Geotectonic evolution of the Western Cordillera of Colombia: New aspects from geochemical data on volcanic rocks

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The Western Cordillera of Colombia (WCC) is part of the Basic Igneous Complex (BIC), which is one of the world's largest ophiolitic complexes, extending from Costa Rica through Panama and Colombia to Ecuador. Major and trace element data on 32 volcanic rocks from the central and northern parts of the Western Cordillera are presented; no data have been available to date for volcanic rocks from the northern parts of the Western Cordillera. Petrographical and geochemical investigations show that the rocks are altered and have undergone low-grade metamorphism. The subalkaline rocks are represented by tholeiitic basalts, calc-alkaline basic andesites, andesites, and one dacite. It is concluded that a mature oceanic island arc existed in the Cretaceous, in what is now the northern part of the Western Cordillera. The tectonics of the region, particularly the intensive imbrication of the chain, indicates the presence of a paleo-subduction zone with an oceanic island arc that accreted on the old continental margin. These new data, combined with new and previous data from the central part of the BIC of Colombia, suggest that volcanic rocks of the Western Cordillera can be interpreted as allochthonous slabs. These slabs were imbricated with back-arc and fore-arc sediments and tonalitic bodies during the closing of a back-arc basin in northwestern South America and accretion of an oceanic island arc. Oblique subduction accreted these different areas to the continental margin during Late Cretaceous and early Tertiary times. Two plate-tectonic models are proposed: a) development of the calc-alkaline volcanic rocks in the northern parts of the Western Cordillera, separated by tholeiitic rocks, formed along a transform fault represented by the tholeiitic basalts of the central and southern parts of the Western Cordillera; or b) development of an oceanic island arc along the Cretaceous continental margin of northwestern South America. In the central and southern parts of this island arc, accretion took place early and therefore only an island-arc tholeiitic suite was formed.