocks (for La Blanquilla and
Los Testigos) out of the more than 300 age determina-
tions. Those two Cenozoic ages, located on the north-
ern rim of the CARIB–South America transform PBZ,
are related to Aves Swell and Lesser Antilles volcanic
arc igneous rocks displaced on E–W-trending faults
that are visible on bathymetric and gravity field maps
and are not related to regional oblique convergence
(­Figure 1). No other evidence of Cenozoic volcanic arc
igneous, or HP/LT metamorphic activity has emerged
in recent research, let alone any evidence of progres-
sion of volcanic arc igneous ages from west to east
along the northern margin of South America in Ven-
ezuela and its neighboring offshore islands (­ Figure 9
and Table 1).
Information from the BOLIVAR project has contrib-
uted greatly to help establish the history of the struc-
ture of the Ribbon Continent of South America as its
leading edge migrated eastward along the north coast
of South America. That has been true, for example, in
helping to improve the understanding of the Marac-
aibo Block, which is a giant triangular wedge some
0.25 3 106 km 2 in area (ca 1% of the area of South
America) that has been driven to the north, cutting its
way across the southern CARIB PBZ, during the past
15 My (Figure 9) (Burke, 1988). About half the area
of the Ribbon Continent on the north coast of South
America now lies within the Maracaibo Block; for that
reason, we here summarize the structure of the block
and describe how we have removed its effects, so that
we can better reconstruct the evolution of the Ribbon
Continent before 15 Ma.

13880_ch02_ptg01_039-084.indd 51 10/27/15 10:03 AM

 52  ALTAMIRA and Burke
13880_ch02_ptg01_039-084.indd 52 10/27/15 10:03 AM
 The Ribbon Continent of South America in Ecuador, Colombia, and Venezuela  53

Figure 9. Northern margin of South America as it is today showing the Maracaibo Block, the evolution of which has d ­ estroyed
the simple structure of the Ribbon Continent. Isotopic ages (Altamira-Areyan, 2009) are new 40Ar/39Ar determinations on
­amphiboles of the Great Arc of the Caribbean intrusions and subduction complex rocks (in Aruba and on the mainland of
South America). Inset (modified from Sisson et al., 2006) shows the location of samples in the central part of Villa de Cura
Blueschist Belt. All 40Ar/39Ar ages are older than ca 70 Ma, which was the time when the Great Arc collided with South
America in Ecuador. An age of ca 41 Ma from Los Testigos is attributed to strike-slip movement that carried that island along
the northern edge of the south Caribbean plate (CARIB) transform plate boundary zone from a source in the Lesser Antilles
near Grenada, from which island we have obtained an 40Ar/39Ar age of 38 6 1 Ma in ground mass from a basalt. 8 km (5 mi)

Structure and Evolution of the Maracaibo Block
Introduction
The Maracaibo Block (Figure 8) formed at ca 15 Ma,
and for that reason its formation has been regarded as
one of several responses to the collision of the Panama
Volcanic Arc with the west coast of Colombia, which
has been interpreted to have begun at about that
time (Wadge and Burke, 1983; Droxler et al., 1998).
Newer work indicates much older ages for a colli-
sion (e.g., Farris et al., 2011; Montes et al., 2012; Barat
et al., 2014), and there is no reason to doubt those
older ages but a problem is that large scale strike slip
faults cut the rocks of the currently tectonically active
isthmus. Some of those faults underwater reach to
the sea bottom and are active. It is not known how
recently older rocks among the faulted blocks of the
Panama isthmus came to be juxtaposed. Paradoxically
worldwide the best dates for arc-continent collisions
are known to come from the neighborhood of the col-
lision zone and not from the collision zone itself. The
Zagros–Arabia and the Timor–Australia collisions are
two familiar examples (Burke, 1996; Rutherford et al.
2001). The Maracaibo Block is the largest neighboring
structure to the Panama isthmus that is actively being
deformed. We consider that the Maracaibo Block holds
the key to the timing of the collision between Panama
and Colombia, which was at ca 15 Ma. The results of
that collision included (1) the spectacular subsequent
deformation of the Panama Arc into the shape of an S
lying on its back; (2) the formation of the Atrato suture
in western Colombia between the N–S-trending south-
ern end of the collided Panama arc in the Sierra Baudo
and the outcrop of CCOP fragments in northwestern
Colombia; and (3) the progressive separation of the
waters of the Caribbean Sea from those of the Pacific
Ocean between ca 7 Ma and ca 3 Ma, culminating as
part of the Panama arc gradually became the Panama
isthmus (Coates et al., 2004). The immediate indicator
of continuing movement of the Maracaibo Block has
been considered to be shortening, seen in GPS results,
across the Atrato suture, which separates the Sierra
Baudo from the CCOP fragments of western Colom-
bia, and the consequent escape of the great triangular
Maracaibo Block wedge to the north (Trenkamp et al.,
2002; Colmenares and Zoback, 2003).
The Maracaibo Block is traditionally treated as
bounded by the Bocono fault on its east, the Santa
Marta fault on its west, and by an unnamed bound-
ary, extending to a depth of ca 200 km (124.2 mi), at
its base ­(Figure 8). The underlying structure has been
suggested based on an interpretation of tomographic
results to have extended below the base of the litho-
sphere and to involve the subduction of more than 100
km (62.2 mi) of the CARIB into the convecting mantle
under South America (Van der Hilst and Mann, 1994).
We, however, regard the tomographic evidence as more
consistent with the idea that the Maracaibo Block is an
intra-lithospheric structure and consider the subducted
slabs discerned tomographically in a complex volume
beneath the block to be related, not to the subduction of
the CARIB into the convecting mantle (for which we see
no evidence), but to the subduction of Cocos plate lith-
osphere from the Pacific Ocean side of South America
(Gutscher et al., 2000; Colmenares and Zoback, 2003).
Strike-slip offsets on the Bocono and Santa Marta
faults are each about 100 km (62.2 mi), so the block as
a whole has been considered to have moved about ca
70 km (43.5 mi) to the north. The northern margin of
the block crops out in a thrust front on the ocean floor
at a water depth of ca 4 km (2.5 mi). In that thrust the
Maracaibo Block abuts the main body of the CCOP,
which presently occupies much of the ocean floor of the
CARIB. The boundary zone on either side of that thrust
is marked by thrusts and folds to which the name South
Caribbean deformed belt (or fold belt) has long been
applied (Silver et al., 1975). The Maracaibo Block is
about 750 km (466.1 mi) wide at 12.5° N but only 400
km (248.6 mi) wide farther south at ca 9° N (Figure 9).
The greater width results mainly from the transfer of
material by strike-slip faulting from the southern part
to the northern part of the Maracaibo Block as the block
has moved to the north. Extension within the block has
also played a part. Some of that extension has been in
two pull-aparts that we identify from the observation of
thin crust in receiver function analyses (Niu et al., 2007).
There is a lot of internal deformation within the
Maracaibo Block involving normal faults, strike-slip

13880_ch02_ptg01_039-084.indd 53 10/27/15 10:03 AM

13880_ch02_ptg01_039-084.indd 54

Table 1. Northern Ribbon Continent of South America (CARIB–SOAM PBZ) isotopic ages.

54  ALTAMIRA and Burke

Los Monjes and Aruba Islands
Sample Location Rock type Mineral Lat Long Technique Age (Ma) ± (Ma) Reference
LM-145 Los Monjes Orthoamphibolite Whole rock 12.346 −70.868 K/Ar 114 12 Santamaria and Schubert
(1974)
LM-145 Los Monjes Orthoamphibolite Amphibole 12.346 −70.868 K/Ar 116 13 Santamaria and Schubert
(1974)
40
ARU04 Aruba Diabasa Hornblende 12.525 −69.932 Ar/39Ar 91.2 6.3 Altamira-Areyan (2009)
40
ARU02 Aruba Tonalite Hornblende 12.455 −69.891 Ar/39Ar 87.9 4.7 Altamira-Areyan (2009)
  Aruba batholith Tonalite Zircon     U/Pb 89 1 Wright and Wyld (2004)
  Aruba batholith Tonalite Apatite     FT 55 6 Wright and Wyld (2004)
AR-123 Aruba Quartz diorite Biotite     K/Ar 67 4 Santamaria and Schubert
(1974)
40
ARU96-131 Aruba Tonalite Biotite     Ar/39Ar (1s) 82.84 0.36 White et al. (1999)
40 39
ARU96-131 Aruba Tonalite Biotite     Ar/ Ar (1s) 83.09 0.4 White et al. (1999)
40 39
ARU96-158 Aruba Diorite Biotite     Ar/ Ar (1s) 84.99 0.35 White et al. (1999)
40
ARU96-123 Aruba Mafic dyke Hornblende     Ar/39Ar (1s) 77.46 2.09 White et al. (1999)
40 39
ARU96-152 Aruba Hornblende–gabbro Hornblende     Ar/ Ar (1s) 79.92 2.76 White et al. (1999)
40 39
BK77-165 Aruba Diorite Hornblende     Ar/ Ar (1s) 82.2 0.51 White et al. (1999)
Biotite (2) Aruba Granodiorite Biotite     K/Ar 71 4 Priem et al. (1966)
Biotite Aruba Granodiorite Biotite     Rb/Sr 74 4 Priem et al. (1966)
Biotite (1) Aruba Granodiorite Biotite     K/Ar 75 4 Priem et al. (1966)
  Aruba Granodiorite       Rb/Sr 85.1 0.5 Priem et al. (1978)
ANT 122 Aruba (Macuarima) Quartz–biotite Biotite 12.496 −69.976 K/Ar 70.7 2.3 Priem et al. (1986)
tonalite
ANT 120 Aruba (Hooiberg) Quartz–hornblende– Biotite 12.515 −69.990 K/Ar 73 2.9 Priem et al. (1986)
biotite tonalite
ARU 1 Aruba, C. Compa Quartz–hornblende– Biotite 12.511 −69.965 K/Ar 74.2 3 Priem et al. (1986)
biotite tonalite
ANT 102 Aruba (Ceru Quartz–hornblende– Biotite 12.600 −70.029 K/Ar 87.6 3.5 Priem et al. (1986)
Muskita) biotite tonalite
ANT 108 Aruba (Ceru Quartz–biotite– Biotite 12.598 −70.025 K/Ar 88 3.5 Priem et al. (1986)
Grandi) tonalite
ANT 136 Aruba (West of Quartz–hornblende Hornblende 12.465 −69.892 K/Ar 83.5 3.3 Priem et al. (1986)
Rincon) tonalite
ANT 113 Aruba (Matividiri) Quartz–hornblende Hornblende 12.552 −69.978 K/Ar 83.7 3.4 Priem et al. (1986)
gabbro
ANT 137 Aruba, C. Blanco Quartz–hornblende Hornblende 12.456 −69.907 K/Ar 85 3.4 Priem et al. (1986)
tonalite
10/27/15 10:03 AM

ANT 114 Aruba (Matividiri) Quartz–hornblende Hornblende 12.552 −69.978 K/Ar 88 3.5 Priem et al. (1986)
gabbro
13880_ch02_ptg01_039-084.indd 55

ANT 119 Aruba (Hooiberg) Hooibergite Hornblende 12.515 −69.990 K/Ar 89.2 3.6 Priem et al. (1986)
ANT 102 Aruba (Ceru Quartz–hornblende– Hornblende 12.600 −70.029 K/Ar 89.5 3.6 Priem et al. (1986)
Muskita) biotite tonalite
ANT 115 Aruba (Matividiri) Quartz–hornblende Hornblende 12.552 −69.978 K/Ar 129 5.2 Priem et al. (1986)
gabbro
ANT 126 Aruba (Dos Playas) Diabasa Whole rock 12.504 −69.919 K/Ar 62 1.9 Priem et al. (1986)
ANT 161 Aruba (Andicouri) Semi-lamprophyric Whole rock 12.540 −69.959 K/Ar 66.2 2.7 Priem et al. (1986)
dikes
ANT 162 Aruba (Andicouri) Semi-lamprophyric Whole rock 12.540 −69.959 K/Ar 68.3 2.7 Priem et al. (1986)
dikes
ANT 159 Aruba (Altovista) Semi-lamprophyric Whole rock 12.575 −70.013 K/Ar 70.1 2.8 Priem et al. (1986)
dikes
ANT 160 Aruba (Altovista) Semi-lamprophyric Whole rock 12.575 −70.013 K/Ar 70.1 2.8 Priem et al. (1986)
dikes
ANT 158 Aruba (Altovista) Semi-lamprophyric Whole rock 12.575 −70.013 K/Ar 71.6 2.9 Priem et al. (1986)
dikes
ANT 114 Aruba (Matividiri) Quartz–hornblende Whole rock 12.552 −69.978 K/Ar 75.9 3 Priem et al. (1986)
gabbro
ANT 123 Aruba (Dos Playas) Diabasa Whole rock 12.504 −69.919 K/Ar 78.1 2.3 Priem et al. (1986)
ANT 113 Aruba (Matividiri) Quartz–hornblende Whole rock 12.552 −69.978 K/Ar 81.3 3.3 Priem et al. (1986)
gabbro

The Ribbon Continent of South America in Ecuador, Colombia, and Venezuela  55

ANT 115 Aruba (Matividiri) Quartz–hornblende Whole rock 12.552 −69.978 K/Ar 83 3.3 Priem et al. (1986)
gabbro

Curacao Island
Sample Location Rock Type Mineral Lat Long Technique Age (Ma) ± (Ma) Reference
  NW Curacao Sills and dikes Whole rock     K/Ar 72 7 Beets et al. (1972)
CU-126 NW Curacao Lava Trachyandesite Hornblende     K/Ar 76 6 Santamaria and Schubert
Formation (1974)
CU-125 NW Curacao Lava Quartz Whole rock     K/Ar 74 5 Santamaria and Schubert
Formation Trachyandesite (1974)
CU-126 NW Curacao Lava Trachyandesite Whole rock     K/Ar 84 6 Santamaria and Schubert
Formation (1974)
CU-127b Curacao (Lava Dolerite Whole rock     K/Ar 118 10 Santamaria and Schubert
Formation) (1974)
CU-127a Curacao (Lava Dolerite Whole rock     K/Ar 126 12 Santamaria and Schubert
Formation) (1974)
40
79KV-9 Curacao (Koraal Diabase Whole rock     Ar/39Ar (1s) 75.8 2 Sinton et al. (1998)
Tabak sill)
40
BK79-262 Curacao (Lava Plagioclase– Whole rock     Ar/39Ar (1s) 88 1.2 Sinton et al. (1998)
Formation— clinopyroxene
upper part) dolerite
40
79BE-73 Curacao (Lava Olivine tholeiitic Whole rock     Ar/39Ar (1s) 89.5 1 Sinton et al. (1998)
Formation—lower pillow basalt
10/27/15 10:03 AM

part)
  Curacao Basalts Whole rock     Re–Os 85.6 8.1 Wadge and MacDonald (1985)
13880_ch02_ptg01_039-084.indd 56

56  ALTAMIRA and Burke

Bonaire Island
Sample Location Rock Type Mineral Lat Long Technique Age (Ma) ± (Ma) Reference
ANT 32 Bonaire Hornblende tuff Hornblende 12.263 −68.334 K/Ar 73.1 2.2 Priem et al. (1979)
ANT 34 Bonaire Hornblende tuff Hornblende 12.263 −68.334 K/Ar 86.4 2.6 Priem et al. (1979)
ANT 33 Bonaire Hornblende tuff Hornblende 12.263 −68.334 K/Ar 89.4 2.7 Priem et al. (1979)
ANT 35 Bonaire Hornblende tuff Hornblende 12.263 −68.334 K/Ar 100 3.0 Priem et al. (1979)
ANT 31, 47, Bonaire (Wecuwa Dacitic lava Whole rock 12.227 −68.402 Rb/Sr 54   Priem et al. (1979)
48, 49, and 50 porphyries)
ANT 47 Bonaire (Wecuwa Dacitic lava Whole rock 12.227 −68.402 K/Ar 57 1.7 Priem et al. (1979)
porphyries)
ANT 52 Bonaire (Poeneitic K-rich spilite Whole rock 12.263 −68.334 K/Ar 58.3 1.7 Priem et al. (1979)
lava)
ANT 30 Bonaire (Wecuwa Dacitic lava Whole rock 12.227 −68.402 K/Ar 60.5 1.8 Priem et al. (1979)
porphyries)
ANT 74 Bonaire (Sumpina Volcanic breccias Whole rock 12.288 −68.381 K/Ar 62 1.9 Priem et al. (1979)
porphyries)
ANT 49 Bonaire (Wecuwa Dacitic lava Whole rock 12.227 −68.402 K/Ar 64.3 1.9 Priem et al. (1979)
porphyries)
ANT 140 Bonaire Diabase Whole rock 12.241 −68.307 K/Ar 68.5 2.1 Priem et al. (1979)
ANT 51 Bonaire (Poeneitic K-rich spilite Whole rock 12.263 −68.334 K/Ar 70.9 2.1 Priem et al. (1979)
lava)
ANT 68, 69, Bonaire (Sumpina Volcanic breccias Whole rock 12.288 −68.381 Rb/Sr 72   Priem et al. (1979)
70, 71, 72, 73, porphyries)
and 74
ANT 53 Bonaire (Poeneitic K-rich spilite Whole rock 12.263 −68.334 K/Ar 75.5 2.3 Priem et al. (1979)
lava)
ANT 66 Bonaire (Wash. Dacitic rocks from Whole rock 12.257 −68.369 K/Ar 75.9 2.3 Priem et al. (1979)
porphyries) a sill
ANT 71 Bonaire (Sumpina Volcanic breccias Whole rock 12.288 −68.381 K/Ar 76.2 2.3 Priem et al. (1979)
porphyries)
ANT 60 Bonaire (Wash. Dacitic rocks from Whole rock 12.257 −68.369 K/Ar 77.6 2.3 Priem et al. (1979)
porphyries) a sill
ANT 68 Bonaire (Sumpina Volcanic breccias Whole rock 12.288 −68.381 K/Ar 79.4 2.4 Priem et al. (1979)
porphyries)
ANT 63 Bonaire (Wash. Dacitic rocks from Whole rock 12.257 −68.369 K/Ar 80.3 2.4 Priem et al. (1979)
porphyries) a sill
40
BON 94-09 Bonaire Wash Rhyodacite sill K-feldspar     Ar/39Ar (1s) 96 4.0 Thompson et al. (2004)
Formation (N.
Complex)
10/27/15 10:03 AM
13880_ch02_ptg01_039-084.indd 57

Gran Roque Island

Sample Location Rock Type Mineral Lat Long Technique Age (Ma) ± (Ma) Reference
GR-129 Gran Roque Pegmatite       K/Ar 66 5 Santamaria and Schubert
(1974)
GR-131 Gran Roque Quartz diorite Biotite     K/Ar 65 3.6 Santamaria and Schubert
(1974)
GR-132 Gran Roque Quartz diorite Hornblende     K/Ar 66 6 Santamaria and Schubert
(1974)
GR-128 Gran Roque Diabase Amphibole     K/Ar 127 15.0 Santamaria and Schubert
(1974)
GR-130 Gran Roque Lamprophyre Amphibole     K/Ar 130 14.0 Santamaria and Schubert
(1974)

Aves Ridge
Sample Location Rock Type Mineral Lat Long Technique Age (Ma) ± (Ma) Reference
  Aves Ridge Granodiorite Biotite 13°25.12' −63°43.25' K/Ar 65   Santamaria and Schubert
(1974)

The Ribbon Continent of South America in Ecuador, Colombia, and Venezuela  57

La Blanquilla Island
Sample Location Rock Type Mineral Lat Long Technique Age (Ma) ± (Ma) Reference
LB-140 La Blanquilla Trondhjemite Biotite     K/Ar 64 3.5 Santamaria and Schubert
(1974)
LB-141 La Blanquilla Trondhjemite Biotite     K/Ar 62 3.5 Santamaria and Schubert
(1974)
LB-142 La Blanquilla Pegmatite Feldspar     K/Ar 64 3.4 Santamaria and Schubert
(1974)
LB-142 La Blanquilla Pegmatite Biotite     K/Ar 62 3.4 Santamaria and Schubert
(1974)
LB-143 La Blanquilla Trondhjemite Biotite     K/Ar 64 3.5 Santamaria and Schubert
(1974)
LBQ-5 La Blanquilla Granodiorite Zircon     U/Pb 59   Levander et al. (2006)

Los Hermanos Island

Sample Location Rock Type Mineral Lat Long Technique Age (Ma) ± (Ma) Reference
LH-133 Los Hermanos Hornblende–gneiss Hornblende       71 6.0 Santamaria and Schubert
(1974)
LH-134 Los Hermanos Hornblende–gneiss Hornblende       70 5.4 Santamaria and Schubert
(1974)
LH-135 Los Hermanos Hornblende–gneiss Hornblende       67 5.1 Santamaria and Schubert
10/27/15 10:03 AM

(1974)
13880_ch02_ptg01_039-084.indd 58

58  ALTAMIRA and Burke

Los Frailes Island
Sample Location Rock Type Mineral Lat Long Technique Age (Ma) ± (Ma) Reference
LF-144 Los Frailes Diabase Whole rock     K/Ar 66 5.1 Santamaria and Schubert
(1974)

Los Testigos Island

Sample Location Rock Type Mineral Lat Long Technique Age (Ma) ± (Ma) Reference
LT-138 Los Testigos (Main Pegmatitic Amphibole     K/Ar 44 5.4 Santamaria and Schubert
Island) metadiabase (1974)
LT-139 Los Testigos (Main Pegmatitic Amphibole     K/Ar 44 5.5 Santamaria and Schubert
Island) metadiabase (1974)
LT-137 Los Testigos (Main Pegmatitic Amphibole     K/Ar 47 6.1 Santamaria and Schubert
Island) metadiabase (1974)
LT-136 Los Testigos (Main Pegmatitic Feldspar     K/Ar 44 4.5 Santamaria and Schubert
Island) metadiabase (1974)
40
LTG5 Los Testigos Diorite Hornblende 11.367 −63.123 Ar/39Ar 41.3 1.8 Altamira-Areyan (2009)

Trinidad
Sample Location Rock Type Mineral Lat Long Technique Age (Ma) ± (Ma) Reference
TR13 Trinidad (Sans Basalt Whole rock     K/Ar 87 4.4 Wadge and MacDonald
Souci Formation) (1985)

Margarita Island
Sample Location Rock Type Mineral Lat Long Technique Age (Ma) ± (Ma) Reference
40 39
IM86-85 Margarita (La Biotite-garnet schist Biotite 11.088 −64.008 Ar/ Ar 24.9 0.9 Sisson et al. (2005)
Rinconada Unit)
40
IM86-85 Margarita (La Muscovite schist White mica 11.088 −64.008 Ar/39Ar 68.3 0.2 Sisson et al. (2005)
Rinconada Unit)
40
VM86-12 Margarita (La Metacong Biotite 11.067 −64.003 Ar/39Ar 44.9 0.7 Sisson et al. (2005)
Rinconada Unit)
40
VM86-12 Margarita (La Metacong White mica 11.067 −64.003 Ar/39Ar 62.3 0.2 Sisson et al. (2005)
Rinconada Unit)
40
VM83-21 Margarita (Juan Garnet–amphibolite Amphibole 11.156 −63.897 Ar/39Ar 52.8 0.2 Sisson et al. (2005)
Griego)
40
IM86-27 Margarita (Los Muscovite schist White mica 10.997 −63.856 Ar/39Ar 53.5 0.5 Sisson et al. (2005)
Robles Unit)
40
IM86-93 Margarita (La Amphibolite Amphibole 11.063 −64.004 Ar/39Ar 62.3 1.4 Sisson et al. (2005)
10/27/15 10:03 AM

Rinconada Unit)
40
IM86-229 Margarita (Los Qtz–Fs schist White mica 11.006 −63.875 Ar/39Ar 86 0.3 Sisson et al. (2005)
Robles Unit)
 IM86-229 Margarita (Los Qtz–Fs schist White mica 11.006 −63.875 Ar/ Ar 86 0.3 Sisson et al. (2005)
Robles Unit)
13880_ch02_ptg01_039-084.indd 59

40
IM84-14 Margarita (Juan Eclogite Amphibole 11.029 −63.870 Ar/39Ar 92.4 0.5 Sisson et al. (2005)
Griego)
40
Stage 9 Margarita Basaltic to Amphibole     Ar/39Ar 52 - 47   Stockert et al. (1995)
andesitic dikes
Stage 7 Margarita (Juan Granitic augen Whole rock     Rb/Sr 50   Stockert et al. (1995)
Griego Group) gneiss
Stage 7 Margarita Trondjhemite Zircon     FT 53–50   Stockert et al. (1995)
(Matasiete
trondhjemite)
Stage 6 Margarita Greenschist White mica     K/Ar 50–55   Stockert et al. (1995)
Stage 4 Margarita (Juan HP schist Phengite     K-Ar & Ar 90–80   Stockert et al. (1995)
Griego)
Stage 4 Margarita (El Granite Zircon     U/Pb 86   Stockert et al. (1995)
Salado granite)
Stage 2 Margarita Trondjhemite and Zircon     U/Pb 114–105   Stockert et al. (1995)
(Matasiete orthogneiss
trondhjemite)
Stage 1 Margarita (Juan Granitic augen Zircon     U/Pb 315 35 Stockert et al. (1995)
Griego Group) gneiss
MAR 35B Margarita Granitic Phengite     K/Ar 57.1 2.9 Chevalier et al. (1988)
orthogneisses

The Ribbon Continent of South America in Ecuador, Colombia, and Venezuela  59

MAR 35A Margarita Granitic Phengite     K/Ar 62.5 3.1 Chevalier et al. (1988)
orthogneisses
MAR 199 Margarita Mylonitic sole Barroisite     K/Ar 79.3 4 Chevalier et al. (1988)
MAR 36 Margarita Eclogites, Paragonite     K/Ar 84.6 4.2 Chevalier et al. (1988)
amphibolites
W 809 Margarita (La Gneiss Chloritized     K/Ar 37 19 Loubet et al. (1985)
Rinconada Group) amphibole
XII-J Margarita (La Gneiss Muscovite     K/Ar 40.1 2.5 Loubet et al. (1985)
Rinconada Group)
XII-J Margarita (La Gneiss Clinozoisite     K/Ar 43 31 Loubet et al. (1985)
Rinconada Group)
W 675 Margarita (La Gneiss Clinozoisite     K/Ar 44.5 3.5 Loubet et al. (1985)
Rinconada Group)
W 675 Margarita (La Gneiss Chloritized     K/Ar 45.5 7.5 Loubet et al. (1985)
Rinconada Group) amphibole
XII-J Margarita (La Gneiss Amphibole     K/Ar 47 4 Loubet et al. (1985)
Rinconada Group)
W 675 Margarita (La Gneiss Muscovite     K/Ar 50.5 15 Loubet et al. (1985)
Rinconada Group)
W 167 Margarita (La Gneiss Muscovite     K/Ar 51 1.5 Loubet et al. (1985)
Rinconada Group)
W 1252 Margarita   Muscovite     K/Ar 54 2 Loubet et al. (1985)
W 167 Margarita (La Gneiss Chlorite     K/Ar 56.5 26 Loubet et al. (1985)
Rinconada Group)
10/27/15 10:03 AM

(continued)
13880_ch02_ptg01_039-084.indd 60

60  ALTAMIRA and Burke

Margarita Island (continued)
Sample Location Rock Type Mineral Lat Long Technique Age (Ma) ± (Ma) Reference
W 809 Margarita (La Gneiss Clinozoisite     K/Ar 57.5 15 Loubet et al. (1985)
Rinconada Group)
W 158 Margarita (La Gneiss Muscovite     K/Ar 59.5 2 Loubet et al. (1985)
Rinconada Group)
SJ-BI Margarita   Muscovite     K/Ar 67.5 2 Loubet et al. (1985)
W 167 Margarita (La Gneiss Clinozoisite     K/Ar 98 30 Loubet et al. (1985)
Rinconada Group)
IM-122 Margarita Pegmatite Feldspar     K/Ar 32 2 Santamaria and Schubert
(Western) (1974)
IM-121 Margarita Trondjhemite Hornblende     K/Ar 70 6 Santamaria and Schubert
(Western) (1974)
IM-120 Margarita Sodic granite Amphibole     K/Ar 72 6 Santamaria and Schubert
(Matasiete granite) (1974)

Cordillera de la Costa Belt (I)

Sample Location Rock Type Mineral Lat Long Technique Age (Ma) ± (Ma) Reference
PP-113 Paraguana Andesite Whole rock     K/Ar 63 4 Santamaria and Schubert
Peninsula (1974)
PP-116 Paraguana Gabbro Whole rock     K/Ar 118 10 Santamaria and Schubert
Peninsula (1974)
PP-114 Paraguana Gabbro Whole rock     K/Ar 120 11 Santamaria and Schubert
Peninsula (1974)
PP-115 Paraguana Dolerite Whole rock     K/Ar 129 14 Santamaria and Schubert
Peninsula (1974)
  Falcon Basaltic bodies       Stratigraphy 28 - 23   Muessig (1984)
  Falcon Basaltic bodies       K/Ar 22.9 0.9 Muessig (1984)
23-M-2X Offshore Paraguana Gneiss 11.671 −69.522 114   Feo-Codecido et al. (1984)
Peninsula
  Gulf of Venezuela Granite Whole rock     K/Ar 138 6.9 Kohn et al. (1984)
  Gulf of La Vela Quartz–sericite Whole rock     K/Ar 83.5   Loubet et al. (1985)
phyllite
  Gulf of La Vela Metagabbro Feldspar     K/Ar. 114   Morgan (1969)
  Gulf of Venezuela Granite Whole rock     K/Ar 304   Feo-Codecido et al. (1984)
91VSn15 Highway to Augen gneiss Apatite 10.362 −68.092 FT 19.8 1.2 Sisson et al. (2005)
Valencia
10/27/15 10:03 AM
13880_ch02_ptg01_039-084.indd 61

91VSn15 Highway to Augen gneiss Zircon 10.362 −68.092 FT 16.3 1.6 Sisson et al. (2005)
Valencia
91VSn19 Highway to Metagranite Apatite 10.327 −68.092 FT 19.8 1.2 Sisson et al. (2005)
Valencia
91VSn19 Highway to Metagranite Zircon 10.327 −68.092 FT 15 1.4 Sisson et al. (2005)
Valencia
40
92VSn19 Highway to Cata Actinolite schist   10.356 −67.616 Ar/39Ar 37 3 Sisson et al. (2005)
40 39
94VSn13 Highway to Schist White mica 10.324 −68.091 Ar/ Ar 28 0.2 Sisson et al. (2005)
Valencia
40
94VSn15 Highway to Schist White mica 10.326 −68.090 Ar/39Ar 34.2 0.2 Sisson et al. (2005)
Valencia
40
94VSn16 Highway to Schist White mica 10.349 −68.109 Ar/39Ar 42.3 0.3 Sisson et al. (2005)
Valencia
40
94VSn21 Pantanemo Schist White mica 10.471 −67.929 Ar/39Ar 42.6 0.3 Sisson et al. (2005)
91VSn19 Highway to Metagranite   10.327 −68.092 U/Pb 501 25 Sisson et al. (2005)
Valencia
91VSn15 Highway to Augen gneiss   10.362 −68.092 U/Pb 512.4 12.9 Sisson et al. (2005)
Valencia
CH-86-1 South of Metagranite   10.558 −67.397 Rb/Sr 1560 83 Sisson et al. (2005)
Chichiriviche
PM86-1 El Avila National Metagranite   10.568 −67.008 Rb/Sr 1560 83 Sisson et al. (2005)

The Ribbon Continent of South America in Ecuador, Colombia, and Venezuela  61

Park
PM86-2 El Avila National Metagranite   10.576 −66.998 Rb/Sr 1560 83 Sisson et al. (2005)
Park
SVC-7 Pena de Mora Gneiss Zircon 10.593 −66.927 FT 17.4 2.1 Kohn et al. (1984)
SVC-13 Pena de Mora Gneiss Zircon 10.558 −66.925 FT 17.5 1.7 Kohn et al. (1984)
SVC-11 Pena de Mora Gneiss Zircon 10.533 −66.928 FT 18.4 1.9 Kohn et al. (1984)
SVC-8 Pena de Mora Gneiss Zircon 10.607 −66.924 FT 18.8 2.1 Kohn et al. (1984)
SV-81-4 Pena de Mora Gneiss Zircon 10.566 −66.993 FT 18.9 1.9 Kohn et al. (1984)
SV-81-6 Pena de Mora Gneiss Zircon 10.540 −66.970 FT 23.9 1.7 Kohn et al. (1984)
V-92-24 Cata Trondhjemite dike   10.495 −67.010 U/Pb 511.3 1.8 Sisson et al. (2005)

Cordillera de la Costa Belt (II)

Sample Location Rock Type Mineral Lat Long Technique Age (Ma) ± (Ma) Reference
V-94-49 Choroni Granite Apatite 10.356 −67.600 FT 13.6 1.4 Sinton et al. (1998)
V-94-49 Choroni Granite Zircon 10.356 −67.600 FT 14.1 1.7 Sinton et al. (1998)
V-94-49 Choroni Granite   10.306 −67.616 U/Pb 471 23 Sinton et al. (1998)
SVC-19 Choroni Gneiss Apatite 10.348 −67.589 FT 17.5 1.9 Kiser (1994)

(continued)
10/27/15 10:03 AM
13880_ch02_ptg01_039-084.indd 62

62  ALTAMIRA and Burke

Cordillera de la Costa Belt (II) (continued)
Sample Location Rock Type Mineral Lat Long Technique Age (Ma) ± (Ma) Reference
SVC-20 Choroni Gneiss Zircon 10.343 −67.577 FT 21.9 2.9 Kiser (1994)
SVC-17 Choroni Gneiss Zircon 10.363 −67.586 FT 22.3 2.3 Kiser (1994)
SVC-15 Choroni Gneiss Zircon 10.362 −67.568 FT 24.1 3 Kiser (1994)
  Choroni Metagranite Biotite 10.357 −67.648 K/Ar 30 1.9 Santamaria and Schubert
(1974)
  Choroni Metagranite Biotite 10.357 −67.648 K/Ar 30 1.8 Santamaria and Schubert
(1974)
  Cantagallo Gabbro Whole rock     K/Ar 65 5 Santamaria and Schubert
(1974)
  Cantagallo Gabbro Whole rock     K/Ar 66 5 Santamaria and Schubert
(1974)
  Cantagallo Gabbro Whole rock     K/Ar 67 6 Santamaria and Schubert
(1974)
  Cantagallo Gabbro Whole rock     K/Ar 67 6 Santamaria and Schubert
(1974)
SVC-17 Choroni Gneiss Sphene 10.363 −67.586 FT 126 15 Kiser (1994)
DF-1203 Sebastapol Gneiss Muscovite 10.393 −67.042 K/Ar 41 2 Olmeta (1968)
CC-100 Guaremal Granite Biotite     K/Ar 32 2 Santamaria and Schubert
(1974)
CC-101 Guaremal Granite Biotite     K/Ar 31 1.8 Santamaria and Schubert
(1974)
CC-102 Guaremal Granite Biotite     K/Ar 33 2 Santamaria and Schubert
(1974)
CC-103 Guaremal Granite Biotite     K/Ar 30 1.9 Santamaria and Schubert
(1974)
CC-104 Guaremal Granite Biotite     K/Ar 30 1.8 Santamaria and Schubert
(1974)
CC-104 Guaremal Granite Biotite 10.363 −68.000 Rb/Sr 79 5 Loubet et al. (1985)
CC-105 Oritapo Diorite Biotite     K/Ar 76 3.9 Santamaria and Schubert
(1974)
CC-106 Oritapo Diorite Biotite     K/Ar 77 4 Santamaria and Schubert
(1974)
  Guaremal Orthogneiss Biotite 10.363 −68.000 K/Ar 33 3 Hess (1966)
  Guaremal Orthogneiss Biotite 10.363 −68.000 K/Ar 32 2 Santamaria and Schubert
(1974)
  Guaremal Orthogneiss Biotite 10.363 −68.000 K/Ar 33 2 Santamaria and Schubert
(1974)
SVC-24 Tovar Granite–gneiss Zircon 10.423 −67.281 FT 16.4 2.1 Kiser (1994)
  Puerto Cabello Garnet amphibolite Amphibole     K/Ar 32.4 1.2 Kohn et al. (1984)
  Cabo Codera Garnet amphibolite Amphibole 10.567 −66.061 K/Ar 155 7 Kohn et al. (1984)
10/27/15 10:03 AM
13880_ch02_ptg01_039-084.indd 63

  Oricao Garnet amphibolite Amphibole 10.584 −66.483 K/Ar 735 30 Kohn et al. (1984)
  Cabo Codera Garnet amphibolite Amphibole 10.567 −66.061 K/Ar 753 31 Kohn et al. (1984)
Gu. 2115 Tiara Formation Actinolite–metatuff Whole rock     K/Ar 100 10 Piburn (1968)

Cordillera de la Costa Belt (III)

Sample Location Rock Type Mineral Lat Long Technique Age (Ma) ± (Ma) Reference
PA-119 Araya P. (El Augen gneiss Hornblende     K/Ar 128 11 Priem et al. (1966)
Mango-Dona
Juana)
PA-119 Araya P. (El Augen gneiss Whole rock     K/Ar 53 3 Priem et al. (1966)
Mango-Dona
Juana)
40
CaOf-01 Playa Medina Ultramafic Hornblende 10.714 −63.013 Ar/39Ar 148.5 29.9 Altamira-Areyan (2009)
40 39
CaOf-02 San Juan de Unare Ultramafic Whole rock 10.749 −62.741 Ar/ Ar 90 2 Altamira-Areyan (2009)
PA-117 Carupano area Dacite Whole rock     K/Ar 5 0.5 Priem et al. (1966)
PA-118 Carupano area Dacite Sanidine     K/Ar 5 0.6 Priem et al. (1966)
40
ParP-117 Paria (Boca del Gneiss Hornblende 10.730 −61.859 Ar/39Ar 97.3 14.1 Altamira-Areyan (2009)
Dragon)

The Ribbon Continent of South America in Ecuador, Colombia, and Venezuela  63

Villa de Cura Blueschist Belt–Las Hermanas Formation, Chacao Complex, and Basement in Serrania del Interior
Sample Location Rock Type Mineral Lat Long Technique Age (Ma) ± (Ma) Reference
40
AAVC-04176 Villa de Cura Blueschist White mica 10.035 −67.166 Ar/39Ar (2s) 86.2 3.3 Altamira-Areyan (2009)
Group
40
AAVC-04182 Villa de Cura Blueschist White mica 10.040 −67.167 Ar/39Ar (2s) 86.2 3.7 Altamira-Areyan (2009)
Group
40
AAVC-04228 Villa de Cura Blueschist Hornblende 9.883 −67.674 Ar/39Ar (2s) 93.4 5.4 Altamira-Areyan (2009)
Group
40
AAVC-04243 Villa de Cura Blueschist Hornblende 9.827 −67.834 Ar/39Ar (2s) 90.7 6.1 Altamira-Areyan (2009)
Group
40
AAVC-04251 Villa de Cura Blueschist Hornblende 9.902 −67.781 Ar/39Ar (2s) 91.7 4.6 Altamira-Areyan (2009)
Group
40
AAVC-04258 Villa de Cura Blueschist Hornblende 10.088 −66.489 Ar/39Ar (2s) 90.7 8.9 Altamira-Areyan (2009)
Group
CB 78-35 Villa de Cura Blueschist Amphibole     K/Ar (1s) 77 5 Loubet et al. (1985)
Group
CB 78-35 Villa de Cura Blueschist Phengite     K/Ar (1s) 87 3 Loubet et al. (1985)
Group
CB 78-35 Villa de Cura Blueschist Plagioclase     K/Ar (1s) 99 5 Loubet et al. (1985)
Group
(continued)
10/27/15 10:03 AM
13880_ch02_ptg01_039-084.indd 64

64  ALTAMIRA and Burke

Villa de Cura Blueschist Belt–Las Hermanas Formation, Chacao Complex, and Basement in Serrania del Interior (continued)
Sample Location Rock Type Mineral Lat Long Technique Age (Ma) ± (Ma) Reference
VC 25 Villa de Cura Blueschist Amphibole     K/Ar (1s) 88.4 3.1 Loubet et al. (1985)
Group
VC 25 Villa de Cura Blueschist White mica     K/Ar (1s) 82.5 2.5 Loubet et al. (1985)
Group
40
AAVC-04168i Las Hermanas Metavolcanic Hornblende 9.983 −67.128 Ar/39Ar (2s) 96.5 3.9 Altamira-Areyan (2009)
Formation breccia (clast)
40
AAVC-04164 Las Hermanas Metavolcanic Hornblende 9.979 −67.129 Ar/39Ar (2s) 86.2 3.3 Altamira-Areyan (2009)
Formation breccia (matrix)
40
AAVC- Las Hermanas Metavolcanic Hornblende 9.979 −67.129 Ar/39Ar (2s) 136.9 5 Altamira-Areyan (2009)
04164Xeno Formation breccia (clast)
VC 26 Las Hermanas Metavolcanic Amphibole     K/Ar (1s) 90.8 2.9 Loubet et al. (1985)
Formation breccia (matrix)
VC 26 Las Hermanas Metavolcanic White     K/Ar (1s) 192 6 Loubet et al. (1985)
Formation breccia (matrix) mica–epidote
VC 26 Las Hermanas Metavolcanic Plagioclase     K/Ar (1s) 107 11 Loubet et al. (1985)
Formation breccia (matrix)
VC 27 Las Hermanas Metavolcanic Amphibole     K/Ar (1s) 101 58 Loubet et al. (1985)
Formation breccia (matrix)

Chacao
Sample Location Rock Type Mineral Lat Long Technique Age (Ma) ± (Ma) Reference
40
Chacao Chacao Ultramafic Hornblende 9.885 −67.420 Ar/39Ar (2s) 121.6 17.2 Altamira-Areyan (2009)
CH 16 Chacao   Plagioclase     K/Ar (1s) 49.8 2 Loubet et al. (1985)
CH 8 Chacao   Plagioclase     K/Ar (1s) 58.5 2 Loubet et al. (1985)
CH 11 Chacao Fresh Hornblende     K/Ar (1s) 91 3.5 Loubet et al. (1985)
CH 7 Chacao Unmetamorphosed Hornblende     K/Ar (1s) 98 4 Loubet et al. (1985)
CH 16 Chacao Ultramafic to mafic Hornblende     K/Ar (1s) 101 4 Loubet et al. (1985)
complex
Ch 8 Chacao   Hornblende     K/Ar (1s) 104 4 Loubet et al. (1985)
ANT 184 Chacao Biotite–plagioclase Hornblende     K/Ar (1s) 97.2 3.5 Hebeda et al. (1984)
hornblendite
ANT 183 Chacao Hornblendite Hornblende     K/Ar (1s) 99.2 3.5 Hebeda et al. (1984)
ANT 182 Chacao Quartz gabbro Hornblende     K/Ar (1s) 106.6 3.5 Hebeda et al. (1984)

Camatagua–El Tinaco Belt

Sample Location Rock Type Mineral Lat Long Technique Age (Ma) ± (Ma) Reference
RT-87-1 Tinaco Complex Gneiss       Rb/Sr 945 178 Sisson et al. (2005)
RT-87-2 Tinaco Complex Gneiss       Rb/Sr 945 178 Sisson et al. (2005)
10/27/15 10:03 AM
13880_ch02_ptg01_039-084.indd 65

RT-87-4 Tinaco Complex Gneiss       Rb/Sr 945 178 Sisson et al. (2005)
RT-87-5 Tinaco Complex Gneiss       Rb/Sr 945 178 Sisson et al. (2005)
40
VTO82-132 Tinaco Complex Granulite–   9.859 −66.431 Ar/39Ar 147.4 0.3 Sisson et al. (2005)
amphibolite
SVC-56 Tinaco Complex Trondjhemite Apatite 9.752 −68.418 FT 6.1 1.3 Kohn et al. (1984)
SVC-48 Tinaco Complex Diorite Zircon 10.188 −67.290 FT 41.9 4.9 Kohn et al. (1984)
SVC-48 Tinaco Complex Diorite Zircon 10.188 −67.290 FT 43.4 5.6 Kohn et al. (1984)
SVC-27 Tinaco Complex Gneiss Zircon 10.534 −67.343 FT 49 5.8 Kohn et al. (1984)
942-a Aguadita gneiss; Biotite gneiss Biotite     K/Ar 112.4 3 Hess (1966)
Tinaco Complex
942-a Aguadita gneiss; Biotite gneiss Hornblende     K/Ar 117.5 3 Hess (1966)
Tinaco Complex
Ti-3582 North of Tacata Amphibolite gneiss Amphibole     K/Ar 204 12 Olmeta (1968)
Ti-3582 North of Tacata Amphibolite gneiss Actinolite     K/Ar 210 10 Olmeta (1968)
TQZ Tinaco gneiss Hornblende gneiss Hornblende     K/Ar 235.8 13 Hess in edit in Urbani
(1982)
TQZ Tinaco gneiss Hornblende gneiss Pyroxene     K/Ar 684 55 Hess in Kugler (1972)
TQZ Tinaco gneiss Hornblende gneiss Hornblende     K/Ar 191 15 Hess in edit in Urbani
(1982)
40
V94-62 coarse Tinaquillo Complex Hornblendite vein   9.913 −66.437 Ar/39Ar 173.9 1.6 Sisson et al. (2005)
40
V94-62 fine Tinaquillo Complex Hornblendite vein   9.913 −66.437 Ar/39Ar 154.7 0.3 Sisson et al. (2005)

The Ribbon Continent of South America in Ecuador, Colombia, and Venezuela  65

40
V94-63 Tinaquillo Complex Gabbroic pegmatite   9.913 −66.437 Ar/39Ar 153.9 2 Sisson et al. (2005)
40
V97-4 Tinaquillo Complex Gabbroic pegmatite   9.913 −66.437 Ar/39Ar 190.6 1.2 Sisson et al. (2005)
40
VTO82-88 Tinaquillo Complex Gabbroic pegmatite   9.916 −66.439 Ar/39Ar 165.2 1.4 Sisson et al. (2005)
T90-6 Tinaquillo massif Granulite Zircon     U/Pb 150 2 Seyler et al. (1998)
T90-2b Tinaquillo massif Granulite Zircon     U/Pb 125 1 Seyler et al. (1998)
T90-12 Tinaquillo massif Garnet granulite Garnet–     Nd/Sm 87.1 3.1 Seyler et al. (1998)
hornblende
whole rock
Co-4505 Timurato Hill Basalt Whole rock     K/Ar 64.2 2.4 Hess (1966)
Co-4505 Timurato Hill Basalt Pyroxene     K/Ar 77 8 Hess (1966)
  Mogote Hill Granite K–feldspar     K/Ar 270 10 Feo-Codecido (1963)

Serrania del Interior

Sample Location Rock Type Mineral Lat Long Technique Age (Ma) ± (Ma) Reference
V94-50 Embalse de Guarico Zircon 9.821 −66.944 FT 70.1 9.7 Sisson et al. (2005)
Camatagua
V94-53 Embalse de Garrapata Apatite 9.938 −66.916 FT 14.2 2 Sisson et al. (2005)
Camatagua
V94-53 Valle Morin Garrapata Zircon 9.938 −66.916 FT 51.1 6.4 Sisson et al. (2005)
V94-54 Valle Morin Garrapata Apatite 9.938 −66.914 FT 13.5 1.8 Sisson et al. (2005)

(continued)
10/27/15 10:03 AM
13880_ch02_ptg01_039-084.indd 66

66  ALTAMIRA and Burke

Serrania del Interior (continued)
Sample Location Rock Type Mineral Lat Long Technique Age (Ma) ± (Ma) Reference
V94-54 Valle Morin Garrapata Zircon 9.938 −66.914 FT 60.7 7.5 Sisson et al. (2005)
V94-55 Valle Morin Garrapata Apatite 9.938 −66.940 FT 15.8 2.8 Sisson et al. (2005)
V94-55 Valle Morin Garrapata Zircon 9.938 −66.940 FT 64.3 6.2 Sisson et al. (2005)
V94-56 Embalse de Guarico Zircon 9.813 −66.950 FT 53.9 13.3 Sisson et al. (2005)
Camatagua
V94-57 Embalse de Guarico Zircon 9.822 −66.942 FT 61.4 8.6 Sisson et al. (2005)
Camatagua
V94-59 East of Palmarito Quebradon Zircon 9.741 −66.592 FT 73.4 8.9 Sisson et al. (2005)
V94-60 North of Taguay Mucaria Zircon 9.821 −66.649 FT 85.1 19.7 Sisson et al. (2005)
V94-61 Altagracia de Quiamare Zircon 9.864 −66.354 FT 62.8 16.8 Sisson et al. (2005)
Orituco
GXB-2 Serrania del Granite Muscovite 9.302 66.939 K/Ar 330   Feo-Codecido et al. (1984)
Interior
GXB-8 Serrania del Granite Muscovite 9.368 66.939 K/Ar 321   Feo-Codecido et al. (1984)
Interior

Tobago
Sample Location Rock Type Mineral Lat Long Technique Age (Ma) ± (Ma) Reference
40 39
2D-14 Tobago Hornblende gabbro Hornblende     Ar/ Ar 91.4 2.2 Snoke et al. (1990)
40
1C-30 Tobago Hornblende Hornblende     Ar/39Ar 102.9 1.1 Snoke et al. (1990)
melagabbro
40
1C-29 Tobago Hornblende Hornblende     Ar/39Ar 102.8 1.2 Snoke et al. (1990)
porphyry
40
1C-5 Tobago Poikilitic hornblende Hornblende     Ar/39Ar 104.7 1.6 Snoke et al. (1990)
diorite
40
2D-35 Tobago Hornblende–gabbro Hornblende     Ar/39Ar 103.6 1.4 Snoke et al. (1990)
pegmatite
40
T827 Tobago Hornblende– Hornblende     Ar/39Ar 104.2 1.3 Snoke et al. (1990)
plagioclase
porphyry
40
DR245 Tobago A clast of Hornblende     Ar/39Ar ≥ 120   Snoke et al. (1990)
hornblende phyryc
andesite
10/27/15 10:03 AM
 The Ribbon Continent of South America in Ecuador, Colombia, and Venezuela  67
faults, thrust faults, pull-aparts, and folding on vari-
ous scales (Hackley, 2005). Anticlines similar to those
of the South Caribbean fold belt, and in our interpre-
tation forming part of that belt, have been mapped at
outcrop on islands (Pijpers, 1933; Helmers and Beets,
1977; Beets, 1996) and offshore on the basis of their
bathymetric and shallow seismic expression (Silver
et al., 1975; Clark et al., 2008, figure 6; and the “fam-
ily 3 fault and fold structures” of Gorney et al., 2007).
These anticlines occupy a belt about 150 km (93.2 mi)
wide south of the bounding thrust of the Maracaibo
Block (Figure 10). Folds (ca 20 3 10 km2) on Aruba and
Curacao that involve the late Miocene to Pliocene (ca
7–1.8 Ma) aged Seroe Domi carbonate rocks (Jackson
and Robinson, 1994) form part of that population of
anticlines (Figure 11). Because our interest here is in
the relationship of the Maracaibo Block to the PBZ, we
concentrate mainly on the northwestern and north-
eastern parts of the block and their structural evolu-
tion during the past 15 My. Those areas have been
strongly modified as the block has developed.
Northwestern Part of the Maracaibo Block
Prominent E–W-trending strike-slip faults on the Guajira
and Paraguana Peninsulas have been interpreted by
Gomez (2001) to be representative of the complex of
strike-slip faults within the South CARIB PBZ that
13880_ch02_ptg01_039-084.indd 67
were involved in the eastward transform motion of the
CARIB plate with respect to South America (Figure 9)
before the Maracaibo Block formed. There are two such
faults in the Guajira Peninsula, the Cuisa and Oca faults.
The Cuisa fault crosses the peninsula, ending abruptly
100 km (62.1 mi) off the west coast. The western end of
the Oca fault lies at the northwest corner of the Marac-
aibo Block where the Oca fault meets the Santa Marta
fault at an acute angle (Figure 9). The Oca fault extends
eastward across the peninsula, but cannot be traced as
far as the east coast. We here suggest that the Oca and
Cuisa faults were the same fault before the Maracaibo
Block formed and that they have been offset from one
another during the past 15 Ma by left-lateral motion on
a northwest extension of the Burro Negro fault (Figure
9). An Eocene phase of right-lateral motion on that fault
has been described by Escalona and Mann (2006), but
our concern here is with a late Miocene to Recent time
of active left-lateral movement on the fault. (Evidence of
that movement in epicenters on the fault and in defor-
mation of late Miocene rocks is seen in figures 6 and 10
of Escalona and Mann, 2006.)
The Burro Negro fault does not crop out on the
Guajira Peninsula, although indications of its loca-
tion can be discerned in epicenters, seismic reflection
data (Gomez, 2001), and bathymetry. Gomez (2001)
also observed a set of N–W-trending structures that
Figure 10. Active
deformation in part
of the South Carib-
bean deformed belt
illustrated here on a
bathymetry base by
showing anticlines that
deform young Seroe
Domi carbonate rocks
(late Miocene and
Pliocene in age Jackson
and Robinson, 1994),
mapped onshore in
Aruba, Curacao, and
Bonaire. Folds offshore
from sparker surveys of
Silver et al. (1975)
are similar although
not identical.
20 km (12.4 mi)
10/27/15 10:03 AM
 68  ALTAMIRA and Burke

Figure 11. Geological map

and cross section of Aruba
(Beets, 1996). The late
Neogene Seroe Domi
Formation dips from 10° to
30°. Those dips have been
considered depositional,
but because they extend
over 2 km (1.2 mi) and be-
cause they are concordant
with a mapped offshore
structure of Silver et al.
(1975) (see Figure 10),
we attribute them to active
folding. That folding ex-
poses the ca 90 Ma Aruba
batholith and the “Aruba
Lava,” which we consider
from its structure (see
the cross section in this
figure) and compositional
­variation to represent part
of the subduction complex
of the Great Arc of the
­Caribbean. 10 km (6.2 mi)

Figure 12. Rose diagram showing strikes

of steeply dipping joints from LANDSAT
images of the upper Guajira Peninsula that
Gomez (2001) interpreted as Riedel shears
in the N–S-shortening South Caribbean
deformed belt. The peak azimuth at ca 45°
is close to that of the Burro Negro fault ca
100 km (62.1 mi) to the southwest.

he identified on Landsat imagery of the whole of the
upper peninsula (1) as steep joints and (2) as faults
with small throws (either normal faults or strike-slip
faults in offshore seismic reflection data for late Mio-
cene sedimentary rocks (Figure 12). Gomez (2001) inter-
preted the consistent azimuth of the structures (N 45°
W) to indicate N–S compression in the Guajira part of
the ­Maracaibo Block and suggested that the structures,
the trend of which roughly parallels that of the Burro
Negro and Santa Marta strike-slip faults, indicate that
they represent Riedel shears with respect to the north-
ward escape of the Maracaibo Block in this region.
Northeastern Part of the Maracaibo Block
Earthquake distributions and mechanisms as well as GPS
results (Perez et al., 1997; Perez and ­Mendoza, 1998; Weber
et al., 2001; Trenkamp et al., 2002; C
­ olmenares and Zoback,
2003) show that the northeastern part of the Maracaibo
Block is not symmetrical with the northwestern part, as it
would be if the Bocono fault formed the eastern bound-
ary of the block (­ Figure 13). We instead follow Perez et al.
(2001a) in finding that the block may be better regarded as
bounded by the Victoria fault farther to the ESE. That fault
has a much more nearly E–W azimuth than the Bocono
fault. We interpret the asymmetry as reflecting the fact

13880_ch02_ptg01_039-084.indd 68 10/27/15 10:03 AM

 The Ribbon Continent of South America in Ecuador, Colombia, and Venezuela  69
that while the Santa Marta and Burro Negro faults are
left-lateral faults, the Victoria fault is a right-lateral fault.
As Figure 13 shows, movement of the CARIB to the east
is largely in a direction opposite to that on the Santa Marta
and Burro Negro faults. That accounts for the elevation
of the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta nearly 6 km (3.7 mi)
above sea level. Movement on the La V ­ ictoria fault adds
to, rather than opposes, that of the CARIB. GPS azimuths
close to, but north of the Victoria fault provide the best
indication of the extent of the Maracaibo Block to the east
(Perez et al., 2001b) (­Figure 13).
The Cariaco trench lies at the edge of the Maracaibo
Block and adjacent to the Victoria fault (Figure 9). It
is not a normal pull-apart basin. We date the initia-
tion of the Cariaco trench to the time of origin of the
Maracaibo Block at 15 Ma. East of the Maracaibo
Block, movement with respect to South America in the
PBZ is, as it has been for ca 65 My, due east. East–west
movement continues today as shown by GPS meas-
urements and earthquake mechanisms (Perez et al.,
1997; Perez and Mendoza, 1998; Weber et al., 2001). We
found it convenient (Figure 14) to restore movement in
the whole of that eastern part of the PBZ to conditions
at 15 Ma so as to match conditions farther to the west,
in which we have removed the effects of the penetra-
tion of the PBZ by the escaping Maracaibo Block. That
involved the closure of the Cariaco trench.
Retro-deforming the ca 100-km (62.1-mi) offsets of
the Bocono and Santa Marta faults and the ca 75-km
(46.6-mi) offset on the Burro Negro fault, as well as
13880_ch02_ptg01_039-084.indd 69
Figure 13. Faults, folds, pull-
aparts, and GPS results for the
Maracaibo Block (gray shading).
The sketch below the main figure
emphasizes that ­movements
on the left-lateral Santa Marta
(SM) and Burro Negro (BN)
strike-slip faults oppose the
sense of ­motion of the Carib-
bean plate with respect to South
America, but that movement
on the La ­Victoria (LV) fault
adds to that motion. As a result,
the ­Maracaibo Block extends
farther to the east than has been
commonly assumed. Six GPS
measurements on islands east of
64° W and north of 11° N indicate
that the influence of the Marac-
aibo Block may even be felt as far
to the northeast as Barbados at
59.5° W. GPS results from Perez
et al. (2001), Trenkamp et al.
(2002), and Weber et al. (2001).
200 km (124.3 mi)
reducing the E–W extent of the offshore island archi-
pelago within the Maracaibo Block (i.e., from Los
Monjes to La O ­ rchilla), closing the Cariaco trench, and
accommodating movement on the La Victoria fault
provide a representation of the north coast of South
America at ca 15 Ma ­(Figure 14), and reveals the struc-
ture within the ­Ribbon Continent on the north coast of
South America as it was before it became modified as
result of the events in the Maracaibo Block.
Structure of the Ribbon Continent in the Transform
PBZ of the North Coast of South America
Restoration of the structure of the transform PBZ
as it existed before the development of the Marac-
aibo Block reveals the existence of three belts within
the PBZ, each characterized by distinctive rock types
(Figure 8). A fourth belt of related foreland basins lies
immediately to the south of and adjacent to the PBZ. A
striking contrast between the Ribbon Continent on the
west coast of South America and the R ­ ibbon Continent
of the north coast of South America is that extensive
areas containing CCOP fragments are confined to the
west coast. Fragments of the CCOP on the north coast
of South America are few and are restricted to slivers
within the subduction complexes that outcrop within
the Northern Belt of the Ribbon Continent (Figure 14).
Structure within the PBZ at 15 Ma was complex,
and we do not here address complexities such as
10/27/15 10:03 AM
 70  ALTAMIRA and Burke

Figure 14. The Ribbon Continent restored to its 15 Ma position in Venezuela. Removal of offsets related to Maracaibo Block move-
ments reveals three W–E-trending belts of the Ribbon Continent. South Caribbean plate transform plate boundary zone faults bounded
the Ribbon Continent to the north and separated the Caribbean–Colombian Oceanic Plateau (CCOP) from rocks of the Great Arc.
Two faults of that set are shown that have offset La Blanquilla (depth to Moho: 24 km [14.9 mi]) from the Aves Swell and Los Testigos
(depth to Moho: 23 km [14.3 mi]) from the Lesser Antilles. Exposures in the Northern Belt south of the faults are dominantly of sub-
volcanic igneous intrusions and subduction complex rocks of the Great Arc of the Caribbean. The former crop out more widely on
islands within the active anticlines of the South Caribbean deformed belt. The southern boundary of the Northern Belt is formed by
faults of the PAROCOSSEP fault system in this area including the Cuisa, Oca, San Sebastien, and El Pilar faults. The Central Belt consists
entirely of subduction complex rocks of the Great Arc in numerous mountainous regions of Venezuela. The Southern Belt consists of
the folded and thrust Serrania del Interior and along strike (and presently within the Maracaibo Block) its western extension the Lara
nappe province. The northern part of the Serrania del Interior includes subduction complex rocks from the Central Belt thrust to the
south. The figure shows an estimated location (A–A') for the Ribbon Continent–South American boundary that is based on depths to
the Moho from Niu et al. (2007) (in large bold numerals). We have modified depths to Moho from Niu et al. (2007) (1) by restoring
horizontal offsets of the past 15 My on the Bocono and La Victoria faults and (2) by removing sedimentary rock thicknesses mainly
from Summa et al. (2003) and Feo-Codecido et al. (1984) (in small numerals) from receiver function depths to Moho to yield crystal-
line rock crustal thickness estimates. The figure shows that both the Central Belt and the Serrania del Interior have been thrust over the
South American continental margin to an extent that varies along strike. Clark et al. (2008, figure 6) showed similar thrusting of Great
Arc and Serrania del Interior rocks onto South America based on seismic velocity and reflection seismic analyses at ca 64° W. The belt
of foreland basins south of the Serrania del Interior is not shown in this figure. 1000 km (621.4 mi)

the Falcon–Bonaire Basin, but simply draw atten-
tion to a ca 1400-km (870 mi)-long strike-slip fault the
“COSSEP” (Cuisa–Oca–San Sebastian–El Pilar, see
Figure 15) fault as a prominent feature that divides
the ­Northern Belt from the Central Belt of the Ribbon
Continent within the PBZ at ca 10.5° N. (Figure 14).
From north to south, three belts within the PBZ, all of
which trend close to E–W, are the (1) Northern Belt,
(2) Central Belt, and (3) Southern Belt.
Northern Belt with Arc Plutons and
Subduction Complex Rocks
A ca 100-km (62.1-mi)-wide belt is dominated by sub-
volcanic plutons of the Great Arc and associated sub-
duction complex rocks, mainly in green schist and
prehnite–pumpellyite facies. Folding and consequent
structural elevation during the past 10 My within the
­Maracaibo Block has had the effect of exposing larger
areas of intrusives and relatively smaller areas of

13880_ch02_ptg01_039-084.indd 70 10/27/15 10:03 AM

 The Ribbon Continent of South America in Ecuador, Colombia, and Venezuela  71
subduction complex rocks on islands within the block
than are exposed farther to the south in the Guajira
and P
­ araguana Peninsulas and farther to the east out-
side the Maracaibo Block (Figure 9). In those areas
Great Arc intrusions comprise relatively smaller pro-
portions of the outcrop.
Central Belt
A 50- to 100-km (31.1- to 62.1-mi)-wide belt is domi-
nated by subduction complex metamorphic rocks of
the Great Arc, mainly in prehnite–pumpellyite and
green schist facies; however, blue schist facies occur
in one 50-km (31.1-mi)-wide by 100-km (62.1-mi)-long
lens. Slivers and knockers of serpentinite (after harz-
burgite), as well as basalt, blue schist, and eclogite, are
sporadically distributed within the rocks of the sub-
duction complex. The subduction complex belt crops
out in mainly mountainous areas such as the Cordil-
lera de la Costa, inner part of the Serrania del Interior,
Caucagua– El Tinaco Belt, Paracotos Belt, and Villa
de Cura Belt, all on the ­Venezuelan mainland or in
the Northern Range of ­Trinidad. The belt exposes no
Great Arc intrusions, but it does contain isolated frag-
ments, mainly of granodiorite, torn from the main-
land of South America that we correlate with rocks of
similar ages in the ­basement of the Cretaceous Andean
Arc of Ecuador and the equivalent Polymetamorphic
Complex of western Colombia. Rocks in both areas
have yielded Proterozoic, Paleozoic, and Triassic high-
temperature closure isotopic ages and younger low-
temperature closure (on micas 40Ar/39Ar ages) and
fission track ages (on apatites and zircons).
13880_ch02_ptg01_039-084.indd 71
Figure 15. The Ribbon Continent in its
present position offset by faults of the
Maracaibo Block. The Serrania del Interior
straddles the Great Arc–South American
continent ­boundary (A–A' and B–B') as
a result of ­secondary ­thrusting from the
southern ­margin of the plate boundary
zone as indicated in Figure 16. The Cuisa
and Oca faults are interpreted to be
offset parts of a single fault active before
15 Ma. Depths to the Moho from Niu et
al. (2007) (in large ­numerals). We have
­modified depths to Moho from Niu et al.
(2007) by removing sedimentary rock
thicknesses mainly from Summa et al.
(2003) and ­Feo-Codecido et al. (1984)
(in small numerals) from receiver function
depths to Moho to yield crystalline rock
crustal thickness estimates. 1000 km
(621.4 mi)
Southern Belt Dominated by Cretaceous and
Cenozoic Sedimentary Rocks That Were Deposited
on the Rifted Margin of the North Coast of South
America and Have Been Involved in Thrusting from
the Southern Margin of the PBZ
A belt ca 50–100 km (31.1–62.1 mi) wide is dominated
by Cretaceous to Cenozoic sedimentary rocks that were
originally deposited on South American continental base-
ment at the rifted continental margin of South America
after the Yucatan Block moved away. These rocks have
been emplaced southward farther onto the continent by
secondary thrusting at the southern margin of the PBZ.
Foreland Basin Belt
A 100–150-km (62.1–93.2 mi)-wide belt developed south
of the Southern Belt in response to loading of the conti-
nental margin by rocks emplaced by thrusting from the
Southern Belt of the PBZ. The oldest sedimentary rocks
in individual parts of the foreland basin belt become
progressively younger from the west (in the Maracaibo
Basin, which was initiated in the late P­ aleocene ca 57 Ma)
to the east (in the Maturin Basin, initiated in the Miocene
at ca 20 Ma). A summary of the geology of individual
areas on the mainland and islands within the belts of the
PBZ, emphasizing aspects that have helped us in estab-
lishing the evolution of the Ribbon Continent.
Northern Belt
The locations of formations are shown on Figure 9
except for the Ruma, Siapana, and Caucagua–El
10/27/15 10:03 AM
 72  ALTAMIRA and Burke
Tinaco lithounits, which are too small in outcrop to
show on the maps in this chapter.
Guajira Peninsula
The Guajira Peninsula is not only the westernmost
part of the Ribbon Continent on the north coast of
South America but is also the area that shows the clos-
est structural resemblance to the west coast structure
of the Ribbon Continent as seen in the Romeral suture
and fault zone of the west coast of South America in
Colombia (Gomez, 2001). The Upper Guajira Penin-
sula exposes prominent faults, including the 100-km
(62.1-mi)-long E–W-trending trans-peninsula Cuisa
fault (Figure  15), that resemble those within the
Romeral suture and fault zone of the west coast, with
the important difference that those of the Guajira trend
E–W, not N–S. This difference is readily explained by
the paleomagnetic results of Macdonald and Opdyke
(1972) who showed that the Cretaceous rocks they
studied in the Guajira, which we identify as Great Arc
of the Caribbean rocks, had become magnetized ca 20°
to the south of their present latitude of ca 12° N, that
is, in the approximate latitude of Ecuador (at ca 2° S
now and at 10° S at 75 Ma; Luzieux et al., 2006) rotated
ca 90° clockwise to their present position.
Rocks of the Ruma Metamorphic zone of Alva-
rez (1967) include quartzites and phyllites that were
derived from sandstones and carbonaceous shales, as
well as slivers of serpentinite and gabbro we interpret
to be representative of the subduction complex of the
Great Arc in the Guajira. Blueschists are not known
in the outcrop in the Guajira, but an occurrence is
reported as a boulder in Cenozoic gravel thought to
be derived locally from underlying Mesozoic subduc-
tion complex rocks (Green et al., 1968). We interpret
the Cretaceous and Jurassic rocks of La Guajira found
in the Ruma Metamorphic zone and in the Cocinas
platform and Guajira trough units to be Great Arc
­subduction complex rocks that correspond to rocks
in the Arquia and Quebradagrande Complexes of the
west coast. Descriptions of rocks of the Alta Guajira
have involved attempts to establish stratigraphy and
thicknesses (Renz, 1960; Rollins, 1965; Duque-Caro
and Reyes, 1999; Gomez, 2001). Because these rocks
appear to represent the subduction complex environ-
ment, we regard the estimated thicknesses published
as inappropriate. However, the timing of deposition,
which is constrained by fossils, reveals a duration that
corresponds well with the known history of the Great
Arc of the Caribbean. Ages as old as Triassic have been
assigned to lithounits without fossils on the basis of an
analogy with the La Quinta Formation in the Merida
Andes (Renz, 1960), but we doubt those assignations.
13880_ch02_ptg01_039-084.indd 72
The oldest fossils of the Guajira Peninsula, in the
Caju “Formation” are late Jurassic ammonites, and
the youngest are in Cretaceous rocks of Turonian to
Campanian age (ca 93–70 Ma). The age range is con-
sistent with that established for the Great Arc subduc-
tion complexes in Ecuador and western Colombia.
The occurrence of a La Luna–Querecual type “brown
limestone” within the Great Arc rocks is particularly
interesting because that rock type is often considered
confined to mainland NW South America. Because
the La Luna Formation is a representative of oceanic
anoxic episode 3 (Rey et al., 2004), we suggest that
its development on the Great Arc in a near equatorial
latitude is not surprising. We consider Precambrian
igneous rocks, of which the Siapana body is the best
described, to resemble the fragments of the polymeta-
morphic complex basement of the Cretaceous Andean
Arc of western Colombia that were first mechanically
embodied into the Romeral suture and fault zone by
faulting and were then carried by strike-slip motion to
the north and east. Jurassic-aged rims to Proterozoic
zircons in the Siapana body are consistent with that
interpretation (Molina et al., 2006). A younger intru-
sion has a published Cenozoic K/Ar whole-rock age
(Lockwood, 1966), but we consider that does not rep-
resent the time of its intrusion.
Paraguana Peninsula
MacDonald (1968) described low-grade metamorphic
rocks in prehnite–pumpellyite facies including phyl-
lites, graphitic schists, meta-arenites, and metacon-
glomerates, with sparse carbonate rocks of the Pueblo
Nuevo Formation from the center of the Paraguana
Peninsula that contain ammonites of Kimmeridgian age
(ca 150 Ma). He suggested that this unit correlates with
the Cocinas Formation of the Guajira Peninsula. We
consider both to represent parts of the subduction com-
plex of the Great Arc of the Caribbean. Both ­Gonzalez
de Juana et al. (1980) and Stephan (1985) suggested cor-
relation of the rocks of the Pueblo Nuevo F ­ ormation
with subduction complex rocks of the C ­ ordillera de la
Costa to the east. We suggest that granitic (U/Pb titan-
ite) ages of 265 Ma and 262 Ma reported by Martin-­
Bellizzia (1968) are from rocks transported north from
the west coast of South America.
Farther to the southwest on the Paraguana Penin-
sula, a zoned mafic–ultramafic intrusive and volcanic
complex (Martin-Bellizzia, 1972) shows similarities to
the sub-volcanic Great Arc plutonic suite of Tobago
(Snoke et al., 2001).
Los Monjes
Los Monjes exposes basalts in green schist facies
(Martin-Bellizzia, 1972; Ostos et al., 2005b) and has
yielded K/Ar whole-rock ages of 116 Ma and 114 Ma
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 The Ribbon Continent of South America in Ecuador, Colombia, and Venezuela  73
on a granitic rock (Santamaria and Schubert, 1974). It
too may represent rocks of the Great Arc.
Aruba
About 10 km2 (6.2 mi2) of the island is underlain by a
unit mapped as the Aruba Lava Formation of which
another small area (ca 1 km2 [0.6 mi2]) has been iden-
tified 10 km (6.2 mi) away at the island’s northern tip
(Beets, 1996). The Aruba Lava Formation is inappro-
priately named. It consists of a 3 km (1.9 mi) stack of
rocks typical of the Great Arc subduction complex that
are generally metamorphosed to prehnite–pumpellyite
facies (­ Figure 11). The unit includes such rock types as
basalts (both in pillows and in sheets), diabases, basaltic
lapilli tuffs, volcaniclastic conglomerates, sandstones,
pelagic cherts, cherty limestones, and fine-grained tur-
bidites with intercalated pebbly mudstones that have
yielded ammonites of possibly Turonian (93? Ma) age
(Helmers and Beets, 1977). If, as has been suggested
(White et al., 1999), the CCOP is represented among
the basaltic rocks of the Aruba Lava Formation, then it
is as slivers in the subduction complex. There are geo-
chemical grounds for considering that the CCOP is so
represented (White et al., 1999), which has the tectonic
implication that the Aruba Lava Formation subduction
complex includes material subducted under the Great
Arc after the CCOP eruption date (ca 89 Ma).
That is consistent with a suggestion by White et
al. (1999) that the Aruba batholith was formed in the
Great Arc of the Caribbean from ocean-floor rocks
that contained the CCOP. The Aruba batholith under-
lies most of the island (ca 200 km2 [124.3 mi2] in four
separate outcrops) and has a composition that could
reflect subduction of the CCOP. Altamira-Areyan et al.
(in press) obtained 40Ar/39Ar igneous intrusive ages on
hornblendes of ca 90 Ma and 94 Ma and also on horn-
blendes from a diabase of the “Aruba Lava F ­ ormation.”
Although Aruba is an island of only ca 250 km 2
(155.3 mi2) in area, its geology typifies the history of the
Great Arc intrusion–­dominated belt of the Ribbon Con-
tinent on the north side of South America in two ways:
(1) occurrences of CCOP rocks are scarce in the belt, and
where they do occur are in slivers within the subduction
complex, and (2) metaigneous and metasedimentary
rocks identified as representing various environments
in earlier papers and maps (Beets and MacGillavry,
1977; ­Helmers and Beets, 1977; Beets, 1996; White et al.,
1999; Wright and Wyld, 2004) have generally turned
out to be recognizably subduction complex rocks of
the Great Arc, often in prehnite–pumpellyite and green
schist facies. Those rocks do represent a range of envi-
ronments but only environments that are to be expected
in a subduction complex where simultaneous deposi-
tion and tectonism is likely to juxtapose igneous, sedi-
mentary, and metamorphic rocks.
13880_ch02_ptg01_039-084.indd 73
Curacao
The Curacao Lava consists of “over 5 km (3.1 mi) of pil-
low basalts, reworked hyaloclastites, diabase sills and
a thin succession of siliceous shales and limestones”
(Jackson and Robinson, 1994), and includes a pelagic
layer with late–middle Albian (ca 104 Ma) ammonites.
We interpret this “lava” to represent subduction com-
plex rocks of the Great Arc. MORB compositions have
been identified, and the CCOP may be represented
by komatiites, some of which show spinifex textures,
as do CCOP rocks on Isla Gorgona off the west coast
of Colombia (Echeverria, 1980). The Curacao Lava is
overlain by a sedimentary unit, the Knip Formation,
that is up to 2000 m (6561.7 ft) thick, and in which tur-
bidites are abundant. We also consider the Knip Unit
to be part of the subduction complex. Knip Formation
fossils indicate a range of late Cretaceous ages includ-
ing late Santonian to Campanian (85–75 Ma) (Jack-
son and Robinson, 1994). An overlying turbiditic and
conglomeratic unit, the Midden Curacao Formation,
which we also consider to be part of the subduction
complex, resembles the underlying Knip Formation,
but has been regarded as Paleocene (ca 65–55 Ma) on
the basis of what are described as “poorly preserved
planktic foraminifera” (Jackson and Robinson, 1994).
Younger sedimentary rocks from Eocene to Recent in
age on Curacao are dominantly carbonates (Jackson
and Robinson, 1994).
Bonaire
On Bonaire, the Washikemba, and Rincon Formation
that exceed 5 km (3.1 mi) in thickness, we also assign
to the Great Arc subduction complex. They include
in prehnite–pumpellyite and zeolite facies “pillow
lavas, lava flows, shallow intrusions and subaqueous
pyroclastic flows that alternate with pelagic and vol-
caniclastic sediments” (Jackson and Robinson, 1994).
Fossils are of late Albian (ca 100 Ma) and middle–late
Maastrichtian (75–66 Ma) ages. Pelagic sedimentary
rocks include cherts, radiolarites, and cherty shales
(Jackson and Robinson, 1994). Compositionally the
volcanic rocks embrace compositions from mafic to
felsic and are representative of the primitive island
arc series of Donnelly and Rogers (1978) and Donnelly
et al. (1990). The overlying Seobi Blanco Formation has
been assigned to the Paleocene but is unfossiliferous.
It has yielded boulders, thought to be of South Ameri-
can origin, with U/Pb zircon ages of 1150 Ma (Priem
et al., 1986), which is an age more readily matched in
the Andes of the west coast of South America than in
the Venezuelan basement.
Los Roques
On Gran Roque, the largest of these tiny islets, a ca
3-km (1.8-mi)-long by 1-km (0.6-mi)-wide strip of
10/27/15 10:03 AM
 74  ALTAMIRA and Burke
outcrops, exposes metavolcanic rocks reminiscent of
those of the Great Arc that are cut by quartz–diorite
and aplite–­pegmatite dikes (ca 66 Ma K/T boundary,
see Table 1). Ostos and Sisson (2005) obtained trace
­element data consistent with the conclusion of San-
tamaria and Schubert (1974), that the islands overlay
rocks of a volcanic island arc underlain by oceanic
crust; however, the rocks could also represent arc
intrusions and subduction complex rocks.
La Blanquilla
La Blanquilla, the most eastern island in the Maracaibo
Block (Figure 9), has yielded an igneous age of 59 Ma
(Levander et al., 2006) that we attribute to its deriva-
tion from the southern tip of the Aves Swell. We do not
consider it to be a part of the Great Arc that collided
with the west coast of South America, but to represent
the rotated Lesser Antillean tip of the part of the Great
Arc that entered the Atlantic Ocean on the CARIB
and traveled to the east (Figure 8). This age matches
the youngest igneous ages of the Aves Swell phase of
the Great Arc that ceased to be active at the time of
formation of the Grenada Basin during the Paleocene
(ca 65–55 Ma) (Figure 8).
Margarita
The island of Margarita lies outside and to the east
of the Maracaibo Block (Figure 9), in the area in
which Great Arc intrusions crop out much less than
do subduction complex rocks. Rocks assigned to the
Cretaceous consist entirely of subduction complex
material in which serpentinite tectonic slices (after
harzburgite) occupy more than 10% of the outcrop.
Three metamorphic units are distinguished. The first,
the Juan Griego “Group,” a metasedimentary unit
with quartzo-feldspathic, marble, and metaquartzite
lithologies, including numerous eclogite and amphi-
bolite knockers and lenses. A granitic augen gneiss at
Macanao has yielded six zircon fractions that gave a
U/Pb discordia plot with an upper intercept of 315
(+35/−24) Ma (Stockert et al., 1995). We consider this
gneiss to be tectonically incorporated into the sub-
duction complex from a mainland of South America
environment such as the Polymetamorphic Complex
of Colombia. The second (Rinconada “Group”) is
composed of mafic rocks metamorphosed at eclog-
ite facies conditions. It has been suggested to be of
MORB composition and considered to represent for-
mer oceanic crust (Bocchio et al., 1990). Trondjhemites
in the Rinconada Group at Metasiete and Guayacan
that have yielded U/Pb zircon ages in the 114–105
Ma range (Stockert et al., 1995) might be considered
to represent ocean-floor rocks; however, Ostos and
Sisson (2005), using trace element and Sr isotopic
13880_ch02_ptg01_039-084.indd 74
ratios, suggest a volcanic arc origin. If that interpre-
tation is valid, we consider that arc to have been the
Great Arc of the Caribbean and the intrusive ages to
record a time when the Great Arc was in the Pacific
Ocean before it had collided with the CCOP. Granitic
augen gneiss at El Salado has a volcanic arc composi-
tional affinity (Ostos and Sisson, 2005). A U/Pb zircon
age of 86 Ma shows it to have been intruded into the
Great Arc before the arc collided with the west coast
of South America, close to the time when the Great
Arc collided with the CCOP. Last, the Los Robles
Group is a low-grade metasedimentary sequence of
quartz–chlorite phyllite, marble, dolomitic marble,
calcareous phyllite, and metaconglomerate without
knockers or amphibolite (Ostos and Sisson, 2005).
Margarita exposes Pliocene and middle Eocene
­s edimentary rocks and the Punta Garnero Group
(Hunter, 1978) of limestones, shales, and graywackes
that have ­e xperienced brittle deformation but no
­m etamorphism. Miocene sedimentary rocks show
faulting but are relatively undeformed.
In summary, igneous rock intrusive ages (with the
exception of those of diabase dikes) and related struc-
tures on Margarita that record steps 1–4 of Stockert et
al.’s (1995) “integrated tectonic evolution” sequence of
events are ca 86 Ma or older, and relate to times before
the Great Arc collided with the west coast of South
America (at ca 70 Ma). However, structures dateable
by using lower temperature closure systems, which
record steps 5 to 12, are all younger than 66 Ma and
“suggest deformation at a transform margin” (see
Stockert et al., 1995, Table 1). That is consistent with
our attribution of that deformation to movement in
the PBZ of the Ribbon Continent.
Trinidad: Northern Range
This area might be better treated with the Araya–Paria
Peninsula of Venezuela, but we place our treatment
here because it lies to the north of the El Pilar sector
of the PAROCOSSEP fault system. That also enables
us to treat Venezuela as an entity and to associate
­Trinidad with Tobago.
Green schist facies rocks making up the North-
ern Range of Trinidad, a ca 20-km (12.5-mi)-wide
E–W-trending strip of rugged and highly vegetated
hills, have been identified as having been formed in
a subduction complex environment because of their
close links to the rocks of the Araya–Paria Peninsula
in neighboring Venezuela (Ostos and Sisson, 2005).
Although knockers of serpentinite and eclogite such
as those that are known in the Araya–Paria Penin-
sula have not been recognized in Trinidad, a ca 87-Ma
(whole-rock K/Ar) basaltic body at Sans Souci (Wadge
and MacDonald, 1985) has been suggested to have
10/27/15 10:03 AM
 The Ribbon Continent of South America in Ecuador, Colombia, and Venezuela  75
either been generated at a spreading center or to be
a sliver of the CCOP. Minor volcanic horizons have
also been recognized in some of the other Northern
Range units (Donovan, 1994). The green schists of the
Northern Range are mainly pelitic but more siliceous
rocks and carbonate rocks also crop out. As elsewhere,
efforts have been made to establish thicknesses, suc-
cessions, and stratigraphies in the Northern Range,
and these have been fruitful to the extent that faunas
of late Jurassic (ca 150 Ma) and Barremian (130–125
Ma) age have been identified.
Tobago
Tobago is recognized to be “a fragment of the accreted
Mesozoic oceanic arc of the Southern Caribbean”
(Snoke et al., 2001). We identify that arc to be the Great
Arc of the Caribbean. Three east–west-striking belts
of Cretaceous arc rocks cross the island. (1) The north
coast schists are metamorphosed volcanogenic rocks,
mainly in green schist facies, that we identify as sub-
duction complex rocks of the Great Arc. A 40Ar/39Ar
age on a hornblende indicates an age of ca 120 Ma
(Aptian) or older. (2) Rocks of the Composite ­Plutonic
Suite cross the center of the island in a belt about
3 km (1.8 mi) wide. They intrude the north coast
schists and are themselves deformed. (3) The rocks of
the Tobago volcanic group that occupy the southern
half of the island are “consanguineous” with the Com-
posite Plutonic Suite (Snoke et al., 2001). Isotopic ages
of the Composite Plutonic Suite and Tobago volcanic
group and fossil ages for the latter indicate igneous
activity at ca 104 Ma (roughly middle Albian).
Indeterminate Character of the Structure of the
Ribbon Continent in the South Caribbean PBZ to
the East of Trinidad and Tobago
The South Caribbean PBZ must extend ca 300 km
(186.5 mi) ­f arther to the east and be linked to the
Lesser Antilles subduction zone plate boundary in the
neighborhood of Long 58° W, but it is not possible to
establish structure in that region because of the excep-
tional sediment thickness of the overlying Orinoco
River deep-sea fan and of the adjacent Barbados accre-
tionary prism into which that fan merges (Figure 14).
The huge volume of the Barbados accretionary prism
is a direct result of the evolution of the Ribbon Conti-
nent. As the Lesser Antillean segment of the Great Arc
swept to the east during the past 65 My, the southern
end of its subduction zone first picked up the deep-sea
fan of an early Magdalena River delta from the Atlan-
tic-type north coast of South America. That was dur-
ing the Eocene at ca 50 Ma. Later during the Oligocene
at ca 30 Ma the subduction zone, as it traveled to the
east, picked up the deep-sea fan of the then Orinoco
13880_ch02_ptg01_039-084.indd 75
Delta from the north coast of South America. Since
then, as the Lesser Antillean Arc continued to sweep
east, the Cordillera de la Costa of Venezuela has risen
within the migrating transform PBZ and the Orinoco
has been diverted eastward into its present course. The
huge sediment volume of the Barbados accretionary
prism resulted from the subduction zone picking up
three separate deep-sea fans. Sandstones from the two
older fans are known in outcrop and in the subsurface
of Barbados where Eocene and Miocene fossilifer-
ous deep-sea fan sandstones have been distinguished
(Baldwin, 1986; Burke, 1988; Speed, 1994).
The Central, Subduction Complex–dominated, Belt of
the Southern CARIB PBZ
The Central Belt of the PBZ crops out only on the Ven-
ezuelan mainland. No Great Arc sub-volcanic plutonic
rocks crop out in the Central Belt, which lies south of
both the Paraguana Peninsula and the pre-15-Ma loca-
tion of the PAROCOSSEP fault (Figure 9). South of
those boundaries the Ribbon Continent is represented
only by (1) rocks that can be assigned to the subduction
complex environment of the Great Arc of the Caribbean
and (2) slivers up to ca 10 km (6.2 mi) long, mainly of
granite and gneiss, that have sometimes in the past been
regarded as basement to the rocks of the Central Belt.
We interpret these rocks to include (1) metamorphosed
Great Arc igneous rocks and (2) tectonic fragments of
South American continental basement that we consider
to have been caught up from such sources as the Poly-
metamorphic Complex of Colombia during late Creta-
ceous (ca 75 Ma to ca 65 Ma) transpression, as the Ribbon
Continent PBZ moved to the north along the west coast
of South America (Figure 1). The southern boundary
of the Central Belt in Venezuela is well defined on the
basis of the receiver function results of Niu et al. (2007),
who concluded that stations with depths to Moho of
30 km (18.6 mi) (or less) overlie island arc rocks (i.e.,
Great Arc of the Caribbean rocks) and that stations with
depths to Moho of ca 40 km (24.8 mi) (or more) over-
lie South American continental crust. We show results
of Niu et al. (2007) slightly modified in two ways in
Figure 14:
(1) Where information is available we have deducted
sedimentary rock thicknesses, using Summa et al.
(2003) and Feo-Codecido et al. (1984), so that we have
indicated approximate crystalline crustal thicknesses
rather than total depths to Moho. This has enabled us
to smooth the mapped shape of the southern boundary
of the central zone published by Niu et al. (2007).
(2) We have removed the effects of the movements
of the Maracaibo Block so that the boundary defined by
10/27/15 10:03 AM
 76  ALTAMIRA and Burke
receiver functions is shown approximately as it would
have been at ca 15 Ma before the Maracaibo Block
began to move. That also results in a smoother bound-
ary and addresses the issue raised by Niu et al. (2007),
that three continental receiver function thicknesses
(38, 38, and 37 km [23.6, 23.6, and 23 mi]) appear to
lie within the Great Arc region. The restored structure
(1) aligns the ultramafic and mafic bodies at Siquisique,
within the Maracaibo Block, with a line of ultramafic
outcrops close to the Victoria fault and with closure
of the Cariaco trench, adds coherence to the align-
ment of ultramafic rocks on the pre-15-Ma structure
map, and (2) aligns the Lara nappes from within the
Maracaibo Block with the rest of the thrust belt of
the Serrania del Interior (Figure 14).
Results of BOLIVAR program research in the
Central Belt and reviews of earlier petrological and
geochemical research in a recently published book
(Ave-Lallemant and Sisson, 2005) are consistent with
the Ribbon Continent model for the belt:
1. Subduction complex rocks are recognized within
the Central Belt of Venezuela in: (i) the Cordillera de
la Costa (Figure 9), which is “built on a subduction
mélange of mid- to late Cretaceous age” (Sisson et al.,
2005). (ii) The Paracotos Belt that consists of Campa-
nian to Maastrichtian (80–65 Ma) sedimentary rocks
with slices of serpentinite, gabbro, pillow basalts,
and radiolarian cherts. The Paracotos Belt (Figure 9,
inset A) exposes “sedimentary structures akin to fly-
sch” (Ostos et al., 2005a). (iii) The Villa de Cura Belt
(Figure 9), the protolith of which has been suggested
to be of Aptian–Albian age, includes metachert and
metagraywacke units (ca 120–97 Ma), four 40Ar/39Ar
ages in amphiboles gave 90.7 ± 6.1 Ma, 91.7 ± 4.6
Ma, 93.4 ± 5.4 Ma, and 90.7 ± 8.9 Ma; and two ages
of white micas gave 86.2 ± 3.7 Ma and 86.2 ± 3.3 Ma
(see Table 1). The Villa de Cura Belt has been shown
to geochemically represent an oceanic, tholeiitic island
arc with its much-studied blue schists representing
two forearc slivers (Unger et al., 2005). (iv) The Las
­Hermanas Formation, which includes volcanic breccia,
ash tuff, lithic tuff, and lava in prehnite–pumpellyite
metamorphic facies. Las Hermanas rocks are thought
to represent either island arc-or back arc-magmatism
(Ostos and Sisson, 2005). A volcanic breccia included
in this formation gave an 40Ar/39Ar age of 136.9 ± 5.0
Ma for hornblende concentrates on a tonalitic clast.
Another sample from the same unit gave an age of 96.5
± 3.9 Ma; the matrix fraction gave an 40Ar/39Ar age of
131.3 ± 6.9 Ma. The Caucagua–El Tinaco Belt consists
of gneisses that Ostos and Sisson (2005), mainly on
the basis of rare-earth element compositions, consid-
ered to have formed in a “volcanic or magmatic arc.”
The Tinaquillo Peridotite ­Complex (Ostos et al., 2005a)
13880_ch02_ptg01_039-084.indd 76
lies within the Caucagua–El Tinaco Belt. It has been
suggested to represent either of Jurassic continental
margin-rift rocks or ocean-floor rocks, but “a MORB
protolith is suggested by variation diagrams and REE
patterns” (Ostos and Sisson, 2005). Knockers of blue
schist, eclogite, serpentinite, and basalts are sporadi-
cally distributed in some but not all of the belts. Ser-
pentinites ornament many thrust and strike-slip faults
between and within the blocks of the Central Belt, and
all the belts “are thought to be allochthonous” with
respect to South America (Unger et al., 2005).
2. The subduction complex of the Central Belt in Ven-
ezuela has yielded fossils in the age range between mid-
Jurassic (ca 170 Ma) and late Cretaceous (­Campanian to
Maastrichtian ca 80–65 Ma) (Ostos et al., 2005b). That
is consistent with the range of Great Arc sedimentary
depositional ages. Isotopic ages on protoliths are few
but are consistent with an origin in the Great Arc.
3. Isotopic ages for HP/LT metamorphism in the
Central Belt are consistent with a cessation of subduc-
tion-related metamorphism no later than ca 70 Ma.
4. The question of how the blocks of the C ­ entral
Belt have been juxtaposed has attracted attention
because of the diversity of metamorphic facies
(HP/LT eclogite to LP/LT prehnite–pumpellyite
facies and lower) among the blocks. The Villa de
Cura Block has, for example, been suggested to be a
“klippe,” and the possibility that it has been thrust
from the north over blocks closer to the coast has
been raised (Martin-­B ellizzia, 1972). However, we
prefer the interpretation of Lugo (2000) (referred to
by Ostos et al., 2005b) that the Villa de Cura Block
represents an imbricate thrust sheet within the
­subduction complex.
The juxtaposition of a variety of metamorphic facies
among blocks of the Ribbon Continent is consistent
with the observation of the widespread occurrence of
tectonically incorporated South American continental
rocks in subduction complex blocks of the Central Belt.
Those occurrences, which are known as far to the south
as Ecuador and southern Colombia, show that the Rib-
bon Continent has been in contact with South America
since it initially collided with the continent by ca 70 Ma
(Figure 7C). Blocks of various subduction complex
rocks with various metamorphic facies represent
equilibration at depths of ca 10–60 km (6.2–37.3 mi).
The roughly 50-km (31-mi) range in displayed depth is
very small, compared with the distances of hundreds
to thousands of km that the blocks have traveled first
northward and then eastward. No special process is
required for the exhumation of HP/LT rocks in sub-
duction zones, although it may be possible to relate
a particular occurrence to a particular environment
such as a transition in an arc from a convergent to a
10/27/15 10:03 AM
 The Ribbon Continent of South America in Ecuador, Colombia, and Venezuela  77

transform boundary (e.g., Ave-Lallemant, 1996). Exhu-

mation of blue schists, by a variety of processes, is a
part of the normal process of subduction complex evo-
lution (e.g., Karig, 1980).
Establishing the exact timing of the j­uxtaposition
of individual blocks depends on a variety of
­c onsiderations including the determination of
­low-temperature closure timings by a variety of
­methods. Results from Venezuela (Sisson et al., 2005)
show complexity, because the methods are relatively
insensitive to low-temperature change in exhumation
history, and have not yet yielded a coherent picture.

Southern Belt

This belt is dominated by Cretaceous and Cenozoic

sedimentary rocks that were deposited on the rifted
margin of the north coast of South America and have
been involved in thrusting from the southern margin
of the PBZ. These rocks occupy the Serrania del Inte-
rior and occur also within the Maracaibo Block as the
western extension of the Serrania in the Lara nappes
(Figures 14 and 15). In their more northern locations,
Serrania del Interior folds and thrusts show struc-
tural continuity with the southern thrusts of the Cen-
tral Belt that expose subduction complex rocks, while
farther south the folds and thrusts of the Serrania
expose rifted margin sedimentary rocks in both silici-
clastic and carbonate facies that were deposited on the
north coast of South America from the late Jurassic
time when the Yucatan Peninsula rifted away (Pindell,
1994). The extended continental margin on which these
sedimentary rocks were deposited has been thrust to
the south onto South America by secondary shorten-
ing associated with the eastward propagation in the
Ribbon Continent PBZ. The amount, and probably also
the azimuth of shortening, has varied with location for
several reasons. For example, the continental margin
is likely to have been both irregular and wider from
north to south in some places than in others. The stack-
ing of the thrusts has probably also been irregular.
The southern boundary of the Ribbon Continent,
as mapped by Niu et al. (2007) using receiver func-
tions and as modified by us (Figure 15), indicates
the ­Serrania del Interior straddles the edge of South
America. That is because of the varied extent of thrust-
ing at the edge of the PBZ (Figure 16 modified from
figure 6 in Clark et al., 2008). In some areas subduction
complex rocks in outcrop as well as rifted continental
margin rocks have been thrust tens of kilometers onto
the continent.
Fold axis and thrust strike trends in the Serrania
del Interior typically have an azimuth of ca N 60° E
Figure 16. Cross section at ca 64° W modified from Clark
et al. (2008) by (1) extension of the section to the regional
seismogenic maximum depth in the plate boundary zone of
ca 80 km (49.8 mi); (2) extending the secondary thrusting
of the ­Volcanic Arc (the Great Arc of the Caribbean) over
the Caribbean–Colombian Oceanic Plateau (CCOP) in the
­Venezuelan Basin; (3) emphasizing the relative importance
of the PAROCOSSEP fault system, which is here locally the El
Pilar (EP) fault; and (4) emphasizing the thrusting of rocks
of the Great Arc, the sedimentary rocks of the rifted South
American Margin, and the South American basement near
the southern end of the section. 10 km (6.2 mi)
(Hackley, 2005), and that has been interpreted either
(1) by applying the results of Riedel’s (1929) experi-
ment, as indicating secondary folding related to the
E–W trend of the transform Ribbon Continent PBZ
(Robertson and Burke, 1989), or (2) by applying an
“oblique convergence” model indicating the nor-
mal to the azimuth of the approach of a hypothetical
­converging object.
Foreland Basin Belt
A belt of foreland basins south of the Serrania del
Interior extends from the Maracaibo Basin in the west
(Lugo and Mann, 1995) to the Maturin Basin in the east

13880_ch02_ptg01_039-084.indd 77 10/27/15 10:03 AM

 78  ALTAMIRA and Burke
(Summa et al., 2003) (upper Cretaceous to Cenozoic
autochthonous units in Figure 9) for a distance of more
than 700 km (435 mi). The belt has formed in response to
the loading of the edge of the South American continent
by rocks thrust onto the continental margin in the Serra-
nia del Interior. Foreland basins are commonly modeled
as responses to loads applied by thrusting in a direction
normal to the greatest length of the basin, but that is not
what has happened in Venezuela. The load has been
applied progressively from west to east as the tip of the
Ribbon Continent PBZ propagated in that direction.
The elastic flexure of the continental lithosphere below
the basin depends on where the load has been applied
and not the direction from which the load came.
Jacome et al. (2003a,b), (2005), (2008), Govers and
Wortel (2005), and Clark et al. (2008) have drawn
attention to the complexities in structural develop-
ment likely to be associated with what Govers and
Wortel (2005) called a “subduction-transform edge
propagator” (STEP). Phenomena such as shallow
mantle convection–influenced structures in addition
to elastic loads are suggested to characterize the STEP
environment. For that reason establishing the controls
on both the Serrania del Interior thrust belt and Vene-
zuelan foreland basin evolution is likely to be difficult.
Conclusions
  1. Recognition of the nearly simultaneous cessation
of volcanic arc igneous and HP/LT metamorphic
activity shortly before ca 70 Ma (Campanian time)
in rocks of the Great Arc of the Caribbean, now dis-
tributed over a distance of ca 3000 km (1864.1 mi)
close to the NW margin of South America from
the Gulf of Guayaquil to Tobago, has enabled us
to recognize a “Ribbon Continent of the NW South
American Cordillera.”
  2. The assembly of the Ribbon Continent, which is re-
corded in the forearc of the Ecuadorian Andes, was
established in a two-stage process. The first stage in-
volved the collision of the Great Arc of the Caribbean
with the CCOP at ca 84 Ma (late Santonian times).
  3. The second stage, following polarity reversal of
the Great Arc at its collision with the CCOP, in-
volved collision of the combined Great Arc and
CCOP with the Ecuadorian Margin, probably then
an active Andean Margin at ca 70 Ma.
  4. Immediately following the second collision (at ca
70 Ma), the combined CCOP and Great Arc began
to travel to the north in a ca 200-km (124.2 mi)-
wide transpressional PBZ occupied by a newly as-
sembled Ribbon Continent consisting of fragments
of both the CCOP and the Great Arc.
13880_ch02_ptg01_039-084.indd 78
  5. As the Ribbon Continent moved, its transpres-
sional relationship to the Andean Margin of
­Colombia led to the narrowing of the Great Arc
material into the ca 600-km (372.9 mi)-long and ca
100-km (62.1-mi)-wide Romeral suture and fault
zone. In that fault zone fragments from the base-
ment to the Andean Margin (the “Polymetamor-
phic Complex”) were tectonically incorporated
into the Great Arc subduction complex (between ca
70 Ma and ca 65 Ma, during Maestrichtian times).
  6. At ca 65 Ma the Great Arc, carrying the CCOP be-
hind it, began to enter the Atlantic Ocean, as a new
CARIB separated from the Farallon plate.
  7. Fragments of the Ribbon Continent began to be
carried to the east where they can be identified
from characteristic lithologies and ages (e.g., hav-
ing igneous and HP/LT ages > 70 Ma) as parts of
the Great Arc of the Caribbean that had collided
with the west coast of South America.
  8. Three W–E-trending belts characterize the Ribbon
Continent of the north coast of South America.
  9. The Northern Belt consists of Great Arc sub-­
volcanic igneous intrusions and subduction com-
plex rocks mainly exposed in islands off the north
coast of South America. In some places we have
identified rocks as representing the Great Arc sub-
duction complex only from their published, in-
cluding geochemical, descriptions. Rocks with an
origin in the CCOP have been only locally iden-
tified. They occur as slivers, some of which are a
kilometer or more in length within the subduction
complex.
10. The Central Belt consists entirely of Great Arc of
the Caribbean subduction complex rocks in the
mountainous areas of Venezuela. A minor but sig-
nificant part of the complexes consists of granitic
and gneissic rocks of Paleozoic and Proterozoic
age. Those rocks have, in some cases, been con-
sidered to represent basement to the complexes,
but we interpret them to be fragments of the South
American continent, perhaps from the Polymeta-
morphic Complex of Colombia tectonically incor-
porated into the subduction complex. If that is the
case, the subduction complex rocks must have been
in contact with the continent at the time of their in-
corporation. That was from ca 70 Ma.
11. The third belt of the Ribbon Continent on the
north coast of South America consists of the fold-
and-thrust belt of the Serrania del Interior which
mainly involves sedimentary rocks deposited
on the rifted margin of South America between
late Jurassic and Cenozoic times. The Serrania
del Interior formed by secondary thrusting as
the Ribbon Continent traveled eastward in the
10/27/15 10:03 AM
 The Ribbon Continent of South America in Ecuador, Colombia, and Venezuela  79
transform PBZ progressively from west to east.
The Serrania straddles the margin of the South
American continent to a varying degree.
12. The structure of the north coast of South America
has been radically perturbed during the past 15
My by the northward and eastward escape of the
Maracaibo Block which, in response to the Panama
Arc collision, has cut right across the PBZ. Remov-
ing the effects of movement of the Maracaibo Block
has been essential in establishing the structure of
the Ribbon Continent on the north coast of South
America. Our restoration has been quite crude.
More refined restoration would be useful.
13. We have characterized rocks and structures in
many areas in this chapter. Testing our model by
field and laboratory work involving age determi-
nations, and by major and trace element geochem-
istry is an obvious need for the future.
14. Isotopic work has established that volcanic arc
igneous and HP/LT metamorphic activity ended
shortly before ca 70 Ma (Campanian time) in rocks
of the Great Arc of the Caribbean that are now dis-
tributed over a distance of ca 3000 km (1864.1 mi)
close to the NW margin of South America from the
Gulf of Guayaquil to Tobago (Table 1). That result
has enabled us to recognize a Ribbon Continent
that includes the Northwestern South American
Cordillera.
Acknowledgments
Much of the work described in the chapter was per-
formed while the first author was a Ph.D. student in
the Earth and Atmospheric Sciences Department in
the University of Houston. Thanks to Professors Peter
Copeland, Jack Casey, and David Foster (of the Univer-
sity of Florida) for their support toward completion of
that degree. Participation in the Broadband Onshore–
Offshore Lithospheric Investigation of Venezuela and
the Antilles Arc region “BOLIVAR” NSF-funded pro-
ject, and interaction with scientists involved in that
project in the field and laboratory, particularly Pro-
fessors Hans Ave-Lallemant and Virginia Sisson (Rice
University), is greatly appreciated. We would also like
to thank Joan Flinch and Joshua Rosenfeld for provid-
ing a comprehensive review of the manuscript.
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