Gans Ser 1973

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Journal of the Geological Society
Facts and theories on the Andes : Twenty-sixth William

Smith Lecture
AUGUSTO GANSSER
Journal of the Geological Society 1973, v.129; p93-131.

doi: 10.1144/gsjgs.129.2.0093
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Facts and theories on the Andes

AUGUSTO GANSSER
Twenty-sixth William Smith Lecture
CONTENTS
z The main subdivisions of the Andes . . . . 94
(A) The Southern or Patagonian Andes . . . . 95
(n) The Central Andes . . . . . . . 99
(c) The Northern Andes . . . . . . . xo4
2 The shields and the Pacific Ocean adjacent to the Andes . I20
(A) The shields . . . . . . . . I20
(B) The eastern Pacific Ocean . . . . . I2I
(c) Conclusions . . . . . . . . z26
3 References . . . . . . . . . x27
SUMMARY
Theories on the relation of oceanic plates with (3) The Northern Andes have a marked vir-
continents frequently use the Andes as a model. gation leading into the Caribbean arc and
Simplified assumptions neglect the fact that display a Coastal and Western (Caribbean)
only the recent morphogenic uplift made Cordillera of more or less metamorphic Meso-
the apparently uniform Andes, masking a most zoic oceanic rocks, in strong contrast to the
complicated geological history. Central Andes. Their southern border coincides
Three main subdivisions are recognized. with a major east-west lineament. This is
(x) The Southern Andes that show a virgation outlined by the Carnegie--Galapagos ridge and
leading into the Scotia arc. Oceanic formations a possible renewal of an old Amazon fracture
characterize the interior ranges and disappear trend aligned with the Romanche fracture zone
towards the Gulf of Penas, where the Chile which displaces the Mid-Atlantic ridge. T h e
fracture zone joins the continent. (2) From continental edge of the Cocos plate, bordering
here the Central Andes begin with a Coastal the Northern Andes, exposes oceanic sediments
Cordillera of metamorphic, highly compressed in marked contrast to the coastal metamorphic
Paleozoic and probably older rocks with an "basement" of the Central Andes, that borders
abnormal northwest strike. They are trans- the Nasca plate.
gressed by thick, mostly volcanic Mesozoic The Andes, being a marginal chain, are
rocks, with block fold tectonics. An intense influenced by the shields to the east, which
young acid volcanism characterizes the Central display younger remobilization along fracture
ranges together with strong seismic activity zones, and by the east Pacific plates in the
that is missing in the Southern Andes. T h e west. The geological complexities of the Andes,
Central Andes are bordered by the Nasca with their marked volcanism and irregular but
plate, which is subdivided by the aseismic strong seismicity, suggest that the east Pacific
Nasca ridge. The latter projects into the Andes plates have had a much more complicated
where the metamorphic Coastal belt disappears. pattern than has generally been supposed.
ON A SUNNY BUT STORMY DAY I sat, 25 years ago, on the northeastern tip
of the Toco peninsula of Trinidad on the flysch-type, inverted rocks of Galera
point and watched how the Northern range of Trinidad plunged into the Atlantic
Ocean. Large foamy breakers were pounding the black rocks as though they
wanted to force them to stop here, to prevent them from entering the oceanic
dl geol. So¢. Lond. vol. x29, z973, pp. 93-x 3 I, 14 figs. Printed in Northern Ireland.
1
94 A. Gansser
area. I sat on the easternmost bit of the Andes mindful that behind me they
extended for a distance of 9ooo km. It was an ideal spot for geological meditation.
Did this longest and morphologically best outlined mountain range of our globe
really end here, or did it turn around, to the north, following the Caribbean arc ?
In spite of a wealth of new geological and geophysical information we still do not
know the answer. For over a dozen years, working on the Andes I contributed
some facts myself. Since those exploration days new methods and different ap-
proaches have produced many new facts, but also added new problems. Those
ever-growing results allow us to see this magnificent Cordillera not as one con-
tinuous large mountain feature but as a most complicated structure, intimately
related to its bordering shields and oceans (Fig. I).
The rapid development of marine research, our knowledge of the structural
pattern of the oceans and the surprising mobility of the oceanic crust or 'plates'
and their relation with the Andes have brought a new geological challenge.
Theoretical concepts of oceanic plate tectonics and their relations to continental
borders frequently use the Andes as a practical model (Isacks et al., I968 , Le
Pichon I968, Deuser I97 o, Dewey & Bird I97 o, Moores I97O). Some of these
approaches are too generalized and neglect the great complexity of this chain and
particularly its Pacific border ranges. The present morphology of the Andes, is
very young, being the result of a sub-Recent to Recent morphogenic rise, and is
over-printed on a mountain range which has developed through a most compli-
cated history, a history differing greatly from one part of the range to another.
Previously Gerth (1955), has recognized the different segments of the Andes, and
subsequent work has fully confirmed his ideas. It will be my endeavour to stress
this inhomogenity and to find some relation between the separate segments, the
newly recognized separate plates of the eastern Pacific Ocean, and also the old
grain of the large shields. William Smith used this multicausal approach for his
first map. It is in his spirit that the multicausal history of the Andes must be
understood, based on the many but still insufficient facts.
I. The main subdivisions of the Andes

A three-fold division of the 9000 km long Andes (Fig. 2) is proposed, with a
subdivision of the 52oo km long middle segment into a northern and southern part.
Within each section the various structural elements are discussed, from the well
outlined borders of the shield areas and the more enigmatic Pacific coast zone,
the northern and southern connections of the Andes with the Carribean and
Scotia 'arcs'.
The Southern or Patagonian Andes reach from the southern tip of South America,
where the Cordilleras virgate southwards into the Scotia arc, to 47 % where the
main Chilean fault-zone runs into the Pacific. At this latitude lies the Gulf of
Penas, marking the southern limit of important recent seismic activity and the
position of the active oceanic Chile ridge.
The Central Andes or Chilean-Peruvian Andes stretch from the Gulf of Penas to the
Amotape cross structure or the H u a n c a b a m b a deflection at the Peruvian-
Ecuadorian border. A natural subdivision into a southern and northern section
Facts and theories on the Andes 95
occurs at Nasca in Peru, which coincides with the end of the Coastal Cordillera
and the problematical Nasca ridge of the eastern Pacific.
The Northern Andes or Colombian-Venezuelan (Caribbean) Andes begin at the Amo-
tape cross structure (Huancabama deflection). This division between the Central
and Northern Andes coincides with the most pronounced aberrant structures
which run due west into the Pacific Carnegie ridge and the Galapagos Islands.
They seem aligned with a possible renewed Amazon fracture zone and further
east, with the Romanche trench, displacing the Mid-Atlantic ridge. This remark-
able lineament cuts the whole of South America in two and coincides with a
striking change in the constitution of the Andes, particularly on the Pacific border
zone. The Northern Andes show the most complete section of the whole range, and
the various structural elements are strikingly displayed in the very marked vir-
gation, from the Panama branch to the Cordillera de la Costa in northern
Venezuela. Similar but better outlined than the southern end of the Southern
Andes, part of this northern virgation leads into the Caribbean 'arc'.
(A) THE SOUTHERN OR PATAC.ONIAN ANDES

This part of the Andes is geologically still little known, since difficult access
combined with severe weather hampers exploration. However, Quensel (ifli I)
and Kranck (1932) indicated some of the peculiarities of these southern ranges.
Gerth (Ifl55) , who wrote his treatise on the Andes as long ago as 1941, contributed
further information. He suggested that the important Nahuel-Huapi basement
uplift at 41% be taken as the northern border of the Patagonian Andes, although
it now appears to be a more local subdivision of the southern Central Andes.
Zeil (1964) refers mostly to the new investigations of Katz (1962, 1964, 1965), who
was the first to stress the important oceanic facies of the Cretaceous.
The peculiarity of the Southern Andes and its similarity to the Caribbean
Cordilleras in the north was recently emphasized by Butterlin (in press). According
to this author, both sections have developed differently from the normal Andes;
in the Mesozoic and Cenozoic through a geosynclinal stage, with a initial mag-
matism in their internal zones. The term "geosynclinal" is, however, hardly
applicable in these marginal Cordilleras, since the involvement of oceanic struc-
tures in these ranges is of outstanding importance.
In the Southern Andes four main elements are recognized. In the east occurs
(i) the Tertiary fold belt with large basalt flows leading to the Patagonian shield in
the east and northeast. Westwards the Tertiary belt is followed by (2) Cretaceous
and Jurassic platform deposits. While the Jurassic is mostly volcanic towards the
Central Cordillera, the Cretaceous assumes a flysch-type facies with molasse
deposits in the upper part. Of special interest is (3) the Patagonian Central Cordillera,
where the upper Jurassic and most of the Cretaceous is of oceanic facies, charac-
terized by ophiolites. Greenschists are frequent, sometimes with still recognizable
pillows. A regional metamorphism of greenschist facies increases northwest and
northwards and leads to migmatitic zones (Katz 1965, Katz & Watters 1966 ).
It is not yet clear, however, if the metamorphics of the Central Cordillera include
older rocks (Butterlin, in press). Some authors suppose that older Paleozoic or
even Precambrian formations are involved further north. Oceanic sediments with
96 A. Gansser
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ophiolites are exposed on Navarino Island (Katz & Watters I966 ). The steeply
folded and partly northwards thrusted deposits are cut by granitic to dioritic
batholiths of upper Cretaceous and upper Miocene age such as the spectacular
Cerro Paine (Katz 196I) at 51 °s, cutting through the flysch-type Cretaceous of
the more external belt and dated at I2 4-2 my. Upper Cretaceous granite to
diorite batholiths are widespread along (4) the Pacific border, belonging to the
extensive Andean batholiths. Between 53 ° and 48% a belt of only slightly meta-
morphosed Permo-Carboniferous limestones, slates and quartzites, dated by
fusulinids, forms the Pacific coast and islands (Cecioni I956 ). They represent a
less metamorphosed Paleozoic equivalent of the mostly Paleozoic metamorphics
of the Coastal Cordillera of Chile, north of 47 %.
Quaternary to Recent volcanism, a typical phenomena of the Andes, is scarce
in the southern belt. Young volcanic cones are reported from western Navarino
Island and on the northern part of Cape Horn (Katz & Watters I966 ). A few
centres in the Central Cordillera had earlier been indicated by Q uensel (i 91 i).
This scarce activity contrasts strongly with the wide-spread volcanism in the
Central Andes. The volcanism in Chile begins together with seismic activity
north of the Gulf of Penas, the border zone between the Southern and Central
Andes.
The tectonic history of the Southern Andes is not well known. The pre-Mesozoic
rocks were affected by a rather strong independent orogeny, which was only
partly overprinted by younger events. The strong acid volcanism of Jurassic age
of the external ranges is regarded by some authors (Butterlin, in press) as a late
orogenic event belonging to pre-Mesozoic orogenies. In the Central Cordillera a
strong orogeny can be detected in the Albian, preceded by ophiolites and followed
by metamorphism. The flysch facies of the more external ranges to the northeast
seems related to this orogeny. A weaker orogenic phase occurs in the Miocene.
Acid intrusions of Cretaceous (coastal batholiths) and Miocene (Cerro Paine)
age may be related to these orogenic events, but the author is rather doubtful
about this.
The marked north-south trend of the Central Andes changes in the Southern
Andes to a southeast and even east strike. This trend is not gradual and newer
investigations indicate considerable internal complications (Katz & Watters
1966). A kind of divergence of the structures can be noted south of the straits of
Magellan with anomalous north-south strikes along the strait itself. Strong
faulting with lateral displacement is reported in the same area. Further to the
east the Patagonian ranges strike again southeast and parallel, with a strong north-
east directed movement that in the internal ranges can develop into local thrusts.
A complicated fracture and fault system is further superimposed and is well
reflected in the morphology of the innumerable fiords. Pronounced lateral dis-
placement is reported along the major east-west trend, that may already be
related to the Scotia arc.
Before the Andes disappear into the southeastern Pacific and the Scotia Sea
one recognizes a virgation, forming a weaker counterpoint to the well outlined
virgation of the Northern Andes (Fig. 3). In Hardy peninsula and Cape Horn the
strike seems south-southeast, while the external ranges at Cape San Diego and
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the Staten island strike eastwards and even east-northeast and continue into the
shallow Burdwood bank. This is of major importance in the evolution of the Scotia
arc (Dalziel & Elliot, in press).
(B) THE CENTRAL ANDES

From the Gulf of Penas to the Amotape range at the Peru-Ecuador border, the
Central Andes stretch over 5200 km. This impressive range exposes several con-
stant regional geological features which contrast with the more complex Southern
and Northern Andes. Additional structural anomalies suggest a further sub-
division of this range at the latitude of Nasca in southern Peru, a subdivision which
coincides with the peculiar Nasca ridge in the Pacific. The constant north-south
trend of the Central Andes from the Gulf of Penas to Arica at the Chile-Peru
border, changes suddenly northwards into a northwest direction. Regionally we
distinguish a Coastal Cordillera, bordering the Pacific, a High Cordillera and the
Eastern Sub-Andean ranges, leading into the stable shield areas. A longitudinal
valley is usual between the Coastal and High Andes.
(i) The Coastal Cordillera, a continuation of the Pacific border section of the
Southern Andes, exposes a truncated belt of steeply folded and faulted pre-
Mesozoic rocks, unconformably covered by much gentler folded Mesozoic and
Tertiary successions. The metamorphism, which is stronger in the pre-Devonian
rocks, leaves no fossil records, and the ages of the deeper sequences are not known.
No evidence of Precambrian metamorphism has been detected by radiometric
investigations, and so far no confirmed Precambrian rocks have been found in the
Chilean part of the Andes (Gonzales-Bonorino & Aguirre 1970). Older rocks may
still be hidden in the metamorphics of the Coastal Cordillera. Particularly sus-
picious are the charnockites south of Valparaiso and the Pichilemu series that
show an increase in metamorphic grade from greenschist facies in the west to
granulite facies in the east, opposite to the normal trend (Gonzales-Bonorino 1971).
The pre-Devonian sediments of the Coastal Cordillera are a flysch-type facies,
now strongly folded and faulted, with a marked northwest trend, not parallel to
the southern part of the Central Andes. The striking change of the main Andes
from north-south to southeast-northwest at Arica follows the abnormal northwest
grain of the pre-Mesozoic Coastal belt.
A large part of the Coastal belt consists of the spectacular Andean batholiths,
one of the major batholith complexes of our globe. Their composition is pre-
dominantly granitic, granodioritic and tonalitic, and their age mostly upper
Jurassic to middle Cretaceous. Paleozoic batholiths are subordinate. Frequently
the intrusive contact is sharp, but in some areas as between 31 and 33°s, a mig-
matitic border is present (Zeil 1964A). As far as we know, the intrusions cannot
be directly related to orogenic phases, a fact well outlined for the North American
Cordillera batholiths by Gilluly (1963). The distribution of the batholiths within
the Central Andes follows no general pattern. They are more frequent in the
Coastal Cordillera, but they cover larger areas in the High Cordillera (Fig. 4).
The Mesozoic cover of the Coastal Cordillera varies greatly but huge masses of
Jurassic and Cretaceous rocks in a volcanic facies predominate. They are of
particular interest, since in some sections of the Chilean coastal belt (33-34%)
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in the Andes.
Facts and theories on the Andes Io I
fossiliferous lower Cretaceous sediments are overlain by over 2o ooo m of andesites,

tufts and agglomerates, with some continental sandstones. They range from middle
to upper Cretaceous. If one adds over 8ooo m of partly volcanic upper Jurassic,
the Mesozoic alone has up to 3o km thickness. During later orogenic phases these
Mesozoic deposits have been little affected and, in contrast to the intense tectoni-
zation of the pre-Mesozoic, one observes mainly gentle flexuring and block
faulting. Thrusting is practically absent in this belt. Most faults trend northwest,
reflecting the older pre-Mesozoic grain. Younger north-south faults are respon-
sible for the large longitudinal basins, well outlined in Central Chile. Some
authors speak of grabens (Zeil I964A), but newer evidence indicates the presence
of very pronounced steep fracture zones only along the eastern edge of the de-
pressions, following the west foot of the High Cordillera, with steep belts of tecton-
ized Paleozoic and younger rocks (pers. comm. by H. H. Renz). This zone of
fracturing can be followed from the Gulf of Penas, at the southern end of the
Central Andes, where the fault zone runs southwestwards into Pacific, northwards
for about 16oo km, where it splits into various segments.
The Coastal Cordillera of the Central Andes runs into Middle Peru and
abruptly ends in the Paracas peninsula near Nasca, coinciding with the submarine
ridge of Nasca. At the prolongation of the Nasca Ridge into the Coastal Cordillera,
we find the Cerros Huricangana, which abruptly rise 17oo m and are diagonally
aligned to the Andean strike. Granitic gneisses, banded gneisses and various
schists are intruded by widespread red quartz porphyries, granites and grano-
diorites. Similar quartz porphyries are found in the basal conglomerates of the
Silurian nearby at Ica, and it is most probable that some of the metamorphics are
Precambrian (Ruegg 1953, 1957, I962A ). The strike of some of the crystalline
rocks as well their Paleozoic cover is northeasterly, corresponding to the strike of
the Nasca ridge. Separated from the continent by the Peru trench, the Nasca
ridge extends over IOOOkm into the Pacific. On its eastern end a leucogranite
sample was dredged with coral-bearing and arenaceous sediments (Fisher 1958).
This singular fact and the aseismic and non spreading character of this ridge
suggest that shield-type rocks may be involved and to some extent may be even
responsible for the anomalous Nasca ridge.
(ii) The High Cordillera. The composition of the High Cordillera varies from
south to north. Mesozoic sediments and volcanics form most of the southern part,
pierced in various places by the Mesozoic Andean plutons. In the Jurassic, sedi-
ments are more frequent than volcanics, in contrast to the Coastal belt. Volcanics
dominate again in the Cretaceous (Levi 197o ) . Single Quaternary to Recent
volcanoes begin to appear. The northern part is almost entirely covered by Plio-
Pleistocene sheet flows and strato volcanoes. Rare older fossiliferous Jurassic with
a reduced volcanic facies occur while evaporites that come towards the end of the
Jurassic are responsible for local intense folding. Generally large flexuring and
faulting predominate, decreasing in intensity from west to east.
Northwards, the High Cordillera grades into the high plateaus of the Puna, well
developed in the border area between Chile, Argentina and Bolivia. There is a
marked widening of the Andean belt, that coincides with the change of the
regional north-south trend into the northwest trend. Steep north-northeast
102 A. Gansser
(pre-Pliocene) and north-northwest (post-Pliocene) faults characterize this area

and cause block faulting without any preferred vergence. This fact is quite im-
portant and does not conform to the idea of a general migration of the South
American continent (Schwab I97o).
The high plateaus are covered by an immense pile of Pliocene to Quaternary
volcanics. From a north-south and southeast aligned fissure system extensive
rhyolitic eruptions poured that formed ignimbritic sheet-like deposits covering at
present an area of over 20o ooo km ~. Through this 500 to 1500 m thick pile, acid
andesitic to dacitic lavas erupted during the Pleistocene, producing over 900
strato volcanoes with heights between 5000 and 7000 m (Zeil I964 B, i965, Zeil
& Pichler 1967, Pichler & Zeil 1969). The problem of whether this volcanism could
be related to anatectic melting of downthrust sialic sheets will be discussed later.
After the regional bend of the Central Andes between Arica in the west and
St. Cruz in the east, the high plateau area narrows down. The High Andes
continue to the northwest as a Western Cordillera and out of the plateau region
develops a rudimentary Central Cordillera, which reaches an impressive mor-
phology in the Cordillera Blanca of Northern Peru. This change coincides with
the disappearance of the Coastal Cordillera at Nasca and where the Nasca ridge
runs southwestwards into the Pacific.
From Nasca to the north the Western Cordillera form the coastal belt. Tertiary
volcanics are still widespread but the Q.uarternary volcanoes end with the Misti
group of Arequipa. No similar volcanism is known in the northern part of the
Central Andes. With the young volcanic cover diminishing northwards, older
rocks appear. In the Arequipa region marine Jurassic is present. A narrow strip
of shallow marine lower Cretaceous follows the coast changing landwards into
terrestrial sediments. Terrestrial sediments and volcanics represent the upper
Cretaceous and Tertiary Rimac formation. A nearby continuous belt of Andean
plutonic rocks follows the Cretaceous along the coast. They are similar to the
granitic-granodioritic intrusions further south and are mostly of Cretaceous age.
At the height of the Nasca ridge the Central Cordillera develops out of the
'Altiplano' of which the Titicaca basin is the northern extension. Harrison's (1943)
investigations of Central Peru at the latitude of Lima still show the dominance of
the Western and particularly the Eastern Cordillera, with a kind of 'Zwischenge-
birge' in between (Gerth 1955; Steinmann 1929). Over a pre-Mesozoic consoli-
dated Paleozoic block in the East Cordillera some of the Mesozoic and Tertiary
deposits are sheared off along the argillaceous Lias and expose an independent
tectonic style.
Through an increasing plutonic activity this middle section develops into the
impressive Cordillera Blanca, representing the Central Cordillera. This beautiful
ice covered range has received many expeditions, and its geological setting is
relatively well known (Egeler & De Booy 1958; Dal Piaz 1962; Dal Piaz & De
Vecchi I963; Coney I97I). The impressive Andean batholiths intrude here a
steeply folded Cretaceous section and are not related to any orogenic event. The
Cretaceous (lower?) is mostly detrital, rich in andesitic-dacitic volcanics. It is
unconformably covered by lower Tertiary beds, similar to the sedimentary and
volcanic Rimac formation of Central Peru. Folding is generally asymmetrical
with an easterly vergence. Into these folded beds were emplaced the batholiths
of the Cordillera Blanca beginning with more basic granodiorites and grading into
leucogranites. They cut the lower Cretaceous structures discordantly and often
display surprisingly wide thermal metamorphism, suggesting a widening intrusive
body in depth. Their intrusion is post-Cretaceous, and probably post-lower
Tertiary, though direct contacts with the Rimac type formation are not visible.
Intense younger fracturing of the plutonic rocks is present, and along its southern
border, paralleling the Santa Valley, recent faults cutting Wurm-type moraines
underline the still active morphogenic phase of the Andes. Such recent movements
together with a rapid retreat of the large glaciers and unexpected ice avalanches,
possibly related to the still little understood surging effect of glaciers, may be
responsible for triggering notorious floods caused by breaking of moraine dammed
lakes (Ruegg I962B ).
(iii) The Eastern Cordilleras and Sub-Andean chains of the Central Andes form a belt
bordering the depressions at the western shield margins and connect with these
stable areas. Well developed in the Argentine Andes with striking aberrant chains
such as the Pampean ranges and the Pre Cordilleras they merge into the eastern
ranges of Bolivia. North of the Patagonian shield the Pampean ranges and the
Pre Cordilleras enter the Andes with a marked southeast-northwest strike not
unlike the basement ranges north and south of Buenos Aires. While the Pampean
ranges expose Precambrian rocks with a cover of continental Permo-Carboniferous
and younger beds, the Pre Cordilleras consist of over I O ooo m of marine lower
Paleozoic covered by semicontinental Permo-Carboniferous, volcanic Trias and
continental Tertiary, a sedimentary pile of over 25 ooo m. They join the main
Andes in middle Chile (above 3o°s), where a north-northwest strike is still appa-
rent, paralleling the older structural grain of the Coastal Cordillera. In this
region a sudden absence of active volcanism is noticeable. As Sub-Andean ranges
they continue into the Eastern Cordilleras of Bolivia, to the east of the high
plateau, the Puna of northern Chile. Some authors subdivide the Sub-Andean
zones into a Central and Eastern Cordillera and a Sub-Andean zone (Sonnenberg
I963; Ahlfeld i97o ). The Central Cordillera or Cordillera Real is more a mor-
phological subdivision of the Eastern Cordillera and is not a geological unit.
Similarly, no clear subdivision is possible between the Eastern Cordillera and the
Sub-Andean zone, which just represents its easternmost border.
The Eastern Cordillera of Bolivia consists of long, narrow, tightly folded anti-
clines with marine Paleozoic cores and broader Mesozoic and Tertiary synclines.
Glacial sediments of Permo-Carboniferous Gondwana rocks are present in the
easternmost ranges. A clear easterly vergence dominates the structural style with
sharp east directed thrusts, increasing in intensity to the east. At the latitude of
Santa Cruz (I8°s) the marked north-south strike suddenly changes to the north-
west corresponding to the same bend of the western ranges at Arica on the Pacific
coast. Northwest of Santa Cruz the eastern part of the Eastern Cordillera is more
intensely thrusted and forms a narrower belt compared to the southern and
northwestern continuation. On its western margin are Mesozoic plutons (Andean
type), which are missing to the south and that represent the morphological
Cordillera Real of Bolivia (Ahlfeld 1946, 1970).
IO4 A. Gansser
The sudden change in strike of the Eastern Cordillera is further corroborated by

a remarkable graben-like zone or sharp faultline in the southwestern Brazilian
shield, the west-northwest trending Chiquitos structure, a surprising tectonic
clement, which was also observed by Stille (I958). It is tempting to see a reju-
venation of an old structural grain along which part of the Brazilian shield moved
to the northwest, influencing the sudden change in the Andean strike. Drilling in
the Beni plain in northern Bolivia has shown Quaternary deposits on basement,
indicating a closer proximity of shield elements towards the Andes. A pronounced
fault zone runs from Santa Cruz in an east-west direction within the Eastern
Cordilleras towards Lake Titicaca, and it seems that the northern block has been
uplifted with respect to the southern one. A major divide, however, such as
postulated by Stille (i958) between Arica and Santa Cruz, is rather unlikely
(Rod 1960).
The Eastern Cordillera continues northwestwards into Peru up to the Amotape
range, where the sudden change into the Northern Andes occurs. Probable
Precambrian metamorphics and lower Paleozoic rocks are intensely folded and are
covered by less tectonized upper Paleozoic and Mesozoic elements. Along the
eastern border occur marked eastward directed thrust zones, the Sub-Andcan
fault system (Ham & Herrcra I963). They show dips of 500-80 ° to the west and
may flatten out at depths, concealing a larger horizontal displacement than that
which is visible on the surface. They sharply delineate a more eastern Sub-Andean
zone, here better defined than in Bolivia, where Cretaceous and Tertiary for-
mations dominate and where the folding diminishes eastwards. A marked deflec-
tion in this fold belt occurs at the latitude of Lima, the Pisco deflection of Ham &
Herrera (i963) and this coincides with the Nasca ridge to the west and the sudden
end of the Coastal Cordillera.
No direct connection of the Eastern Cordillera with the Ecuadorian Andes is
visible. Some en echelon structures are known in the Huancabamba deflection,
probably influenced by the Amotape cross-structure. It has also been noticed that
salt domes are restricted to this northwestern part of the Eastern Cordillera
(Benavides i968 ) (Fig. 5).
(c) THE NORTHERN ANDES

The most striking geological change along the whole Andean belt occurs between
the Central and Northern Andes. The northwest striking Central Andes are
suddenly replaced by the north-northeast striking Northern Andes that expose a
completely new geological aspect. This change occurs along a marked anomaly
variously described as the Amotape zone or Huancabamba deflection (Gerth
1955; Ham & Herrera 1963; de Loczy 1968, 1970; Butterlin, in press). Here is
the major cross feature of the whole of South America, dividing the continent into
a northern and southern block. The divide is however no knife sharp structural
line. It consists of a most complicated interplay of various structural trends and
events of different ages. This still little known area, a key point in South American
geology, merits special attention. (Fig. 5).
The wider Amotape area includes several old uplifts, somewhat reminiscent of
the metamorphic Paleozoic and older rocks of the Coastal range, which we followed
~6"
~..00 ~v~ 4
; / %
°,,
~. ° / .° ..
• o/
° ; •
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9
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parfly mefl:simorph ic
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------ r~air~ ~a~lt zones
St r~ct~rQL t rer~cis sc~Lt domes
ii I Ill II ]
FIO. 5. The geology of northern Peru and southern Ecuador, at the border zone of
the Central and Northern Andes.
I o6 A. Gansser
up to the Nasca ridge. The Amotape peninsula also forms the westernmost
point of the South American continent. The oldest rocks consist of gneisses and
schists with granite intrusions, and show a marked east to northeast strike. On
the southwest flank is upper Carboniferous, strongly transgressive with south-
southeast strike. Middle Cretaceous limestones and shales, and then upper Creta-
ceous transgress the older rocks with a flysch-type facies differing from the
Cretaceous of the Central Andes. Both main Andean sections, the Central Andes
as well as the Northern, border the Amotape cross-structure with anomalous
strikes. East-west elements are visible in the western part of the northernmost
Central Andes, while the Ecuadorian Andes expose a southwards directed vir-
gation and aberrant west directed ranges (Cerrania de Colonche). The anomalous
tectonics north of the Amotape cross coincide with the Carnegie ridge, leading to
the Galapagos Islands and eastwards with the Amazon depression which may
actually follow a rejuvenated shield lineament (de Loczy 1968, 1970). No Quater-
nary volcanoes are known from this anomalous area and they are also missing in
northern Peru.
Most characteristic of the Northern Andes is the northern virgation, beginning
in the middle part of Colombia. It follows the much smaller virgation north of the
Amotape anomaly and represents the counter part, though in a much more pro-
nounced way, of the southern virgation of the Andes in Patagonia. The Northern
Andes reflect the most complete part of the main Andean belt, where four Cor-
dilleras are clearly and independently developed. We distinguish from west to
east a Coastal Cordillera, a Western Cordillera, a Central Cordillera and an Eastern
Cordillera, the latter bordering with a very sharp morphological break the Llanos
plains and the Guayana shield (Fig. 6). This subdivision is clearly outlined from
the central part of Colombia to the north (Burgl I967), while the corresponding
units in Ecuador show abnormal trends (Coastal Cordillera) or are only rudi-
mentarily developed (Eastern Cordillera) (Goossens I97O).
(i) The Coastal Cordillera. In the Central Andes the Coastal Cordillera can be
followed up to the Nasca area, where it consists of metamorphic rocks of older
Paleozoic and possibly even Precambrian. In the Amotape region similar units
crop out along the coast with abnormal strike. In southern Ecuador we miss a
Coastal Cordillera paralleling the coast. Instead we find east-west and northwest
directed ranges of ophiolites and pelagic sediments of Cretaceous and lower
Tertiary age. They run into the Pacific in the Santa Elena peninsula and in the
Colonche range. Over the Guayaquil depression they swing into the Western
Cordillera as part of the abnormal virgation of the southern end of the Northern
Andes. The ophiolitic character, or better the oceanic crust type Mesozoic and
lower Tertiary deposits, are in striking contrast to the coastal belt of the Central
Andes that consists almost exclusively of continental basement (Fig. I).
These east-west trending ranges coincide with the Carnegie ridge, which leads
to the Galapagos Islands. It is not yet certain if the south Ecuadorian Coastal
ranges swing northwards in order to join the Colombian Coastal Cordillera in
Gorgona island or if the latter trend too swings westwards into the Carnegie
trend. A small remnant, just touching the west coast of Ecuador at Esmeraldas,
as well as the westwards rise of the Tertiary coastal structures, may form a kind
Facts and theories on the Andes I O7
of missing link to the Colombian coastal belt. The sediments of the Santa Elena
peninsula as well as the lower Tertiary deposits of the northernmost part of
coastal Peru indicate a remarkable sedimentary unrest reflected in chaotic
submarine slump features. This peculiar olistostromal sedimentation again coin-
cides with the change from the Central to Northern Andes.
The next outcrop of the Coastal Cordillera is in the small Gorgona and Gor-
gonilla Islands (Gansser I95o ). Their peridotites, olivine gabbros, diabases and
basic tufts suggest mantle to oceanic crustal rocks. Tufts occur in marine Eocene
and highly siliceous Oligocene deposits, while clastic Miocene formations are
transgressive (Fig. 7). Some of the ultrabasic rocks of a lherzolitic composition
expose most peculiar cooling features with skeletal augites between elongated
olivine crystals. 28o km north of Gorgona Island, the Coastal Cordillera reappears
at Cabo Corrientes, from where it forms a continuous coastal belt and runs into
the Panama branch of the Northern Andes virgation. Gabbros, basalts and dole-
rites dominate here, while ultrabasic rocks seem to be missing or rare. Siliceous
tuffaceous sediments contain badly preserved Innoceramus at Cabo Corrientes but
some of the fresh looking basalts fully enclose middle Eocene white reef limestones
as well as pyroclastic shales and red and green radiolarites. Flow textures are
frequent in the basalts around those inclusions. The basalts are certainly younger
than middle Eocene. Similar basic rocks and related sediments occur further north
along the Colombian Pacific coast. The Coastal Cordillera can be followed as a
separate unit as far as Panama. It forms the southwest side of the northwest
trending Panama Andes branch. To the west of Panama, a clear separation
between a Coastal Cordillera and a western branch of the West Cordillera is no
more feasible. The separating Tuira basin has pinched out completely. Special
structural complications begin in the Central American ranges and coincide with
the active Cocos ridge and Coiba trend (Van Andel et al. 197 I).
(ii) The Western Cordillera and the Caribbean Andes (Northern ranges, Venezuela).
We noticed that in southwestern Ecuador the aberrant Coastal ranges turn east
and northeastwards into the Western Cordillera of Ecuador as part of the southern
virgation (Fig. 5). Between these two ranges is the Mio-Pliocene filled Daule
basin, where drilling found Miocene on basic volcanics, suggesting a further link
between the Coastal and Western Cordillera. The latter builds up the western
slope of the high Andes of Ecuador with thick slightly metamorphosed siliceous
semi-pelites of Cretaceous age, rich in basic volcanics. This low grade metamor-
phism is missing in the Coastal Cordillera but is characteristic for the whole
Western Cordilleras and, with higher grades in the Venezuelan equivalent, the
Northern ranges of Caracas. The eastern border against the volcano studded
Central Cordillera (Cordillera Real) coincides with the inter-Andine Quito
graben, filled with late Tertiary continental deposits and Quaternary tufts. The
base of this central depression is not known and most of the Quaternary volcanoes
seem related to longitudinal and transverse fracture zones (Goossens x97o ).
Post to upper Cretaceous granodiorite batholiths of the characteristic Andean
type break through the folded Cretaceous phyllites. No real basement is known in
the Western Cordillera. Along the Pacific side of Colombia the Western Cordillera
rises abruptly after a wide coastal plain, filled with thick marine Neogene
I08 A. Gansser
sediments. From Buenaventura to the north the coastal belt rises and from Cabo
Corrientes the Atrato valley divides the Coastal Cordillera from the West Cor-
dillera. Except for rare cross sections, the Western Cordillera in Colombia and
eastern Panama is little known (Nelson z962 , z962a ). Here too, thick phyllitic
to schistose pelites form the main rocks and rare fossils indicate an upper Jurassic
~'N
lo
o
p"--'-] Attaviu.m
l'liddie H i o c t n e
q Or'(] O~a.
k\\",l L o,~., oils o < , ,, • ' 1( it X "X

X,
0IIIIIIIuv~., Eo=.~. i" \ \ ' , . ~
~, ~1\ \ \\"
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"- \ \
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/"
/
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.I
z
\
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7
\
/
\
"i q al~l~,-o +Ba,=l.'i,

|],'," I'"i"
OI.ivi,~, rocks (l',rlaotit,-Caat,6~,,) I \
\ \ /
I
, I
\ ," ~ |
f \ /
\ \
I
.-._ / \ " I I
_
or, el o ~i ttii,
'1)'
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2 Km
F I o. 7. Gorgona Island, a remnant of the Coastal Cordillera of west Columbia

(after Gansser).
to Cretaceous age. Upwards, basic intercalations increase together with a few

larger ultramafic bodies. This fact has been overlooked by many authors. Butterlin
(I969, I97I), for instance, still stresses the absence of ultrabasics in the Western
Cordillera. The latter outcrop east of Quibdo and again further north along the
little known jungle slopes of the Western Cordillera. Gabbros form larger masses
within the monotonous phyllites of the Dagua type. Together with the dolerites
they are younger than the Cretaceous (lower?) porphyrites and related tufts
and may correspond to similar basic rocks of Eocene to lower Oligocene age met
with the Coastal belt (Gansser I95O).
Of special interest are the large tonalite plutons cutting the previously metamor-
phosed and folded sediments. They follow the backbone of the West Cordillera
and continue into the northwest directed Panama branch of the latter, but are
missing in the section running northwards toward Baranquilla. They cross the
wide northern Atrato valley as sharp isolated jungled hillocks, the only vestiges
of the here completely drowned Cordillera (Fig. I). The age of these plutons is
post Cretaceous and most likely lower Tertiary.
The eastern border of the Western Cordillera in Colombia coincides with the
young volcanic belt of south Colombia, the continuation of the Quito graben
zone in Ecuador, and further north it follows the Cauca valley and its Neogene
fill. The contact is formed by an important fault zone dividing sharply an oceanic
sedimentary belt of the Western Cordillera with its basic and ultrabasic rocks
from the old crystalline Central Cordillera (Gansser I955, I962 , MacDonald &
Hurley 1969). This important tectonic boundary has also been recognized in the
regional gravity anomalies of the Colombian Andes (Case et al. I969, Case in
press). These authors conclude that the continental crust terminates on the west
flank of the Central Cordillera (along the boundary with the Western Cordillera)
and that from here the crust thickens abruptly eastwards. Oceanic and continental
crust join along the Cauca valley (Fig. 6).
The Venezuelan Coast range and the Northern range of Trinidad have been
compared to the Western Cordillera of Colombia. The sedimentary facies, the
presence of basic and ultrabasic rocks as well as the regional metamorphism are
strikingly similar, though the latter is of a considerably higher grade in the Vene-
zuelian Coastal ranges. The difficulty was to connect the two ranges. Through
the virgation of the Northern Andes we noted that the eastern branch of the Wes-
tern Cordillera of Colombia runs due north to the mouth of the Magdalena
river and then into the sea (Fig. 2). Rocks reminescent of the strongly metamor-
phic Venezuelan Coast range we find again in the northern Guajira peninsula.
They are affected by intense faulting with horizontal displacement. Ultrabasics
are present in Cabo de Vela and gabbros occur in sediments of a greenschist
facies which contain upper Cretaceous ammonites. (Burgl I96O, MacDonald et
al. I968 ). The same metamorphic belt is represented by the Aruba-Curacao-
Orchila island chain and further landwards in the Paraguana peninsula (Mac-
Donald et al. I97 I). The age of metamorphism and granodioritic intrusion varies
between 7° and 8o my (Schubert & Moticska in press). The Northern range of
Venezuela is actually offset beginning in the Barquisimeto region of western
Venezuela and continuing into the Northern range of Trinidad.
I I0 A . Gansser
For a long time a connection of the Colombian Western Cordillera with

Guajira and the Venezuelan ranges was lacking. The missing link was found in
the northernmost tip of the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta, actually a block of
the Central Cordillera. Here careful work by MacDonald et al. (I97I), revealed
Cretaceous metamorphics in the Gaira and Concha schists. They were already
separated from the main Sierra Nevada as Santa Marta schists by Gansser (1955)
without, however, recognizing their young age. Amphibole ages of the Concha
schists gave i I O my, while the Gaira schists gave an age of 5° my. The former
are thrust from the north on top of the Gaira schists. Their metamorphism
corresponds to a regional high pressure greenschist facies, while the younger
Gaira schists are of a hornblende hornfels facies, related to the intrusion of the
adjacent 5o my old tonalite batholith. In the Gaira region the schists are intruded
by aplite granites and aplitic dykes, cutting the steep isoclinal folds and the steep
schistosity (Fig. 8). The aplites are cut by younger diabases which also occur in
the overthrust Concha schist. There they are strongly sheared by later move-
ments (Fig. 9). It is most likely that the Concha schists and possibly also the
Gaira schists, together with the Santa Marta tonalite of Eocene age, are relics of
the Western Cordillera, attached to the peculiar Santa Marta block (Fig. IO).
Much more detailed work is however necessary, in order to clarify this important
tectonic link.
The Northern range of Venezuela and Trinidad, the Caribbean Cordillera
(Butterlin, in press), begins in the Barquisimeto area and from Puerto Cabello
eastwards forms the coastal belt, only interrupted by the bay of Barcelona and
the narrow Dragon Mouth between Venezuela and Trinidad. In the Barquisimeto
depression, which is filled with over 5ooo m of lower Tertiary flysch-type for-
mations, one notes a still little understood facies change from platform type, well
differentiated sediments, mainly of Cretaceous age to monotonous pelites of a
deeper environment, which eastwards develop into the Caribbean ranges. This
facies change coincides with a marked increase in metamorphism. Also in the
Barquisimeto area is a junction of two important major faults" the eastern con-
tinuation of the Oca trend and the northeast Bocono fault system of the Merida
range. A most striking sedimentary unrest characterizes the post Cretaceous
sediments, giving rise to large Cretaceous olistostromes within the younger
flysch formations. It suggests a steep slope where gigantic slabs have slid from the
stable Merida Andes into the steep Barquisimeto trough (Renz I96O). A great
puzzle is still the origin of gneisses and granites within the olistostromes.
Apparently the oldest units within the metamorphic Caribbean ranges west
of the Barcelona depression are the Sebastopol granite gneisses, dated at 425 my
(Gonzales i969). They suggest a reworked basement within the otherwise Meso-
zoic metamorphic belt which, together with basic and ultrabasic rocks, form the
major part of the Caribbean ranges (Caracas group). Cretaceous granite batho-
liths cut locally through the Caracas metamorphics. Eastwards the metamorphism
decreases into the phyllitic and Schistose rocks of the Paria Peninsula and Northern
range of Trinidad. A local metamorphic increase is noticeable in the Dragon
Mouth gneisses (Moticska i964, Gonzales de Juana et al. I968, Kugler in press)
the age of which is, however, disputed and certainly older than Cretaceous. The
Facts and theories on the Andes IiI
Northern range of Trinidad is well known. Thick phyllitic sediments have yielded
fossil evidence from upper Jurassic to middle Cretaceous (Barr 1963, Potter 1968,
Saunders in press).
Steep fault zones border the Northern ranges to the north as well as to the south.
We note the Victoria fault west of the Barcelona depression and the E1 Pilar
fault to the east of it. These major structural features may correspond to an offset
eastern continuation of the east-west Oca fault between the Sierra Nevada de
Santa Marta and the Barquisimeto area. Considerable dextral strike slip move-
ment has been reported on the E1 Pilar fault (Rod I956, I958).
South of the Victoria fault zone, which forms the sharp southern border of the
Caracas crystalline masses is the western Serrania del Interior, a most complex
mass of I O ooo m of greenschist metabasites with pillow lavas and siliceous
sediments. They are Cretaceous and are cut by diorite plugs. Further tectonic
slices with northward thrust contacts follow to the south and form the sharp
foothills against the more gently folded and autochthonous basin structures of
the Orinoco platform sediments. From the Caracas ranges to these foothills the
various tectonic units are allochthonous and originated as cover of the Caracas
ranges (Piburn I968 ) or even further north from the Caribbean sea (Gonzales
I969). A minimum thrusting of 45 km from north to south must be assumed
(Butterlin, in press).
The still enigmatic Serrania del Interior with a Northern range facies and
corresponding basic and ultrabasic rocks is missing further to the east. The
southern thrusts seem to trend northeast and to run into the eastern part of the
Gulf of Barcelona. South of the E1 Pilar fault in the eastern Serrania del Interior
of eastern Venezuela, we suddenly find folded Cretaceous and lower Tertiary
nonmetamorphic sediments of platform type facies, where ophiolitic rocks are
completely missing. This para autochthonous belt exposes northeast structures and
is affected by two most conspicuous arched faults, trending northwest, that are
strikingly similar to the Los Bajos fault in southwest Trinidad (Rod I959).
Folds and faults are sharply cut by the younger and still active east-west E1
Pilar fault zone (Fig. I I). The northeast to east-northeast trend reappears
frequently in the metamorphic Northern range and is further visible in the
structures of Trinidad. It is interesting that this trend parallels the old structural
grain in the Imataca range of the northern Guyana shield of Venezuela, and also
the most conspicuous Bolivar fracture zone that limits the Imataca belt against
the southern shield exposing a large mylonite zone suggesting young rejuvenation
(Short & Steenken I962).
In Trinidad south of the Northern range and the eastern continuation of the
E1 Pilar fault zone we find thick sedimentary sections from middle Cretaceous
upwards. Characteristic are the diapiric structures and the often chaotic character
of these sediments with the occurrence of numerous mud volcanoes. These mud
volcanoes are frequent along a southern and east-west fault zone, paralleling the
E1 Pilar trend. The mud volcano belt runs into eastern Venezuela as far as
Maturin and reflects the western extension of this peculiar sedimentary facies.
We may stress that a similar mud volcano belt follows the northwards extension of
the eastern branch of the Western Cordillera of Colombia between the Gulf of
F ~o. 8. (below)
Aplitic granite dyke (i). in steeply folded
Mesozoic Gaira sericite chlorite actinolite
schist (2). La Gaira, south of Santa Marta
(Gansser 1955).
~fi7,!~t7,,i
!',','x,,it~aa&:,
~~x,x/~tl'7,,
i
":"~'" ' ":"::'"'\-.~V:" " " " - " ;" "'
t~t,!~i~i.~:+?.,,,
. . . . .
._
_
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Im
li . . . . . .. _
Im
1"I L i _
1 AI
Im
F Io. 9. Highly sheared Mesozoic Concha ac-

tinolite schist (3) cut by dolerite dykes (2) and
subsequently faulted (x). Taganga bay, northeast
of Santa Marta (Gansser I955).
r i Q. i o . (f~cing tJage)
The Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta and
surrounding regions (after G ansser, Tschanz,
Io m Campbell and other sources).
Si e r r a N evada
/_ S a n t a Maria
Santa Maria -
Roncheria
• "X, "Y'.">(.X
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Barranquit[a
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./
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"'i l ~ ~1 L. ~ o = ~,~ ~m.

~ . . . , . ~ C I El, Banco ],,
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• I :
(,D X K I X I I ~";"~'~] Santa MartaBatho[ith ,~.,
I
i x ! x Iq i~::~99~ ~ Eocene
C 0 n chr2 Schists ~.
ror ' i X I
O" r i x 1 x Gaira Schists
i,:"1'" c~n,~ Cordittera and
15LF_.ArarTr3,nc~
( J . i . .
Granites a. C~aMe Gnei~'ses
I 14 A. Gansser
_~ //0@
b l~' .?,
C~arupc~ ~c
Par~. J
,j .. , . . - , -
.2---.
.. ..... "'" o
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• "/'... ~
• "/.:... . .
-d.-:/-~ ... ~
~ r ~ 0 • ~ x ~,
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x 11 x ~ ~ c I~ ~ ~ x x x x x
~s ~ x x ... S S x x x x ~ x x
x x
x. x x
x ~ x X s/ ~ x x x x x x
100 k m
l :1 ,,o~.o. ~~ o~., me tamorph,c Pt u t on s N eogene - Recen t

Cretaceou s
I ULt r a b a s i c s ~ Precambrian t • Mud vOLcanoes

5n~eLcl
FIG. I I. Structural m a p o f the southeast C a r i b b e a n area.

Facts and theories on the Andes I 15
U r a b a and Baranquilla. The well known sediments of Trinidad fit better into the
pattern of the Western Cordillera than into the platform type deposits of the
Eastern Cordillera and the south Venezuelan basin (Fig. I I).
Based on gravity and morphology the Northern Andes in the Caribbean region
are usually connected around the arc of the Lesser Antilles with the Greater
Antilles. There is no doubt of the great similarity between the Venezuelan
Coast range and the composition of the Greater Antilles. All expose the typical
rock sequences of the Western Cordillera. Apart from the east-west alignment of
both ranges, the Greater Antilles and the Coastal Venezuelan range, internal
structures show some east-northeast grain in the southern belt, while the Greater
Antilles expose east-southeast trends. Along both ranges are pronounced east-
west major fault zones with dextral movement in the south and sinistral tendencies
in the north suggesting an eastwards movement of the Caribbean Basin. In spite
of these facts, the evidence for a direct connection is missing. The arc of the Lesser
Antilles is considerably younger than the Venezuelan Coast ranges and the Greater
Antilles. If we prolong the Lesser Antilles arc southwestwards towards the
Venezuelan Coast range, then exactly at the intersection occur small plugs of
very young dacitic rocks cutting all other formations and which compare to the
volcanics of the Lesser Antilles. These outcrops at Carupano were mentioned by
the author in I954, and recently over 20 small dacitic plugs have been reported
in a restricted area. Isotopic ages have given 5 my. (Sifontes & Santamaria in
press). The position of these plugs may further indicate that the major eastwards
drift of the Caribbean basin or Caribbean plate occurred along the E1 Pilar fault
zone and not along more northern faults, and that the Northern Andes do not
swing into the Greater Antilles along the Caribbean arc but run east and east-
northeastwards into the Atlantic (Fig. I I).
(iii) The Central Cordillera of the Northern Andes. From southern Ecuador (Cor-
dillera Real) to the northern tip of Colombia the Central Cordillera forms the
main backbone of the Northern Andes. It forms also the divide between the
ophiolitic Western Cordillera and the platform type Eastern Cordillera. While the
western contact is a sharp tectonic line, the eastern contact is transgressive, with
shallow middle Cretaceous limestones normally overlapping the "basement." We
have seen that the large structural discrepancy occurs at the west side of the
Central Cordillera and not at the eastern border. Crystalline rocks are predomi-
nant and Precambrian basement seems to be present under slightly meta-
morphosed Ordovician fossil bearing sediments (Harrison 193o , T r u m p y 1943).
Older isotopic ages have been obscured by the numerous younger large plutonic
intrusions. Still questionable is the age of the large serpentinite bodies aligned
north-south just east of Medellin. Their emplacement seems to indicate a post-
gneissic age, but rare contacts with the large tonalite batholiths show silification
of the serpentinite and thus an older age for the latter. These peculiar ultrabasic
masses may still be related structurally to the Western Cordillera, the contact of
which is exposed only I2-I 5 km to the west where tectonized ultrabasics occur
along the major fault zone. The large tonalitic batholiths of Antioquia gave
ages between 60 and 80 my and line up with the late Mesozoic Andean batholiths
(Botero Arango 1963, Butterlin in press). The pre-plutonic metamorphics as well
I I6 A. Gansser
as some younger fracture zones within the tonalites, show a marked northeast
trend, paralleling the Perija and the Merida Cordilleras and also the structural
grain of the central Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta. Most of the older gneisses and
schists are steeply dipping and show some inversion on the western as well as on
the eastern slopes (Fig. 6).
The Central Cordillera plunges northwards and is drowned in the wide de-
pression of the combined Cauca and Magdalena valleys (Fig. Io). The last rem-
nants reach E1 Banco before the conspicuous Santa Marta fault system. Here the
whole Central Cordillera is cut off and transported northwards for at least 8o km
as the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta. This fault system has led to some controv-
ersy (Campbell i968 , Polson & Henao I968, Gansser I955). The similarity
of the Sierra Nevada with the northern Central Cordillera including its sedi-
mentary cover seems evident. Even such details as the local special facies of the
Lias at Laguna Morrocoyal on the northwestern slope of the northward plunging
Central Cordillera and the relic of similar Liassic beds at the Quebrada de los
Indios on the steep western slope of the Sierra Nevada (Trumpy I943) support
the general correlation.
In spite of these similarities the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta exposes a much
more complicated structure than the Central Cordillera. The striking morphology
with its 58oo m glaciated peaks is the result of a very young morphogenic uplift
which rejuvenated the large faults bordering the massif on the west and north.
Along the west side the Santa Marta fault zone coincides with the Ariguani
graben which is filled by 6ooo m of Neogene sediments. Considering the 58oo m of
the highest peaks of the Sierra, one must accept an uplift since the Neogene of at
least I2 ooo m, much of which happened recently. This young uplift is clearly
reflected by the presence of only two main stages of glaciation, probably of
Wurm age (Gansser I955).
The oldest rocks of the Sierra consist of banded hornblende plagioclase gneisses,
granodioritic augen gneisses, pink alkali-feldspar gneisses and hornblende biotite
schists, with all intermediate types. Intercalated are more basic horizons of
amphibolites, grading into augite-bearing amphibolites, magnetite hornblendites
and magnetite pyroxenites. The amphibolites contain also augite peridotites and
hornblende hypersthene peridotite without magnetite. Further associated are
thin layers of olivine marbles, wollastonite marbles and garnet magnetite rocks.
The metamorphics are discordantly cut by red quartz porphyries and porphyrites
related to the Triassic Giron group, and the metamorphics must therefore be
pre-Triassic.
Since the publication of the excellent map of the Sierra Nevada by Tschanz
et al. (~969) and the investigations of MacDonald & Hurley (~ 969) we have new
age determinations which confirm the presence of Precambrian metamorphics
as suggested by the author in I955. K-Ar dating of hornblende from the meta-
morphics east of the San Sebastian granite pluton gave 94 ° my, with whole rock
ages from 75 ° to 13oo my. Banded gneisses from the northwest corner of the massif
(Dibulla gneisses) gave a Rb-Sr isochron of I4OO my. The Dibulla gneisses are
so far the oldest metamorphic rocks in the Andes orogen. There seems little doubt
that shield type rocks are involved in the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta. The
Sketch Map
of
Central Sierra Nevada
de Sta. Maria
',~//\
,\/
\
r. _j.
' \ I
• \ I
' ] Qt incl. m o r a i n c s
and g l a c i e r s
.c ~--'~-_._~_~_ I>/,~/..~l B o l i v a r grano-
:.~)~,~l d tar it eJ~j
l>,/~/'j,~/.,I Ojeda q u a r t z [~
I',X/,"~.I m o=zon i t e [o
r F,
l x x x ' l San S e b a s t i a n |
'~ \ 2 I,~x Xxl granite )
1. HIIlIIlI Chundua g r a n i t e -
porphyry
j i Chundua sediments
/ I
. ..t,.. J ~ acide metamorphics
basic metamorphics
\ •~&~o
\ // /
diabase dykes
i amphibolite zones
PC. Pico Cristobal Colon

PB. Pico Bolivar (red tufts + sandstones
PS Pico Simons
PO. PIco Ojeda
L.R La Reina
E.G. El Guardian •, x
Mamancanaca
Ad Adur imeina
S.S San Sebastian ,, ,,,/,,,
x"ll /1
~ "" /'7
Heights in Metres
x ..,.." r
"~"--- Faults and mylonJtezones ~'~-,.- ,,,/ I/, / , / d~."'=--..--I
" '/-::..'.::-I
Jr
J ,,,/ I I ~ < . . . • "
~, i v :....,-:-=-~:'.--'"
..'.
5 km 7 / / ' . . . . . . . . . . . . °
/::.'...:;
F I G . I2. T h e c e n t r a l p a r t o f the S i e r r a N e v a d a de S a n t a M a r t a (after Gansser).

I 18 A. Gansser
Precambrian basement is cut by numerous batholiths, which are all of Mesozoic

age with dates, based on K-Ar in hornblende and biotites, of 2oo to about 17° my.
Only biotite from the large Bolivar batholith in the centre of the massif gave a
younger (lower Cretaceous) age. Field evidence suggests that the Bolivar batho-
lith is younger than the Triassic porphyries, while no clear age relation exists
between the other acid intrusives. The San Sebastian batholith is cut by numerous
parallel northeast striking dykes of Triassic quartz porphyries (Fig. 12). Grano-
diorites, tonalites, quartz monzonites and granites from most of the larger batho-
liths and are traversed by numerous dykes of which diabases and dolerites are the
youngest. The dykes are mostly northeast and northwest striking a pattern which
is again reflected by numerous fracture zones cutting the batholiths. Only along
the northwestern part of the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta do Eocene tonalites
occur that, as already mentioned, may be related to the Western Cordillera type
rocks, fringing the massif on its northwestern side.
The new map of the Sierra Nevada (Tschanz et al. 1969) clearly outlines the
predominant strike of the major units and suggests a splitting up of the block to-
wards the northeast. This northeast strike is sharply cut by the east-west trending
Oca fault, with a possible dextral strike slip movement. Some of the crystalline
rocks of the Guajira Peninsula may correspond to a northeastern extension of the
Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta, though the greater part belongs to Mesozoic
metamorphic equivalents of the Western Cordillera, as already noted. There are
no indications that the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta and with it the Central
Cordillera of the Northern Andes enters the Caribbean ranges, and most
likely the Central Cordillera ends here.
(iv) The Eastern Cordillera. The Eastern Cordillera follows east of the Central
Cordillera and west of the Guyana shield. We have already noted that the contact
of the Central Cordillera along the Magdalena valley is not sharp, and that the
platform type middle Cretaceous limestones of the Eastern Cordillera facies
transgress the crystalline rocks of the Central Cordillera. The pre-Mesozoic
formations of the Central Cordillera seem to connect with the pre-Mesozoic rocks
of the Eastern Andes and finally grade into the Precambrian of the Guyana shield.
The main difference between the two Cordilleras is the thin sedimentary veneer
covering the Central Cordillera, while in the Eastern Cordillera a thick sedimen-
tary sequence begins with Palaeozoic rocks. Precambrian and lower Paleozoic
rocks are frequent in the Garzon massif, the Macarena block, the Floresta massif,
the large Santander massif and again in the Cordillera of Perija as well as in the
Merida range of Venezuela. They are often intruded by granites of various ages.
Migmatites are frequent in the crystalline complex of the 3oo km long Santander-
massif. The lower Paleozoic is often a pelitic facies several kilometres thick and is
locally (Quetame massif) slightly metamorphosed (Trumpy 1943). A strong pre-
Devonian orogeny is widespread (Perija range), but later events, apart from the
main Andean orogeny, have often been exaggerated in the literature (e.g.
Radelli 1967). After widespread volcanism at the base of the Mesozoic Giron
group and a long emergence during the middle to upper Jurassic, the Cretaceous
transgression began and these sediments are the most widespread rocks of the
Eastern Cordillera. They expose some of the finest Cretaceous sections in the world
Facts and theories on the Andes x 19
(Burgl I959, I96I , I963). Local variations in facies and thickness are due to
epirogenic movements, and there is a well defined cyclic sedimentation. In the
Gundinamarca basin of Bogota, a gradual subsidence allowed an accumulation of
a complete marine Cretaceous sequence of 17 ooo m thickness. Within this thick
basin small gabbro intrusions cut the upper Cretaceous and gave local minerali-
zation including the famous smaragd mines of Muzo (Gansser 1963). These basic
intrusions were discovered by the author in the Guaguaqui river and seem to be
the only known basic rocks in the Cretaceous of the Eastern Cordillera, a fact of
regional interest, in comparison with the ophiolitic Cretaceous sediments of the
Western Cordillera. Eastwards, towards the Guyana shield, the marine sediments
markedly thin and finally grade into quartz sandstones covering some of the table
mountains in the Llanos. They are indistinguishable from the Roraima sand-
stones which transgress over the central Guyana shield, older than the cross-
cutting dolerites dated at I7OO-I8OO my. These well established dates seem to
contradict the geological field evidence (Gansser I954, McDougall et al. I963,
Priem et al. 1968, Snelling& McConnell 1969, Beurlen 197 I).
Structurally, the Eastern Cordillera is quite complex. Rising in eastern Ecuador
from the rudimentary Napo uplift, it really begins only in southeastern Colombia
in the Mocoa area, involving the crystalline Garzon massif, and increasing in
width up to 25 ° km at 6°N. From here, the north-northeast striking ranges
suddenly swing to north-northwest, and with this change emerges the crystalline
Santander massif with the large Santa Marta fault on its western side, here known
as the Bucaramanga or Ocana fault zone. The highest summits of the Eastern
Cordillera coincide with this abrupt change in strike. The Nevados de Cocuy,
only 45 km from the Llanos plains, reach a height of 54oo m and consist of lower
Cretaceous quartzites. Incidentally, these beautifully glaciated peaks form the
highest purely sedimentary mountain range in northern South America.
Slightly further north the northeast striking Merida range is a chain distinct
from the main Eastern Cordillera. The junction between the two ranges reflects
an intricate interplay of northeast and northwest strikes and criss-crossing struc-
tures. The Merida range, rising to 5ooo m has a crystalline and old Paleozoic
core, and a younger sedimentary cover conforming to the facies of the main
Eastern Cordillera. In the central part near Merida, granites cutting sillimanite
gneisses gave Rb-Sr whole rock ages of 66o my. Fossiliferous unmetamorphic
lower Paleozoic rocks crop out on the south side of the range, while locally a
regional metamorphism has affected even late Paleozoic sediments. (Grauch, in
press). Conspicuous longitudinal strike slip faults cut the Merida range in the
Bocono fault zone and run into the Barquisimeto area, where, as we have already
seen, the Merida range ends in the Barquisimeto depression and is replaced by the
West Cordilleran type Coast range of Venezuela.
From E1 Banco in the lower Magdalena valley, where the Central Cordillera
plunges into the wide alluvial basin, the Eastern Cordillera swings again north-
eastwards as Cordillera de Perija, paralleling the southeastern border of the Sierra
Nevada de Santa Marta. The Santa Marta-Ocana fault zone continues, however,
in a north-northwest direction, displacing the Santa Marta block. Similarly to
the Cordillera of Merida, the Perija range exposes a core of thick Paleozoic,
12o A. Gansser
slightly metamorphosed sediments. On its northeast end the Perija range is sharply
cut off by the east-west trending Oca fault zone, which has also cut off the nor-
thern Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta. Between the Perija range in the west and
the Merida range in the east we find the large and stable depression of Mara-
caibo. The only area where rocks of the Eastern Cordillera type reappear in
Venezuela is in the already mentioned folds in the eastern Serrania del Interior,
south of the E1 Pilar fault zone.
East of the main Eastern Cordillera follow the wide plains known as Llanos,
extending eastwards towards the Orinoco river and the Guyana shield and broken
in some places by conspicuous table mountains with a Precambrian crystalline
base and topped by horizontal quartz sandstones. They indicate that the Guyana
shield is not far below the continental Plio-Pleistocene deposits. It practically
reaches the foothills of the Eastern Cordillera and shield elements are actually
involved within the Andean orogen; such as in the Garzon massif and the Maca-
rena block. While the Garzon massif in the southern East Cordillera conforms to
the Andean trend, the Cordillera de la Macarena forms a detached fault-bounded
block striking from the Andean foothills southeastwards into the plain. It was a
great surprise for the Shell geologists, on a reconnaissance flight along the steep
foothills 35 years ago in not too favourable weather conditions, when they suddenly,
instead of the Llanos plains, had an unknown 13o km long and 15oo m high range
looming in front of them. This was the more striking, since the Eastern Cordillera
rises most abruptly several thousand metres from the flat Llanos. The faults
bordering the Macarena seem to be a rejuvenated fault pattern frequently ob-
served in the Guyana shield (Fig. 6).
2. The shield areas and the Pacific Ocean

adjacent to the Andean belt
The Andes, being a so-called marginal orogen, have on the one side the stable
shields and on the other the Pacific Ocean (Fig. I3).
A) THE SHIELDS
After its first Precambrian consolidation the shield area has not acted as one solid
resistant block, but has been broken up into various smaller blocks which reacted
individually and are separated by marked fracture zones. Though still somewhat
problematical, one of the most striking fracture zones runs along the Amazon
depression, and along this zone the northern shield block, the Guyana shield,
seems to have shifted westwards relative to the southern Brasilian block (de Loczy
x968 , i97o ). A Cretaceous fracture system was discovered through the work of
Petrobras at the mouth of the Amazon river. The complicated graben of Marajo
island is filled with thick upper Cretaceous and Tertiary sediments, suggesting a
Cretaceous rift within the granitic shield (Van der Hammen I969, De Aguiar
et al. I969). There is a certain alignment of the Amazon fault trend with the
Romanche and St. Pauls fracture zones, displacing the Mid-Atlantic ridge. The
peculiar North Brazilian ridge (Hayes & Ewing 197 o) may also be related to these
probably reactivated older east-west trends. Possibly the young volcanic trend of
Fernando Po that strikes into the Gulf of Guinea in West Africa is aligned to the
Benue graben. Important fracture zones have also been reactivated within the
shield blocks, and into some of these structural patterns young basic dykes have
intruded, such as the probable Cretaceous dolerites in northeastern Brazil and the
Permo-Triassic dolerite dykes reported from Surinam (Priem et al. 1968, Pflug
1967, Beurlen 1971 ). In the northern Guyana shield we noted the Bolivar fault
system with large mylonite zones. They parallel the structural pattern of the Pre-
cambrian Imataca range, and this pattern, a constant east-northeast lineament,
may have influenced the structural grain of the adjoining Cordilleras (Trinidad,
Coastal Range). Mesozoic reactivation of old structural trends within shield areas
is also well displayed by the Tacutu graben in the central Guyana shield; filled
with semicontinental Mesozoic sediments (McConnell et al. 1964, 1969). Along
this east-northeast trend the Guyana shield is practically cut in two.
As already noted one of the major changes in strike direction in the Central
Andes occurs in Bolivia. It is possible that this conspicuous change in the Andean
strike may have been influenced by a partial westwards shift of the Brazilian
block along the Chiquitos fracture zone. Older reactivated trends seem further
well outlined in the Pre Cordilleras and Pampean ranges of Argentina and the
block and graben features of the Buenos Aires area. Their east-west and north-
west trend is well reflected in the older structural grain of the southern part of the
Central Andes. The Deseado shield of Patagonia strikes from the east westwards
into the Andes and reacts with the southern part of the Central Andes in the still
little understood Nahuel Huapi high, which is covered by thin sediments, and
forces the Chile fault zone southwestwards out into the Pacific.
Many new facts seem to indicate that the old shields are much more mobile
than previously believed, and that their structural grain, later rejuvenated in some
particular areas, has influenced the structural pattern of the Andes considerably.
Now that we have recognized a relationship between the Precambrian shield
frame and the Andean structures, we turn to a further, much stronger influence,
coming from the other side of the Andes, from the Pacific Ocean.
(B) THE EASTERN PACIFIC OCEAN
New information about the configuration of the eastern Pacific is constantly

pouring in, and it is hardly the moment to theorize on the available facts. How-
ever, certain points that seem to have a bearing on the Andean structure will be
briefly mentioned. The eastern Pacific is structurally limited on its west side by
the active East Pacific ridge. Several side branches, some active, some dead at
present, connect this ridge to the Andean belt and divide the eastern Pacific
Ocean into several sections which act as individual plates. Considering the large
spreading rate along the eastern Pacific ridge of 6 to 8 cm annually, a strong
eastwards drift of the various plates is assumed, and these obviously played a role
in the Andean orogeny. This eastwards drift is particularly well expressed in the
southern and northern extremities of the Andes, in the Scotia arc and the Caribbean
arc respectively. The surprising similarities between these two have lead to a
multitude of theories.
122 A. Gansser
In the south the wide Antarctic plate may reach as far northwards as the Chile
ridge (Dalziel & Elliot in press) but has been affected by the eastern extension of
the large Eltanin fracture zone, which is reported to have displaced the axis of the
Albatross ridge (the east Pacific rise) in a dextral movement for over i ooo km.
Unfortunately the relation of this major fracture zone to the Scotia arc is still
obscured, partly due to a thick sedimentary cover. The northwest trending Chile
ridge is an active spreading zone and most probably reflects a relatively old fea-
ture if compared to the north trending Albatross ridge (Herron I97I ).
North of the Chile fracture zone is the East Pacific or Nasca plate, outlined by
the active Chile ridge in the south, the East Pacific ridge in the west and the Galap-
agos-Carnegie ridge in the north. Topographic evidence, particularly the Nasca
ridge, suggests a further subdivision of this large plate into smaller units, but since
these anomalies are at present seismically inactive and little information is
available over this area, their relations to the Andean belt are still obscure.
However, opposite to this large Nasca plate we find a well developed Peru-Chile
trench, the highest seismicity in the Andes and the largest development of sub-
Recent and Recent volcanism.
North of the Carnegie ridge and the Galapagos rift zone follows the Cocos
plate with a high seismicity along north-south and northeast-southwest trending
ridges (Van Andel et al. 197 I). It is separated by the Middle American range, with
high seismicity, strong volcanism and a marked marginal graben, from the Carib-
bean plate and arc that, as already noted, forms a northern counterpart of the
Scotia arc.
(i) The Scotia and the Caribbean arcs. We have already seen how these arcs are
attached to the southern and northern ends of the Andes and that each arc de-
velops out of a virgation of the main Cordilleras. The southern virgation is less
evident along the southern tip of the Andes, but previously within the southern part
of the Central Andes we noted southeast and east directed older marginal trends,
suggesting an older outline of an eastwards directed virgation, a kind of a paleo-
virgation of the southern Andes. In both arcs Caribbean as well as Scotia, oceanic
rock associations play an important role, together with some plutonic rocks of the
Andean type. No platform sediments seem involved. Navarino Island elements
in the Patagonian Andes occur again in South Georgia island (Fig. 3) striking
southeast, in mirror image of the internal northeast strike of the Venezuelan
Coast Ranges of the Caribbean arc. A considerable eastwards shift must be
assumed with further east-northeast secondary shear-faults, displacing successively
the northern Scotia ridge (Deuser I97O, Butterlin, in press, Dalziel & Elliot, in
press, Katz & Watters I966 ).
Similar east-west fault trends are assumed along the southern Scotia ridge,
with movements towards the east from the eastwards bending Antarctic Peninsula,
which forms the counterpart to the Patagonian Andes. The greater part of the
Scotia sea is reported to be oceanic, and this oceanic basin or plate must have
moved considerably to the east or the continents moved to the west, with marked
marginal fault zones along the northern and southern Scotia ridges. New investi-
gations have revealed local spreading ridges in the Drake passage, cut by the
Shackleton fracture zone and a north-south zone just west of South Sandwich
&
2,0 o o kn'~,
-#...
. _ . . . .
. .......
Cocos ~'i 6 ~ /
f
A v,~,. ~ -i. or'~-

Car n e g ie _..__.=..-...-..
._ ,=...--
\
\
\
\
X
\
X I
X
X iI iII,0~
//I //~."
\
I /
/ 0
r t ~
"~. / 0
"..e
/ I
/ I
J' I
I
atom ~
~s S ~-~
. . .•. ., recetal volcar~oes -- -~ZZ~;:~)
naarc~ir~aL Jtren.ches
,tip
~Jrr LLC~tara~ J(rer~ck~ \
ec~r'fhquake zor~es > ~oo k~ dep~ks x~'~,
- ,, b
earthquake zor~e5 /~ ~ookm c~ep~k5 L""
Fla. 14. The distribution of recent volcanoes and earthquake zones in the Andes
(earthquakes compiled from Baranzangi & Dorman 1969).
I~4 A. Gansser
Island (Dalziel & Elliot, in press). The eastern closure of the Scotia arc is formed
by the volcanic South Sandwich Islands with some active volcanoes, again a
striking counterpart to the arc of the volcanic Lesser Antilles Islands in the Carib-
bean (Gasset al. I963). They are seismically very active, contrasting with the
fault zones of the northern as well as the southern Scotia ridges which are now
practically aseismic. The South Sandwich Islands also form a younger superimposed
arc on the east-west trending Scotia ridges. The South Sandwich fracture zone
striking into the Atlantic seems a counterpart to the Cayman fracture zone of
the Caribbean and its eastern continuation.
Dalziel & Elliot (in press) have tried to reconstruct the various phases leading
to the Scotia arc, assuming in the Mesozoic a straight north-south connection of
the complete Andes with the then also north-south directed Antarctic peninsula.
In the Cenozoic the disruption and eastwards shift occurred. From all the available
evidence it seems more likely that the southern virgation of the Andes was an
older feature i.e. only the western coastal ranges with their paleozoic metamorphics
and Andean plutons originally ran north-south whereas the Patagonian oceanic
ranges were already trending more eastwards. The old grain of the Southern
Andes and the aberrant foothill structures such as the Pre Cordilleras suggest a
much older eastwards bend of the southern tip of South America. A similar
possibility seems to exist in the Caribbean region, where the already existing
Andean virgation is much clearer outlined and where the Caribbean arc is only
a part, the interior one, of the Northern Andes.
(ii) The Chile ridge. The actively spreading Chile ridge joins the Andes in the
region of the Penas gulf where the large Chile fault zone east of the Coastal Cor-
dillera runs southwestwards into the Pacific. From here northwards strong
seismic activity begins in the Andes, which was practically absent further south.
Rather abruptly, a sub-Recent to Recent volcanism sets in. We placed the border
between the Southern and the Central Andes at the height of the Chile ridge.
From here all along the Central Andes the special oceanic sedimentary facies of
the Patagonian ranges is missing. Also, the Chile-Peru trench is well outlined from
here to the north. Between the actively spreading Chile ridge and thespreading
Albatross ridge opens a basin, deepening south-southeastwards. In the centre of
this basin one would expect compressional features. Some sea mounds do exist
but no indication of compression has been found (Herron & Hays 1969).
(iii) The East Pacific or Nasca plate. From the Chile ridge in the south to the Car-
negie-Galapagos ridge in the north, the Central Andes are bordered by the Paci-
fic Nasca plate. In the Andes a very strong seismic activity is known, with clusters
of deep earthquake centres. The morphological features of the Nasca plate suggest
a rather complicated pattern which may indicate the presence of several plates,
though admittedly little information is so far available in this area. Certain mor-
phological features within the Nasca plate are reflected in the Central Andes"
from the Chile ridge to the east-west aligned J u a n Fernandes Islands with
alkali basalts several east-west fractures are indicated (Herron I97 I, Herron &
Hayes i969) , which displace the ridge westwards. In the corresponding Andes
appears the southern Chilean volcanic belt, ending opposite the J u a n Fernandes
Islands. From here to the Nasca ridge a north-south alignment of seamounts
leads to the volcanic San Felix Island group. North of the group a northwest-
southeast aligned fracture pattern seems to cut the southwestern Nasca ridge.
The relation of the presently aseismic Nasca ridge with the Andes has already
been discussed. The anomalies in the Nasca area suggest that no major horizontal
displacement occurred along the Peru-Chile trench. From the Nasca ridge to the
Carnegie ridge, which limits the Nasca plate to the north, recent volcanism is
absent along the corresponding stretch of the Andes.
(iv) The Carnegie-Galapagos ridge coincides with one of the strongest geological
changes in the Andes. East-west anomalies exist on land, in the Amotape range
and particularly in the west striking coastal range of Colonche and the abnormal
outcrops of the Santa Elena peninsula of western Ecuador. A remarkable sedi-
mentary instability is reflected in the Paleogene olistostromes. Opposite the Car-
negie-Galapagos ridge the active Andean volcanism sets in suddenly and dimin-
ishes northwards together with the beginning of the northwards virgation of the
Northern Andes. The Carnegie ridge separates the northern Nasca plate from
the very active Cocos plate and the Galapagos rift zone. The partly active Gala-
pagos volcanoes show a surprising concentration of earthquake centres. The
Galapagos fracture zone joins the East Pacific ridge to the west of the Galapagos
Islands. The somewhat abnormal cluster of the volcanic Galapagos Islands may
be related to the junction of the Cocos ridge with the Carnegie-Galapagos
trend.
(v) The Cocos plate is limited by the Cocos ridge to the northwest. Newer investi-
gations (Molnar & Sykes I969, Van Andel et al. I97I), have detected several
north-south directed seismically active fractures (Coiba fault zone) cutting the
Galapagos rift zone. A steep graben branches off from the Peru-Chile graben
trend. All around the Cocos plate the Andean Coastal belt exposes oceanic sedi-
ments rich in basic and ultra-basic rocks from Cretaceous to lower Oligocene
age. This, as noted, is in strong contrast to the Nasca plate with early Palaeozoic
metamorphic rocks and Mesozoic plutons forming the coastal belt.
From where the Cocos range joins the Central American Andes west of Coiba
Island, to the west the sub-Recent to Recent volcanic belt sets in abruptly and
can be followed to the Guatemalan fault zone, a western continuation of the
outstanding Cayman fracture zone in the northern Caribbean. The occurrence
of highly deformed metamorphic and ultrabasic masses coinciding with this
fault trend are well known. New evidence suggests strong vertical movement and
only a reduced lateral displacement (Schwartz, in press). It is questionable if
this fault zone is related to the Tehuantepec fracture zone. Between the latter and
the Cocos ridge one recognizes a separate Central American plate.
Still little understood is the relation of the Cocos plate to the Caribbean plate
(Molnar & Sykes I969, Schubert I97O ). The most complicated land geology does
not suggest a simple plate for the Caribbean area, in spite of the rather wide-
spread basaltic floor, assumed from dredging and the latest J O I D E S drilling
results. The "enfant terrible" of the Caribbean, the Aves ridge with granodiorites,
greenschists and volcanics speaks for itself (Nagle in press). The Panama branch
of the Western Cordillera shows, in spite of a considerable eastwards drift of Pacific
elements within the Caribbean arc, a straight connection between South and
x26 A. Gansser
North America, underlined by a remarkable seismicity and volcanism. This may

be of interest in relation to the newest interpretation of the origin of the Scotia arc
(Dalziel & Elliot, in press).
(C) CONCLUSIONS
In spite of the progress in geophysical investigations, the eastern Pacific bordering
the Andes is evidently still little understood. Several important oceanic plates can
be outlined, but their reaction with the Andes is far from uniform. Various events
play an important role, reflected for instance by the presence or absence of
recent volcanism and seismicity, but the succession of such episodes in time is still
one of the least known items in our Andean history. However, one fact must be
specially stressed" The sub-Recent to Recent volcanic belts in the Andes occur
approximately 25 ° km inland from the marginal oceanic trench. This figure is
strikingly constant, except for the volcanoes in middle Colombia which are located
in the virgation of the Northern Andes. Much less evident is the pattern of the
earthquakes apart from the deepening of the focus from west to east and an
apparent north-south extension of a deeper earthquake belt north of Arica and
north of the main bend of the Andes (Fig. I4). The distribution and type of
emplacement of the mostly Mesozoic plutons is a further item of special concern.
We must realize that we are dealing with the largest mass of plutons on earth.
They cover approximately 465 ooo km ~, about I 5 % of the Andes surface.
Assuming a depth of 5 km the volume of plutonic material in the uppermost
crust amounts to 2 325 ooo km 3. Their coastal alignment is surprising and a
certain relation to the "birth" of the present Pacific Ocean during Jurassic-
Cretaceous time seems likely (Fig. 4).
The interaction of oceanic crust and the western border of the South American
continent has often been used as a model for theoretical discussions (Isacks &
0liver I968 , Dewey & Bird i97o ) but we know from the foregoing that this
model is most complex and hardly suitable for generalizations. Above all we
lack indications of compression along the oceanic and continental crust interface.
Along the coastal belt block faulting has been the most important tectonic proc-
ess since the Mesozoic, though strong compression is indicated in the pre-
Mesozoic rocks of the coastal belt. Their structural grain however, does not con-
form to the present ocean-continent interface. Sediments in the Peru-Chile
trenches are not compressed and show horizontal bedding (Hayes I966; Ewing
et al. I969). Fractures and grabens in the Cocos plate suggest extension (Van
Andel et al. 1971 ). There is no indication that oceanic plates are being pushed from
the widening oceanic ridges towards the subduction zones. A strong and active
downwards motion must be assumed at the ocean continent interface. Already
in I95I the vulcanologist Rittman published these ideas as one of the earliest
indications of plate tectonics. This active subduction may pull down sialic
material to where anatectic melting gives buoyancy and seems responsible for the
remarkable Andean Tertiary and younger volcanism. That the volcanic trends
lie 25 ° km from the marginal trenches seems to fit rather well into this picture.
The rhyolitic--dacitic volcanism has nothing to do with the melting of downward
pulled oceanic lithosphere, but certainly originates from continental material.
Only very few of the known facts of the Andes can at present be put into a
logical and coherent picture. Our knowledge of the greater part of these 9ooo km
of superb mountains is only spotty, and still more cursory is our information of the
adjoining ocean. More and more facts will be gathered, completing our geolog-
ical puzzle, but from time to time it will be necessary to return to our eastern-
most view point of the Andes to meditate.
ACKNOWI.EDO~.~m~CrS. For valuable assistance in preparation and correction of the manuscript

the author is indebted to Sylvia Spalinger and A. G. Milnes.
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Lecture delivered 3 November I97I; manuscript received 7 January I972.
Augusto Gansser, For. Comm. Member G.S., Geological Institute of the

Swiss Federal Institute of Technology and the University of Zurich,
Sonneggstrasse 5, 8o06 Zurich, Switzerland.

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Journal of the Geological Society

Facts and theories on the Andes : Twenty-sixth William

Journal of the Geological Society 1973, v.129; p93-131.

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© The Geological Society of London 2012

Facts and theories on the Andes

Twenty-sixth William Smith Lecture

I. The main subdivisions of the Andes

Facts and theories on the Andes 95

(A) THE SOUTHERN OR PATAC.ONIAN ANDES

I Cen.~rat C..ordit[~_ to.

V/A Su.bo~,xd.ear~ Corci~ Eercl5

FI o. 2. T h e subdivisions o f the Andes.

Facts and theories on the Andes 97

Facts and theories on the Andes 99

(B) THE CENTRAL ANDES

Facts and theories on the Andes Io I

fossiliferous lower Cretaceous sediments are overlain by over 2o ooo m of andesites,

(pre-Pliocene) and north-northwest (post-Pliocene) faults characterize this area

Facts and theories on the Andes 103

The sudden change in strike of the Eastern Cordillera is further corroborated by

(c) THE NORTHERN ANDES

Facts and theories on the Andes I O7

k\\",l L o,~., oils o < , ,, • ' 1( it X "X

0IIIIIIIuv~., Eo=.~. i" \ \ ' , . ~

"i q al~l~,-o +Ba,=l.'i,

F I o. 7. Gorgona Island, a remnant of the Coastal Cordillera of west Columbia

Facts and theories on the Andes 109

to Cretaceous age. Upwards, basic intercalations increase together with a few

For a long time a connection of the Colombian Western Cordillera with

Facts and theories on the Andes IiI

":"~'" ' ":"::'"'\-.~V:" " " " - " ;" "'

F Io. 9. Highly sheared Mesozoic Concha ac-

"'i l ~ ~1 L. ~ o = ~,~ ~m.

q Northern IBatl-otiths J~z

(,D X K I X I I ~";"~'~] Santa MartaBatho[ith ,~.,

l :1 ,,o~.o. ~~ o~., me tamorph,c Pt u t on s N eogene - Recen t

I ULt r a b a s i c s ~ Precambrian t • Mud vOLcanoes

FIG. I I. Structural m a p o f the southeast C a r i b b e a n area.

Facts and theories on the Andes I 15

PC. Pico Cristobal Colon

F I G . I2. T h e c e n t r a l p a r t o f the S i e r r a N e v a d a de S a n t a M a r t a (after Gansser).

Precambrian basement is cut by numerous batholiths, which are all of Mesozoic

Facts and theories on the Andes x 19

2. The shield areas and the Pacific Ocean

Facts and theories on the Andes 121

(B) THE EASTERN PACIFIC OCEAN

New information about the configuration of the eastern Pacific is constantly

A v,~,. ~ -i. or'~-

. . .•. ., recetal volcar~oes -- -~ZZ~;:~)

earthquake zor~e5 /~ ~ookm c~ep~k5 L""

Facts and theories on the Andes 125

North America, underlined by a remarkable seismicity and volcanism. This may

Facts and theories on the Andes 127

ACKNOWI.EDO~.~m~CrS. For valuable assistance in preparation and correction of the manuscript

Facts and theories on the Andes I29

Facts and theories on the Andes 131

Lecture delivered 3 November I97I; manuscript received 7 January I972.

Augusto Gansser, For. Comm. Member G.S., Geological Institute of the

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