How does the Nazca Ridge subduction influence the modern Amazonian foreland basin?

Abstract

The subduction of an aseismic ridge has important consequences on the dynamics of the overriding upper plate. In the central Andes, the Nazea Ridge subduction imprint can be tracked on the eastern side of the Andes. The Fitzcarrald arch is the long-wavelength topography response of the Nazca Ridge flat subduction, 750 km inboard of the trench. This uplift is responsible for the atypical three-dimensional shape of the Amazonian foreland basin. The Fitzcarrald arch uplift is no older than Pliocene as constrained by the study of Neogene sediments and geomorphic markers, according to the kinematics of the Nazca Ridge subduction. © 2007 The Geological Society of America.