Research Article| May 01, 2012 Discriminating rapid exhumation from syndepositional volcanism using detrital zircon double dating: Implications for the tectonic history of the Eastern Cordillera, Colombia Joel E. Saylor; Joel E. Saylor † 1Department of Geological Sciences, Jackson School of Geosciences, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, Texas 78712, USA †E-mail: jsaylor@mail.utexas.edu Search for other works by this author on: GSW Google Scholar Daniel F. Stockli; Daniel F. Stockli 1Department of Geological Sciences, Jackson School of Geosciences, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, Texas 78712, USA2Department of Geology, University of Kansas, Lawrence, Kansas 66045, USA Search for other works by this author on: GSW Google Scholar Brian K. Horton; Brian K. Horton 1Department of Geological Sciences, Jackson School of Geosciences, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, Texas 78712, USA3Institute for Geophysics, Jackson School of Geosciences, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, Texas 78712, USA Search for other works by this author on: GSW Google Scholar Junsheng Nie; Junsheng Nie 2Department of Geology, University of Kansas, Lawrence, Kansas 66045, USA Search for other works by this author on: GSW Google Scholar Andrés Mora Andrés Mora 4Ecopetrol, Instituto Colombiano del Petróleo, Bucaramanga, Colombia Search for other works by this author on: GSW Google Scholar Author and Article Information Joel E. Saylor † 1Department of Geological Sciences, Jackson School of Geosciences, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, Texas 78712, USA Daniel F. Stockli 1Department of Geological Sciences, Jackson School of Geosciences, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, Texas 78712, USA2Department of Geology, University of Kansas, Lawrence, Kansas 66045, USA Brian K. Horton 1Department of Geological Sciences, Jackson School of Geosciences, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, Texas 78712, USA3Institute for Geophysics, Jackson School of Geosciences, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, Texas 78712, USA Junsheng Nie 2Department of Geology, University of Kansas, Lawrence, Kansas 66045, USA Andrés Mora 4Ecopetrol, Instituto Colombiano del Petróleo, Bucaramanga, Colombia †E-mail: jsaylor@mail.utexas.edu Publisher: Geological Society of America Received: 29 Apr 2011 Revision Received: 02 Sep 2011 Accepted: 16 Sep 2011 First Online: 08 Mar 2017 Online ISSN: 1943-2674 Print ISSN: 0016-7606 © 2012 Geological Society of America GSA Bulletin (2012) 124 (5-6): 762–779. https://doi.org/10.1130/B30534.1 Article history Received: 29 Apr 2011 Revision Received: 02 Sep 2011 Accepted: 16 Sep 2011 First Online: 08 Mar 2017 Cite View This Citation Add to Citation Manager Share Icon Share Facebook Twitter LinkedIn MailTo Tools Icon Tools Get Permissions Search Site Citation Joel E. Saylor, Daniel F. Stockli, Brian K. Horton, Junsheng Nie, Andrés Mora; Discriminating rapid exhumation from syndepositional volcanism using detrital zircon double dating: Implications for the tectonic history of the Eastern Cordillera, Colombia. GSA Bulletin 2012;; 124 (5-6): 762–779. doi: https://doi.org/10.1130/B30534.1 Download citation file: Ris (Zotero) Refmanager EasyBib Bookends Mendeley Papers EndNote RefWorks BibTex toolbar search Search Dropdown Menu toolbar search search input Search input auto suggest filter your search All ContentBy SocietyGSA Bulletin Search Advanced Search Abstract Lag time is the difference between the closure age of a thermochronologic system and the depositional age of host strata. Lag-time analysis of sedimentary basin fill provides insight into the exhumation history of adjacent eroded orogens. In a case study of the Paleogene Floresta basin in the Eastern Cordillera fold-thrust belt of Colombia, variations in lag time reflect changes in both sediment source areas and exhumation patterns. However, near-zero lag times can be produced by either syndepositional volcanism or rapid exhumation. We applied U-Pb geochronology and (U-Th)/He (ZHe) thermochronology to individual zircon grains and identified zircons of volcanic origin as those for which the U-Pb age is within the 2σ uncertainty of their ZHe age. Consistent discrimination of young ZHe ages as the products of either rapid exhumation or volcanism reveals three stages in the history of the northern Andean hinterland. (1) Early to late Paleocene: The appearance of syndepositional and Mesozoic volcanic zircons marks the initial influx of magmatic arc detritus. (2) Middle to late Eocene: Near-zero lag times point to rapid, regionally extensive exhumation attributable to thrust-induced uplift of the Magdalena Valley basement. (3) Late Eocene to late Oligocene: Increased lag time is interpreted as recycling of shallowly buried foreland-basin strata possibly due to movement on basin-bounding thrust systems. The presence of volcanic zircons with ZHe ages younger than or indistinguishable from the youngest exhumationally cooled zircons underscores the need for double dating to reliably identify volcanic influence in detrital thermochronology datasets. These data highlight the utility of double-dated ZHe results for extracting tectonic histories and reliably excluding volcanic zircons from lag-time analysis. You do not have access to this content, please speak to your institutional administrator if you feel you should have access.