Evolution and dynamics of arc-related sedimentary basins in southern Central America

Abstract

Southern Central America is a structurally complex Late Mesozoic/Cenozoic island arc that evolved in response to the subduction of the Farallon plate beneath the Caribbean Plate in the Late Cretaceous and from the Oligocene the Cocos and Nazca plates. This island arc is one of the best-studied subduction margins in the world with an excellent data set and can therefore act as natural laboratory for analysing the development of arc-trench systems (Brandes et al., 2007; 2008; 2016). The arc-related basin system consists of a large range of elongate trench-slope, forearc, intraarc and backarc basins. Based on the data set from these basins, we present a synthesis on basin evolution and subsidence mechanisms (Brandes & Winsemann, 2018). The structural and sedimentary evolution of the basin systems indicate that the development of the southern Central American island arc can be subdivided into three main stages: 1) An pre-extensional stage in the Campanian. 2) The development of a tholeiitic island arc during the Maastrichtian to Paleogene in response to the subduction of the Farallon Plate beneath the thickened Caribbean Plate. This extensional stage is characterized by rapidly subsiding sedimentary basins, in which large amounts of volcaniclastic material were deposited. 3) The development of the South Costa Rican arc segment into a compressional arc (subduction orogen) during the Neogene.

AAPG Datapages/Search and Discovery Article #90330©2018 AAPG Hedberg: Geology of Middle America – the Gulf of Mexico, Yucatan, Caribbean, Grenada and Tobago Basins and Their Margins “Integration of the geology of the area from the southern onshore of North America to the northern onshore of South America”, Siguenza, Guadalajara, Spain, July 2-5, 2018