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Neogene magmatism and its possible causal relationship with hydrocarbon generation in SW Colombia

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Abstract

The Cretaceous oil-bearing source and reservoir sedimentary succession in the Putumayo Basin, SW Colombia, was intruded by gabbroic dykes and sills. The petrological and geochemical character of the magmatic rocks shows calc-alkaline tendency, pointing to a subduction-related magmatic event. K/Ar dating of amphibole indicates a Late Miocene to Pliocene age (6.1 ± 0.7 Ma) for the igneous episode in the basin. Therefore, we assume the intrusions to be part of the Andean magmatism of the Northern Volcanic Zone (NVZ). The age of the intrusions has significant tectonic and economic implications because it coincides with two regional events: (1) the late Miocene/Pliocene Andean orogenic uplift of most of the sub-Andean regions in Peru, Ecuador and Colombia and (2) a pulse of hydrocarbon generation and expulsion that has reached the gas window. High La/Yb, K/Nb and La/Nb ratios, and the obtained Sr–Nd–Pb isotopic compositions suggest the involvement of subducted sediments and/or the assimilation of oceanic crust of the subducting slab. We discuss the possibility that magma chamber(s) west of the basin, below the Cordillera, did increase the heat flow in the basin causing generation and expulsion of hydrocarbons and CO2.

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Acknowledgements

We are indebted to Edgar Chajid Kairuz for his helpful information, Uwe Baaske and Andrea Knörich for their valuable comments on the manuscript, Ana Elena Concha for her help looking for samples and bibliography, and Ed Sobel for his corrections on the final manuscript. We are thankful to R. Neumann, P. Dulski, O. Appelt, B. Mocek and A. Musiol for the XRF, EMPA and ICP analyses, as well as to K. Wemmer of the University of Göttingen for the K–Ar age determination. We are deeply grateful to Ecopetrol S. A. and especially to the Instituto Colombiano del Petróleo and the Litoteca Nacional for permitting the publication of this study and to Alberto Ortíz, Andrés Reyes, and Mercedes Álvarez who very kindly permitted us to sample the well-cores and also to R. Oberhänsli and M. Strecker for financial support.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Geosciences, University of Potsdam, Karl-Liebknecht-Str. 24, Haus 27, D-14476, Potsdam-Golm, Germany

    Mónica Vásquez & Uwe Altenberger

  2. Geoforschungszentrum Potsdam (GFZ), Telegrafenberg, Potsdam, 14473, Germany

    Rolf L. Romer

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  1. Mónica Vásquez
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  2. Uwe Altenberger
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  3. Rolf L. Romer
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Correspondence to Mónica Vásquez.

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Vásquez, M., Altenberger, U. & Romer, R.L. Neogene magmatism and its possible causal relationship with hydrocarbon generation in SW Colombia. Int J Earth Sci (Geol Rundsch) 98, 1053–1062 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00531-008-0303-6

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