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Closure of the Isthmus of Panama: the Near-Shore Marine Record of Costa Rica and Western Panama

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Closure of the Isthmus of Panama: the Near-Shore Marine Record of Costa Rica and Western Panama Closure of the Isthmus of Panama: The near-shore marine record of Costa Rica and western Panama ANTHONY G. COATES* Department of Geology, The George Washington University, Washington, D.C. 20052 JEREMY B. C. JACKSON Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, Box 2072, Balboa, Republic of Panama LAUREL S. COLLINS Museum of Paleontology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109-1079 THOMAS M. CRONIN | HARRY J. DOWSETT | U.S. Geological Survey, 970 National Center, Reston, Virginia 22092 LAUREL M. BYBELL j PETER JUNG Naturhistorisches Museum, Augustinergasse 2, CH 4051, Basel, Switzerland JORGE A. OBANDO RECOPE, S.A., Apartado 4351, Zone 1000, San Jose, Costa Rica ABSTRACT sent on the Caribbean side. These sections was formed by northwestward movement of the fortuitously include abundant thick intra- South American plate (SO AM) and an easterly The final closure of the Isthmus of Panama formational slumps containing shallow-water vector of both the Nazca (NAZ) and Caribbean at ~3.5 Ma divided the American tropical fauna more appropriate for biological com- (C ARIB) plates that brought the Central Ameri- ocean into two separate and different oceano- parison with the Caribbean biota. Similarly, can volcanic arc in collision with the northwest graphic regions. Consequences for the marine the -1.9 Ma to 1.5 Ma interval, well con- South American foreland during the Neogene biota were profound, but, hitherto, correla- strained by various taxa, includes middle- to (Fig. 1). tion of the Pacific and Caribbean coastal sec- outer-shelf, and inner-shelf to upper-slope The timing and duration of closure of the tions has not been precise enough to track deposits on the Caribbean side, and marginal- Isthmus of Panama is known only in general biologic patterns. We present here a correla- marine to inner-shelf deposits on the Pacific terms. During the middle Miocene (12.9- tion of 31 sections from the Pacific and coast. 11.8 Ma), benthic foraminifera indicate that a sill Caribbean coasts of Costa Rica and western Using our new biostratigraphic framework appears to have formed at -1,000 m (Keller and Panama. Using calcareous nannofossils and to correlate previously poorly constrained Barron, 1983; McDougall, 1985; Duque-Caro, planktonic foraminifera at both the tops and mollusc collections, we show that evolution- 1990b). This was the first tectonic indication of bottoms of each formation, we estimate that ary divergence of the Pacific and Caribbean the collision of the Central American Arc with the Caribbean section ranges from 8.2 Ma to near-shore marine faunas had occurred by northern South America. Benthic foraminifera 1.7 Ma; and the Pacific sequence, from 3.5 Ma. This strongly suggests that the Isth- also become highly distinct between the Carib- 3.6 Ma to <1.7 Ma. These intervals bracket mus was effectively closed by this time. bean and Pacific at this time, which led Duque- postulated dates for final closure of the Isth- Caro (1990) to postulate a circulation barrier mus and provide the first well-dated record INTRODUCTION caused by the formation of a more powerful, of middle and late Pliocene faunas from the cool, marginal California current. By the latest region. The closure of the Isthmus of Panama was an Miocene (7.0-6.3 Ma), similarity of the benthic The Caribbean and Pacific sections include event of fundamental paleogeographic and pa- foraminiferal faunas suggests a return to com- very different environments of deposition, yet leobiologic importance. Two separate and dif- mon circulation between the Pacific and Carib- there is sufficient overlap and diversity of ferent oceanographic regimes were initiated with bean, but the faunas also indicate rapid filling habitats to permit meaningful biological com- profound climatologic implications (Haq, 1984; and shallowing of marginal basins in the parisons. On the Caribbean side, formations Hay, 1988). The Isthmus formed a corridor for Panama Arc and South America to neritic tied together by the overlap of the upper Pli- terrestrial organisms, as well as a major barrier depths (-200 m; McDougall, 1985; Savin and ocene markers Sphenolithus abies and Pseudo- that separated tropical marine organisms of the Douglas, 1985; Duque-Caro, 1990b). A combi- emiliana lacunosa (3.5 Ma to 3.6 Ma) range Pacific and the Atlantic (Woodring, 1954). Clo- nation of marine and terrestrial evidence (Keig- from very shallow to shallow inner shelf sure occurred as a result of a complex interplay win, 1978, 1982a, 1982b; Lundelius, 1987; (<200 m) and upper slope (200-800 m). The of several lithospheric plates, the exact nature of Marshall, 1988) suggests final closure of the Pacific coast sections were mostly deposited which is still debated (Lonsdale and Klitgord, Isthmus at about 3.2 Ma to 2.5 Ma. in a trench slope environment, which is ab- 1978; Pennington, 1981; Pindell and Dewey, Paleobiologically, closure of the Isthmus 1982; Wadge and Burke, 1983; Burke and oth- presents an opportunity to observe patterns of ers, 1984; Dengo, 1985; Duque-Caro, 1990a). *Present address: Smithsonian Tropical Research speciation, extinction, and changes in diversity Institute, Box 2072, Balboa, Republic of Panama. In general, the lower Central American Isthmus resulting from geographic isolation of marine Geological Society of America Bulletin, v. 104, p. 814-828, 9 figs., 2 tables, July 1992. 814 Downloaded from http://pubs.geoscienceworld.org/gsa/gsabulletin/article-pdf/104/7/814/3381457/i0016-7606-104-7-814.pdf by guest on 30 September 2021 CLOSURE OF THE ISTHMUS OF PANAMA 815 biotas. Paleogeographically, profound changes in water depth, sedimentation, and temperature can also be documented and related to the stages of formation of a major tropical biogeographic barrier. Documentation of these patterns re- quires a reasonably complete near-shore marine sedimentary record that is both precisely datable and diversely and continuously fossiliferous. In this paper, we establish the existence of such a record on both the Caribbean and Pacific coasts that brackets all proposed dates for final closure of the Isthmus of Panama. We have measured sections at 31 localities in Costa Rica and west- ern Panama (Fig. 2). Here we present a revised physical stratigraphy and a new detailed biostrat- igraphic correlation for these deposits. STUDY AREA A review of the topography, tectonic history, and Neogene regional geology strongly points to the area within Figure 1 as the location of the final closure of the Isthmus of Panama. This region lies between the Chortis continental block in the northwest, whose limit lies approx- imately along the Nicaragua-Costa Rica border, and the South American foreland (SOAM) in Figure 1. Map of the Chorotega and Choco structural blocks, with their defining thrust or the southeast, marked by the Uramita Fault transform boundaries (after Duque-Caro 1990a, 1990b). Principal plate vectors are indicated Zone (UFZ; Duque-Caro, 1990a). Between by the arrows. AF = Atrato fault; CARIB = Caribbean plate; CT = Colombian Trench; GFZ = these two continental crustal units lie two oce- Gatun Fault Zone; MAT = Middle American Trench; NAZCA = Nazca plate; NOAM = North anic blocks. In the west, the Chorotega block American plate; SOAM = South American plate; PFZ = Panama Fracture Zone; UFZ = occupies Costa Rica and western Panama, and Uramita Fault Zone; CHORTIS refers to the continental crustal block underlying Nicaragua to in the east, the Choco block forms eastern southern Mexico. Stippled ornament outlines the approximate distribution of late Miocene to Panama, northwestern Colombia, and northern Pleistocene sediments. Ecuador (Dengo, 1985; Duque-Caro, 1990a). The Gatun Fracture Zone (GFZ), lying along the line of the Panama Canal, marks the junc- The lowest topographic pass across the Central sediments are known in the region of San Carlos tion of the two blocks. Both blocks are overlain American Isthmus (34 m; Savin and Douglas, (L. Obando, 1986; Sen Gupta and others, by late Neogene marine sediments (Fig. 1). 1985) lies immediately south of Lake Nicaragua 1986). These deposits contain biotas of Carib- Present-day low-lying transisthmian corridors in the west of the Chorotega block (Fig. 2, bean affinity, yet are only 100 km from the Pa- are likely sites for the last interoceanic straits. A A'), where marine Neogene to Quaternary cific coast (Figs. 1 and 2). At the site of the GFZ, Figure 2. Locality map of the 31 sections measured. Locations of the lowest topographic passes across the Isthmus are shown at A-A' and B-B'. Downloaded from http://pubs.geoscienceworld.org/gsa/gsabulletin/article-pdf/104/7/814/3381457/i0016-7606-104-7-814.pdf by guest on 30 September 2021 816 COATES AND OTHERS a marine, Neogene sedimentary basin that con- were frequent marine connections between the particular localities have proposed stratigraphic nected the Caribbean and the Pacific (Wood- Caribbean and the Pacific (Duque-Caro, 1990b, names. We have used available names where ring, 1978; Dengo, 1985) coincides with a his Fig. 7). The topographic, tectonic, and re- appropriate, but others are duplicates for pre- negative Bouguer gravity anomaly and the sec- gional geologic evidence strongly suggests that viously named lithologic units. ond lowest topographic pass across the Isthmus the archipelago stretched from westernmost Sections have been measured on the Nicoya, (85 m; Savin and Douglas, 1985; Fig. 2, B-B'). Costa Rica to the Atrato Valley in Colombia Osa, and Burica peninsulas on the Pacific coast Extensive Neogene marine sediments cover (Fig. 1) and that this region contains the site of (Fig. 2, localities 22,24-31). In each case, Neo- the Choco block (Bandy, 1970; Bandy and the final marine connection between the Pacific gene sediments are draped over pre-existing Casey, 1973; Dengo, 1985; Duque-Caro, 1990a, Ocean and the Caribbean Sea. "basement" that hitherto has been lumped into a 1990b) where middle Miocene to lower Plio- single unit, the Nicoya Complex (Berrangé and cene sediments crop out in eastern Panama and LITHOSTRATIGRAPHY others, 1989).
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