TECTONIC EROSION AND SLOPE INSTABILITIES

AT THE ECUADOR CONVERGENT MARGIN :

EFFECTS OF THECARNEGIE RIDGE
SUBDUCTION ?
J-Y Collot(1), R. Villamar(1), F. Sage(1), F. Michaud(1), B. Pontoise(1), G.
Berrones(2)
(1)UMR Gosciences Azur, Villefranche sur Mer, collot@obs-vlfr.fr, (2)Petroproduccion
Guayaquil, Ecuador.

Multichannel seismic reflection data, swath mapping morphology and stratigraphic

data from an offshore drill site were used to derive a geological model of the Ecuador
margin and to examine its along-strike structural variations in relation to the Carnegie
Ridge subduction. MCS data were recorded using a 45-L airgun seismic source and
a 360-channel streamer. Shots were fired every 50-m, providing a 45-fold coverage.
Swath bathymetry was collected using a 162 beams EM12D Simrad system. These
data show that the Carnegie Ridge is blanketed by 0-450 m of sediment overlaying
a basement that returns strong acoustic reflections over 3 std. Near the trench, the
ridge is cut by east-facing normal faults, which delineate left-stepping segments of the
deformation front and structural troughs containing a thin sediment fill. The plate interface has been imaged as strong, discontinuous reflectors dipping landward from the
trench, over a distance of 40-50 km. This interface bounds the top of the subduction
channel, which may contain pelagites and deforming ridge rocks. The margin, which is
mostly devoid of an accretionary wedge, consists of six acoustic units. The correlation
of the upper fifth units with the drill site and island outcrops allows to interpret, from
bottom to top, the lower Cretaceous Pin formation, the upper Cretaceous volcanosedimentary Calentura and Cayo s.s. units, the middle Eocene volcano-sedimentary
Ancn unit, and Recent slope deposits. A sixth unit overlaying locally the plate interface suggests under-plating, Morphologically the margin divides in two areas. North
of 1 40S, the slope is smooth and fronted by a narrow bench, whereas south of 1 40S
the slope shows breaks, indentations, and is fronted by a wide bench. The overall
structure of the margin reveals the brunt of vigorous tectonic erosion. The downward
truncation at the plate interface of the acoustic basement and seaward dipping acoustic units supports basal tectonic erosion. Based on paleobathymetry, the Ancn unit,
which includes near shore and beach deposits and extends to near the trench, would
have subsided by more than 3000 m since the middle Eocene. In addition to basal erosion, which affects the entire margin, frontal erosion characterized by collapses, debris
avalanches and large rotational slumps, developed mainly south of latitude 1 40S, in
relationship with subduction of major seamounts studding the Carnegie Ridge south1

ern flank. Mass wasting products and slump blocks underlay the lower slope benches,
and are locally underthrust or incorporated to the imbricated margin front