North Andes 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.

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North Andes plate (note: outdated Nazca plate)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

Boundaries

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

1. Caribbean plate
2. South American plate
3. Malpelo plate – considered a part of the Nazca plate before 2017^[1]
4. Coiba plate – considered a part of the Nazca plate before 2016^[2]
5. Panama plate

Terranes

• Chibcha Terrane is enclosed by the Bucaramanga-Santa Marta Fault (BSF, orange), northernmost Oca Fault (Oca, white), Eastern Frontal Fault System (EFFS, yellow) and Romeral Fault System (RFS, violet)
• Tahamí Terrane is enclosed by BSF, OCA and RFS
• Anacona, Arqúia and Quebradagrande Terranes are emplaced by RFS
• La Guajira Terrane is enclosed by BSF and northernmost by Oca
• Caribe Terrane is enclosed by BSF, RFS and plate boundaries with Coiba (red) and Malpelo plates (purple)

Geological Terranes Map of Colombia

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	Paleomap	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]
		Neoproterozoic
TA	Anacona	Devonian		none	Anacona	Central	Antioquia	Tiny terrane
		Carboniferous
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
		Triassic
TAR	Arquía	Early Cretaceous		none	Arquía	Central	Antioquia, Caldas, Cauca, Nariño, Quindío, Risaralda, Valle del Cauca	Thinly banded terrane	[7][8][9]
TQ	Quebradagrande			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			• 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

• Andes portal
• Geology portal

1. Zhang et al., 2017
2. Chiarabba et al., 2016, p.22
3. Gómez Tapias et al., 2015, p.209
4. Manosalva Sánchez et al., 2017, p.84
5. Mantilla Figueroa et al., 2015, p.42
6. Toro Toro et al., 2014, p.22
7. Plancha 364
8. Plancha 365
9. Plancha 387
10. Plancha 410
11. Plancha 411
12. Plancha 429
13. Plancha 430
14. Bonilla et al., 2016, p.19
15. Arango Mejía et al., 2012, p.25

Bibliography

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• Zhang, Tuo; Gordon, Richard G.; Mishra, Jay K.; Wang, Chengzu (2017), The Malpelo Plate Hypothesis and implications for nonclosure of the Cocos-Nazca-Pacific plate motion circuit, AGU Fall Meeting, New Orleans, p. 1, retrieved 2018-06-06
• Bonilla, Amed; Frantz, José Carlos; Charão Marques, Juliana; Cramer, Thomas; Franco, José Alejandro; Amaya, Zeze (2016), "Magmatismo rapakivi en la cuenca media del río Inírida, departamento de Guainía, Colombia", Boletín de Geología, 38: 17–32, doi:10.18273/revbol.v38n1-2016001, retrieved 2019-10-26
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• Barrero, Dario; Pardo, Andrés; Vargas, Carlos A.; Martínez, Juan F. (2007), Colombian Sedimentary Basins: Nomenclature, Boundaries and Petroleum Geology, a New Proposal, ANH, pp. 1–92
• Sarmiento Rojas, L.F.; Van Wees, J.D.; Cloetingh, S. (2006), "Mesozoic transtensional basin history of the Eastern Cordillera, Colombian Andes: Inferences from tectonic models", Journal of South American Earth Sciences, 21 (4), Elsevier: 383–411, Bibcode:2006JSAES..21..383S, doi:10.1016/j.jsames.2006.07.003
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Maps

• González, Humberto (2001), Mapa Geológico del Departamento de Antioquia – 1:400,000 – Memoria explicativa, INGEOMINAS, pp. 1–120
• Montoya Arenas, Diana María; Reyes Torres, Germán Alfonso (2005), Geología de la Sabana de Bogotá, INGEOMINAS, pp. 1–104
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• Rodríguez Parra, Antonio José; Solano Silva, Orlando (2000), Mapa Geológico del Departamento de Boyacá – 1:250,000 – Memoria explicativa (PDF), INGEOMINAS, pp. 1–120, retrieved 2019-03-10
• Acosta, Jorge E.; Ulloa, Carlos E. (2002), Mapa geológico del Departamento de Cundinamarca 1:250,000 – Memoria Explicativa, INGEOMINAS, pp. 1–108
• Rodríguez, Gabriel; Londoño, Ana Cristina (2002), Mapa geológico del Departamento de La Guajira – 1:250,000, INGEOMINAS, pp. 1–259, retrieved 2017-08-08
• Royero Gutiérrez, José María; Clavijo, Jairo (2001), Mapa geológico del Departamento de Santander 1:400,000 – Memoria Explicativa, INGEOMINAS, pp. 1–92

• Acosta Garay, Jorge; Ulloa Melo, Carlos E. (2001), Geología de la Plancha 208 Villeta – 1:100,000 (PDF), INGEOMINAS, pp. 1–84, retrieved 2017-03-16
• Terraza, Roberto; Montoya, Diana; Reyes, Germán; Moreno, Giovanni; Fúquen, Jaime; Torres Jaimes, Eliana; López Cardona, Myriam; Nivia Guevara, Álvaro; Etayo Serna, Fernando (2013), Geología de la Plancha 229 – Gachalá – 1:100,000 (PDF), Servicio Geológico Colombiano, pp. 1–296, retrieved 2017-08-04
• Patiño, Alejandro; Fuquen, Jaime; Ramos, Julián; Pedraza, Andrea; Ceballos, Leonardo; Pinzón, Lyda; Jerónimo, Yadira; Álvarez, Leidy; Torres, Andrea (2011), Cartografía geológica de la Plancha 247 – Cáqueza – 1:100,000 (PDF), INGEOMINAS, retrieved 2017-08-04
• Guerrero Uscátegui, Alberto Lobo (1992), Geología e Hidrogeología de Santafé de Bogotá y su Sabana, Sociedad Colombiana de Ingenieros, pp. 1–20

• Orrego, Abigail; León, Luis; Padilla, Luis Eduardo; Acevedo, Álvaro Pablo; Marulanda, Nelson (1999), Plancha 364 – Timbío – 1:100,000, INGEOMINAS, p. 1, retrieved 2017-06-06
• Marquínez, Germán; Rodríguez, Yohana; Terraza, Roberto; Martínez, Mario (2003), Plancha 365 – Coconuco – 1:100,000, INGEOMINAS, p. 1, retrieved 2017-06-06
• Orrego, Abigail; Paris, Gabriel; Ibañez, Diego; Vásquez, Edgar (1999), Plancha 387 – Bolívar – 1:100,000 (PDF), INGEOMINAS, p. 1, retrieved 2018-06-01
• Murcia L., Armando; Cepeda V, Hector (1991), Plancha 410 – La Unión – 1:100,000 (PDF), INGEOMINAS, p. 1, retrieved 2018-06-01
• Núñez, Alberto; Gómez, Jorge (2002), Plancha 411 – La Cruz – 1:100,000, INGEOMINAS, p. 1, retrieved 2017-06-06
• Murcia L., Armando; Cepeda V, Hector (1991), Plancha 429 – Pasto – 1:100,000 (PDF), INGEOMINAS, p. 1, retrieved 2018-06-01
• Núñez, Alberto; Gómez, Jorge (2002), Plancha 430 – Mocoa – 1:100,000, INGEOMINAS, p. 1, retrieved 2017-06-06

Further reading

• Bird, Peter (2003). "An updated digital model of plate boundaries". Geochemistry, Geophysics, Geosystems. 4 (3): 1027. Bibcode:2003GGG.....4.1027B. doi:10.1029/2001GC000252. ISSN 1525-2027.