Journal of South American Earth Sciences 17 (2004) 239–251

www.elsevier.com/locate/jsames

(U–Th)/He thermochronometric constraints on the late

Miocene–Pliocene tectonic development of the northern Cordillera Real
and the Interandean Depression, Ecuador
R.A. Spikingsa,*, P.V. Crowhurstb
a
Section des Sciences de la Terre, Université de Genève, Rue des Maraı̂chers 13, CH-1211 Genève 4, Switzerland
b
CSIRO Petroleum, P.O. Box 136, North Ryde, NSW 1670, Australia
Received 1 July 2003; accepted 1 July 2004

Abstract
The low sensitivity of apatite fission track (AFT) thermochronometry at temperatures less than w60 8C suggests that AFT data sets from
the Andean Cordilleras may have frequently failed to identify specific periods after 9 Ma when cooling rates were high. Forward modeling of
(U–Th)/He apatite age data obtained from the juxtaposed Paleozoic–Mesozoic Alao, Loja, and Salado terranes in the northern Cordillera
Real, Ecuador, has improved the resolution of previous AFT thermal histories for the past 9 My. The Alao and Loja terranes form a coherent,
structural block that resided at temperatures greater than 70–80 8C until w3.3–2.8 Ma and then cooled rapidly to less than 40 8C at rates of
O15 8C/My. Intraterrane variations in the cooling and exhumation histories in the Salado terrane suggest that nonterrane-bounding faults
played a significant role during its Pliocene–Recent evolution. The Salado terrane preserves an older history that reveals elevated cooling
rates during 22–19 and 18–15 Ma. Subsequently, the terrane cooled rapidly from greater than 90 8C to less than 40 8C during 11–8 and
5.5–3.5 Ma at rates of O8 8C/My. Vertical reactivation of the Llanganates fault, which separates the Salado and Loja terranes, during the
Pliocene–Recent coincides with the main stages of formation of the juxtaposed Interandean Depression, which provides further constraints
on the growth phases of the depression and the Cordillera.
q 2004 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Keywords: Andes; Ecuador; Tectonics; Thermochronology; (U–Th)/He dating

1. Introduction Spikings et al., 2000). However, the lack of sensitivity of the

Apatite fission-track (AFT) thermal history reconstruc-
tions along the northern, central, and southern segments of
the Andean Cordillera have identified cooling that com-
menced at 9 Ma and continued until the present day along the
entire orogen (Crough, 1983; Shagam et al., 1984; Laubacher
and Naeser, 1994; Coughlin et al., 1998; Spikings et al.,
2000). The onset of cooling coincides with the well-
established Quechua 2 phase of Andean tectonism (e.g.
Sebrier and Soler, 1991) and is generally attributed to
erosional and tectonic exhumation; reported average
cooling and exhumation rates are generally lower than
1.4 km/My (e.g. Naeser et al., 1991; Steinmann et al., 1999;
* Corresponding author. Tel.: C41 22 379 6826; fax: C41 22 379 3210.
E-mail address: spikings@terre.unige.ch (R.A. Spikings).
0895-9811/$ - see front matter q 2004 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.jsames.2004.07.001
AFT method at temperatures less than w60 8C (Green et al.,
1986; Laslett et al., 1987), coupled with the ambiguity
surrounding the initial conditions of track annealing (e.g. the
length of unannealed fission track; Jonckheere, 1996),
suggests that the AFT method may have failed to identify
specific periods after 9 Ma when cooling rates were high.
Consequently, the post-9 Ma cooling and exhumation rates
reported in many articles are underestimates because they
simply average the rates from more than one event over a
period that is longer than the cumulative time of the
individual events. The aim of this contribution is to improve
the resolution of thermal histories during the Miocene and
post-Miocene periods from the central and northern
Cordillera Real of Ecuador using the (U–Th)/He thermo-
chronological method, which can provide precise quantitat-
ive information about the thermal histories of rocks at
240 R.A. Spikings, P.V. Crowhurst / Journal of South American Earth Sciences 17 (2004) 239–251
temperatures less than w90 8C. An enhanced spatial know-
ledge of the timing and rates of cooling during the Miocene
and later in the Ecuadorian Andes may enable us to identify
and quantify the driving forces responsible for the develop-
ment of the contemporaneous Andean orogen, including the
prominent Interandean Depression.
2. Geological framework and previous work
The Cordillera Real of Ecuador is comprised of a
supracrustal sequence of Paleozoic–Lower Cretaceous
metamorphic rocks, which may partly unconformably over-
lie the continental, subcrustal, Precambrian Guayana shield
(Litherland et al., 1994). The western flank is juxtaposes
against the N–S elongate, Interandean Depression, across the
Peltetec fault, which is underlain by basalts that originally
may have formed part of the oceanic Pallatanga terrane
(Fig. 1). A majority of the Peltetec fault is buried beneath
quaternary volcanic sequences. Topographically prominent
exposures of the voluminous, Jurassic Abitagua batholith
define the eastern flank of the Cordillera Real to the north.
The Cordillera continues north into Colombia and is believed
to be composed of a series of sublinear, tectonostratigraphic
belts in Ecuador: the Guamote, Alao, Loja, and Salado
terranes (Litherland et al., 1994).
Reset 40Ar/39Ar, zircon FT, and AFT ages from
metamorphic rocks of the northern Cordillera Real of
Ecuador show that the entire cordillera was exhumed during
R65–55 and 43–30 Ma in response to the accretion of the
Pallatanga and Macuchi terranes, respectively, onto the
South American margin (Fig. 1; Spikings et al., 2000).
The FT data suggest that exhumation at 15G1 and after
9G1 Ma was restricted to rocks north of 1830 0 S, which rest
directly above the subducted extent of the Carnegie ridge
(Fig. 1; e.g. Gutscher et al., 1999; Guillier et al., 2001;
Spikings et al., 2001), and was driven by the collision of the
ridge with the trench and, possibly, subsequent upper–lower
plate coupling during subduction. However, AFT data from
the northernmost Cordillera Real (along the Colombian
border), which has cooled the most since 15 Ma, further
resolve the 9G1–0 Ma cooling period and show that these
rocks cooled rapidly, by exhumation, during 9G1–7.5 and
5G1–0 Ma. These rocks lie directly above the crest of the
subducted Carnegie Ridge (Spikings et al., 2000, 2001).
This synthesis shows that the rocks from the current
surface, which lie above the subducted Carnegie ridge (north
of 1830’S), remained hotter for longer periods than the
current surface to the south and hence coded through an
apatite partial annealing zone (APAZ; cf. zone of partial
daughter isotope loss) later than the south. Similarly, rocks
from the surface along the Ecuador–Colombia border were at
higher temperatures at any given time than rocks farther to
the south, which also overlie the extent of the Carnegie ridge.
Evidently, the collision and subduction of the Carnegie ridge
had a significant effect on the thermal history of the
Ecuadorian Andes.
3. Methodology and thermochronology
We present the analytical procedure for determining
precise (U–Th)/He ages in the Appendix. The generation of
He from U and Th isotopes through alpha decay forms
the basis of (U–Th)/He thermochronology (Zeitler et al.,
1987; Lippolt et al., 1994; Farley, 2000, 2002). The
concentration of He in apatite is a function of time, He
diffusivity (1.5G0.6 cm2/s), the activation energy of
diffusion of He in apatite (33G0.5 kcal/mol), temperature,
grain size (Farley, 2000; Reiners and Farley, 2001), and
alpha ejection at domain boundaries. These quoted values,
in combination with grain size and corrections for grain
geometry-related alpha loss (FT correction; Table 1), have
been used to model He diffusion and retention and
determine plausible temperature–time (T–t) paths that
reproduce the (U–Th)/He ages presented herein.
Our modelling of the (U–Th)/He data follows Farley’s
(2000); Crowhurst et al.’s (2002) approach, which assumes
that the apatite crystals can be modelled as infinite
cylinders. Wolf et al. (1996) and House et al. (2002)
suggest that, unlike in the AFT method, the composition of
the apatite does not influence the diffusivity of helium.
Experimental data and field studies (e.g. House et al., 1997;
Wolf et al., 1998; Farley, 2000, 2002) suggest that all He
can be thermally degassed from apatite at temperatures of
w90 8C, though the diffusion rates are negligible at
temperatures lower than 40 8C for geological time scales.
Consequently, we define a temperature range spanning
90–40 8C, commonly referred to as the He partial retention
zone (HePRZ), in which a fraction of the He contained in
apatite is lost by diffusion. Assuming an average geothermal
gradient of 30 8C/km, apatite (U–Th)/He data can constrain
the thermal histories of samples at depths of 2 km or more in
the crust. The HePRZ overlaps with the partial annealing
zone of fission tracks in common apatites (110–60 8C; e.g.
Laslett et al., 1987), and therefore, the (U–Th)/He method
compliments the thermal history information provided by
AFT analysis (Stockli et al., 2000; Crowhurst et al., 2002).
Spikings et al. (2000, 2001)) establish a thermal history
framework for the Cordillera Real that is based partially on
AFT data and unconstrained at temperatures less than 60 8C.
Their AFT ages and inflection points in their thermal history
models have been used as constraints to derive plausible T–t
models, whose ages differ from the observed (U–Th)/He
ages only withinG10%. In most cases, these thermal history
paths extend to temperatures as low as 40 8C.
4. (U–Th)/He results
Apatite (U–Th)/He ages have been determined from
six samples from the Alao, Loja, and Salado terranes
along a traverse of the central Cordillera Real between the
towns of Baños and Puyo; a single sample (98RS65) was
also analyzed from the northern Cordillera Real along
 R.A. Spikings, P.V. Crowhurst / Journal of South American Earth Sciences 17 (2004) 239–251 241

Fig. 1. Simplified geological map of Ecuador compiled after Baldock (1982); Litherland et al. (1993). The tectonostratigraphic terranes of the Cordillera Real
and Cordillera Occidental are shown (Litherland et al., 1994; Hughes and Pilatasig, 2002), as well as the location of the Interandean Depression and the
Amazon foreland basin system. Off-shore bathymetry highlights the position of the subducting Carnegie ridge. Faults: BF, Baños fault; CTSZ, Chimbo-Toachi
shear zone; LF, Llanganates fault; PF, Peltetec fault; PPCF, Pallatanga-Pujili-Calacali fault. Basins: CB, Chota basin, LB, Latacunga basin, QB, Quito basin.

the Colombian border (Fig. 1; Table 1). Multiple aliquots aliquots where the ages yielded by each aliquot are
were analyzed from each sample to provide an internal indistinguishable (Table 1).
check of the precision of the data. The ages used in the The (U–Th)/He ages lie within a narrow range (10.4G
interpretation are weighted mean ages of the individual 0.9 – 2.1G0.01 Ma) compared with the AFT ages obtained
 242
Table 1
(U–Th)/He apatite age data, Cordillera Real, Ecuador

Sample Lithology Unit Terrane Latitude Longitude Altitude AFT age U Th He Ave Grain FT* (U–Th)/He
(d. m. s) (d. m. s) (m) (Ma) (ppm) (ppm) (ncc) Size ageG2s (Ma)

R.A. Spikings, P.V. Crowhurst / Journal of South American Earth Sciences 17 (2004) 239–251
(radius mm)
98RS22a Schist Alao-Paute Alao S01 23 28 W78 25 19 1800 N.D. 0.3 0.6 0.005 70 0.81 8.21G5.98
98RS22b 0.26 0.07 0.03 95 0.85 10.74G2.72
Weighted mean 10.36G0.91
98RS24a Gneiss Agoyan Loja S01 23 58 W78 22 52 1640 11G2 25.4 0.3 0.107 75 0.80 3.98G0.34
98RS24b 0.119 75 0.81 3.73G0.30
Weighted mean 3.84G0.12
98RS26ba Granite Azafran granite Salado S01 24 02 W78 20 41 1600 11G2 1.6 1.5 0.017 80 0.82 7.68G2.64
98RS26bb 1.3 0.5 0.026 67 0.80 10.18G3.26
Weighted mean 8.67G1.22
98RS29a Granodiorite Azafran granite Salado S01 24 03 W78 17 38 1530 N.D. 11 20 0.175 85 0.83 6.48G0.58
98RS29b 16 18 0.239 75 0.82 4.87G0.32
98RS29c 9.4 10.6 0.161 74 0.81 6.18G0.46
98RS29d 12 15 0.134 55 0.76 5.43G0.34
Weighted mean 5.48G0.34
98RS32a Granite Tres Lagunas granite Loja S01 23 54 W78 21 39 1600 41G11 2.1 1.6 0.026 102 0.86 2.06G0.58
98RS32b 5 3 0.039 82 0.83 2.06G0.38
98RS32c 4.1 3.5 0.023 65 0.79 2.08G0.60
Weighted mean 2.06G0.01
98RS34a Granite Azafran granite Salado S01 24 10 W78 19 34 1560 21G3 3 18 0.103 69 0.81 4.23G0.32
98RS34b 4 8 0.094 73 0.80 5.27G0.48
98RS34d 3 7 0.085 66 0.77 6.71G0.60
Weighted mean 4.91G0.65
98RS65a Granite Azafran granite Salado N00 38 06 W77 29 25 2880? N.D. 9.9 4.7 0.467 62 0.77 8.89G0.64
98RS65b 10.4 4.6 0.411 55 0.76 9.98G0.72
98RS65c 9.4 4.3 0.252 47 0.72 8.61G0.62
Weighted mean 9.09G0.40

Notes: FT*, alpha correction; ND, no data; All fission track ages are from previous work (Spikings et al., 2000, 2001). AFT, apatite fission track; All apatite separates were counted by R. Spikings using a zeta
calibration value of 387G17 (CN5 standard glass). Fossil tracks were revealed in apatites by etching in 5N HNO3(aq) at 20G 0.58C for 20 s. Induced tracks were revealed in muscovite external detectors by
etching in 40% HF(aq) at 20G0.5 8C for 45 min. The external detector method was used in all cases.
 R.A. Spikings, P.V. Crowhurst / Journal of South American Earth Sciences 17 (2004) 239–251
from the same samples (41G11 – 11G2 Ma; Spikings et al.,
2000; Table 1). The youngest ages were obtained from
Paleozoic schists and Triassic granites (Tres Lagunas
granite) of the Loja terrane, which range between
3.8G0.1 and 2.1G0.01 Ma (Fig. 2). A Jurassic schist of
the Alao terrane yielded the oldest age of 10.4G0.9 Ma, and
intermediate ages of 8.7G1.2–4.9G0.7 Ma were obtained
from the Jurassic Azafran batholith along the Baños–Puyo
traverse in the Salado terrane. The Azafran batholith also
yielded an age of 9.1G0.4 Ma at the Colombian border,
which is indistinguishable from ages yielded by the same
granite farther south.
The (U–Th)/He ages from the Alao, Loja, and Salado
terranes define two different, approximately linear trends
when the ages are plotted against the altitude of the samples
(Fig. 3). The ages from the Alao and Loja terranes are
distinguishably younger than those from samples at similar
altitudes in the Salado Terrane. The sample of Azafran
granite from the Colombian border does not lie on either of
these trends.
5. Interpretation and forward modeling of (U–Th)/He
age data
The variation in age data along the traverse across the
Cordillera Real between Baños and Puyo in central Ecuador
(Fig. 1) follows no distinctive geographic trend. However,
approximate linear relationships exist between the sample
elevation and the weighted mean (U–Th)/He ages for the
Paleozoic–Mesozoic Alao, Loja, and Salado terranes
(Fig. 3). Collectively, the data from the Alao and Loja
terranes define the most convincing linear trend, which
suggests that these rocks have followed T–t paths that have
the same profile, though they are displaced with respect to
temperature. This finding implies that the composite Alao–
Loja region cooled as a single block and that the analyzed
samples were at different temperatures, and thus different
depths, within the geothermal field of that block. The linear
trend for the samples from the Salado terrane is less
convincing and suggests that smaller-scale fault blocks
experienced relative displacement and distinct thermal
histories since the middle Miocene.
5.1. Thermal history modeling
The (U–Th)/He data set has been modeled to quantify the
timing and amount of cooling at specific sample locations
using the quantitative description of He diffusion in apatite
(e.g. Farley, 2000, 2002) and the numerical solutions
described by Wolf et al. (1998). (U–Th)/He age data
obtained from a sample that did not cool rapidly through the
HePRZ cannot provide useful thermal history information
unless it is constrained by complementary thermal history
data, such as that provided by AFT analyses, the 40Ar/39Ar
method, or vitrinite reflectance. Alternatively, useful
243
thermal history information can be obtained from a multi–
grain-size analysis (Stockli and Farley, 2003). We constrain
the models with (1) the thermal history framework
previously established for some of these samples by AFT
data (Spikings et al., 2000), using the same method
presented in Crowhurst et al. (2002), and (2) the distinct
and linear relationship between age and altitude for the
composite Alao–Loja region, which suggests that it acted as
a coherent block during periods of cooling. Therefore, the
inflection points in the thermal history paths for the Loja
terrane should be coeval.
The modeling procedure assumes that the extrapolation
of diffusivity values, obtained by laboratory (Farley, 2000)
and geological (House et al., 2002) time scales, is valid. We
also assume that the average surface temperature since
10 Ma in northern Ecuador has been 20 8C.
5.2. Alao and Loja terranes
Thermal history models have been generated for three
samples from the Alao and Loja terranes (Fig. 3). Sample
98RS24 (Loja, Paleozoic gneiss; Fig. 2) yields an AFT age of
11G2 Ma, though too few AFT lengths have been recorded
to generate a T–t model based on the AFT data (Spikings
et al., 2000). However, the best fit solution, which satisfies
both the (U–Th)/He and AFT ages (using the AFT annealing
algorithm of Laslett et al. (1987) and the modeling procedure
described by Gallagher (1995)), yields a distinct two-stage
history with an increase in cooling rates at w3.3–2.8 Ma,
after which high cooling rates of w18–15 8C/My were
maintained until the present day. The single AFT age of
sample 98RS32 (41G11 Ma; Loja) is extremely imprecise,
and sample 98RS22 (Alao) yields no AFT data. Therefore,
AFT analyses are not suitable to constrain the modeled T–t
paths for the (U–Th)/He data for these samples. However,
because the entire Loja terrane in the region of the traverse
and the sampled region of the Alao terrane probably acted as
a single, coherent block, we have generated theoretical
(U–Th)/He ages for samples 98RS22 and 98RS32 from T–t
paths that have the same form as that derived for sample
98RS24, although shifted to lower (by w40 8C) and higher
(by 30–35 8C) temperatures, respectively, to represent the
different depths in the crustal column and hence perserving
both an older and younger history, resulting in older and
younger (U–Th)/He ages.) Because all the (U–Th)/He ages
from the Loja and Alao terranes can be reproduced by a single
T–t path that is displaced in temperature and depth, we find
additional evidence that the Loja terrane has acted as a rigid
block since w10 Ma. The ages derived by the theoretical
models lie within the precision of their analytically
determined apparent ages.
5.3. Salado terrane
Thermal history models have been generated for three
samples from the Salado terrane along the Baños–Puyo
 244
R.A. Spikings, P.V. Crowhurst / Journal of South American Earth Sciences 17 (2004) 239–251
Fig. 2. Simplified geological sections across the northern (top) and central (bottom) Cordillera Real (Litherland et al., 1994; Pratt, pers. comm.). The traverses correspond to those shown in Figure 1. Apatite
(U–Th)/He ages are shown in large, bold type; AFT ages are shown in normal type; and the 98RS- sample number is shown in parentheses. The AFT ages from a previous study by Spikings et al. (2000) are also
presented.
 R.A. Spikings, P.V. Crowhurst / Journal of South American Earth Sciences 17 (2004) 239–251 245

Fig. 3. The relationship between (U–Th)/He age and altitude in the central Cordillera Real. The best fit modeled thermal history (T–t) paths for individual
samples also are shown. All models have been generated with the weighted mean (U–Th)/He ages (G2s) for each sample (Table 1) and the diffusion
parameters and methodology listed in the main text. Sample 98RS26b yields the least precise data, and the shaded region highlights the larger range of T–t
solutions. The AFT thermal history envelope for sample 98RS65 is from Spikings et al. (2000) and defined as that region that encloses the area defined by 25
thermal history paths whose AFT parameters most closely match the observed data (e.g. Gallagher, 1995). The APAZ is within the temperature limits assigned
to the standard Durango apatite by Laslett et al. (1987). APAZ, apatite partial annealing zone; HePRZ, helium partial retention zone.

traverse (Figs. 2 and 3). Samples 98RS26b and 98RS34
(Jurassic granites) yield AFT ages of 11G2 and 21G3 Ma,
respectively, though too few AFT lengths were recorded to
generate T–t models through the APAZ, which could be
used to constrain the T–t paths through the HePRZ (Spikings
et al., 2000). Therefore, the best fit solutions were found by
satisfying both the (U–Th)/He and AFT ages (Laslett et al.,
1987; Gallagher, 1995). The T–t paths for each granite show
distinct differences. The best solution for sample 98RS26b
has a two-stage history and shows minimum cooling rates of
8 8C/My from sometime prior to 11 Ma until 9–8 Ma, after
which the cooling rate fell to an average value of 5 8C/My
until the present day. In contrast, the thermal history model
for 98RS34 (Jurassic Granite) has an older, three-stage
history, with rapid cooling from sometime prior to 22 Ma
until 19 Ma at a rate of 13 8C/My, followed by an appro-
ximately isothermal period. A second period of rapid cool-
ing, not experienced by sample 98RS26b, was initiated at
3.7–3.5 Ma. The distinct differences in the timing of cooling
of these Jurassic granites suggests they were not exhumed as
a single column and probably resided in distinct faulted
units. Potential T–t paths for sample 98RS29 (Jurassic
granite) are more difficult to constrain because of the lack of
AFT data from this rock. However, the (U–Th)/He ages of
98RS29 and 98RS34 are indistinguishable; thus, it is
possible that they experienced the same thermal histories
(Fig. 3). Alternatively, the (U–Th)/He age of 98RS29 can be
derived by displacing the T–t path of sample 98RS26b to
temperatures that are 35–30 8C higher. This finding implies
that the samples were exhumed and cooled through the
uplift of a single, coherent structural block, though they
resided at different temperatures and depths. Furthermore,
the mapping of this traverse by the British Geological
Survey (Litherland et al., 1994) suggests that samples
98RS29 and 98RS26b exist within a single faulted block of
granite (Fig. 2). However, the samples have a vertical
separation of 70 m, which, to satisfy the required tempera-
ture difference of 35–30 8C, requires a paleogeothermal
gradient of 500–430 8C/km. This unrealistic value shows
that sample 98RS29 did not follow the same T–t path as
sample 98RS26b. A similar comparison of samples 98RS29
and 98RS34 validates the proposed T–t path of 98RS29
(Fig. 3) because they have indistinguishable (U–Th)/He
ages and an insignificant vertical separation of w30 m.
246 R.A. Spikings, P.V. Crowhurst / Journal of South American Earth Sciences 17 (2004) 239–251

Fig. 4. Miocene—Recent cooling and exhumation rates for individual samples from the northern and central Cordillera Real, derived from the (U–Th)/He data.
The exhumation rates have been calculated with the assumption that all cooling occurred as a result of exhumation through a geothermal gradient of 30 8C/km.
Tectonostratigraphic correlations are made against a simplified stratigraphic scheme for the Amazon foreland basin (Balkwill et al., 1995) and the Interandean
Depression (see references in the main text). Labels 1 and 2 identify the coastal Pacific (marine) and intermontane (continental) stages of the southern
Interandean region (Steinmann et al., 1999). Labels C, L, and Q note the basal sedimentary units of the Chota, Latacunga and Quito basins, respectively.

The best fit thermal history solution for the Jurassic
granite 98RS65 (Fig. 3), which is located along the
Colombian border, can be constrained by AFT data from
sample 98RS62 (diorite), which also forms part of the
Salado terrane (Fig. 2). Cooling has been continuous since
at least 18 Ma, though the most rapid periods of cooling
occurred from sometime prior to 18 Ma until w15 Ma at an
average rate of 17 8C/My, which has not been recognized in
the same batholith to the south. A second period of rapid
cooling commenced at 5.5–4.5 Ma and continued at rates of
w6 8C/My until the present (Fig. 4). The timing of the
initiation of cooling derived by modeling the AFT data
satisfies the (U–Th)/He age, though the best fit AFT and
(U–Th)/He models yield minor differences in the amount of
cooling at any particular time. This difference may be due to
either variations in the diffusion behavior of He in apatite
over geological time scales relative to laboratory time scales
or inaccuracies in Laslett et al.’s (1987) model for FT
annealing in apatite at lower temperatures in the APAZ.
6. Discussion
6.1. Crustal exhumation and driving forces
The thermal history of a sample at any given depth is
partly a function of the variation of the geothermal
gradient and the relative movement of that sample through
 R.A. Spikings, P.V. Crowhurst / Journal of South American Earth Sciences 17 (2004) 239–251
a constant or dynamic geothermal gradient. The only middle
Miocene–Recent volcanic activity along the Baños–Puyo
traverse is represented by Tungurahua (Fig. 1), which
currently erupts through the Alao terrane, approximately
5 km south of the sampled traverse, and is believed to have
been active since w0.8 Ma (Barberi et al., 1988). This
period significantly postdates the (U–Th/He) ages presented
here. It is difficult to quantify the effect that elevated
geothermal gradients may have had on samples 98RS22
(Alao) and 98RS24 (Loja, proximal to the Baños fault),
which are located within 10 km of the volcano and its
thermal springs. However, it is unlikely that the paleotem-
peratures of the remaining samples were affected by varying
geothermal gradients in the upper 3 km of the crust. No heat
flow measurements have been made within the Cordillera
Real, though Henry (1981) records present-day geothermal
gradients between 20 and 40 8C/km in the Eastern
Cordillera of Bolivia. We interpret the cooling of all
samples here as exhumation through a constant average
geothermal gradient of 30 8C/km.
An additional complication when converting thermal
histories and age versus elevation profiles from low
temperature thermochronometric data to exhumation
histories is the perturbation of isotherms by topographic
relief, relief changes, and high exhumation rates, particu-
larly when the topographic wavelength is long (e.g.
50 km; Braun, 2002). The long wavelength of the
topography of the Cordillera Real (O50 km; Fig. 2),
combined with the low temperature sensitivity of the
(U–Th)/He technique, suggests that the exhumation rates
along the Alao–Loja terrane derived from their cooling
histories may be exaggerated (Braun, 2002). Conse-
quently, given the potential for thermal relaxation
following magmatism and the topographic perturbation
of isotherms, the exhumation rates presented herein
(derived from the T–t models) should be considered
maximum values. However, the low temperature sensi-
tivity of the (U–Th)/He technique, combined with the long
topographic wavelength, suggests that the distorted
isotherms in the HePRZ closely follow the topography
(Braun, 2002), and therefore, it is the timing and relative
differences in exhumation, not accurate rates, that are
most relevant for this study.
The samples from the Alao and Loja terranes were
collected over only 200 m of relief (1800–1600 m), a
small area compared with the thickness of the HePRZ
(1.7 km), within a geothermal gradient of 30 8C/km.
Therefore, the samples may have resided solely within
the HePRZ during distinct changes in cooling rate. In
turn, the linear regression of the age versus altitude
relationship (Fig. 3), which yields an exhumation rate of
22–27 m/My, is simply an average rate of potentially
more than one exhumation event between 10.36G0.91
and 2.06G0.01 Ma (Table 1) in those terranes and may be
artificially low. Therefore, we use the modeled T–t paths
to determine more precise exhumation rates.
247
6.1.1. Exhumation during the Early Miocene–Early
middle Miocene
Early Miocene (R22–19 Ma) and middle Miocene
(R18–15 Ma) cooling of the present surface to tempera-
tures of w80 8C is recorded in specific fault blocks in the
Salado terrane, located in the central and northern Cordillera
Real, respectively (Fig. 3). Cooling during these periods has
been recognized in central and northern Ecuador by AFT
and zircon FT analyses (Spikings et al., 2000), and the
(U–Th)/He data presented here do not improve the spatial
and temporal resolution provided by the FT studies.
Spikings et al. (2000) conclude that cooling during these
periods was a consequence of crustal exhumation during
compressive deformation (e.g. Steinmann et al., 1999),
though it is difficult to define the responsible driving forces
clearly. Compressive deformation during R22–19 Ma may
have been induced by increased compressive stresses at the
trench following the reorientation of the subducting plate
from ESE to E at w25 Ma (Pardo-Casas and Molnar, 1987).
Subsequently, the same event, combined with the collision
of the Carnegie ridge with the trench at w15 Ma, may have
been responsible for elevated cooling and exhumation rates
during the early middle Miocene (Spikings et al., 2001).
6.1.2. Late Miocene–Pliocene exhumation and the
formation of the Interandean Depression
The (U–Th)/He data from the Loja and Salado terranes in
the central cordillera suggest that cooling since the early
Late Miocene was not linear and probably occurred in
discrete stages. Furthermore, significant variations exist in
the cooling and exhumation histories of individual fault
blocks at the intraterrane scale. Exhumation and cooling of
the Loja terrane commenced sometime between 11 and
9 Ma and continued until w3.2 Ma at rates of w0.2 km/My
(Fig. 4), which are comparable with those derived from the
AFT data during the late Miocene–Recent (Spikings et al.,
2000). However, exhumation rates in the westernmost
Salado terrane (98RS26b) were significantly higher during
11–9 Ma and may have exceeded 1 km/My. In contrast,
those regions in the Salado terrane to the east of sample
98RS26b were thermally stable and probably tectonically
quiescent during the late Miocene (Fig. 3).
Structural and sedimentological evidence in the Ecua-
dorian Andes suggests that distinct periods of tectonic
compression occurred in the Late Miocene. Steinmann et al.
(1999) recognize synsedimentary compressive deformation
at the transition between the Pacific coastal stage of
(marine) sedimentation and the continental intermontane
stage of sedimentation at w10–8 Ma in the southern
Ecuadorian Andes (Fig. 4). Exhumation during the Late
Miocene also correlates with the onset of coarse alluvial
fan/fan delta sedimentation in the Amazon foreland basin
(Lower Chambira Formation; Ruiz, 2002; Fig. 4), which in
turn suggests uplift of the Cordillera Real to the west.
Moderately high exhumation rates were widespread
throughout the sampled regions of the Loja and Salado
248 R.A. Spikings, P.V. Crowhurst / Journal of South American Earth Sciences 17 (2004) 239–251
terranes during the majority of the Pliocene. These elevated
rates commenced during 5.5–3.3 Ma and were typically
%0.65 km/My (Fig. 4). The T–t models reveal cooling to
temperatures less than 40 8C (Fig. 3), but it is difficult
to determine the duration of the cooling events precisely due
to the lack of sensitivity of the (U–Th)/He technique at
temperatures less than 40 8C.
Southward younging Pliocene cooling and exhumation
ages in the Cordillera Real corroborate the trends in the
timing of inception of basins that reside in the Interandean
Depression (Fig. 4), which juxtaposes against the Cordillera
Real to the west (Fig. 1). From north to south, these basins
(Fig. 1) are the Chota Basin (inception at 5.4G0.4 Ma;
Winkler et al., 2002; Fig. 4), the Quito Basin (younger than
3.5G0.1 Ma; Barberi et al., 1988), and the Latacunga Basin
(younger than w2.7 Ma; Lavenu et al., 1992). Elevated
Pliocene exhumation rates initially occurred in the northern
cordillera at 5.5–4.5 Ma, whereas uplift and erosion of
faulted blocks in the central Cordillera (at the same latitude
as the Latacunga basin) commenced after 3.7 Ma. There-
fore, the progressive southward uplift of the Cordillera
during the Pliocene matches the trend in the inception of
basins in the Interandean Depression. The Interandean
Depression is believed to have been forming since w6 Ma
in a transcurrent setting, which resulted in the progressive
southward opening of the depression and uplift of the flanks
from north to south in a ramp setting (e.g. Cobbold et al.,
1993; Winkler et al., 2002). Therefore, it is likely that the
Pliocene exhumation ages from the Cordillera Real are a
direct consequence of a transpressional tectonic regime that
led to the formation of the Interandean Depression.
The conglomeratic upper Chambira and Mesa For-
mations in the northern Amazon foreland basin (Fig. 4)
represent deposits derived from the eroding Cordillera Real
throughout the Pliocene. Their precise depositional ages are
poorly defined, and the significant spread in Pliocene
exhumation ages in the Cordillera Real does not provide
any additional constraints.
Thermal relaxation may have followed specific periods
of volcanism since the early Miocene (Fig. 4), and thus, the
exhumation rates may be exaggerated. Lavas and minor
tuffs from the Santa Isabel Formation yield zircon FT ages
(Hungerbühler et al., 2002) and K/Ar ages (Kennerly, 1980)
that range between 19.7G0.5 and 8.0G2.2 Ma. Pyroclastic
rocks of the Tarqui Formation yield ages ranging between
8.8G0.4 Ma (K/Ar plagioclase; Lavenu et al., 1992) and
6.3G1 Ma (zircon FT; Hungerbühler et al., 1995), whereas
the pyroclastic Salapa Formation yields a single age of
2.4G0.8 Ma (zircon FT; Hungerbühler et al., 2002). These
ages suggest that volcanism may have been almost
continuous throughout the Miocene and Pliocene and
therefore affected the thermal history of the samples.
However, these formations are restricted to sedimentary
basins exposed in the southern Interandean Depression
(south of 38S; Fig. 1). Eruption ages of volcanic rocks
in the northern Interandean Depression are scarce,
and a stratigraphic framework has not been defined for
them. Therefore, it is not clear to what extent thermal
relaxation contributed to cooling of the northern Cordillera
Real during the Late Miocene.
6.2. Comparison with previous FT studies
Thermal history paths of fault blocks within the Loja and
Salado terranes in the central Cordillera Real, derived from
AFT data using a monocompositional annealing model
(Laslett et al., 1987), suggest that they cooled continuously
and linearly from 9G1 Ma to the present (Spikings et al.,
2000). A majority of the sampled units cooled from
temperatures of %80 8C to the surface, which, assuming
an average surface temperature and geothermal gradient
of 20 8C and 30 8C/km, corresponds to exhumation rates
(0.2 km/My) that are significantly lower than the maximum
values derived by the (U–Th)/He method. This discrepancy
results from the lower sensitivity of the AFT technique to
temperatures less than 60 8C compared with the (U–Th)/He
technique. The lack of a Pliocene cooling and exhumation
event in the AFT record from central Ecuador is a
consequence of lower amounts of cooling and crustal
exhumation in that region compared with the north.
Consequently, the lower exhumation rates derived by the
AFT technique in central Ecuador represent average rates
from more than one event over a period that is longer than
the cumulative time of the individual events. These rates
are thus inaccurate underestimates. However, cooling
and exhumation was sufficient to be recorded by the
(U–Th)/He method, and a significantly improved and higher
resolution thermal history has been obtained for the central
Cordillera Real.
Along-strike variations in the AFT data have shown that
the far northern cordillera has been exhumed most since
10 Ma. Consequently, sufficient exhumation occurred in
northern Ecuador to reveal two distinct cooling and
exhumation events in the AFT record: at w8.5 and 5 Ma.
These periods are indistinguishable from those derived from
the (U–Th)/He data from northern Ecuador, and both
techniques yield similar cooling and exhumation rates
(0.65–0.5 km/My; Spikings et al., 2000) in that region.
6.3. Fault reactivation and topography
Distinct variations in the thermal history record of
juxtaposing fault blocks at the intra- and interterrane
scales imply a lateral variation in cooling history, which,
assuming the isotherms remained flat during periods of
cooling, implies lateral variations in the exhumation history.
Consequently, vertical components of fault displacements
must have accommodated the contrasting exhumation
histories. The postulated Jurassic–Early Cretaceous terrane-
bounding Baños and Llanganates faults of Litherland et al.
(1994); (Fig. 2) have not accommodated the strain
associated with changing stress fields during the Late
 R.A. Spikings, P.V. Crowhurst / Journal of South American Earth Sciences 17 (2004) 239–251
Fig. 5. A comparison of relative displacement rates with time during the Late Miocene–Pliocene for samples 98RS26b (western Salado terrane) and 98RS34
(central Salado terrane). Positive values indicate that 98RS26b was displacing toward the surface relative to 98RS34; negative values indicate the opposite.
Miocene–Pliocene in the studied region. Rather, increased
stresses in the Salado Terrane were accommodated by the
reactivation of smaller scale massifs; that is, the Salado
terrane did not exist as a rigid entity during the Late
Miocene–Recent.
A comparison of the exhumation rates of individual
samples in the Salado terrane in the central cordillera
suggests that exhumation of fault blocks propagated east-
ward during the Late Miocene–Recent (Fig. 5). The
exhumation rate of sample 98RS26b (westernmost Salado
terrane) relative to 98RS34 progressively reduced during
the late Miocene–Pliocene from w0.5 km/My during
11–9 Ma to w0.2 km/My during 9–3.7 Ma. After 3.7 Ma,
exhumation rates were greater in the central Salado terrane
than in more western regions. Foreland- (eastward)
propagating reverse faulting throughout the Salado terrane
in central regions of the cordillera may be a consequence of
migrating zones of subducted high relief on the Carnegie
Ridge. Alternatively, it may reflect the progressive widen-
ing of the transcurrent or pure thrust system that is
responsible for generating the topography of the Inter-
andean Depression.
The linear relationship between (U–Th)/He age and
altitude in the Alao and Loja terranes (Fig. 3) suggests
that samples 98RS22, K24, and K32 may define a
coherent, fault-bounded region. These samples cooled at
rates greater than those located farther east in the Salado
terrane after w3.3 Ma (Fig. 4). Consequently, reactivation
of the Llanganates fault, which separates the postulated
coherent block from the Salado terrane, probably was
responsible for the higher exhumation rates to the west
than those in individual fault blocks to the east. The
western boundary of the block cannot be defined by the
current data set. The lack of detectable vertical displace-
ment across the postulated Baños fault (Fig. 2) supports
249
the suggestion of Pratt et al. (2002) that the contact
between the Alao and Loja terranes may be intrusive
as opposed to faulted (Litherland et al., 1994). The
(U–Th)/He thermal model for 98RS24, located within the
central Loja terrane, suggests it was at 70 8C at 3.3 Ma
(which corresponds to the time when cooling and
exhumation rates increased in the postulated fault block;
Fig. 3). However, sample 98RS26b, located proximal to
the Llanganates fault in the Salado terrane (Fig. 2) was at
40–35 8C at 3.3 Ma. Assuming a geothermal gradient of
30 8C/km and flat isotherms, we can calculate that a
difference of 1.2–1.0 km in exhumation has occurred
across the Llanganates fault since 3.3 Ma. The geometry
of the Llanganates fault is not tightly constrained, though
the British Geological Survey model (Litherland et al.,
1994) suggests it was an east-vergent, reverse displace-
ment (Fig. 2).
The Alao and Loja terranes form the topographic ridge
and host the most juvenile landscapes in the cordillera,
corroborating the higher exhumation rates.
7. Conclusions
The apatite (U–Th)/He age data from the central and
northern Cordillera Real reveal a high-resolution, low
temperature thermal history record was previously unrec-
ognized by AFT analysis. Early–Middle Miocene thermal
history models derived by the AFT method corroborate the
(U–Th)/He data, and the current study does not constrain
these models further. However, previous AFT thermal
history models identify a single cooling period in the central
Cordillera Real during 9G1 – 0 Ma, in contrast with
acceptable (U–Th)/He thermal history models, which
250 R.A. Spikings, P.V. Crowhurst / Journal of South American Earth Sciences 17 (2004) 239–251
resolve the period further and identify specific cooling
periods that commenced during 5.5–3.3 Ma.
Pliocene exhumation occurred at progressively younger
times in a southward progression along the Cordillera Real,
which corroborates the trends in the timing of inception of
basins that reside in the Interandean Depression. Therefore,
it is likely that reactivation within the Cordillera Real was
linked intimately with the structural evolution of the
Interandean Depression during the Pliocene. The southward
younging trend in exhumation ages is entirely consistent
with Winkler et al. (2002), who propose that the Interandean
Depression opened progressively from north to south as part
of a complex transcurrent system located along a restraining
bend.
Relationships between altitude and (U–Th)/He age,
combined with lateral variations in the exhumation histories
of individual fault blocks, suggest that the Alao and Loja
terranes of Litherland et al. (1994) formed a single, coherent,
faulted block in central Ecuador during the Middle Miocene–
Pliocene, limited to the east by the Llanganates fault. In
contrast, in the Salado terrane, intraterrane-scale, foreland-
propagating reverse faulting occurred during the Late
Miocene–Pliocene, which may have resulted in the widening
of the Interandean Depression.
Acknowledgements
We are grateful for several constructive discussions with
Wilfried Winkler and Diego Villagomez on the origin of the
Interandean Depression. Field sampling benefited from the
assistance of Geoffrey Ruiz, Wilfried Winkler, and Diane
Seward and was funded by the Swiss National Science
Foundation. Andy Carter and Etienne Jaillard provided
constructive and useful reviews. We thank Ken Farley
(Caltech, USA) for providing software to model He age
data.
Appendix
The CSIRO He extraction and analysis facility comprises
a fully automated, stainless steel system connected to a
dedicated, online Balzers Prismae 200 quadrapole mass
spectrometer. Gas extraction is performed by a US Laser
Corporation, 16W Nd-YAG, continuous-wave laser system
with a 100 mm beam, and samples are heated to w1000 8C
for w5 min using 1–2 W of power. The extraction line is
maintained at w10K8 mbar between analyses. Active gases
are removed using SAES getters (AP10N). The analytical
procedure is controlled by a LabVIEWTM-based automated
procedure.
Whole-rock samples were crushed, and apatite grains
were recovered by conventional heavy liquid and magnetic
methods. Apatite grains were carefully handpicked using a
binocular microscope at a magnification of 100! to avoid
U- and Th-rich mineral inclusions (e.g. zircon) that may
produce excess (parentless) He in apatite. Images of
selected grains were captured by a CCD camera mounted
on the microscope and analyzed using image analysis
techniques for alpha ejection correction. This correction is
determined using the estimated dimensions of each grain
and applied directly to the final age. Aliquots of 1–5 grains
were sealed in Pt tubes (1 mm width), and as many as 25
individual aliquots were placed into pits in a Cu planchette
prior to heating with the laser in an ultra-high vacuum
system.
4
He abundances were determined by isotope dilution
using a pure 3He spike, which is calibrated on a regular basis
against an independent 4He standard tank. 4He re-extracts are
performed routinely after each analysis to determine whether
all of the trapped He gas has been removed. The re-extract
gas levels are consistently as low as w0.0034 ncc 4He.
The U and Th content of degassed apatite samples were
determined on a Perkin Elmer Sciex 5000a ICP-MS using
the isotope ratio application. To dissolve the apatite, 100 ml
of a 235U and 230Th spike solution (approximately 50 ng/ml
U and Th), prepared in 7.1M HNO3(aq), is used. Each
acidified Pt/aliquot package was placed in an ultrasonic bath
for w10 min. A dilute stock solution (Johnson Matthey)
containing 250 ng/ml U and Th (prepared on a weight/
weight basis in 1 M HNO3(aq)) also was acidified, spiked,
and analyzed with the samples.
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