All~chthon~us

terranes in the Andes of Ecuador and n~rthwesternPeru1

TOMASFEININGER
Geological Survey of Cmada, 1 Observatory Crescent, Ottawa, Ont., Canada KIA OY3
Received December 3, 1985
Revision accepted August 21, 1986

In Ecuador and northwestern Peru the Andes and adjacent country, particularly on the Pacific side, are colnposed of at least
five distinctive geologic terranes. The teranes are distinguished from one another and from cratonic South America to the east
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by dissimilar basements, cover rocks, intrusive rocks, and Bouguer gravity anomaly fields.
The Pii6n terrane, occupying most of coastal Ecuador, has a basaltic basement characterized by the largest known on-land
positive Bouguer anomalies in the western hemisphere. The Tahuin terrane occupies most of northwestern Peru and the
southwestern comer of Ecuador. The terrane has an especially complex basement and is the site of generally positive Bouguer
anomalies. The small Bir6n terdne has an unusual basement composed in part of cordierite gneiss and amphibolite that give
consistent Late Cretaceous K- Ar mineral ages. The wedge-shaped Chaucha terrane lies in part on the western Andean slope.
between the oceanic Piii6n terrane on the north and the continental Bir6n terdne on the south. The vast Santiago terrane com-
poses the high Andes of southern Ecuador and northwestern Peru. It is the site of the unique Santiago Fornlation, a thick
succession of Lower Jurassic limestones found nowhere else in the region.
Geologic and geophysical evidence supports the view that the five terranes a= parautochthonous or allochthonous fragments
emplaced against cratonic South America from Middle Jurassic to Late Eocene time. Continental-border subduction alone
(at the so-called "Andean margin") may have keen an inadequate engine for orogeny. Additional allochthonous terdnes
perhaps await identification at other places along the Andes. Whether the emplacement of allochthonous terrdnes has been an
important process elsewhere in the tectonic development of the Andes remains to be established. Geologic mapping on the
oceanward western border of the Andean orogen, studies of basement petrology and chronology, and paleoinagnetic studies
are particularly needed.
The distribution of mineral deposits (including petroleum) in Ecuador and northwestern Peru is not unifoml but is instead
related spatially to the five terranes and cratonic South America. This relationship can be useful to prospectors.
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Dans 1'6~uateuret le nord-ouest pCruvien, surtout du c6tk du Pacifique, au moins cinq terdnes gkologiquement distinctifs
composent les Andes et les regions adjacentes. On peut distinguer chaque terrane de ses voisins et du craton de 1'Amkrque de
Sud 21 l'est sur la base des caractkristiques du socle, des roches intrusives, de la couverture et du champ des anomalies gravi-
mitriques Bouguer.
Le terrane Pii6n couvre la plupart de la c6te de lYfiquateur.I1 a un socle basaltique qui se caractCrise par des anomalies
positives Bouguer terrestres qui sont les plus fortes connues dans l'hkmisphkre occidental. Le terrane Tahuin couvre la rnajeure
partie du nod-ouest pCruvien et le coin sud-ouest de 1'Equateur. Le socle du terdne est particulikrement complexe et s'accorde
2I des anomalies Bouguer gCnCralement positives. Le petit terrane Bir6n a un socle peu commun composC en partie de gneiss h
cordikrite et amphibolite dont les minkraux donnent des Ages K - Ar indiquant la fin du CrCtacC. Le terrane Chaucha, en fomle
d'un coin serrC entre le terrane ockanique Pifi6n au nord et le terrane continental Bir6n,au sud, est situk partiellement sur le
flanc andin occidental. L'immense terrane Santiago compose le coeur des Andes de 1'Equateur mCridional et du nod-ouest
pCruvien. I1 est le site de la formation de Santiago, qui est unique puisque composCe d'une succession Cpaisse de roches
calcaires du Jurassique infirieur qui ne se trouvent nulle part ailleurs.
L'Cvidence gCologique et gCophysique soutient 19idCeque les cinq teranes y n t des fragments parautochthones ou alloch-
tones acscolCs contre le craton de 1'AmCrique du Sud du Jurassique moyen 2I 1'Eocltne tardif. Cette observation affaiblit l'idke
que seule la simple subduction 21 la marge continentale (souvent nommk wmarge andine*) pourdit avoir CtC suffisante pour pro-
nlouvoir 190rogCnltse.D'autres terranes allochtones peuvent &re pdsents dans les Andes. I1 reste 2I ktablir si la mise en place
des terranes allochtones a jouC un r6le important ailleurs dans le dCveloppement tectonique des Andes. Pour ce, on a besoin
surtout de la cartographie gCologique de la marge occidentale de l'orogbne andin, des ktudes de la pktrologie et de la chrono-
logie du socle et des Ctudes palComagnCtiques.
La rkpartition des gisements minCraux et pktroliers en ~ ~ u a t e et
u rdans le nord-ouest ptruvien n'est pas homogbne mais est
fonction d'un rapport spatial entre les cinq terrane et le craton de 1'AmCrique du Sud. Ce qui est d'une gmnde aide pour le pro-
specteur.

Can. J . h r t h Sci. 24, 266-278 (1987)

Introduction
The geology of Ecuador and northwestern Peru has been
interpreted more or less comfortably within the classical geo-
synclinal framework for more than half a century (Steinmann
1929; Sauer 1965, 1971; Faucher and Savoyat 1973). In recent
years, however, the application of plate-tectonic theory and
topical studies of metamorphic phase petrology, gravity
surveys, and isotopic dating have raised questions regarding
the validity of prevailing geological interpretations. Three
observations in particular merit discussion.
.
- Major faults commonly separate regions of unlike basement
'Geological Survey of Canada Contribution 22686.
Pnnted in Canada 1 11nprilnCau Canada
(1) The crust under western South America changes dramati-
cally at the Gulf of Guayaquil, from oceanic in the north to
continental in the south (Lonsdale 1978). This change, noted
by Gansser (1973) as one of the outstanding enigmas of
Andean geology, implies a nonunifornl geologic history from
place to place along the Andes.
(2) Regionally metamorphosed rocks in Ecuador and north-
western Peru are diverse. Rather than constituting a uniform
basement of great antiquity, these rocks range widely in
composition, metamorphic history, and age (Feininger 1982).
rocks .
 FEININGER
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FIG. 1. Distinctive geologic temnes (bold capital letters) and their bounding faults (lower-case letters) in Ecuador and northwestern Peru.
Faults are dashed where located approximately. Heavy line with saw teeth is axis of the Peru-Chile trench.

(3) High-grade sillimanite- and cordierite-bearing meta-
morphic rocks that give consistent Late Cretaceous K -Ar ages
(Feininger and Silberman 1982) crop out nearly to the Pacific
shore in southwestern Ecuador. These young metamorphites
lie to the west of the Andes, in places inore than 75 krn ocean-
ward of a coeval magmatic arc.
The purpose of the present article is to identify and
characterize five distinctive geologic terranes that compose
much of Ecuador and northwestern Peru (Fig. 1). The term
"terrane" is used here to refer to a discrete region, thousands
of square kilometres in area and commonly bounded by major
faults, which in its geology and gravity anomalies differs sub-
stantially from neighboring regions and from cratonic South
America to the east. Using classical methods of stratigraphic,
lithologic, or metamorphic correlation, it is difficult if not
impossible to tie one terrane to another using a comnlon geo-
logic history or a simple paleogeographic reconstruction. It
seems probable that the terranes have been brought to their
present sites by tectonic processes. Some may be far-travelled
fragments - allochthonous-whereas other may be parauth-
 CAN. J. EARTH SCI. VOL. 24, 1987
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FIG.2. Physiographic map of Ecuador and northwestern Peru. Specific physiographic features are in light type; provincial capital cities are in
bold type. Triangles are active and dormant volcanos. Heavy lines are terrane boundaries, dashed where located approximately. Heavy lines with
saw teeth is axis of the Peru -Chile trench.

ochtsnsus, having been displaced limited but unknown dis-
tances by regional wrench faults.
A brief overview of the three major physiographic provinces
that constitute continental Ecuador and northwestern Peru
(Fig. 2) will help orient the reader. Dominant is the Sierra pro-
vince, composed on the Andes and their foothills with a medial
depression, the Inter-Andean valley, in the north. To the
south, the general elevation s f the Andes decreases progres-
sively into northwestern Peru. Foothills flank the Andes on the
east nearly without a break, but on the west they are discon-
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TABLE1 . Summary comparisons of five distinctive geologic teranes and cratonic South America in Ecuador and northwestern Peru

Pificin temne Tahuin temne Birdn terane Chaucha terane Santiago terdne Cmtonic South America

Basement
Composition Basaltic Granitic on basaltic Granitic Granitic(?) Granitic(?) Granitic
Rock types Diabase and pillow basalt Sillimanite -garnet Cordierite gneiss Schist and quartzite Gneiss, schist, Felsic and intermediate
gneiss. migmatite. with interlayered quartzite, and granulite
schist, quartzite amphibolite, schist phyllite
phyllite; on amphibo- phyllite, and
lite and greenstone quartzite

Metamorphism Nil to prehnite-pumpel- Nil to high amphibolite; Low greenschist to Greenschist Greenschist to Granulite
lyte low-pressure facies middle amphibolite; amphibolite; low-
series low-pressure facies to medium-pressure
series facies series
Cataclasis Rare Widespread
Dominant opaque mineral Graphite Pyrite
K -Ar ages (Ma) 110-72 743 - 196 76 -74 1 180 (in Colonlbia,
150 krn north of
Ecuador) a
Cover rocks
zZ
Rock types Intermediate volcanic Bedded volcaniclastic Intermediate volcanic Intermediate volcanic Limestone, shale, Limestone, shale, 2
rocks, clastic sedi- rocks, rubbly to rocks. sedimentary rocks sandstone, volcanic sandstone, volcanic
mentary rocks with a massive intermediate rocks rocks rocks
major volcanic com- volcanic rocks. ininor
ponent, a volcanic arc. limestone and con-
calcareous flysch, an glomerate
olistostrome complex
Age range Late Cretaceous to Early Cretaceous to Cretaceous(?) to late Cretaceous('?) to late Early Jurassic to late Devonian to late
Holocene Pliocene Tertiary(?) Tertiary(?) Tertiary Tertiary
Intrusive rocks
Composition and distri- Quartz diorite to grano- Quartz diorite to Quartz diorite to Granodiorite Granodiorite to Granite
bution diorite; < 3 % of the alaskite; 10% of
- granodiorite; granite
terane the temne > 10% of the
temne
K- Ar ages (Ma) 75 -20 214-24 13 - 10 175 - 148
Gravity
Simple Bouguer Strongly positive with Generally positive; trend Negative, isogal Negative Negative Weakly negative
anomalies anomalies to 179
+ of isogal contours has contours trend
mGal; negative a strong easterly com- north
over deep sedimentary ponent in the north
basins
 CAN. J . EARTH SCI. VOL. 24, 1987

79" 77"
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81" 79" 77" 75"

FIG. 3. Genemlized geologic map of Ecuador and northwestern Pem, taken chiefly from Direcci6n General de Geologia y Minas (1982) and
Instituto de Geologia y Mineria (1975). Heavy lines are terrane boundaries, dashed where located approximately. Heavy line with saw teeth is
axis of the Peru- Chile trench. Provincial capitals (excluding Quito and Guayaquil) are indicated by bold single letters (See Fig. 2).

tinuous and commonly isolated from the main ranges.
East of the Sierra, the upper Amazon basin constitutes the
Oriente (or Selva) physiographic province. The Oriente is a
vast, nearly featureless sloping plain mantled with dense rain
forest and drained to the east by major tropical rivers with
sources in the high Andes. Elevations range from 500 m at the
edge of the Sierra province to less than 200 m in the east.
The Costa physiographic province comprises the coastal
plain and low country between the Sierra and the Pacific shore.
The width of the Costa ranges by an order of magnitude from
 less than 20 km at the provincial capital of Machala to nearly
200 km in central Ecuador.
Five distinctive geologic terranes
Five distinctive geologic terranes in Ecuador and north-
western Peru can be distinguished by dissimilar basements,
cover rocks, intrusive rocks, and Bouguer gravity anomaly
fields (Table I). The five are here designated informally as the
Piiion, Tahuin, Birdn, Chaucha, and Santiago terranes.
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Major faults, in many places prominent in the field, bound
these terranes (Fig. 1). The entire northwestern part of
Ecuador is separated from the rest of the country by the
Romeral fault (Feininger and Bristow 1980), which as well
constitutes the eastern border of the Piii6n terrane. The western
border of the Piiicin and Tahuin terranes is the fault contact
with the actively subducting Nazca plate at the Peru-Chile
trench, 75 - 100 km offshore. The common border of the Bihn
and Chaucha terranes is the Jubones fault, named after the Rio
Jubones, which flows due west in a conspicuous straight
valley, leaving the high Andes near Machala. Basement meta-
morphic rocks of the B i r d terrane on the left bank of the Rio
Jubones are cataclasites with prevalent phyllonites . Thirty
kilometres to the south, the distinctive metamorphic rocks of
the Bir6n and Tahuin terranes abut one another at the east-
striking La Palma fault (Feininger 1978). This prominent
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break is marked by pods of serpentinite and a zone, gen-
erally > 100 m thick, composed of brecciated rock and
mylonite with vertically dipping layering. Into the Andes, the
fault turns southeastward, coinciding with the Portovelo fault,
which separates continental volcanic rocks of Cretaceous (?)
age on the north from high-grade metamorphic rocks on the
south (Fig. 3).
The eastern boundary of the Tahuin terrane is the south-
striking Las Aradas fault (Fig. 1). In Ecuador, this fault is at
least 100 km long and is well depicted on 1 : 100 000 scale
geologic maps published by the Servicio Nacional de
Geologia, Quito. It emerges from beneath a young volcanic
cover near the Provincial capital of Loja. The northernmost
30 km of the fault trace is particularly well expressed topo-
graphically. At El Tingo, due west of Loja, the fault is cut by a
stock of granodiorite that has given concordant Eocene horn-
blende and biotite K-Ar ages of 50 and 47 Ma, respectively
(Kennerley 1980). Farther to the south. topographic expression
of the Las Aradas fault weakens. Within 15 km of the Peruvian
border, the trace of the fault is covered by Pleistocene glacial
deposits. In Ecuador, the Las Aradas fault coincides with the
western limit of distinctive metamorphic rocks that underlie
the high Andes and the eastern slope in the southern third of
the country (Feininger 1982). This relationship is relatively
less evident in northwestern Peru, where the trace of the fault
is commonly covered by Tertiary volcanic deposits of the
Calipuy Formation. The southward prolongation of the Las
Aradas fault may be the major north-striking fault that passes
3 km east of the town of Huancabamba (Instituto de Geologia
y Mineria 1975). This fault is everywhere west of the south-
ward extension of the metamorphic rocks in the high Andes of
southern Ecuador and also isolates on its Pacific side all out-
crops of Precambrian metamorphic rocks in northwestern
Peru. Southward projection would carry the fault to the coast at
the city of Chiclayo (lat. 6"45'S). where the straight Peruvian
coastline has a pronounced inflection. Southward from the city
as far as the town of Pisco, 900 km away, the coast trends
unfailingly S30"E. North of Chiclayo the coast trends N62 "W
to the Cerros Illescas, 150 km distant.
The Las Aradas fault also constitutes the western border of
the Santiago terrane, although in the extreme north, near the
city of Riobamba, the terrane may be limited by the Romeral
fault (Fig. 2). The eastern boundary of the Santiago terrane
passes from the high Andes at Riobamba, southeastward into
the Andean foothills east of the provincial capital of Macas,
and on into the lowlands of the Oriente. The trace of this
boundary is covered by younger rocks.
The location of the eastern border of the Bircin and Chaucha
terranes is unknown. It may coincide with the northward pro-
longation of the Las Aradas fault and lie buried beneath the
thick blanket of young, unconsolidated, pyroclastic deposits in
the high Andes. On the other hand, the border may fall some-
where on the rugged and yet unmapped western Andean slope.
Pin"& terrane
The Pificin terrane covers 62 000 km2 in Ecuador between
the Romeral fault and the Pacific coast and extends northward
into Colombia an unknown distance (Barrero 1979). Owing
chiefly to its unique basement, the Pifi6n terrane is the most
distinctive of the five terranes. Its complex history has been
documented elsewhere (Feininger and Bristow 1980), and only
salient points will be summarized here.
The Piii6n terrane is named for the Piiion Formation, a
block-faulted unmetamorphosed mafic basement of Cretaceous
age that underlies the northern two thirds of the Ecuadorian
Costa (Fig. 3). Most outcrops of the Piii6n ale pillow basalt,
but relatively deeper erosion west of the provincial capital of
Portoviejo exposes diabase in a sheeted-dyke complex. Rocks
of the Piii6n Formation were considered deposits of an early
stage of geosynclinal volcanism that were laid down on a sialic
floor (Sauer 1965, pp. 120- 121; Goossens and Rose 1973),
but geophysical evidence casts doubt on this interpretation
(Feininger and Seguin 1983). Intermediate to mafic lavas and
tuffs of a Late Cretaceous volcanic arc constructed atop the
Piiicin basement make up the intensely deformed Macuchi
Formation (Henderson 1979) at the eastern edge of the Pifibn
terrane in the Western Cordillera, adjacent to the Romeral
fault. Other cover rocks on the Piii6n terrane include the Cayo
Formation, a Late Cretaceous volcaniclastic and sedimentary
apron deposited on the sea floor behind the Macuchi arc; the
San Eduardo limestone, a calcareous flysch shed from algal
reefs that lay to the east in Middle Eocene time; and the vast
Santa Elena olistostrome complex west of Guayaquil, slumped
in Late Eocene time from the Talara basin in northwestern
Peru. Oligocene or younger sedimentary rocks occur in local-
ized deep basins. Intrusive igneous rocks in the Piii6n terrane
are limited to scattered stocks and small batholiths of Tertiary
age composed chiefly of massive, medium-grained quartz
diorite, dispersed along the length of the Western Cordillera. A
stock of fine-grained quartz diorite underlies the town of
Pascuales, 15 km north of Guayaquil.
Perhaps the most remarkable feature of the Pieon terrane is
its huge positive simple Bouguer gravity anomaly where the
Pifi6n Formation crops out or is veneered only thinly by
younger rocks (Fig. 4). For example, anomalies at the town of
Daule, 45 km northwest of Guayaquil, reach +I79 mGal
(1 mGal = 10 pm s-') and are the largest on-land positive
anomalies recognized in the western hemisphere. Anomalies
over a surrounding area of 6000 km2 exceed + 100 mGal. Such
large positive anomalies demonstrate the oceanic nature of the
Piii6n Formation and signify that it is not underlain by con-
tinental crust.
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I
I
L -
-- -I
81"
li .

79"
I __L-,A
77" 75"
FIG. 4. Simple Bouguer gravity anomaly map of Ecuador and northwestern Peru, taken from Feininger and Seguin (1983) and unpublished
mapping by the Instituto Geofisico del Peni. Contour interval is 25 mGd. Positive anomalies are shaded. Heavy lines are terrane boundaries.
dashed where located approximately. Heavy line with saw teeth is axis of the Peru-Chile trench. Provincial capitals (excluding Quito and
Guayaquil) arc indicated by bold single letters (see Fig. 2).

Tahuin terrane the Cordillera de Tahuin, a prominent foothills range west of

The Tahuin terrane covers about 50 000 km2 in northwestern the Andes in southwestern Ecuador (Fig. 2).
Peru and adjacent Ecuador, occupying the western "shoulder" The basement of the Tahuin terrane is particularly varied and
of the South American continent. The terrane is here named for includes no less than three distinct metamorphic belts, each
 FEININGER
restricted to the terrane itself (Feininger 1982). The oldest is
composed of Late Precambrian plymetamorphic greenschist
and amphibolite of the Piedras Group in an east-striking belt
75 km long located near the northern edge of the terrane (MI,
Fig. 3). The overlying Tahuin Group, of Paleozoic age (M2,
Fig. 3), comprises a thick, nonvolcanic flysch in an arcuate
outcrop. concave to the south, and limited on the north by the
Piedras Group or the Portovelo fault. To the west and south the
outcrop is progressively reduced in size by faulting and an
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encroaching sedimentary cover, becoming a series of discon-
nected exposures at Cerro Amotape. Silla de Paita, Cerros
lllescas (Caldas et ul. 1980), and Isla Lobos de Tierra (Figs. 2
and 3). Metamorphism of the Tahuin Group is variable and
ranges to the top of the amphibolite facies. No regionally meta-
morphosed rocks then crop out west of the Andes until the
Paracas Peninsula. 1000 km to the southwest. A third and
unique metamorphic belt is the high-pressure, ecologite-
bearing Raspas Formation of Mesozoic age (too small to show
on Fig, 3) that constitutes a narrow, 27 km long band along the
La Palma fault (Feininger 1980).
Cover rocks on the Tahuin terane range in age from Early
Cretaceous to Quaternary and embrace a wide variety of
facies. Small patches depicted as Triassic and Jurassic volcanic
and sedimentary rocks on the geologic map of Peru (Instituto
de Geologia y Minena 1975) in part are continuous across the
international border with rocks mapped as the Celica Forma-
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tion of Cretaceous age in Ecuador. The distribution of these
purported older Peruvian rocks is uncertain (cf. Cobbing et nl.
1981).
Two sedimentary basins are of particular significance: the
Lancones basin and the basin at Tdard.
The Lancones basin, located south of the Cordillera de
Tahuin, is filled with northeast-striking, well-bedded, and
tightly folded marine volcaniclastic rocks known in Peru as the
Copa Sombrero Formation and in adjacent Ecuador as the
Alamor Group (Fig. 3). The rocks are late Early Cretaceous
(Aptian) to Late Cretaceous (Senonian) in age, and their maxi-
mum thickness in places exceeds 3088 m (Morris and Aleman
1975). On the Peruvian side of the border, Morris and Aleman
(1975, p. 57) emphasized the abundance of volcanic breccias
and tuffs and stated that "it is difficult to find beds not
volcanic in origin". The present author has made the same
observation in the Alamor Group. where the only rocks free of
volcanic detritus are thin and geographically restricted black
limestones.
The basin at Talara, located on the Peruvian coast southwest
of the city of Tumbes, contains rocks that contrast sharply with
those in the Lancones basin only 50 km to the east. Rocks in
the basin at Talara are largely covered by younger sediments,
but they have been studied intensively in the subsurface by
means of thousands of wells drilled for oil over the past
century (Travis 1953). The basin is filled with 12 750 m of
marine, terrigenous, clastic sedimentary rocks that range
in age from Late Cretaceous (Campanian) through Late
Eocene; Paleocene and Eocene rocks alone account for 98 15 m
of the section (Petrbleos del Peni, unpublished report). The
sources of the sediments were low-grade, quartz-rich meta-
morphic rocks, presumably Cerro Arnotape and the Cordillera
Larga (Fig. 2). Minor tuffaceous sediments first appear in
Upper Eocene rocks near the top of the section. The oldest
rocks at Talara correspond roughly in age to the youngest rocks
preserved in the Lancones basin. Cessation of subsidence in
the Lancones basin appears to have coincided with the onset of
273
downwarping at Talara.
Intrusive igneous rocks in the Tahuin terrane range widely in
age, composition, and texture. The Tahuin Group is riddled
with oblong stocks of medium-grained rocks of uncertain ages,
chiefly quartz diorite to alaskite, that typically are foliated
and have a pronounced metamorphic texture. Particularly
characteristic is porphyritic granodiorite with blocky, cream-
coloured orthoclase megacrysts 3 - 10 cm long. A stock of
variably serpentinized ha~burgitein the Piedras Group partly
encompasses the Mesozoic Raspas Formation at the northern
edge of the Tahuin terrane. Cover rocks are host to a variety of
young intrusions, mostly massive, medium-grained quartz
diorite or granodiorite, with a spread of ages from Early Creta-
ceous to early Tertiary (Kennerley 1980). The intrusions range
in size from small stocks to the vast Tangula batholith, about
3000 km2 in area, that straddles the Peruvian-Ecuadorian
border.
The Tahuin terrane is characterized by positive simple
Bouguer gravity anomalies, which at Silla de Paita and Cerros
Illescas exceed + 100 mGal (Fig. 4). Negative anomalies
occur only in the high Andes along the eastern border and on
the northwestern corner of the temne, adjacent to the deep
Neogene Progreso basin under the Gulf of Guayaquil. The
Tahuin terrane is probably underlain by continental crust
somewhat thinner than the crust typical of the Precambrian
shield east of the Andes on which weak negative simple
Bouguer anomalies prevail (Breville et ul. 1973). It is signifi-
cant that isogal contours over the northern part of the Tahuin
terrane trend east-northeastward. This observation suggests
that the crustal structure of the terrane may be unrelated to that
of the adjacent modern high Andes, which are characterized by
north-trending isogal contours (Fig. 4).
Bircin terrane
The small Biron terrane, here named after an agricultural
district located along its southern border, covers about
1500 km2 of the Ecuadorian Costa and western slope of the
Sierra, south of the Provincial capital of Machala. Only the
fringes of the terrane have been mapped in detail, and geo-
logically it is not well known.
The basenlent of the B i d n terrane is composed chiefly of
pelitic and quartz-rich metamorphic rocks that range from
greenschist to mid-amphibolite facies of a low-pressure facies
series (Feininger 1982). Cordierite gneiss is particularly char-
acteristic of the relatively higher grade rocks. Intercalated
mafic metavolcanic rocks are widespread and, in places, con-
stitute layers of amphibolite as much as I km thick. Shear
zones slice the basement apparently at random, and postmeta-
morphic deformation is pervasive. K -Ar ages on hornblendes
from two amphibolites and biotite from cordieritc gneiss fall in
the narrow range 76 -74 Ma (Feininger and Silberman 1982).
Stocks of massive intermediate to felsic intrusive igneous rocks
of unknown age make up more than 18% of the Bir6n terrane.
Cover rocks are unconsolidated sands and gravels of late Terti-
ary and Quaternary age, washed westward from the Andes. If
the eastern boundary of the Birbn terrane coincides with the
Las Aradas fault, then volcanic and sedimentary rocks of
Cretaceous(?) and Tertiary ages in the high Andes would form
part of the cover on the terrane. This possibility can be
weighed only by additional mapping.
Gravity anomalies over the small Bir6n terrane are domi-
nated by the strong negative anomalies of the adjacent Andean
root. Isogal contours over the terrane do not depart from the
regional northerly strike (Fig. 4).
 274 CAN. J. EARTH SCI. VOL. 24, 1987
Chaucha terrune
The Chaucha terrane occupies an area of about 10 000 km2
in the high Andes and their western slope, the Costa, and the
eastern part of the gulf of Guayaquil. It lies between the Bir6n
terrane to the south and the Pifi6n terrane to the north (Fig. 1).
The terrane is here named after the settlement of Chaucha, site
of a porphyry copper prospect located 45 krn west of the pro-
vincial capital of Cuenca. The Chaucha terrane has neither the
oceanic basement characteristic of the Pifion terrane nor rocks
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distinctive of nearby cratonic South America. Basement rocks
of the Chaucha terrane, low-grade quartzite and biotite schist,
are exposed only in an erosional window (too small to show in
Fig. 3) at San Pablo de Cebadas, a settlement located roughly
midway between the cities of Machala and Cuenca. Cover
rocks on the terrane include intermediate volcanic rocks of
Cretaceous('?) age on the western Andean slope, late Tertiary
sedimentary rocks and Holocene alluvium on the Costa, and
Teritary and Quaternary volcanic rocks in the high Andes.
Stocks of granodiorite are prominent on the western Andean
slope.
Santiago terrune
The high Andes and adjoining Oriente in southern Ecuador
and bordering Peru constitute another distinctive geologic ter-
rane, here named the Santiago terrane after a singular forma-
tion of the same name confined exclusively to the terrane
itself. The uniqueness of the Santiago terrane is supported by
For personal use only.
two particular geological observations that hinge, respectively,
on the distribution of metamorphic rocks and on the Santiago
Formation.
Low-grade, intermediate-pressure Cretaceous rocks meta-
morphosed in early Tertiary time (M,, Fig. 3) dominate
the eastern Andean slope in northern and central Ecuador
(Feininger 1975). South of latitude 2"S, the low-grade rocks
are crowded out progressively by a belt of older (Paleozoic?)
metamorphic rocks of relatively higher grade and characterized
by the sporadic occurrence of staurolite (M,, Fig. 3). These
rocks are wholly unlike those either to the west on the Tahuin
terrane (Kennerley 1973) or to the north on the eastern Andean
slope (Feininger 1982). They appear confined exclusively to
the Santiago terrane.
The Lower Jurassic Santiago Formation, more than 1500 m
thick, is composed of marine limestone and shale, with minor
interbedded sandstone and siltstone. The formation crops out
extensively east of the Andes in northwestern Peru (the Pucara
Group; Geyer 1979) and in Ecuador as far north as the pro-
vincial capital of Macas (Fig. 3). Immediately to the north and
east of Macas, however, the Santiago Formation is present
neither at the surface nor at depth in any of the numerous wells
of the Ecuadorian oil fields (Canfield et al. 1982). A particu-
larly arresting example occurs in the Andean foothills at Cerro
Macuma, where the Macuma Formation of Permian age is
overlain unconformably by Upper Jurassic continental redbeds
of the Chapiza Formation. The Santiago Formation is
altogether absent, although it makes up the entire Cordillera de
Cutucu only 15 km to the west (Fig. 2). In this context, it may
be significant that in Ecuador the base of the Santiago Forma-
tion is nowhere exposed (Canfield et al. 1982, p. 1077). It is
not even known on what rocks the formation was laid down.
The conventional view that the Santiago rests on the Macuma
Formation is speculation. Rather, the basement may be the
relatively high grade Paleozoic(?) metamorphic rocks exposed
on the eastern Andean slope south of latitude 2"s and related
spatially to the occurrence of the Santiago Formation to the
east. It is in fact instructive that all outcrops and subsurface
occurrences of the Macuina and underlying Devonian
Pumbuiza Formations are to the north and east of the Santiago
Formation.
Taken together, these observations lead to the suggestion
that the areal distribution of the Santiago Formation and Paleo-
zoic('?) metamorphic rocks on the eastern Andean slope in
southern Ecuador and nearby Peru delimit a unique terrane.
This, the Santiago terrane, is sandwiched between cratonic
South America to the east and the Pifion, Chaucha, Biron, and
Tahuin terranes to the west (Fig. 1). The southern limit of the
Santiago terrane is unknown.
Cratonic South America
To evaluate the significane of the five distinctive geologic
terranes identified here in the Andean orogen of Ecuador and
northwestern Peru, it is necessary to define the border of
cratonic South America and to characterize the rocks of the
ancient continental edge. This is no easy task because young
volcanic rocks erupted from the active Andean arc together
with an extended sedimentary apron shed eastward from the
rising Andes mantle critical areas in the high Andes and the
Oriente.
Basement rocks of cratonic South America in Ecuador are
granulites, probably the western edge of the Guiana shield.
These rocks do not crop out, but they have been reached in
several wells in the oil fields of the Ecuadorian Oriente. The
Pumbuiza Formation, a thick sequence of sparsely fossil-
iferous, marine black shale and siltstone of Devonian age,
overlies the basement. These rocks in turn are unconformably
overlain by richly fossiliferous limestone of the Permian
Macuma Formation. The Pumbuiza and Macuma formations
crop out in Ecuador at Cerro Macuma (Fig. 2) and farther to
the south in the Peruvian foothills. The continental Late
Jurassic to Early Cretaceous Chapiza Formation, in places
more than 4500 m thick, unconformably overlies the Paleozoic
sedimentary rocks (on the Santiago terrane the Chapiza lies on
the Santiago Formation). The Chapiza is composed domi-
nantly of redbeds, though the uppermost part of the formation
is volcanic and comprises tuff, volcanic breccia, and lava.
The western border of cratonic South America, at least in
Mesozoic time, is incompletely known. In northern Ecuador,
the border may coincide with the Romeral fault (Feininger and
Bristow 1980). If so, it would lie deep in the high Andes.
South of latitude 1" S, however, the border is presuinably
situated on the eastern edge of the Santiago terrane, which
means that is warps eastward from the high Andes, through the
eastern foothills, and into the Oriente, leaving the Andean
Cordillera perched entirely on the four southernmost terranes.
This proposed geometry may account for two morphological
oddities of the Andes in Ecuador and Peru. (I) The triple junc-
tion of cratonic South America with the Pifi6n and Santiago
terranes marks the only place where the Andes plunge to the
plains of the Oriente with no intervening foothills (Fig. 2).
(2) The average elevation of the Andes decreases progressively
southward into northwestern Peru, where it reaches the lowest
point of the entire Cordillera. At latitude 6 " s a trans-Andean
oil pipeline is able to cross the entire range and nowhere
exceed an elevation of 3000 m.
Redbeds and volcanic rocks of the Chapiza Formation show
that beginning in Late Jurassic time the border of cratonic
South America in places was an emerged continental volcanic
arc. Conditions changed abruptly in late Early Cretaceous time
 when, with the cessation of subduction (Feininger 1980), the
border developed into a vast shallow-marine platform typical
of a passive continental margin like that of modem Brazil. A
transgressive white orthoquartzite of late Early Cretaceous age
(in Peru and Euador, respectively, the Agua Caliente and
Hollin formations) was first laid down on the platform,
followed by a succession of dark, fine-grained clastic rocks
and limestone of Late Cretaceous age (the Chonta and Napo
formations). The rocks thin and become sandier eastward
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toward their source but thicken westward and southward from
about 260 m near the Colombian border to more than 708 m on
and east of the Santiago terrane. West of the Cretaceous plat-
form, in central and northern Ecuador, along a line roughly
coincidental with the eastern base of the modem high Andes,
was a shelf edge beyond which, in the deep waters of an open
ocean, fine-grained clastic terrigenous sediments were laid
down to form a vast continental-rise prism. The prism was
deformed and metamorphosed beginning in Maastrichtian
(latest Cretaceous) time, forming the low-grade metamorphic
rocks (M,, Fig. 3) of the eastern Andean slope when
decoupling of South America initiated eastward subduction of
the abutting oceanic plate from a trench located perhaps at the
site of the Romeral fault (Feininger 1975; Feininger and
Bristow 198Q).The absence of the young metamorphic belt in
southern Ecuador and northwestern Peru may be due to the
intervention of the Santiago terrane.
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An eastward-thinning apron of sediment was shed onto the
continent from a source in volcanic mountains ancestral to the
modem Andes beginning in Late Cretaceous time. With few
breaks, this back-arc sedimentation has carried on to the
present.
Are the five terranes allochthonous?
General statement
Substantive geologic and geophysical evidence, marshalled
below, upholds the view that the five distinctive geologic
terranes are displaced with respect to one another and that most
of the Andean Cordillera in Ecuador and northwestern Peru is
a composite of parautochthonous or allochthonous fragments
emplaced against cratonic South America from Middle
Jurassic to Late Eocene time (Fig. 1). Little can be said quanti-
tatively about the provenance of the five terranes: whether they
are far-travelled pieces of a global tectonic jigsaw puzzle, that
is, true allochthonous terranes, or whether they were merely
shunted laterally only relatively short distances by regional
wrench faults.
m e evidence
The five distinctive geologic terranes identified in Ecuador
and northwestern Peru share few common properties (Table I).
To demonstrate convincingly that the terranes are displaced
fragments, their geological and geophysical incompatibility
with the contiguous South American continent must be shown.
The Pifi6n terrane is the most divergent. It is a youthful
terrane whose basement is younger than most of the cover
rocks on adjacent cratonic South America. The terrane is a
relatively unmodified parcel of ocean floor united fortuitously
to the South American plate by a seaward jump of the conti-
nental-border subduction zone (Feininger and Bristow 1980).
The enormity of the positive Bouguer anomalies (Fig. 4) points
out that this type of pristine oceanic terrane is not common and
that the Pifi6n terrane may be a unique example in the
Americas.
The basement of the Bir6n terrane is composed in part of a
singular cordierite gneiss that is petrographically unique in
Ecuador or northwestern Peru. Also, the Late Cretaceous
K-Ar age of the metamorphic basement is distinct from the
K -Ar ages of other metamorphic belts in the region (Table I).
It is older than the early Tertiary belt on the fringe of cratonic
South America but much younger than the metamorphic base-
ments of either the Tahuin or Santiago terranes.
The Tahuin terrane is characterized by positive Bouguer
anomalies (Fig. 4). Although the anomalies are not as strong as
those on the Pifi6n terrane, they are unlike the negative anoma-
lies on the Bir6n and Santiago terranes or on cratonic South
America. A particularly arresting geologic contrast with the
Santiago terrane and cratonic South America is offered by the
volcaniclastic rocks of the Cretaceous Copa Sombrero Forma-
tion and Alamor Group. These rocks, restricted exclusively to
the Tahuin terrane, were laid down beginning in Aptian time in
an actively subsiding basin close to their volcanic source. Syn-
chronously, the wholly nonvolcanic Agua Caliente - Hollin
and Chonta - Napo formations, an order of magnitude thinner
than the volcaniclastic rocks, were being deposited in a mark-
edly different environment: a shallow, stable continental shelf
spread across the Santiago terrane and the western edge of cra-
tonic South America. Today only 75 km separates the Alamor
Group from the Hollin and Napo formations (Fig. 3). Had the
respective rocks been laid down at the sites where they are now
found, the Hollin and Napo formations could hardly have
escaped substantial volcanic contamination. During the Creta-
ceous, the Tahuin terrane is here interpreted as having lain
appreciably farther from tlie Santiago terrane and cratonic
South America than its modem proximate setting.
The scale of the Santiago Formation makes its restriction to a
postulated allochthonous terrane a more likely explanation of
its confined occurrence than, for example, elimination from
adjacent areas by erosion. The largest foothills east of the
Andes in southern Ecuador, the Cordilleras de Cutucu and del
C6ndor (veritable mountain ranges in themselves), are made
up exclusively of the Santiago Formation with a discontinuous
capping of Chapiza redbeds, in places at elevations greater
than 2508 m. On cratonic South America, on the other hand,
the Santiago Formation is represented by the angular unconfor-
mity that, usually deep in the subsurface, separates the
Paleozoic Pumbuiza and Macuma formations (apparently both
absent on the Santiago terrane) from the overlying Mesozoic
Chapiza Formation.
Taken collectively, geologic and geophysical evidence indi-
cates that this part of the Andean orogen is a composite of
parautochthonous or allochthonous terranes of unestablished
provenance banked against an integral cratonic South America.
The disparity of the five terranes and of the adjacent continent
is too great to account for solely by classical processes of
uplift, faulting, and erosion.
Chronology of emplacement
Emplacement of the Santiago, Pifi6n, and Tahuin terranes
can be dated with some precision on stratigraphic relation-
ships. The dates of emplacement of the Chaucha and Bir6n
terranes are conjectural.
The Santiago terrane was emplaced in Middle Jurassic time,
perhaps by strike-slip faulting. The absence of rocks of Tri-
assic or Early Jurassic age on the western border of cratonic
South America implies that that part of the continent was then
emergent and undergoing erosion. It is speculated that during
deposition of the Santiago Formation in Early Jurassic time,
 276 CAN. J. EARTH SCI. VOL. 24, 1987
the terrane was more distant from the continental edge than its
modem setting, judging by the reduced component of terri-
genous sediment. By Late Jurassic time the Santiago terrane
was in place, because it and cratonic South America are jointly
overlapped by the Chapiza Formation (as well as by all
younger cover rocks).
A complicated history has already been proposed for the
Pifi6n terrane (Feininger and Bristow 1980). The terrane is
interpreted as having become fixed to the South American
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plate coincident with the collision of the superjacent inactive
Macuchi arc in Early Eocene time. This event, which followed
long intervals of strike-slip motion on the Romeral transform
fault and oblique subduction, initiated a short spell of volcanic
tranquility until a new subduction zone, stepped 300 km to the
west of its predecessor, reestablished subduction, which has
continued to the present. This renewal of subduction, well-
dated stratigraphically, coincides with the major reorganiza-
tion of plate motions in the ancestral Pacific as recorded by the
bend in the Hawaiian -Emperor seamount chain (Feininger
and Bristow 1980, p. 871).
The Tahuin terrane is held to have been emplaced by colli-
sion in Late Eocene time, having been driven northeastward on
the proto-Nazca plate to lodge between the Pifi6n and Santiago
terranes. The collision is judged to have depressed the sea floor
on the adjacent Pifi6n terrane and the northwestern edge of the
Tahuin terrane enough to trigger the massive northward sub-
For personal use only.
marine slide and deposition of the Upper Eocene Santa Elena
olistostrome complex on the Pifi6n terrane. west of Guayaquil.
The complex, with a volume of thousands of cubic kilometres,
is the failed northwestern margin of the Talara basin (Feininger
and Bristow 1980). The presence of the olistostrome complex
on the Piii6n demonstrates the juxtaposition of the Pifi6n and
Tahuin terranes at least by Late Eocene time.
The dates of emplacement of the Chaucha and Bir6n terranes
are speculative. The spatial distribution of these terranes
dictates that they were emplaced after the Santiago terrane but
before emplacement of the Tahuin terrane. The possibility that
the Chaucha terrane was united with the Santiago terrane and
that they were later emplaced as a unit in Middle Jurassic time
cannot be ruled out. The youthful age of the basement makes
this interpretation unlikely for the Bir6n terrane.
Tectonic significance
From the time of Dewey and Bird's (1970) synthesis to the
present, the Andes have been viewed chiefly in simple terms
within a plate-tectonic setting: long-standing and uncompli-
cated subduction of oceanic lithosphere at a continental border
causing plutonism, volcanism, and spasmodic orogenic pulses.
In fact, so comfortable is this concept that the term "Andean
margin," interpreted as an ancient analogue of the modern
model, has lately been applied to regional syntheses in the
Canadian Appalachians and elsewhere.
Evidence has long been available that the Andes are far more
complex geologically than allowed by the simple Andean
margin model alone. Examples abound from beyond the
restricted geographical area treated here. Ages of igneous
intrusions are progressively younger toward the continent in
Chile (Clark et ul. 1970) and Peru (Giletti and Bay 1968), but
in Colombia the reverse is true (Irving 1975). Ancient rocks of
Precambrian age crop out west of the Andean axis in Colombia
(Restrepo and Toussaint 1978) and on the Pacific shore in the
Arequipa massif of southern Peru (Shackleton et a/. 1979).
Some major sedimentary basins have westerly continental
sources in areas now occupied by the Pacific Ocean. Outstand-
ing examples are the Devonian central Andean intracratonic
basin of Bolivia and southern Peru (Isaacson 1975) and
the Lower Cretaceous clastic rocks on the coast at Lima
(J. F. Concha, personal communication. 1983). The varied
metamorphic basement of central Chile (GonzBlez-Bonorino
1971) may have a history no less complicated than that in
Ecuador (Feininger 1982).
The possibly significant role of allochthonous terranes in
orogeny is being seriously evaluated in the current geologic
literature. Some geologists and geophysicists suggest that most
orogenic episodes are the result of the collision of simple or
composite allochthonous terranes with continental masses
(Ben-Avraham and Nur 1983). On the eastern rim of the
Pacific basin, the importance of allochthonous terranes as
fundamental tectonic elements in Alaska, the Canadian Cordil-
lera, and the conterminous western United States is now
acknowledged widely (Jones et ul. 1977, 1982: Coney et al.
1980; Monger st al. 1982; Bourgeois and Bott 1985). Mexico,
long the b6te noire of plate reconstructions because of its sub-
stantial overlap on predrift fits, is now interpreted as a collage
of allochthonous terranes brought together chiefly during the
Mesozoic (Carfantan 1983; Campa and Coney 1983).
South America's 7000 km long Andean Cordillera and adja-
cent Pacific coastline remain largely undissected by tectonic
analysts in their search for allochthonous terranes. In fact, the
possible presence of such terranes in the central Andes is
specifically excluded by some recent workers (Jordan et al.
1983).
A uniform absence of allochthonous terranes in western
South America would be a significant observation in support of
the view that subduction alone is an adequate engine to drive
orogeny. On the other hand, the presence of allochthonous
terranes documented here in at least the northern Andes lends
support to the view of Ben-Avraham et al. (1981) on the
general importance of collision in orogenic episodes. Cer-
tainly, collisional accretionary tectonics appears to have had a
role in the development of the Andean orogen in Ecuador and
adjacent Peru where, beginning in the Jurassic Period, succes-
sive emplacements of allochthonous terranes coincided with
orogenic events evident in the stratigraphic record. Emplace-
ment of the Santiago terrane in Middle Jurassic time, for
example, immediately preceded or in part may have been
coeval with substantial uplift and deposition of the continental
Chapiza Formation, which culminated in widespread felsic
volcanism. Coupling of the Pifi6n terrane to nuclear South
America brought about a distinctive hiatus in continental-
border volcanism in Middle Eocene time, marked by the
deposition of deep-water calcareous flysch free of volcanic
debris (Feininger and Bristow 1980). Subsequently , deforma-
tion that accompanied emplacement of the Tahuin terrane in
Late Eocene time is interpreted as having led to deposition of
the vast Santa Elena olistostrome complex on the Pill611
terrane. Perhaps the Huancabamba deflection itself is a con-
sequence of the emplacement of so inany allochthonous
terranes within such a restricted stretch of the continental
border (Heki et a / . 1983).
The presence of multiple allochthonous terranes in the
Andes of Ecuador and northwestern Peru may not be unique.
Perhaps allochthonous terranes await identification elsewhere
in the Andean orogen (Howell et al. 1983). Whether they are
as important areally in the Andes as they are in the North
America Cordillera is unknown. The geological picture in the
 Andes is blurred extensively by vast expanses of youthful
volcanic deposits and because throughout most of the orogen,
geologic mapping falls short of the detail achieved over corres-
ponding areas in Canada or the United States. Tests remain to
be carried out, and definitive results will come only from a
diligent mix of geologic mapping and structural studies
(particularly along the oceanward western border of the
orogen), stratigraphic analyses, studies of basement petrology
and chronology, and paleomagnetic studies.
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Allochthonous terranes and the distribution of mineral
deposits in Ecuador and northwestern Peru
The nonuniform distribution of mineral resources in Ecuador
and nearby Peru among the five allochthonous terranes and
cratonic South America may afford a useful guide for prospec-
tors. Similar observations on the nonrandom distribution of
mineralization between allochthonous terranes elsewhere have
been made in Alaska (Berg 1981), California (Albers 1981),
and Mexico (Campa and Coney 1983).
Petroleum in Ecuador and northwestern Peru is found in
three places: in the Oriente (particularly in central and northern
Ecuador); on the coast of Peru southwest of Tumbes (the field
at Talara, Peru, has been in continuous production since 1874
(Travis 1953), and is the world's first-discovered giant oil
field); and on the Santa Elena Peninsula, west of Suayaquil.
For personal use only.
These are on cratonic South America, the Tahuin terrane,
and the Piiion terrane, respectively. Petroleum on the Piiion
temne, however, is confined wholly to the Santa Elena olisto-
strome complex, carried northward from its source on the
Tahuin terrane. Intensive exploratory drilling elsewhere on the
Piiion terrane and the coastal plains of the Chaucha and Biron
terranes has had uniformly negative results. In the Oriente,
restriction of major oil pools to the north may be due to their
spatial association with the metamorphosed continental-rise
prism, the presumed source of the petroleum (Feininger 1975).
The prism has not been recognized in southern Ecuador or in
Peru, perhaps owing to the presence there of the Santiago
terrane .
Base-metal mineralization is most intense on the Chaucha
terrane, where several promising Cu -Mo and Cu -Ag pros-
pects have been recognized (Paladines and Sanmartin 1980).
Relatively weaker base-metal mineralization is found at a few
places on the Tahuin terrane. Massive base-metal sulphide
deposits are restricted to the Macuchi arc on the eastern edge of
the Piiion terrane. Deposits are currently being exploited on the
western Andean slope southwest of Quito.
Primary gold mineralization is concentrated on the Biron ter-
rane, with large lode mines in volcanic rocks 50 km southeast
of Machala, and numerous gold -quartz veins in nearby meta-
morphic rocks. The sources of important placer deposits on the
eastern Andean slope on cratonic South America and the San-
tiago terrane remain undiscovered.
Thin, epithemal stibnite veins are scattered across the north-
ern part of the Tahuin terrane and the southern part of the Bir6n
temne. The veins occur in a variety of rocks that range in age
from Precambrian to Cretaceous.
Acknowledgments
The work summarized here was begun in 1969. Geologic
mapping and regional sampling have been financed through
the years by the Escuela Politecnica Nacional, Quito;
PREDESUR (a regional development authority for southern
Ecuador): the National Geographic Society, Washington; and
the National Research Council of Canada. Additional material
supported was provided by PETROPERU, Lima and Talara;
and the Instituto Geografico Militar, Quito. Helpful reviews by
E. Irving, R. A. F. Grieve, P. B. Robertson, and two addi-
tional readers substantially improved the text.
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