Late Cenozoic to modern-day volcanism in the Northern Andes: A geochronological, petrographical, and geochemical review

Abstract

The Northern Andean Block is the result of complex tectonic interaction between the Farallon-Nazca, South American, and Caribbean Plates. Abundant late Cenozoic volcanism (and associated hypabyssal porphyritic plutonism), beginning in the mid- to late Miocene, is the result of subduction-related mantle-derived magmatic activity, superimposed upon a compositionally varied and structurally complex basement during the late stages of the Northern Andean orogeny. Tectonic consolidation and subduction of the segmented Nazca Plate during the late Miocene-Pliocene led to conformation of the modern-day Colombian segment of the Northern Andean Volcanic Zone. The Colombian arc segment represents the northernmost expression of subduction-related volcanism within South America’s Andean Cordillera.