XIII Congreso Peruano de Geología.

Resúmenes Extendidos
Sociedad Geológica del Perú

GEOMORPHIC AND SEDIMENTOLOGIC ANALYSES

ON THE FITZCARRALD ARCH: EVIDENCE OF A RECENT TECTONIC UPLIFT

Nicolas Espurt1,2, Patrice Baby1,2, Stéphane Brusset 2, Wilber Hermoza3, Pierre-Olivier Antoine2,
Rodolfo Salas-Gismondi4, François Pujos5, Martin Roddaz2, Vincent Regard2, Edwing R.
Tejada3 & Rolando Bolaños3.
1
IRD, Convenio IRD-PERUPETRO, Lima, Peru; pbaby@ird.fr
2
LMTG UMR 5563, 14 avenue Edouard Belin, F-31400 Toulouse, France; espurt@lmtg.obs-mip.fr,
brusset@lmtg.obs-mip.fr, poa@lmtg.obs-mip.fr, mroddaz@lmtg.obs-mip.fr, regard@lmtg.obs-mip.fr
3
PERUPETRO, Convenio IRD-PERUPETRO, Lima, Perú; whermoza@perupetro.com.pe,
rolotejada_00@yahoo.com.ar, rbolanos@perupetro.com.pe
4
Museo de Historia Natural-UNMSM, Departamento de Paleontología de Vertebrados, Avenida Arenales 1256, Lima 14,
Peru; rodsalasgis@yahoo.com
5
Instituto Francés de Estudios Andinos, Lima, Perú; fpujos@yahoo.fr

INTRODUCTION

The Fitzcarrald Arch constitutes a major geomorphic feature of the Amazon basin (Baby et al., 2005)
of 615 m high and 700 000 km2 which develops perpendicularly to the Central Andes and separates
the Pastaza-Marañon basin in the North (Roddaz et al., 2005), and the Beni-Mamore basin in the
South (Baby et al., 1999). This arch develops east of the Subandean thrust front, where thrust
deformations do not interfere. Geomorphic and sedimentologic analyses in this area indicate a recent
structural control linked to the Nazca Ridge subduction process (Fig. 1).

Fig. 1. Digital elevation model of the Fitzcarrald Arch (NASA SRTM) with reconstruction of the subducting part of
the Nazca Ridge (dotted line, Hampel, 2002) and localisation of the study area. The black dashed lines show the depth
of the Wadati-Benioff contours.

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GEOMORPHIC AND SEDIMENTOLOGIC OBSERVATIONS

The Fitzcarrald Arch represents a bulge in the Amazon foreland basin which generates a radial
drainage individualizing the rivers of the Ucayali basin to the northwest, the rivers of the Acre basin to
the east and the rivers of the Madre de Dios basin to the southeast. This arch is constituted by Neogene
and Quaternary deposits deeply incised by the rivers. Recent studies on Neogene outcrops of the
southern side of the arch show a Miocene tide-influenced sea environment (Hovikoski et al., 2005),
similar to the Pebas environment described farther in the north in the Iquitos region (Hoorn, 1993;
Räsänen et al., 1995; Gingras et al., 2002). The depositional system was that of a freshwater tidal basin
with occasional marine incursions in a “marine-like megalake” (Wesselingh et al., 2002; Roddaz et al.,
2005). The bathymetry of this “lake” is supposed not to have exceeded 30 m and this lake would have
experienced tidal influences. The Pebas Fm is Middle Miocene to Upper Miocene in age (17 Myr to
11 Myr; Hoorn et al., 1995). The observations realized in our last field trips (August and November
2005) in the northern flank of the arch (Urubamba, Inuya, Mapuya, and Chicosillo Rivers) confirm the
presence of tidal influences Neogene deposits in this area. Miocene formations show the following
succession (Fig. 2): sandstones
corresponding to longitudinal bars with
rare clasts, and paleosols. Paleocurrents
are mainly to the east. Above an
erosive surface, 1 m thick of channel
shaped conglomerates (lithofacies Gp
of Miall, 1996) develop laterally
replaced by planar cross-bedded
sandstones (lithofacies Sp of Miall,
1996). The conglomerate clasts are
varied (sandstone, mud, clay and wood)
with a high concentration of vertebrate
fossils, incorporated in a sand matrix.
The following interval of 1.8 m thick
consists in a succession of tidal
deposits which show levels of clays,
mud clasts and sands. In the lower part
of this interval, the sand strata exhibit
mud-sand couplets with planar
“herring-bone” cross-stratifications and
flaser bedding. In the upper part of this
interval, climbing-ripple laminations of
type 2 (Jopling and Walker, 1986) bear
angular grey clasts of tidal clay and
wood debris. The sedimentary
succession ends with an alternation of
sands and brown argillites disturbed by
paleosols.

Fig. 2. Log of the Neogene and Pleistocene

Fms on the area studied with details on the
photographs.

Miocene outcrops show manifestly the presence of a tidal environment during the Miocene on the
Fitzcarrald Arch area, similar to the Pebas environment. The conglomerates which are erosive on the
continental sands as interpreted as storm deposits channelized in a nearshore environment. The upper
part is clearly made of tidal deposits (wavy and flaser bedding) in an estuarine environment. The top

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of tidal-influenced strata corresponds to a maximum flooding surface. Above, the deposits indicate an
environment of a flood plain. The diversified vertebrate fauna (ca. 30 taxa) is strongly reminiscent of
late Middle Miocene Laventan faunas from Colombia, Venezuela, and Brasil (13.5-11.8 Myr; Madden
et al. 1997). The contact between the Miocene and the Pliocene (?) fluvial deposits is erosive. The
Pliocene (?) deposits are topped by a set of successive tilted and dissected morphologic structural
surfaces, which are clearly evidenced in imagery (Fig. 1). These surfaces organize asymmetrical on
both sides of the arch. Small and high tilted surfaces are distributed on the northwest flank of the arch
(Ucayali basin side). The most important is the Ucayali River tilted surface, which connects down
with the Ucayali River. This surface has already been described by Räsänen et al. (1995), near the
Ucayali River on the eastern side of the Shira Mountain. These deposits present a westward dip of ~
0.3°. In contrast, the southeast flank of the arch (Madre de Dios basin side) presents many more
surfaces but wide and low tilted (~ 0.1°). In the Chicosillo River, Pliocene (?) outcrops show ~ 40 m
thick of quartzitic and volcanic gravels from the Andes, included in a sand poor matrix, topped by
sands and paleosols. Paleocurrent data from imbricate gravels indicate a direction to the N355.
These Neogene formations are largely incised by the modern drainage network which develops on the
Fitzcarrald Arch. The Pleistocene formations correspond to terrace deposits. On the Chicosillo River,
the deposits are constituted by ~10 m thick of quartzitic and volcanic gravels reworking Pliocene
deposits and included in a rich sand and clay. The gravel imbrications indicate a paleocurrent direction
to the N250. Such a current is parallel to the drainage direction of the Chicosillo River and towards the
Andes. On the Mapuya River and 50 m above it, we observe Pleistocene aggradational terraces
constituted by fine sediments and quartzitic gravels.

DISCUSSION

Analysis of the Miocene outcrops on the northern flank of the Fitzcarrald Arch reveals a sedimentary
environment dominated by tidal influences during this period. These new data permit to extend the
“Pebas marine-like megalake” into the Fitzcarrald Arch area. During the middle Miocene, the
Fitzcarrald Arch area corresponded to a tide-influenced sea controlled by Andean flexural foreland
basin. The tidal Miocene formations are followed by Pliocene (?) conglomerate and sandstone deposits
which age is uncertain. On the one hand, the recent uplift of the arch is recorded by the deformation of
many Pliocene (?) and Pleistocene deposits. These deposits have been progressively uplifted and
warped on the southeast side of the arch by the continuing growth of the arch. On the other hand, the
change of the paleocurrent directions observed between the Pliocene (?) and Pleistocene deposits and
the actual drainage network towards the Andes are linked to the beginning of the arch uplift probably
in the late Pliocene.
All that suggests a recent structural control of the arch uplift. From its dimensions (700 000 km2) and
its relatively recent age, this arch, which controls the recent Amazonian basin geomorphology (from
Peru to Brazil), is different from the pre-Cretaceous Manu and Paititi arches well-known by oil
companies (House et al., 1999; Shepherd et al., 2002) which the dimensions were smaller (not
exceeding 100 km wide) and do not affect the present morphology of the Amazonian basin.
Futhermore, the Fitzcarrald Arch is superimposed perfectly with the reconstruction of the Nazca Ridge
beneath South America (Fig. 1; Hampel, 2002). Thus, the Fitzcarrald Arch can be considered as a
recent morphologic response of the Nazca Ridge flat subduction (Gutscher et al., 2000) at several
hundred kilometers to the east of the trench on the modern Amazonian foreland basin (Espurt et al., in
preparation).

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