7th International Symposium on Andean Geodynamics (ISAG 2008, Nice), Extended Abstracts: 156-159

Coeval subduction erosion and underplating associated with a

crustal splay fault at the Ecuador-Colombia convergent margin
Jean-Yves Collot1, Alessandra Ribodetti1, Boris Marcaillou2, & William Agudelo3
1

Gosciences Azur, Universit de Nice Sophia-Antipolis, IRD, CNRS, Universit Pierre et Marie Curie,
Observatoire de la Cte dAzur, BP 48, 06235 Villefranche-sur-mer, France (collot@geoazur.obs-vlfr.fr)
2
IFREE/JAMSTEC, 2.15 Natsushima-cho, Yokosuka, Kanagawa, 237-0061, Japan
3
ECOPETROL ICP.Km 7 Via Piedecuesta, Piedecuesta, Santander, Colombia
KEYWORDS : subduction zone, seismic reflection, subduction channel, erosion, underplating

Introduction
Subduction erosion and underplating are major processes governing the structural evolution of convergent
margins. Subduction erosion is required at many margins by large-scale, long-term margin subsidence and is
likely to be driven by over pressured fluids that disaggregate the underside of the margin basement (von Huene
et al., 2004). In contrast, underplating has been invoked to thicken accretionary margins by duplex formation at
the base of the accretionary complex (Park et al., 2002; Bangs et al., 2004). Based on seismic reflection,
refraction and swath bathymetric data, we show that both subduction erosion and underplating occur
simultaneously at an erosive segment of the North-Ecuador-South Colombia margin. The margin consists of an
accreted oceanic terrane overlain by thick fore-arc basin deposits (Jaillard et al., 1995), and underthrust eastward
at 5.4 cm/yr by. the Neogene Nazca plate (Trenkamp et al., 2002)(Fig. 1).

Data
In 2000, the SISTEUR cruise onboard the French R.V. Nadir acquired deep marine multichannel seismic
reflection (MCS) and wide angle seismic data using Ocean Bottom Seismometer across the Ecuador and south
Colombia margin to investigate its yet poorly-known deep structures (Collot et al., 2002). In 2001, the Salieri
cruise onboard the German R.V. Sonne acquired complementary wide-angle seismic data and multibeam
bathymetric data to explore crustal and seafloor structures in the same region (Flueh et al., 2001). In 2005, the
AMADEUS cruise onboard the French R.V. LAtalante collected 55000 km2 of contiguous swath bathymetry
coverage and underway geophysics, sedimentary cores, dredged rocks, and heat flow data at 12 core- and heat
probe-sites between 0 and 330N (Collot et al., 2005).

Results and Interpretation

These data have allowed discovering the seafloor trace of the trench-parallel, ~ 90 km-long, Ancon fault
system, which extends across and north of the Esmeraldas canyon along the north Ecuador-south Colombia
margin (Fig. 2). The fault system separates a shallow outer basement high from the Manglares fore-arc basin,
and is segmented along strike. The N57-trending, southern fault segment deforms the seafloor by extensional
faulting associated with an anticline. The N25-trending northern fault segment is characterized by a high-angle
crustal reverse fault that fans out northward into a horsetail pattern.
Reprocessing multichannel seismic reflection (MCS) line SIS-44 (Fig. 2) through Prestack Depth Migration,
using vertical reflection and wide-angle data to construct a refined velocity model (Agudelo, 2005), shows the

156

7th International Symposium on Andean Geodynamics (ISAG 2008, Nice), Extended Abstracts: 156-159

deep margin and interplate structures across the southern Ancon fault segment. A landward dipping reflector,
coupled with a remarkable lateral velocity contrast between 4-5 km/s outer wedge basement rocks and
5-6.2 km/s inner wedge basement rocks, supports the existence of a crustal splay fault (Fig. 3) associated with
the summit graben and anticline described along the Ancon Fault southern segment. The splay fault soles out on
the plate interface near a 12-15-km-depth. The fault is associated with a several km-wide, low velocity shear
zone interpreted as a major conduit for fluid flows. Fluids migrating from the subduction channel have altered
outer wedge basement rocks and lowered their velocities and mechanical strengths (Fig. 3).

Figure 1: Bathymetric map (km) of the Nazca

plate and adjacent North Andean margin derived
from satellite altimetry data (Smith and
Sandwell, 1997). Location of the study area
offshore Ecuador and Colombia. Plate
convergence after Trenkamp et al., (2002).

Figure 2: Swath bathymetry (contours 100 m) of the North

Ecuador-South Colombia Margin (Collot et al., 2005) with
location of the combined wide-angle (WA) and
multichannel seismic reflection (MCS) line SIS-44. Black
circles indicate the position of Ocean Bottom Seismometers
(OBS). Barbed line is the deformation front and black arrow
is Nazca-South America relative plate motion after
Trenkamp et al., (2002). SS is seafloor swell.

Downdip, the subduction channel shows two segments with different seismic characters that reflect contrasting
processes acting on the plate interface. The updip segment of the subduction channel extends to a 9 km-depth, is
poorly reflective, 1.0-1.3 km thick, and was assigned a ~3.5 km/s velocity based on modeling wide-angle data.
The subduction channel poor reflectivity may be indicative of weak porosity contrast and suggests that fluids
transported with underthrust sediment have pervasively invaded and altered the overlaying basement, thus easing
basal erosion. Subduction erosion is further substantiated by thinning of the outer wedge basement associated
with clear trenchward tilt of the westernmost part of the fore-arc basin. The deep segment of the subduction
channel, from ~ 9 to 15 km depths, decreases irregularly in thickness from 1.3 km to less than 0.6 km, and is
characterized by a ~ 3.5 to 3.8 km/s low velocity zone relative to overlaying 4.5-5.5 km/s basement rocks. Near a
depth of 11-15 km, the SC shows strong internal, sigmoid reflectors that form toplaps beneath a continuous
landward-dipping surface. These reflectors are compatible with imbricated layers that dip locally seaward and

157

7th International Symposium on Andean Geodynamics (ISAG 2008, Nice), Extended Abstracts: 156-159

are truncated by a roof thrust. According to the model proposed by Boyer and Elliott, (1982), we interpret the
imbricated layers as forward-dipping duplexes and antiform stacks that developed from, and structurally above
the subducting mlange.

Model and Conclusions

The erosive segment of the North Ecuador-South Colombia margin is characterized by basal erosion and
underplating, two processes that occur synchronously along two segments of the plate boundary. Along the
shallow segment of the plate boundary, fluid-altered rocks from the underside of the outer wedge basement are
torn away piecemeal. Debris are incorporated into the subducting mlange and dragged down dip in the
subduction channel. Near the junction between the splay fault and the plate interface, the dcollement thrust is
forced to step down, and horses are interpreted to detach from the subducting mlange. Horses are thrust seaward
between a roof and a dcollement thrust, and stack at the back of previously underplated duplexes. One-km thick
underplated material may be responsible for a swell in the fore-arc basin seafloor (Fig.2 and 3), where recent
sediment are being truncated. The underplated material is progressively driven seaward, counter-subduction,
above the descending subducting mlange, up to the region where underplated material is eroded and reincorporated to the subduction channel (Fig. 3). Coeval erosion and underplating control the margin mass
budget, which, in this case, comes out negative because of the seaward tilt and subsidence of the outer wedge.
These observations suggest that underplating is a transient process, and that the subducting mlange ultimately
recycles deeper in the subduction zone, when part of the mlange passes beyond a critical point, here defined as
the root zone of the splay fault. Both basal erosion and underplating appear to be facilitated by pre-existing
crustal splay faults.

Figure 3: Interpreted cross-section along line SIS-44 showing coeval basal erosion beneath the outer wedge and underplating
beneath the inner wedge. Downgoing plate sediments are dragged in the subduction channel together with debris removed
from the base of the outer wedge forming the subducting mlange. The margin wedge basements are separated by a major
splay fault. Part of the subducting mlange cannot bypass the junction between splay fault and plate interface, and is
underplated as seaward-dipping duplexes, promoting a reverse flow of material that propagates trenchward prior to be eroded
at the base of the outer wedge. Hatched areas are sheared and/or dominantly fluid-altered basement rocks interpreted from
seismic reflectivity and relatively low Vp velocity.

158

7th International Symposium on Andean Geodynamics (ISAG 2008, Nice), Extended Abstracts: 156-159

References
Agudelo, W., Imagerie sismique quantitative de la marge convergente d'Equateur-Colombie, 2005. PhD thesis, Universit
Pierre et Marie Curie, Paris, 203 p.
Bangs, N., T.H. Shipley, S.P.S. Gulick, G.F. Moore, S. Kuromoto, and Y. Nakamura, 2004. Evolution of the Nankai trough
dcollement from the trench into the seismogenic zone : inferences from three-dimensional seismic reflection imaging,
Geology, 32 (4), 273-276.
Boyer, S.E. and D. Elliott, 1982. Thrust systems, The American Association of Petroleum Geologists Bulletin, 66 (9), 11961230.
Collot, J.-Y., P. Charvis, M.A. Gutscher, and S. Operto, 2002. Exploring the Ecuador-Colombia active margin and inter-plate
seismogenic zone, EOS Transactions, American Geophysical Union, 83 (17), 189-190.
Collot, J.-Y., S. Migeon, G. Spence, Y. Legonidec, B. Marcaillou, J.-L. Schneider, F. Michaud, A. Alvarado, J.-F. Lebrun,
M. Sosson, and A. Pazmio, 2005. Seafloor margin map helps in understanding subduction earthquakes, EOS Transactions,
American Geophysical Union, 86 (46), 464-466.
Flueh, E.R., J. Bialas, P. Charvis, and Salieri scientific party, 2001. Cruise report SO159 SALIERI, in Report 101, pp. 256,
Geomar Research center, Kiel, Germany.
Jaillard, E., M. Ordoez, S. Benitez, G. Berrones, N. Jimenez, G. Montenegro, and I. Zambrano, Basin development, 1995. In
an accretionary, oceanic-floored fore-arc setting: southern coastal Ecuador during late cretaceous-late eocene time, in
Petroleum basins of South America, edited by A.J. Tankard, R. Suarez, and H.J. Welsink, pp. 615-631.
Park, J.-O., T. Tsuru, S. Kodaira, P.R. Cummins, and Y. Kaneda, 2002. Splay fault branching along the Nankai subduction
zone, Science, 297, 1157-1160.
Smith, W.H.F., and D. T. Sandwell, 1997. Global seafloor topography from satellite altimetry and ship depth soundings,
Science, 277, 1957-1962.
Trenkamp, R., J.N. Kellogg, J.T. Freymueller, and P. Mora, H. 2002. Wide plate margin deformation, southern Central
America and northwestern South America, CASA GPS observations, Journal of South American Earth Sciences, 15, 157171.
von Huene, R., C.R. Ranero, and P. Vannucchi, 2004. Generic model of subduction erosion, Geology, 32 (10), 913-916.

159