The interaction of the northern Nazca and southwestern Caribbean oceanic plates with northwestern South America (NWSA) and the collision of the Panama‐Choco arc (PCA) have significant implications on the evolution of the northern Andes. Based on a quantitative kinematic reconstruction of the Caribbean and Farallon/Farallon‐derived plates, we reconstructed the subducting geometries beneath NWSA and the PCA accretion to the continent. The persistent northeastward migration of the Caribbean plate relative to NWSA in Cenozoic time caused the continuous northward advance of the Farallon‐Caribbean plate boundary, which in turn resulted in its progressive concave trench bending against NWSA. The increasing complexity during the Paleogene included the onset of Caribbean shallow subduction, the PCA approaching the continent, and the forced shallow Farallon subduction that ended in the fragmentation of the Farallon Plate into the Nazca and Cocos plates and the Coiba and Malpelo microplates by the late Oligocene. The convergence tectonics after late Oligocene comprised the accretional process of the PCA to NWSA, which evolved from subduction erosion of the forearc to collisional tectonics by the middle Miocene, as well as changes of convergence angle and slab dip of the Farallon‐derived plates, and the attachment of the Coiba and Malpelo microplates to the Nazca plate around 9 Ma, resulting in a change of convergence directions. During the Pliocene, the Nazca slab broke at 5.5°N, shaping the modern configuration. Overall, the proposed reconstruction is supported by geophysical data and is well correlated with the magmatic and deformation history of the northern Andes.
N2 - Plain Language Summary: The tectonic reconstruction in convergent triple junctions is a particularly challenging task as the relative motion between plates could define highly changing boundaries. Indeed, the resulting interaction between these convergent plates may induce important changes in the disposition of the trenches, and in turn in the three‐dimensional geometry of the subducting plates. Therefore, these highly dynamic conditions throughout geological time may be accommodated by different phases of plate fragmentation and reorganization. These factors could explain the complex spatial‐temporal distribution of subduction‐related magmatism and the different episodes of deformation in the upper plates. This reasoning is validated in the northwestern corner of South America (SA), where the continent has been converging against the Caribbean and Farallon‐derived oceanic plates since Cretaceous time. Additionally, we study the effects of the collision and accretion of the Panama‐Choco arc with SA. To accomplish that, we review the kinematic history of the Farallon/Nazca and Caribbean oceanic plates relative to stable Guiana Craton (SA) and integrate these results with the magmatic and deformation evolution of the northern Andes, which allow us to propose a model of the geometrical evolution of the subducting slabs. The obtained model is additionally constrained by seismological data and published velocity anomalies. N2 - Key Points:The tectonics of convergent triple junctions is complicated by the relative plate motion and interaction of the involved plates
We propose a model for the kinematic and geometric evolution of the Farallon/Nazca and Caribbean plates throughout the Cenozoic
The interaction between the Caribbean, Nazca and South American plates is closely related to the deformation history in the Northern Andes