Simple Bouguer gravity anomaly field and the inferred crustal structure of continental Ecuador Tomas Feininger, M. K. Seguin Department de GSoiogie, Université Laval, Québec, Québec GIK 7P4, Canada ABSTRACT ‘The simple Bouguer gravity anomaly field of continental Ecuador corresponds closely to the physiographic provinces ofthe count . The Sierra, which includes the Andes and their foothill, is characterized by a pronounced low with values (0 ~292 mgal, Which reflects the deep Andean root. Bouguer anomalies over the Oriente become less ‘negative away from the Sierra, chiefly in response to progressive thinning of continental ‘rust eastward. The Costa, between the Sierra and the Pacific shore, in the north has the ‘most positive on-land Bouguer anomalies (+162 mgal) so far known in the Western ‘Hemisphere. This part of the Costa is underlain by an ancient oceanic plate now welded to the northwestes INTRODUCTION ‘The west coast of South America consti- tutes a type example of continental-border plate convergence. From the latitude of central Colombia to southern Chile, alin- ear distance of 6,000 km, the eastern Pacific Ocean and adjacent western South ‘America are characterized by a virtually unbroken couplet of oceanic trench and continental-border arc with active or geo- logically youthful volcanism. The literature on this important geotogie province is extensive, particularly since 1960 (see Lonsdale [1978] and Pennington [1981] for recent reference). The crustal structure of coastal South ‘America changes fuadarnentaly on the Huancabamba deflection in southern Ecuador, at lat 3°S (Gansser, 1973, p. 106 107), To the north, basement rocks are basalt and diabase, chiefly of Cretaceous ‘age, whereas to the south the basement i dominated by felsic metamorphic and gra- nite intrusive rocks as ld as Precambrian The northwestern corner of South America aappeats to be underlain by oceanic erust (Case, 1970; Meissnar and others, 1976), possibly the fragment of an ancient oceanic plate now welded to the otherwise conti- rental South American plate ‘A simple Bouguer gravity anomaly map ‘of continental Ecuador and the Galépagos Islands (scale I:1,000,000; contour interval 10 mgal) based on more than 14,000 obser- vations has been published recently! (Fein Singer, 1977). Figure I here is a synoptic reduction of the continental part of that ‘map with @ SO-mgal contour interval, Here "Available for $5 (U.S) from lnstituto Geog fica Militar, P.O. Box 2435. Quito, Ecuador corner ofthe otherwise continental South American plate. we review the physiography and geology of, Ecuador {unless noted otherwise, taken from Sauer (1968), Servicio Nacional de Geologia y Mineria (1969), and the many ‘geological maps at 1:100,000 published since 1970 by the Direecion General de Geologia y Minas, Quito} and discuss the simple Bouguer gravity anomaly field and the infereed crustal structure of the coun try, We then present a more quantitative interpretation based on a computer- simulated erustal profile across the Andes from the Pacific shore to the Amazon basin at lat 1°50°S (Fig. 2). PHYSIOGRAPHY AND GEOLOGY OF ECUADOR Continental Ecuador can be divided conveniently ito three physiographic pro- vinces (inset map, Fig 1). The dominant Sierra province (coincidental with the ‘rough of strong negative anomalies from Colombia to Peru in Fig 1) includes the Andean Cordillera and its foothills. In no place are the Andes narrower than in Ecuador, where their width is only about 149 km, North of lat 2°15°S the Sierra is ‘made up of two parallel ranges with rnumerous peaks that exceed 4,500 m, the Eastern and Western Cordillras, separated by an inter-Andean valley from 5 10 40 km wide, with an average elevation between. 2,500 and 3,000 m. South of lat 15'S the Sierra is more uniformly mountainous, but few peaks exceed 4,000 m. Regionally metamorphosed rocks of various ages cons stitute the Eastera Cordillera, the entire eastern Andean slope, and the foothills ‘west ofthe Andes near the Peruvian border (Feininger, 1982). The Western Cordillera is composed chiefly of intensely folded and faulted oceanie voleanic rocks of Creta ‘eous and Tertiary age. The southern Sierra is underlain by sedimentary and continen- tal voleanic rocks also of Cretaceous and Tertiary age, but in general they are less intensely deformed than those in the West- xn Cordillera, Stocks and small batholiths ‘that range in composition from quartz diorite to granite are widely dispersed, but really they are less important than i ‘neighboring Colombia or Peru, The inter- Andean valley is filled with pyroclastic {deposits and lava flows, chiefly of Quater= nary age, although older rocks are exposed in places. Majestic Quaternary volcanoes punctuate the Sierran landscape between the Colombian border and lat 2°S. ‘The Oriente physiographic province lies cast of the Andes and forms part of the ‘Amazon basin, Iti an atea of litle local relief, with a regional topographic gradient that slopes toward the southeast. Eleva- tions range from about 500 m at the base of the Andean foothills to less than 200 m jn the east. Basement racks under the ‘Oriente are Precambrian granulites of the Guayana shield, These rocks do not crop ‘out in Ecuador, but they are encountered repeatedly in the subsurface during oil exploration. Marine and continental sedi- ‘mentary and voleanic rocks that range from Paleozoic to Farly Cretaceous in age are preserved here and there, and in few places they crop out in the eastern foothills fof the Andes (Tschopp, 1953). Platform facies marine sedimentary rocks of Cre- taceous age, reservoirs of Ecuador's large petroleum deposits (Feininger, 1975), underlie the entre Oriente and crop out extensively inthe adjacent foothills. Domi- nantly continental clastic sedimentary rocks that range from latest Cretaceous to Quaternary age constitute an unbroken, castward-thinning blanket across the Oriente The Costa physiographic province les between the Sierra and the Pacific shore, It is 25 0200 km wide and mostly has little local relief, The geologic history of the Costa is controversial (compare Saver, 1971; Goossens and Rose, 1973; Feininger and Bristow, 1980). North of lat 3°, GEOLOGY, v.11, p. 40-88, January 1988861 Arousy“AD0109 Reduction 2.67 gm /em" Contour interval, 50 mgals ntal Ecuador (Feininger, 1977) Dot pattern shows areas of ‘Romeral aut 3p shows physiographic provinces: crose-hatchbasement rocks are block-faulted basalt and diabase ofthe Cretaceous Pifién For- ‘mation. The Pifdn is overlain by marine volcaniclastic and sedimentary rocks of Cretaceous age as much as 3 km thick in the vicinity of Guayaquil a yastolisto- strome complex on the Santa Elena Penin- sula southwest of Guayaquil, several deep basins filled with marine sedimentary rocks (of Oligocene to Pliocene age, and Quater- nary alluviuen. SIMPLE BOUGUER GRAVITY ANOMALY FIELD OF ECUADOR The simple Bouguer gravity anomaly ‘map of Ecuador (Feininger, 1977) and its synoptic reduction (Fig. 1) are tied uni- formly to the new basic value of gravity at Potsdam, through the Latin American Gravity Standardization Net. Anomalies, however, were calculated using the 1930 International Formula (U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey, 1942). Conversion of the ‘maps to the theoretical base of the 1967 Geodetic Reference System (International Association of Geodesy, 1971) would result jn simple Bouguer anomalies uniformly about 17 mgal more posiive throughout the latitudes of Ecuador. This discrepancy does not influence the following discus- sions, Terrain corrections could not be made owing toa lack of topographic maps ‘of most of the country For a country smaller than the state of, Nevada, Ecuador has a remarkable Bou- auer gravity field, wth a relief of 454 mgal and anomalies that range from -292 to +162 mgal. The field is related closely to the physiographic provinces of the coun- try and is dominated by (1) huge positive anomalies over the Costa north of lat 3°S, and (2) a pronounced belt of negative anomalies coincident with the Sierra, Sierra ‘Strong negative simple Bouguer anom= ales characterize the Sierra and its eastern foothills. Along the Sierra, anomalies, increase progressively southward from, 232 mgal on the Colombian border to 292 mgal at the town of Latacunga, 85 km south of Quito. Farther south, anomalies are slightly less negative and constitute a series of closed lows with min- {ma of 270 mgal at Cuenea and -250 mgal at lat 3935'S, Anomalies atthe southern Jimi of observations inthe Sierra, at lat 4°208, are only -222 mga. Oriente Simple Bouguer anomalies range from =150 t0 ~100 mgal atthe border with the ‘Sierra physiographic province in the west land grade to =10 mgal atthe easternmost stations. The gravity fied is not smooth, however, but is characterized by closed highs and lows from 3 to 50 km across, With amplitudes from 10 to 40 mgal. Most of the closures are too small or oo weak to appear on the synoptic reduction (Fig. 1). Costa Total relief of the simple Bouguer -ravity anomaly field over the Costa is 314 mgal. The field is dominated by a ‘broad belt of huge positive anomalies that enters Ecuador from Colombia, crosses the northern two-thirds of the Costa, and goes out to sea southwest of Guayaquil. Anom- ales near the town of Daule, 45 km northwest of Guayaquil, exceed +162 mgal ‘and are the most strongly positive on-land Bouguer anomalies known in the Western Hemisphere, Several areas of negative anomalies with values as low as =152 mgal near Isla Pund, 55 km south of Guayaquil, interrupt the continuity of the belt of posi- tive anomalies, Negative anomalies charac- terize most of the Costa from lat 3°S to the Peruvian border INFERRED CRUSTAL STRUCTURE OF ECUADOR From the vicinity of Guayaquil north- ward, the western base of the Andean Cordillera follows roughly the boundary between the negative anomalies of the Sierra and the positive anomalies of the Costa. A northward prolongation of this boundary into Colombia coincides with the eastern edge of the “West Colombian Grav- ity High” and was interpreted by Case and. others (1971, p. 2694-2695; 1973, p. 2900- 2901) as the boundary between continental crust on the east and oceanic crust on the west. Broadly, this interpretation is equally valid in Ecuador, although we shall show that the boundary probably falls within the ‘Andes, 50 ke to the east ofthe 0 isogal contour. The huge postive simple Bouguer anomalies of the Ecuadorian Costa eoin- cide with areas in which basalt or diabase of the basement Pin Formation crop out for are veneered only thinly by sedimentary rocks and alluvium. Even though the post tive anomalies may be enhanced by the basalt-to-eclogite transformation and con- Gbeee edad bide metamorphic rocks of Eastern Corilera; rubble patter = volcanic fil ofinter-Andean valley; dotted e numbers = densities in gem? GEOLOGY, Janvary 1983comitant density increase of oceanic erust inthe subjacent down-going Nazca plate (Grow and Bowin, 1975), their magnitude and extent show that continental crust nowhere can underlie the Pifién, as has ‘been proposed by Sauer (1965, p. 80) Furthermore, the oceanic origin of the Pin Formation is attested to by its chem- ical composition (Goossens and others, 1979 ts lithology, and its structure. The isolation and preservation of the Pinén Formation has been attributed to the ‘westward jump of an ancient continental- border subduction zone at the close of the Eocene Epoch (Feininger, 1975, p. 1170; Feininger and Bristow, 1980). Negative anomalies over the Costa coincide with deep basins filled with Oligocene and younger sedimentary rocks, discontinuous southward extensions of Colombia's “Bolivar geosyncline.” In Ecuador, these are the Borbén basin on the Pacific coast southwest of the Colombian border, the Manabi-Esmeraldas basin west of Quito, and the Progreso basin south of Guayaquil ‘The pronounced belt of negative simple Bouguer anomalies over the Sierra is an ‘expression of the low-density root ofthe ‘Andes. Although the geographical width of the Andes in Ecuador is nearly constant (about 140 km), the geologic diversity of the mountains isso great that the varia- tions in magnitude of simple Bouguer anomalies along their length may more reflect the depth of voleanie cover than deepening and shallowing of the M- discontinuity atthe base of the Andean root. Certainly, the northern and southern ‘Sierras, separated at lat 2°15, difer sub- stantially from one another. For example, the inter-Andean valley with its thick pyroclastic fill and the oceanic voleanic rocks of the Western Cordillera are both absent in the southern Sierra. When the northern Sietra alone is treated as geologi- cally uniform, the progressively more nega tive Bouguer anomalies southward from the Colombian border imply a progressive deepening of the root. On the equator, the anomaly has increased by 33 mgal, to reach =265 mgal. At Quito (on the western lank of the gravity low) the anomaly is 220, ‘mgal, which implies a crustal thickness there of about 58 km (Demenitskays and Belyaevsky, 1969, Fig. 1). This i little greater than the crustal thickness (50.4 kr) determined seismically atthe same station by Robalino (1977). The root may continue {o deepen southward to the town of Lata- cunga (lt 0°55°S), site of the largest ne tive simple Bouguer anomaly in Ecuador (-292 mgal). The root may then shallow, GEOLOGY, Janvary 1983 for atthe edge ofthe southern Sierra, the anomaly has decreased to -230 mgal. The largest simple Bouguer anomaly over the Sierra atthe southern limit of observation (lat 4°20'S) is 10 mgal ess negative than the anomaly over the Sierra at the Colom- bian border in the north. On the whole, the average value of the minimum simple Bou- _Buer gravity anomaly over the southern Sierra is -244 mgal. This is 12 mgal less negative than the average minimum anom- aly over the northern Sierra. Chiefly, this difference probably reflects the absence of the inter-Andean valley in the south. The low-density voleanie fil of the inter- ‘Andean valley exaggerates the apparent crustal thickness read from gravity anoma- lies alone, an effect that could account for the diserepaney between seismic measure- ment and gravity interpretation of crustal thickness at Quito. Direct comparison of crustal thickness under the northern and southern Sierra based only on gravity ‘anomalies is not possible as long as the thickness of the low-density voleanic fill of the inter-Andean valley remains unknown, In fact, in the absence of low-density surf cial rocks, the crust may be thicker inthe south than inthe north, This problem ‘merits further investigation, ‘A small area of weak positive anomalies lover the western foothills near the Peru- vian border (lat 3°40S) coincides with an amphibolite and greenstone terrain of Pre- cambrian age (Feininger, 1982). The relatively gentle regional gradient of the gravity field over the Oriente may be caused by progressive thickening of the continental crust westward toward the ‘Andes of by an increase in the mean den sity of Precambrian rocks eastward, Such postulated crustal thickening can be accounted for by the emplacement of gran: ite by magmas derived in the underlying Benioff zone, the stacking of continent- directed thrust sheets in the eastern foot hills ofthe Sierra, or a combination of the two processes. Departures from an unbroken gradient ofthe gravity field are provided by numerous highs and lows with closures from 10 to 40 mgal, These features reflect the great heterogeneity of the bas iment that underlies the Oriente, They are unrelated to the superjacent, uniform, and litele-dsturbed oil-bearing Cretaceous and Tertiary sedimentary rocks. COMPUTER-SIMULATED CRUSTAL PROFILE ACROSS THE ANDES AT LAT 2508 ‘We have tested the geologic significance of the +162-mgal gravity high north of Guayaquil, the gravity low over the Sierra, and the gravity gradieint over the Oriente by means of a west-to-cast profile at lat 1°50'S. A preliminary crustal profile was drawn with geologic control provided by the geologie map of Ecuador (Servicio Nacional de Geologia y Mineria, 1969). We adopted the following physical constrains: densities of oceanic erust on the west (2.9, g/em?), rocks in the Western Cordillera (2.7 g/em?), voleane fil of the inter- ‘Andean valley (2.4 g/cm’), and continental ‘rust on the east 2.85 g/em) following Case and others (1971, 1973), although we have added a 10-km-thick slab of higher density (3.1 gem?) atthe base ofthe con- tinentalerust, The bottom of the Andean root was fixed at S1 km, in keeping with the seismic determination at Quito by Robalino (1977. “Theoretical Bouguer gravity anomalies Along the profile were calculated at 10-km intervals employing a computer program modified from Talwani and others (1959). Edge effects were minimized by arbitrary uniform lateral extension of the crustal profile 100 km beyond cach end. Repeated adjustments were carried out, everywhere within the established physical constraints, to obtain an acceptable agreement of caleu- lated and observed gravity (Fig. 2). Note, however, that the gravity field over the Costa, unlike that over the Sierra and Oriente, is markedly variable from north to south over short distances (Fig. 1. The aravity profile (Fig. 2) has been computed using a two-dimensional technique, the accuracy of which relies on the uniformity of the gravity field along a series of parallel profiles (Talwani and others, 1959). This condition is not met west of long 79°20'W (km 150 on the profile, Fig. 2) Although the amplitude of the errors introduced on the profile cannot be calculated precisely, chiefly because the thicknesses of the Manabi-Esmeraldas and Progreso basins (north and south ofthe profile, respec sively) ae unknown, the effect of the ba- sins is 10 reduce the strength of the positive anomaly. On the other hand, computation ‘of anomalies along the profile using chs acteristic curves (Levine, 1941) to take into account the basins, would diminish the amplitude ofthe positive anomaly north of Guayaquil by about 25 mgal. Adjustments ‘on the crustal profile to bring such a cor rected anomaly into agreement with the measured anomaly would place the mantle under the Costa nearly 1 km closer to the surface than is shown in Figure 2 The computer-simulated crustal profile is consistent with the premise thatthe Pin Formation is oceanic erust in place, rather than constituting an obducted slab as has sbeen proposed by Restrepo and Toussaint (1973) for ophialtc rocks of Cretaceous age in western Colombia. Along the profile (Fig. 2) the Pin Formation is covered by sedimentary socks and alluvium except in the Chongén-Cotonche Hills (kr 28 to kim 43) wher pillowed basalts exposed. (An underying sheted-dike complex crops out ina small hors at Certo de Hos, 90 ken north of km 25, The level of exposure is therefore near the top ofthe oceanic crust Coincident with the peak ofthe postive savity anomaly (km 70), the mantis interpreted to rise to within 9 km of the surface (the elevation at this point is only 30 m) and the oceanic erusis only 7 km thick. This thickness within the range of thickness of normal oceanic crust. The much greater thickness of oceanic crust to the west and east, averaging about 20 km (Fig. 2, may be due to fragmentation and Jimbicate stacking of slabs of oceanic crus during crustal shortening, a process pro= posed to have taken place in western Colombia (Mooney, 1980) ‘Oceanic and continental crust ate separ- ated by the Romeral fault (kr 200, Fig. 2), a transform fault inactive since Late Cre- taceous time Feininger and Bristow, 1980) tthe latitude ofthe profile, the Romeral Uunderles the western edge ofthe inter- ‘Andean valley tthe foot ofthe Westera Cordillera. The Bouguer gravity anomaly field here has an exceptionally steep gra dient (3.7 mgal/kr), and anomalies are negative (-190 mga). The interpreted toc tion ofthe fault i 50 km east ofthe 0 iso- fal contour (Fig 2). n southera Colombia, fon the other hand, the corresponding crus- tal boundary was interpreted to fall farther to the west in the Western Cordillera, about 10 km west ofthe 0 isogal contour (Case and others, 1973). Bouguer anoma- lies at the boundary in Colombia are positive Rocks ofthe Westera Cordillera, chiefly the Macuchi Formation of Henderson (1979) and interpreted by Feininger and Bristow (1980) a5 acolided ar, constitute ‘block as much as 13 km thick. Voleanic fll of the inter-Andcan valley tothe east may be as much as km thick (Fig. in consonance with an interpreted thickness of 65 km in southernmost Colombia (Cas and others, 1973), Cretaceous supracrustal mmetamorphie rocks and associated small sranitie plutons inthe Eastern Cordillera are represented by a block 10 t1 km thick witha density of 27 gjem? (Fig 2). The local high aver the foothill t km 340 ison strike with the Macuma uplift, which has brought Paleozoic rocks tothe surface 30 km south ofthe trace ofthe profile REFERENCES CITED Cate, J. E1970, Relative plate motions of ‘northern South America: Geological Society of America Abstracts with Pro rams 2p 316 Casey J:B, Daran, LG, Lopes, Alfonso, and ‘Moore, W. R,, 1971, Tectonic investiga tions in western Colombia and eastern Panama: Geological Socetyof America Bulletin v.82, p. 2685-2712 Case, 1. E., Barnes, Jerry, Pais, Gabriel, Gon ‘les, Humberto, and Via, Atwar, 1973, “TransAndean geophysical profile, southern Colombia: Geological Society of America Bulletin, . ta p. 2895-2008, Demenitkava, RM. and Belyacesky. NA, 1969, The relation between the Earths rat, surface relief and gravity eld jn the USSR, in Hart. P. Jef The Earths crust land upper manile: American Geophysics! Union Geophysical Monograph 13. pana, Feininger, Tomas, 1975, Origin of petrolexm in ‘the Oriente of Ecuador. 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BIT 10733-0770 Resttepo, 1, and Toussaint, J F, 1973, “Obduceion Creteea en el Occidente Colombian: Medellin, Universidad Nac- ional de Colombia, Publcacin Especial Geologia No.3. 26 p. Robalino, Fernando, 1977, Espesor del cortezs fn Quito mediante el andlns de expect de Ins ondaslongtudinales Pde priodo largo Quito, Instituto Panamericana de Geograia € Historia, XI Asamblea General, Seccion onal del Ecuador. Sauer, Walter, 1968, Geologa del Ecuador: ‘Quito, Ministerio de Edueacin, 383 p, 1871, Geologie von Ecuador: Berlin, Gebracer Borateacgr, 316. Serviio Nacional de Geolopa y Minera, 1969, Mapa geologic de la Republic dl Eeus- dort Quito, Ministerio de Recursos Nate rales y Energticos scale I:,000,00. Talwani, Manik, Wore, J. L.,and Lanéisman, ‘Maik, 1939, Rapid gravity computations for two-dimensional bodies with application to the Mendocino submarine facture 20 Soural of Geophysical Research, v.64 p88 “Techopp, H. 3, 1953, Oil explorations inthe ‘Oriente of Ecuador, 1938-1950: Am {Association of Petroleum Geologists Bul Tein v.37, p. 2303-2547 US, Const and Geodeti Survey, 1942, Theoret- ‘eal gravity ats level foreach minute of latte by the ntznational formula: Washingtoa, D.C., US. Department of Commerce 9p. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Reviewed by James E. Case, R.A. Gibb, and {Cat O- Bowin. Supported by Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada Grants A738 and A7070. We thank M.D. Thomas sad R.K. McConnell for making por sible the selinement of detail on our computer. Simulated crustal profile atthe Earth Pies Branch, EMR, Ottawa. Figure was prepared at the Istituto Geogrtico Militar, Quito. Manuscript received April 13, 1982 Revised manuscript received August 16, 1982 Mancserpt accepted August 19,1982 about Ecuador with