Sedimentary record of terminal Cretaceous accretions in Ecuador: The Yunguilla Group in the Cuenca area

Abstract

A reappraisal of the “Late Cretaceous Yunguilla Formation” of the Cuenca area enables the definition of four distinct formations, correlatable with those of southwestern Ecuador. A mid- to late-Campanian marine transgression (Jadán Formation) is overlain by quartz-rich conglomerates of fan-delta to turbiditic fan environment (Quimas Formation) of latest Campanian–earliest Maastrichtian age, which are interpreted as evidence of the accretion of a first oceanic terrane (San Juan). Disconformable, arkosic turbidites and cherts (Tabacay Formation) of early Maastrichtian age are thought to represent the erosion of the newly accreted oceanic terrane. A major unconformity of late Maastrichtian age, caused by the accretion of a second oceanic terrane (Guaranda), is followed by the deposition of quartz-rich micaceous shelf sandstones (Saquisilí Formation) of Paleocene age. A third accretion event (late Paleocene) is recorded in coastal Ecuador. Each accretion event correlates with the uplift and erosion of the Eastern Cordillera and with a sedimentary hiatus in the eastern areas. In Ecuador, accretion of oceanic terranes contributed to the build up of the Andes through tectonic underplating of low-density material, and the eastern areas did not behave as flexural foreland basins during late Cretaceous–Paleogene times.