Examples of diapiric control on shelf topography and sedimentation patterns on the Colombian Caribbean continental shelf

Abstract

The Colombian continental margin, located near the junction of the Caribbean, Nazca, and South American plates, is marked by tectonism and abundant sedimentation. Both tectonic events and sedimentation induce the development of intense clay diapirism that has proved to be a determining factor in the morphology of the margin and in the distribution of sedimentation over it. On the continental shelf, the top of mud domes is, within a photic zone, colonized by reef that are sources of carbonate sediments. The domes' abruptly sloping flanks often account for the gravity displacement of sediments to the bottom of “interdiapiric basins”. The subsequent result is high diversity in the morphology and sediments of this platform.