Geometry and kinematic evolution of passive roof duplexes deduced from cross section balancing: Example from the foreland thrust system of the southern Bolivian Subandean Zone

Abstract

The Subandean Zone of Bolivia is a foreland fold and thrust belt which forms the eastern edge of the central Andes mountains. Between 19°S and 22°S latitude, the construction of five balanced cross sections shows that the N‐S trending Subandean Zone is characterized by the existence of passive roof duplexes. These complex structures can be distinguished by the lithotectonic unit within which duplexing occurs. The five balanced cross sections permit the geometric and kinematic analyses of these passive roof duplexes. The sequential restorations of certain cross sections reveal a possible development of a piggy back sequence of three passive roof duplexes. Apparently, these passive roof duplexes propagated toward the foreland from deeper and deeper lithotectonic units. While a passive roof duplex was developing, the sole thrust stuck and the major horizontal displacements were then transferred either to out‐of‐sequence thrusts or to a new sole thrust, in a deeper detachment horizon. Therefore each passive roof duplex would correspond to the orogenic front of the Andean range at one very particular time in the history of the Subandean Zone of southern Bolivia. From south to north, the quantitative analysis by cross section balancing shows a transfer of displacement from the hinterland structures to the passive roof duplex that forms the present orogenic front. Available data do not permit us to explain completely this phenomenom.