North Andes Plate

Small tectonic plate in the northern Andes

North Andes Plate
North Andes Plate (note: outdated Nazca Plate)
Type	Micro
Movement¹	North-west
Speed¹	23mm/year
Features	Colombia Ecuador Venezuela
¹Relative to the African Plate

The North Andes Plate or North Andes Block is a small tectonic plate (microplate) located in the northern Andes. It is squeezed between the faster moving South American Plate and the Nazca Plate to the southwest. Due to the subduction of the Coiba and Malpelo plates, this area is very prone to volcanic and seismic activity, with many historical earthquakes.

Boundaries

The North Andes Plate is bound by (clockwise from north):

Caribbean Plate
South American Plate
Malpelo Plate — considered a part of the Nazca Plate before 2017^[1]
Coiba Plate — considered a part of the Nazca Plate before 2016^[2]
Panama Plate

Terranes

The Colombian part of the North Andes Plate is subdivided into several terranes:^[3]

Terranes belonging to the Colombian part of the North Andes Plate
Abbr	Name	Age range	Basins	Complexes	Ranges	Departments	Comments	Notes
CHT	Chibcha	Mesoproterozoic	• Catatumbo • Cesar-Ranchería • Eastern Cordillera (Altiplano Cundiboyacense - Bogotá) • VMM • VSM	Ariarí, Garzón, Floresta, Quetame, Santander	Central, Eastern, Perijá, SNSM, San Lucas, La Macarena	Antioquia, Arauca, Bogotá, Bolívar, Boyacá, Caquetá, Casanare, Cesar, Cundinamarca, Huila, Magdalena, Meta, Putumayo, Norte de Santander, Santander, Tolima	Largest terrane, named after Chibcha	^[4]^[5]^[6]
CHT	Chibcha	Neoproterozoic		Ariarí, Garzón, Floresta, Quetame, Santander	Central, Eastern, Perijá, SNSM, San Lucas, La Macarena		Largest terrane, named after Chibcha	^[4]^[5]^[6]
TA	Anacona	Devonian	none	Anacona	Central	Antioquia	Tiny terrane
TA	Anacona	Carboniferous	none	Anacona	Central	Antioquia	Tiny terrane
TT	Tahamí	Permian	• Amagá • Cocinetas • VIM	Antioquia	Central, Macuira, SNSM	Antioquia, Bolívar, Caldas, Cauca, La Guajira, Magdalena, Nariño, Risaralda, Sucre, Valle del Cauca	Most extensive terrane
TT	Tahamí	Triassic	• Amagá • Cocinetas • VIM	Antioquia	Central, Macuira, SNSM		Most extensive terrane
TAR	Arquía	Early Cretaceous	none	Arquía	Central	Antioquia, Caldas, Cauca, Nariño, Quindío, Risaralda, Valle del Cauca	Thinly banded terrane	^[7]^[8]^[9]
TQ	Quebradagrande	Early Cretaceous	none	Quebradagrande	Central	Antioquia, Caldas, Cauca, Nariño, Quindío, Risaralda, Valle del Cauca	Thinly banded terrane	^[7]^[9]^[10] ^[11]^[12]^[13]
TC	Caribe	Late Cretaceous	• Cauca-Patía • Chocó • Sinú-San Jacinto • Tumaco • Urabá	Santa Cecilia-La Equis	Central, Western, Darién, Baudó, Montes de María	Antioquia, Atlántico, Caldas, Cauca, Chocó, Córdoba, Nariño, Quindío, Risaralda, Sucre, Valle del Cauca	El Totumo
TLG	La Guajira	Late Cretaceous	• La Guajira	Etpana, Macuira	Macuira, SNSM	La Guajira, Magdalena	Tayrona, Cabo de la Vela

Tectonics

Subduction of the Coiba Plate underneath the North Andes Plate causes frequent earthquakes in the Bucaramanga Nest, the most seismically active area in the world. The Bucaramanga-Santa Marta Fault stretches along the plate for more than 600 kilometers from north to south. The plate boundary with the South American Plate is most tectonically active along a more than 900 kilometer long megaregional fault system; the Eastern Frontal Fault System.

This fault system, extending into Ecuador and Venezuela all along the northern Andes, separates the terranes from the North Andes Plate from:^[3]

South American Plate features bordering the Chibcha Terrane of the North Andes Plate
Abbr	Name	Age range	Basins	Complexes	Ranges	Departments	Comments	Notes
PRNJ	Río Negro-Juruena Province	Paleoproterozoic	• Llanos • Putumayo • Amazonas	Mitú, Parguaza, Guaviare	Chiribiquete, Mavecure	Arauca, Caquetá, Casanare, Guainía, Guaviare, Meta, Putumayo, Vaupés, Vichada	Part of Amazonian Craton	^[14]^[15]

References

^ Zhang et al., 2017
^ Chiarabba et al., 2016, p.22
^ ^a ^b Gómez Tapias et al., 2015, p.209
^ Manosalva Sánchez et al., 2017, p.84
^ Mantilla Figueroa et al., 2015, p.42
^ Toro Toro et al., 2014, p.22
^ ^a ^b Plancha 364
^ Plancha 365
^ ^a ^b Plancha 387
^ Plancha 410
^ Plancha 411
^ Plancha 429
^ Plancha 430
^ Bonilla et al., 2016, p.19
^ Arango Mejía et al., 2012, p.25

Bibliography

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Maps

González, Humberto (2001), Mapa Geológico del Departamento de Antioquia - 1:400,000 - Memoria explicativa, INGEOMINAS, pp. 1–120
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