Journal of South American Earth Sciences 39 (2012) 228e244

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Journal of South American Earth Sciences

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Deformation partitioning in the Llanos foreland basin during the Cenozoic

and its correlation with mountain building in the hinterland
Andrea Delgado, Andrs Mora*, Andrs Reyes-Harker
Ecopetrol-ICP, Km7-Autopista Bucaramanga-Piedecuesta, Piedecuesta, Santander, Colombia

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: Previous studies have argued that deformation in foreland basins is either controlled by inherited struc-
Received 12 May 2011 tures, is a direct response to the advancing orogenic load or is a combination of these two factors. To provide
Accepted 2 April 2012 insights into the relative importance of these processes in foreland basin development, we generated an
inventory of syn-kinematic relationships for the Llanos foreland of Colombia using an extensive
Keywords: (w5000 km) network of 2D seismic lines. The results of this work indicate that most of the Miocene
Foreland basin
extensional deformation in the central Llanos trends parallel to the orogen and follows the propagation of
Seismic interpretation
orogenesis to the east. Thus, the dominant control on deformation of the Llanos foreland basin is related to
Flexural extension
Colombia Llanos basin
exure during episodes of enhanced orogenic load. This observation is fundamental to understand the
nature of deformation in continental interiors and cratonic areas in front of active orogens.
2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction contraction would occur as two independent episodes in the fore-

Numerous previous studies have characterized extensional
deformation in foreland basins using either eld studies (Scisciani
et al., 2001; Ghisetti and Vezzani, 2002; Davila and Astini, 2003)
or seismic information (James, 2000; De Paola et al., 2006; Moretti
et al., 2009), in large part because this style of deformation is
frequently associated with oil accumulations in areas like the
Venezuelan and Colombian forelands (James, 2000; Moretti et al.,
2009). However, less is known about how orogenic contractional
deformation is transferred into previously undeformed continental
interiors and forelands, and what prompts normal faulting in
otherwise stable cratonic foreland settings. Recent studies have
suggested that far eld tectonic stresses are transferred into the
foreland plate impinging inherited structures which are therefore
selectively reactivated depending on their orientation with respect
to the mximum horizontal stress (Moretti et al., 2009). Other
groups hypothesize that bending forces due to foreland exure
under tectonic loading in the hinterland facilitate faulting due to
buckling (Scisciani et al., 2001; Ghisetti and Vezzani, 2002). In the
rst case, contractional reactivation would coexist with extensional
faults in a transpressional to transtensional setting depending on
the orientation of the fault planes. In the second case extension and
* Corresponding author.
E-mail address: andres.mora@ecopetrol.com.co (A. Mora).
land plate, where contraction would be strictly focused in the
hinterland orogenic domain and extension would be restricted to
the foreland setting. In this case there should be a spatial and
temporal correlation between activity in the orogenic hinterland
and normal faulting in the foreland. An additional option is that
exural extension actually reactivates pre-existing anisotropies
(even pre-orogenic) and in an extreme case contractional defor-
mation reaches the former foreland domain producing an inversion
of exural normal faults.
The Llanos basin in northern South America is the modern
foreland of the Eastern Cordillera active fold and thrust belt (Fig. 1).
Numerous low displacement hinterland-dipping normal faults
have been documented using 2D and 3D seismic information. Oil
discoveries associated with them as a hydrocarbon play have
focused on the Casanare region (Fig. 1). Though foreland-dipping
faults are also common, the rate of success in exploration in these
faults is minor compared to those faults dipping towards the
hinterland. The timing and distribution of both has been rarely
assessed and their presence has never been associated with
a broader geodynamic context. This is critical to understand the
spatial properties of the exing foreland plate, its relationship with
the internal and external processes in the adjacent orogenic belt as
well as in assessing how hydrocarbon migration and charge
occurred.
The Llanos basin is a retroarc foreland basin, where the creation
of accommodation space in the basin is typically related to exure
(Molnar, 1988). Flexure in retroarc foreland basins has been

0895-9811/$ e see front matter 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.jsames.2012.04.011
 A. Delgado et al. / Journal of South American Earth Sciences 39 (2012) 228e244 229

Fig. 1. Geologic map of the Eastern Cordillera. The box indicates the location of the study area which coincides with the western part of the Casanare province. The Casanare
province is a small portion of the larger Llanos foreland basin.

traditionally interpreted as a response to tectonic and sedimentary
loads (Vening-Meinesz, 1941). The Casanare area (Fig. 1) is an ideal
study area for this work because the dip of the foreland plate is at
a maximum compared with adjacent areas to the south, north and
west (e.g. Moretti et al., 2009). Interestingly, normal faults in the
Llanos foreland are also clustered in the Casanare province,
precisely where the dip of the exing plate is at a maximum but not
where the pinchout of most of the units has been reported (Moretti
et al., 2009). This behavior allows us to make inferences that are
crucial to this study.
- The location of maximum exure (maximum dip angle of the
foreland exing plate in the Llanos) is not related to the location
of the foreland bulge (Bradley and Kidd,1991; Davy and Cobbold,
1991; Cobbold et al., 1993; Horton and DeCelles, 1997; Horton
et al., 2001; Bayona et al., 2007, 2008a), which should be the
highest part of the foreland, closer to the pinchout of foreland
sequences in the Llanos basin. Instead this maximum exure in
Casanare should be conditioned by an especially weak
mechanical domain in a non-uniform Llanos basin plate
(Hermeston et al., 2011). We depart from this assumption and do
not intend to document a foreland bulge here.
- The spatial coincidence between maximum foreland dip and
normal faults may mean that both features can be related to
exure. Flexure is usually assumed to be driven by tectonic or
sediment loadings in the hinterland and in the basin respec-
tively (Vening-Meinesz, 1941. However, Moretti et al. (2010)
suggest an alternative model where normal faulting in the
Llanos is instead related to far eld stresses transferred into
the Llanos basin (Moretti et al., 2010. In this study we test
whether this idea is valid or not by mapping the spatial
distribution, orientation and timing of normal faults in the
230 A. Delgado et al. / Journal of South American Earth Sciences 39 (2012) 228e244

Fig. 2. Chronostratigraphic chart of the Eastern Cordillera and Central Llanos basin. The diagram is based on the biostratigraphic zonation by Jaramillo et al. (2011) and internal well
reports of Ecopetrol-ICP.

Fig. 3. Detail of seismic line (for location see Fig. 1) with the seismic expression of the main horizons interpreted in the different lines along the study area. Notice the presence of
a syn-Lower Carbonera normal fault which controls the thickness of the C8 member of the Carbonera Formation and partially the C7 member of the Carbonera Formation.
 A. Delgado et al. / Journal of South American Earth Sciences 39 (2012) 228e244
Casanare province, where they are particularly frequent
(Moretti et al., 2010; Hermeston et al., 2011). Given this
introductory context our results do not apply to the entire
Llanos basin, since the basin changes its structural style along
strike (Moretti et al., 2010: Hermeston et al., 2011). Based on
our ndings, we suggest the term exural extension to dene
the normal faulting in the Llanos. However, our results also
suggest that inherited structures are also instrumental in the
development of normal faulting.
2. Stratigraphic framework
Recent works document that the basement in the Llanos fore-
land of the Eastern Cordillera is different from that in the Eastern
Cordillera (Horton et al., 2010; Ibanez-Mejia et al., 2011; Bande
et al., 2012). The foreland basin includes mostly Mesoproterozoic
to Paleoproterozoic rocks whereas the Eastern Cordillera is
composed mostly of metasediments with Cambrian to Permo-
triassic metamorphism (Ibanez-Mejia et al., 2011). The presence of
Lower Paleozoic sediments without metamorphism directly over-
lying basement in the Llanos is signicant in that it demonstrates
that orogenic late Paleozoic to Mid-Mesozoic rocks are absent in
Fig. 4. Map with the study area and location of the different transects which summarize the key ndings along the interpreted seismic lines. The inset map is a simplied version of
the map in Fig. 1 and the box in the map coincides with the location of this gure.
231
the Llanos foreland. This observation makes the Llanos and Eastern
Cordillera domains into two signicantly different provinces
(Fig. 2).
During the Cretaceous up to 5 km of synrift continental to
marine rocks with ages ranging from Berriasian to Aptian were
deposited in the Eastern Cordillera (Cooper et al., 1995; Sarmiento
Rojas et al., 2006; Mora et al., 2006, 2009). In contrast, rocks with
similar ages are not found in the Llanos foreland. Therefore, there
is only record of sedimentation in the Llanos since the Late
Cretaceous, when rifting stopped in the structural domain of the
Eastern Cordillera (Sarmiento, 2001, Fig. 2). However, the pinchout
of the Cretaceous units in the Llanos is very close to the defor-
mation (Bayona et al., 2007) front. Deposition of marginal marine
to transitional or even continental units are continuous
throughout the Llanos basin during the Cenozoic although only
evident today in the westernmost portions. In contrast, recent
studies show that the Eastern Cordillera has been active during
most of the Cenozoic. These remarkably different behaviors
underscore that the two provinces have very different crustal
properties. This is supported by the work of Ojeda and Whitman
(2002) which shows different elastic thicknesses for these two
areas. In fact Bayona et al. (2008a) used values of elastic thickness
232 A. Delgado et al. / Journal of South American Earth Sciences 39 (2012) 228e244

Fig. 5. Northernmost transect along the study area (see location in Fig. 4). It shows to the W the eastern boundary of the contractional deformation zone of the Eastern Foothills
with a thin-skinned thrust. Very young (Pleistocene?) growth strata (see uppermost horizon shaded with white colors) date part of the growth of the most frontal fold. Farther east
low displacement steeply dipping normal faults dipping towards the foreland can be interpreted as being mostly coeval with Middle Guayabo deposition. The horizon in the middle
of the Guayabo Group is the Intra-Guayabo unconformity (after Delgado and Gelvez, 2008) which separates Middle Guayabo beds from the Upper Guayabo horizons. Notice that the
easternmost faults even affect the Upper Guayabo horizons.

Fig. 6. Next transect south of the previous northernmost one showing again the most frontal contractional fold with Pleistocene (?) growth strata shown as the uppermost shaded
white area to the west. Below one can observe that in previous stages of its growth those structures were normal faults (syn-Leon) and selectively inverted during the deposition of
the lowermost Guayabo Group (see detailed view in Fig. 14). To the east more Mid-Miocene faults can be observed close to the Tierra Blanca Sur-1 well and farther east steeply
dipping normal faults affecting the uppermost Guayabo. The Intra-Guayabo unconformity can be also observed with subtle onlap relationships above it and erosional truncations
below it (see more details in Fig. 18). See text for discussion.
 A. Delgado et al. / Journal of South American Earth Sciences 39 (2012) 228e244 233

for the Eastern Cordillera close to 20 km whereas for the Llanos
the value used was about 50 km.
The Llanos foreland basin has been lled during the Cenozoic
with sedimentary marginal marine to continental units (Parra et al.,
2010). The age of these units has been calibrated with a high-
resolution pollen zonation (Jaramillo et al., 2011, Fig. 2), showing
the following ages for the sedimentary sequences.
Paleocene units correspond with the uvial sandy Barco
Formation and the mostly shaly with interbedded sandstones of
deltaic origin corresponding with Los Cuervos Formation. Both
units are only reported in wells in the proximal parts of the Llanos
foreland close to the deformation front. Early Eocene units corre-
spond to the uvial sandstones of the Lower Mirador Formation
whereas the Upper Mirador marginal marine sandstones and shales
of Mid-Miocene age overlay the lower portion of the Mirador
Formation. The pinchout of the Mirador Formation is also close to
the present day deformation front and therefore coeval
LowereMiddle Eocene units are not preserved in the Llanos basin.
All the previously mentioned Paleogene units could be more than
150 m thick in the eastern foothills. However, in the wells adjacent
to the deformation front they are thinner than 100 m to absent east
of the pinchout of the units.
In contrast the sand and shale interbeds of the Late Eocene to
Early Miocene Carbonera Formation constitute more widespread
units farther east into the Llanos basin. This unit is divided into 8
members, ranging from the Late Eocene to Oligocene C8 member to
the Early Miocene C1 member. By convention, members of the
Carbonera Formation named with even numbers (C8, C6, C4, C2)
are shale units whereas members named with odd numbers are
dominantly sandy (C7, C5, C3, C1). This pattern of interbedded
shales and sandstones gives the Carbonera Formation a distinct
pattern in seismic sections where low amplitude and high ampli-
tude intervals alternate, corresponding to each one of the Car-
bonera Formation members (Fig. 3). Below the Carbonera
Formation there is a distinct high amplitude seismic reector which
corresponds to a sandy unit of Cretaceous to Early Eocene age
(Fig. 3). Parra et al. (2010) identied the Carbonera Formation as
a single coarsening upward cycle in a delta to estuarine environ-
ment, capped by a uvial conglomeratic unit (e.g. C1). The C1
member is also the thickest member of the Carbonera Formation
(up to 1 km thick in the Medina area) and due to its uvial character
is locally observed as a seismic package with discontinuous high
amplitude reectors (Fig. 3).
The Mid-Miocene Len Formation is a conspicuous and very
continuous low amplitude seismic horizon, which constitutes
probably the most widespread and evident unit in the subsurface of
the Llanos basin. The Leon Formation is a shaly horizon which
reaches thickness of up to 500 m in the westermost portions of the
Llanos basin, and is composed of marine to lacustrine ne-grained
facies. Above the Len Formation is the Late Miocene to Pliocene

Fig. 7. Next transect south of the previous one. See Fig. 4 for location. Notice the conspicuous exure which should be coeval with Middle Guayabo beds and the coeval foreland-
dipping normal faults. This gure is a good example of the localized higher dip angles in the proximal foreland where the domains with higher dips coincide with the presence of
normal faults.
234 A. Delgado et al. / Journal of South American Earth Sciences 39 (2012) 228e244

Fig. 8. Next transect south of the previous one. See Fig. 4 for location. Notice similar syn-Middle Guayabo normal faults as in the previous transect.

Guayabo Group, which is composed of more than 2 km of uvial low amplitude reectors of the Len Formation (Fig. 3). Parra et al.
sandy, shaly and conglomeratic facies locally containing large (2010) denes the sequence constituted by the Len Formation and
boulders. The Guayabo Group produces discontinuous but distinct Guayabo Group as a second coarsening upward cycle locally
seismic reectors that are in strong contrast to the more continuous terminating in more than 30 cm diameter boulders of the Corneta

Fig. 9. Southernmost transect showing a more frontal low amplitude contractional structure (Upia structure) adjacent to syn-Guayabo hinterland-dipping normal faults.
 A. Delgado et al. / Journal of South American Earth Sciences 39 (2012) 228e244 235

Formation. The Guayabo Group has been reported in the most distal
parts of the Llanos basin where sedimentary sequences cover the
cratonic areas (Bayona et al., 2008b).
Previous studies (Dengo and Covey, 1993; Cooper et al., 1995)
suggested that only the Guayabo Group was coeval with Neogene
mountain building, deformation and exhumation in the Eastern
Cordillera. However, more recent data (Parra et al., 2009a; Horton
et al., 2010; Mora et al., 2010a) documents that mountain
building was present in the entire area of the Eastern Cordillera by
the Late Oligocene to Early Miocene and likely started in certain
portions of the Eastern Cordillera as early as the Paleocene (Bayona
et al., 2008a,b). Given this complex scenario of Cenozoic deforma-
tion it is necessary to make a new inventory of the timing of
Cenozoic extension and deformation in the Llanos foreland basin in
order to compare this with the timing of deformation in the
hinterland.

3. Methods

The work included the interpretation of about 200, 2D seismic

lines in the Seisworks application of the OpenWorks platform.
The most relevant observations have been summarized in 5
transects which are reproduced here (see Fig. 4 for location and
Figs. 5e9).
In each of these composite transects we identied different
horizons for the tops of the following units described from base to
top (Fig. 3): the Mirador Formation, the Carbonera Formation
(sandy units: C7, C5, C3, C1), the Len Formation and the Guayabo
Group, which was divided into three intervals; Lower, Middle and
Upper. These formational tops were correlated with results ob-
tained from previous internal reports and based on seismic
reection character (amplitude, intensity, consistency among
other parameters). Additionally the information was linked to data
from 40 wells drilled along the two areas. Using this information
and stratigraphic framework, the horizons were identied and
mapped throughout the study area. Cross cutting relationships,
thickness changes and growth strata were detected in order to
document the timing of deformation. Finally structural maps were Fig. 10. Seismic section south of the southernmost transect in Fig. 8 showing thickness
constructed for the tops of each formation, establishing the lines changes in the C6 member of the Carbonera Formation controlled by a normal fault.
and direction of faults according to their geometry and seismic The normal fault is later partially inverted during Len Formation deposition.
characteristics. The precise grid of points used to generate the
individual fault planes was obtained using the Z-MAP Plus soft-
ware 2003.12.1, including the location of fault segments and other
structures. The individual segments of each of these planes were 4.1. Oligocene to Early Miocene
later joined by extrapolation. Maps from the tops of Carbonera C7
to the top of C1 were subsequently combined into a single Late In the seismic lines interpreted we do not nd faulting and
OligoceneeEarly Miocene map. Similarly, the syn-Len fault map deformation in units older than Oligocene, except outside the study
was used to represent the Mid-Miocene and the syn-Guayabo area to the south. In one of the examples (Fig. 3) we found a steeply
Group was used for the Late MioceneePlio/Pleistocene. dipping normal fault which controls subtle thickness changes in the
Late EoceneeEarly Oligocene C8 unit of the Carbonera Formation
4. Results and also in the Oligocene C7 member of the same formation (Fig. 3).
The top of C7 and younger units are clearly not affected by the
Steeply dipping faults with fault planes dipping towards the deformation caused by this fault, indicating that the fault was only
foreland are documented in all the transects (Figs. 5e9). Hinter- active during the Late Eocene to Early Oligocene. Geologic rela-
land-dipping faults are also frequent. The majority of all the faults tionships detected in seismic lines do not permit inferences about
are normal faults. Displacement along most of the faults is less than faults active before the Late Eocene in the study area.
100 ms TWT in all the cases observed. Extreme minimum and To the north, but inside the study area, we nd no faults active
maximum standard seismic velocities from check shots and VSP during the Late Eocene or Early Oligocene, with fault activity
logs in the Llanos basin are between about 3000 and 4500 m/s so starting mostly during the Late Oligocene and Early Miocene. One
the corresponding displacement along these faults should be less example can be observed in Fig. 10 where a hinterland-dipping
than a couple of hundreds of meters. To detect the relative timing of normal fault (west dipping) controls thickness changes in the Late
faulting we used a combination of cross cutting relationships and Oligocene C6 member of the Carbonera Formation. It is interesting
thickness changes. In the following we describe selected examples to note that the seismic information allows us to interpret thickness
at different times during the Cenozoic evolution of the Llanos changes controlled by this fault in the Cretaceous units. Another
foreland. relevant point is the fact that the fault becomes contractional and
236 A. Delgado et al. / Journal of South American Earth Sciences 39 (2012) 228e244

Fig. 11. Geologic map with protected location of the faults coeval with Lower Carbonera deposition (Late OligoceneeEarly Miocene). The faults do not cut up to the surface but they
are post-dated by Upper Carbonera horizons and therefore are vertically projected to the surface.

partially inverted during the deposition of the Mid-Miocene Len
Formation and even during the deposition of the oldest portions of
the Late Miocene Guayabo Formation. Fig. 11 show that while most
of the documented faults are normal and dipping both towards the
hinterland and towards the foreland their traces are very short and
distributed very close to the present day deformation front. The
orientation of most of the faults is parallel to the orogen, which is
NEeSW (Fig. 12).
4.2. Mid-Miocene faults
About 40 fault planes with relationships showing Mid-Miocene
activity were documented. Mid-Miocene faults were only detected
along two seismic lines and these showed the least continuity and
length of any unit studied. The Leon Formation roughly corre-
sponds with the Mid-Miocene deposition in the Llanos following
the biostratigraphic zonation used here (Jaramillo et al., 2011,
Fig. 2). Therefore, thickness changes in the Leon Formation
controlled by faults would be showing a coeval deposition and fault
activity.
Fig. 13 shows thickness changes in the Len Formation
controlled by a steeply foreland (east)-dipping normal fault. This
fault underwent post-Mid-Miocene partial contractional reac-
tivation and inversion. Another conspicuous case can be observed
in Fig. 14 where a hinterland-dipping normal fault to the west and
a foreland-dipping normal fault to the east control thickness
changes in the Mid-Miocene Len Formation. The easternmost of
these two faults is partially inverted after the Mid-Miocene
deposition of the Len Formation. Similar thickness changes in
the Len Formation controlled by steeply dipping normal faults
with a fault plane dipping to the east are present east of the Leticia
well (Fig. 15).
 A. Delgado et al. / Journal of South American Earth Sciences 39 (2012) 228e244 237

A B
ROSE DIAGRAM ROSE DIAGRAM

C8-C7 No Data : 2 Leon No Data : 40

Middle Carbonera No Data : 10 Lower Guayabo No Data :6

Intraguayabo No Data : 38
Upper Carbonera No Data : 16
Fig. 12. Compilation of the orientation of the fault planes for different units. (A) Carbonera Formation. (B) Len Formation and Guayabo Group.

Once all the relationships were documented in the seismic detect that the faults are mostly parallel to the present day trends of
sections, a lateral correlation was done, in order to detect conti- the adjacent contractional deformation front and faults are more
nuity of the fault planes. When the compiled relationships showing numerous than the Late OligoceneeEarly Miocene faults in the
Mid-Miocene activity are analyzed in map view one can readily study area (Fig. 16). Also most of the fault traces are located farther

Fig. 13. Detailed view of three low displacement normal faults in the western side of Fig. 8. The central one of the three faults, east of the Leticia well (right) shows superimposed
contractional folding and therefore partial inversion.
238 A. Delgado et al. / Journal of South American Earth Sciences 39 (2012) 228e244
Fig. 14. Detailed view of Fig. 6 (see location on Fig. 6) showing thickness changes in the
Len Formation controlled by the activity of two faults coeval with the Len Formation
deposition. It is worth noting that the eastern (right) east-dipping fault is fully inverted
by syn-Lower Guayabo contractional reactivation.
Fig. 15. Detailed view of Fig. 6 (see Fig. 6 for location) showing a non-inverted syn-
Len Formation (Mid-Miocene) normal fault east (right) of the Tierra Blanca well.
Thickness changes in the Len Formation dene the age of the fault activity.
to the east compared with the Late Oligocene to Early Miocene
faults.
4.3. Late Miocene to Pliocene faults
This interval corresponds to the Guayabo Group (Jaramillo et al.,
2011). The Guayabo Group has either few continuous reectors
which can be used as markers to dene cross cutting relationships
or, as in its uppermost intervals, the seismic resolution is poor. The
poor resolution is due to the fact that the target horizons used in
seismic acquisition rarely include the Guayabo Group, since it is not
an interval of interest for oil exploration in the Llanos basin. Given
these conditions in this interval we classied the faults cutting the
Guayabo Group based on the uppermost horizon where it is evident
that faulting was active. However, in many cases a postectonic
horizon is not identied inside the Guayabo Group. About 64 fault
planes were documented with the available seismic data (Fig. 12).
Thus these are by far the most frequent and evident faults. These
faults include both foreland-dipping and hinterland-dipping
planes. All of them are steeply dipping fault planes (Figs. 5e9).
Given the thickness of more than 2000 m in the Guayabo Group and
the constraints posed by the resolution of the seismic information,
we subdivided the faults coeval with deposition of the Guayabo
Group into the Upper, Intra and Lower Guayabo. We dene the
Lower Guayabo as the lowermost part of the Guayabo where high
amplitude, more or less continuous reectors are identied right
above the top of the Len Formation. By contrast the Intra-Guayabo
unit is located between the Intra-Guayabo unconformity and the
segments of the Guayabo Group above the Lower Guayabo (e.g.
Fig. 6).
The Intra-Guayabo unconformity was rst proposed by Delgado
and Gelvez (2008) to separate the package of units below it
including the lower portions of the Guayabo Group and the units
underlying the Guayabo group. These units show a higher dip angle
to the west due to exure of the foreland plate (Fig. 17). This is in
stark contrast with the upper portions of the Guayabo Group, above
the unconformity, where the dip angle of the units to the west is
lower to sub-horizontal (Figs. 17 and 18). In certain seismic lines in
the Llanos foreland one can differentiate onlap relations at the base
of the Upper Guayabo against the unconformity surface (Fig. 18) but
also erosional truncation against the unconformity at the top of
Lower Guayabo Group (Fig. 18).
In this context and given the limitations described above, it is
worth noting that most of the 64 faults documented during this
period (38, see Fig. 12) appear to be coeval with the Intra-Guayabo
deposition and located in areas where the exure that occurred
mostly during its deposition is particularly evident (Figs. 7 and 8.).
In contrast only 6 faults are coeval with Lower Guayabo deposition
and only 20 faults are coeval with Upper Guayabo deposition
(Fig. 12). The orientation of most of the faults is parallel to the
orogen, which is NEeSW (Fig. 12). In addition, the faults corre-
sponding with this interval have their maximum density in a posi-
tion which is more distal with respect to the present day
deformation front compared with those Mid-Miocene or older
structures (Fig. 19).
4.4. A temporal framework for the Guayabo Group
As already mentioned, the base of the Guayabo Group roughly
coincides with the top of the Mid-Miocene based on pollen data
(Jaramillo et al., 2011). In contrast, the age of the uppermost
Guayabo Group is still poorly constrained. Pollen analysis in the
uppermost exposed horizons of the Guayabo Group in Medina
(Mora et al., 2010b) suggests that these horizons were deposited
during the latest Miocene to Pliocene. However, Mora et al. (2010b)
 A. Delgado et al. / Journal of South American Earth Sciences 39 (2012) 228e244 239

Fig. 16. Geologic map with protected location of the faults coeval with the Mid-Miocene Len Formation. Notice that the faults are more numerous and located farther east
compared with the syn-Carbonera faults.

using seismic data correlated the top of this horizon with horizons
in the adjacent footwall of the Guaicaramo fault where the Guayabo
was described by these authors. It was found that more than 2 km
of Guayabo were deposited above the latest Miocene to Pliocene
horizons exposed in the hanging wall of the Guaicaramo thrust. In
addition, recent cosmogenic ages in the northern foothills of the
Llanos basin documented that terraces in the foothills of the
Eastern Cordillera are Pleistocene in age (Taylor et al., 2011). These
terraces are unconformably overlying the uppermost beds of the
Guayabo Group. Available AFT ages in the uppermost Guayabo
Group include an age of 3.4
1.5 Ma (see Table 1) in a sample with
long track lengths and concordant populations close to the Casa-
nare River. This may suggest that the apatite grains are of volcanic
origin. Therefore one can presumably suggest that the uppermost
Guayabo beds are late Pliocene to Pleistocene or ca. 2 Ma old, older
than the terraces ages and younger than the AFT age.
5. Discussion
5.1. A review of the timing of deformation in the hinterland
Recent studies using thermocronology have documented that
the onset of exhumation in the Eastern Cordillera could be as old
as Paleocene (Parra et al., 2012). However, it appears that exhu-
mation was restricted to the western foothills of the Eastern
Cordillera, whereas the remaining eastern and central segments
remained inactive. In contrast, the axial zone of the Eastern
Cordillera was active only after the Latest Eocene (Mora et al.,
2010a; see their Fig. 10). Finally thrust-induced denudation only
reached the entire eastern ank of the Eastern Cordillera by the
Late OligoceneeEarly Miocene (Parra et al., 2009a; Mora et al.,
2010a). In the proximal Llanos basin detrital geochronology also
documents the appearance of clasts and zircons coming from
240 A. Delgado et al. / Journal of South American Earth Sciences 39 (2012) 228e244

Fig. 17. (A) Colored seismic image and detail of the easternmost seismic line on Fig. 7. Notice that the dip angle of the uppermost yellow horizon (top of Lower Guayabo Formation)
is parallel to the units below up to the purple horizon (top of Paleozoic) and even below into the Paleozoic. Instead, in the uppermost Guayabo beds, although having discontinuous
patterns of reectors (typical of the uvial horizons in the Guayabo) one can differentiate sub-horizontal dips or in any case lower dip angles above the pink marker (Intra-Guayabo
unconformity). This gure shows that the maximum exure in the foreland was coeval with the Mid-Guayabo deposition and previous to the Intra-Guayabo unconformity (pink
horizon). With the available chronology the Mid-Guayabo deposition should be post-Mid Miocene and previous to ca. 3 Ma. This coincides with the phase of peak topographic
growth in the Eastern Cordillera. (B) Uninterpreted seismic image. (For interpretation of the references to colour in this gure legend, the reader is referred to the web version of this
article.)

sources in the Eastern Cordillera since the Latest Oligocene
(Horton et al., 2010). This evidence conrms the suggestion of
Mora et al. (2010a) that active deformation in the Eastern
Cordillera involved the entire Lower Cretaceous rift basin by the
Latest Oligocene. Along the same lines, the Eastern Cordillera did
not advance to the east until the Latest Oligocene. It was only by
the Mid to Late Miocene when the frontal thin-skinned thrusts of
the eastern foothills emerged, creating topography and shedding
sediments (Ramirez-Arias et al., this volume) and a further
advance of the deformation front occurred.
In contrast with these ideas, paleoelevation data (Wijninga,
1996; Hooghiemstra et al., 2006; Mora et al., 2008) suggests that
a phase of increasing topographic elevation in the Eastern
Cordillera only started by the Late Miocene and was completed by
the Late Pliocene, when the range reached a maximum elevation
and an internal basin (Bogot basin) started being lled with
lacustrine sediments (Torres et al., 2005; Mora et al., 2008). If this
is true, previous episodes of deformation are unlikely to have
generated signicant topographic relief (>2 km) in the Eastern
Cordillera.
5.2. Correlation between mountain building in the hinterland and
deformation in the foreland
Normal faults of all ages in the foreland trend parallel to the
contractional deformation front of the Eastern Cordillera and are
become more distal with respect to the hinterland as they get
younger (Figs. 11, 16 and 19). Furthermore these faults are in all
cases steeply dipping, though they dip both in the direction of the
hinterland and the foreland (Figs. 5e9). These observations are
suggestive of a rst causal relationship with mountain building in
the hinterland. In this context, hinterland and foreland steeply
dipping faults may be conjugated shear fractures under a vertical
s1 which is typical during buckling in the most external arcs of
natural folds (Price and Cosgrove, 1990). Given the orientation of
the faults and their distribution through time, one can interpret
that this pattern of lithospheric buckling and fracturing would be
induced by orogenic loading.
Following these ideas it is remarkable that there are no faults
documented in the study area older than Late Oligocene. Thus, the
less numerous (26) and shorter normal faults of Late
 A. Delgado et al. / Journal of South American Earth Sciences 39 (2012) 228e244 241

Fig. 18. Detailed views of Fig. 6 showing the Intra-Guayabo unconformity (strong reector in the uppermost image). The second image from top to bottom shows arrows and guide
horizons marked above the unconformity underscoring onlapping horizons. Arrows below the unconformity show erosional truncations against the unconformity. The bottom
pictures are uninterpreted and interpreted detailed views of the unconformity, truncations and onlaps.

OligoceneeEarly Miocene ages could be correlated with the docu-
mented onset of mountain building in the adjacent eastern ank of
the Eastern Cordillera (Parra et al., 2009a,b; Mora et al., 2010a).
Along these lines it is likely that the faulting itself proves that under
the orogenic load the lithosphere yields instead of exing, causing
a denser fault population. Here we refer to this behavior as exural
extension. If this is the case, earlier contractional events in the
hinterland to the west are not evident in the pattern of exural
extension and associated normal faulting in the Llanos. However,
there is an interesting additional correlation between a pronounced
increase in sediment accumulation rates (ca. 600 m/my) docu-
mented by Parra et al. (2010) by the Late Oligocene and the rst
normal faults in the foreland. This poses the question whether the
faults are more closely related to sediment or tectonic loads. The
more distal (eastwards) location of the syn-Len normal faults could
be related to a further advance of the thrust belt to the east and
therefore the presence of an additional thrust load into the foreland.
This hypothesis is supported by the fact that the Mid-Miocene Len
Formation is coeval with the rst paleo-drainage signals of emer-
gent thin-skinned faults in the eastern foothills (Ramirez-Arias et al.,
this volume; Bande et al., 2012) when sedimentation rates were
particularly low (ca. 100 m/my following Parra et al., 2010). If normal
faults are driven by exural extension prompted mostly by tectonic
loads, as we suggest here, the more abundant normal faults coeval
with the Len Formation, compared with those coeval with the
Carbonera Formation suggests bigger tectonic loads presumably
generated by enhanced shortening rates during the Mid-Miocene.
Maximum exure, dened as the maximum dip angle in the
foreland at a certain time, is observed during the latest Lower
Guayabo, which is a Late Miocene to Pliocene unit (Fig. 17). This is
precisely the period when the Eastern Cordillera reaches its
maximum elevation. Therefore, the latest Lower Guayabo enhanced
exure (i.e. maximum exure of the foreland associated with
maximum dip and maximum fault intensity) and associated
normal faulting could be related to the period of peak tectonic loads
in the hinterland. Based on available chronological data, this coin-
cides with the interval when present day elevations were
progressively reached in the Eastern Cordillera (Mora et al., 2008).
The more numerous normal faults would then be correlated with
the maximum orogenic load at that time. An interesting feature is
242 A. Delgado et al. / Journal of South American Earth Sciences 39 (2012) 228e244

that the Lower Guayabo represents about one half of the total
Guayabo thickness. This means that even after an earlier stage of
maximum localized exure (i.e. maximum dip of the lithospheric
plate at a certain time), additional accommodation space was
created during the Upper Guayabo to allow for the deposition of
a similar thickness of sediments. However, the space created in this
second stage (syn-Upper Guayabo) was that of a longer wavelength
exure in a broader basin, given the fact that the hinterlandward
slope of the basin was lower than during Lower Guayabo deposition
(see Fig. 17).
Previously, Mora et al. (2008) showed that once the Eastern
Cordillera reached its maximum elevation and the internal Bogot
basin was created (w3 Ma), the Eastern Cordillera started eroding
at much faster rates than during the previous stages of Cenozoic
orogenesis. According to Mora et al. (2008) the erosional unloading
of the Eastern Cordillera is likely the product of climatically
controlled precipitation gradients associated with the establish-
ment of an orographic barrier. We hypothesize that this erosional
unloading prompted the development of the Mid-Guayabo
unconformity by isostatic rebound in the Llanos basin. However as
one can observe by cross cutting relationships, the frontal thrusts in
the foothills are further shortened coeval or after Upper Guayabo
deposition (Mora et al., 2010b; Ramirez-Arias et al., this volume).
Additional long wavelength accommodation space was created
during the last 3 Ma, presumably by renewed thrusting in the
frontal parts of the Eastern Cordillera and as a result of faster
sediment input into the basin due to increased erosion rates in the
hinterland. Enhanced sediment load and renewed thrusting under
presumably constant topographic elevations would have then
created a longer wavelength basin. This has been shown theoreti-
cally and with geological examples in other areas (Jordan and
Flemings, 1991).

Fig. 19. Map view of the faults cutting through Late MioceneePliocene units. Notice that the density of faults is higher than in the previous times and in general they are located in
a more eastern position.
 A. Delgado et al. / Journal of South American Earth Sciences 39 (2012) 228e244 243

6. Conclusions

Rho-S and Rho-I are the spontaneous and induced track density measured, respectively (105 tracks/cm2). NS and NI are the number of spontaneous and induced tracks counted for estimating Rho-S and Rho-I, respectively.
# Length
The following lines of evidence allow to correlate the normal

Rho-D is the induced track density measured in the external mica detector attached to the CN2 dosimetry glass (105 tracks/cm2). ND is the number of induced tracks counted in the mica for estimating Rho-D.
3
faults in the Llanos foreland with mountain building in the Eastern
Cordillera:

(mm)
0.38
SD
1. The orientation of the normal faults which is always parallel to

(mm)
Error
the structural grain in the hinterland.

0.27
2. The temporal pattern of forelandward advance of the faults
which is consistent with the orogenic advance to the east.
Length
(mm)
15.06
3. The maximum density of normal faults which appears to be
coeval with the maximum localized exure in the proximal
foreland.
(mm)
Dpar

1.74

4. Spatio-temporal patterns which show a good temporal corre-

lation with different processes in the hinterland which can be
Mean age (Ma)

0.883
0.624

summarized as follows:
c2 (%) is the chi-square probability (Galbraith, 1981; Green, 1981). Values greater than 5% are considered to pass this test and represent a single population of ages.

1 s error

First we interpret initial normal faulting in the Llanos foreland

coeval with and caused by a Late OligoceneeEarly Miocene onset of
thrust-induced denudation of the eastern ank of the Eastern
Pooled age (Ma)

Cordillera. Second, we correlate denser faulting with Mid-Miocene

advance of the deformation front into the Eastern Foothills via thin-

1 s error

skinned thrusts. Third the Pliocene enhanced exure and further

3.4
1.5

normal faulting in the Llanos can be correlated with Pliocene

enhanced orogenic loading when peak topographic elevations were
reached in the hinterland. Finally, the youngest normal faults,
(c2)c

associated with a longer wavelength foreland, appear to be coeval

0
P

with enhanced sediment ux after erosional unloading due to

4.133 (4201)

climatically driven enhanced denudation after the upheaval of an

efcient orographic barrier.
Rho-D
(ND)b

These data suggest that the Llanos basin and its deformation
style provide a unique record of orogenic external and internal
processes in the adjacent Eastern Cordillera mountain belt.
1.946 (350)
Rho-I
(NI)a

Acknowledgments
0.028 (5)

This work was done as part of the project Cronologa de la

Rho-S
(NS)a

deformacin en las Cuencas Subandinas of EcopetroleInstituto

Colombiano del Petroleo. The authors are grateful with Jorge
Apatite ssion-track data from sample analyzed with External Detector Method (EDM).

Rubiano for his help during the interpretation phase. Careful

(ppm)

reviews by Henry Campos, Peter Cobbold and John Londoo greatly

U

improved the manuscript. Observations by the main editor and the

# Gr

invited editors were also signicant to improve the contents and

14

gures. We are indebted to Tim Shanahan for his observations on

the text and contents and Isaid Quintero for his help during many
Stratigraphic

steps in this study. Nelson Sanchez Villar helped to prepare the last
age (Ma)

gures of the paper.

<5

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