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Abstract We use new and published detrital zircon U‐Pb data (n > 10,000) from Oligocene‐Pliocene strata of intermontane basins of the western Colombian Andes and surrounding regions to study the evolution of sedimentary systems during the transition from arc collision/accretion to subduction. Our database indicates a shift from a compartmentalized basin architecture, locally fed by transverse drainages, toward one with enhanced connectivity and longitudinal sediment dispersal during the Middle‐Late Miocene. These events were accompanied by the end of local marine influence on depocenters and the progressive uplift of the flanking Colombian Cordilleras as they became continuous topographic features. Post‐Pliocene local and transient disruption of longitudinal rivers was caused by damming and valley‐filling, attributed to volcaniclastic flows. We interpret the inherent segmentation of strike‐slip faults and their morphological expressions as the primary controls on depocenter evolution during Early‐Middle Miocene arc collision/accretion. The subsequent transition to subduction and the tectonic segmentation of the continental margin triggered asymmetrical basin inversion in the western Colombian Andes. The modern rugged morphology in the northern intermontane region is arguably associated with widespread uplift due to upper plate cooling and strengthening by shallow subduction of the Coiba microplate. Conversely, the wide and flat morphology of aggradational basins in the southern intermontane area is interpreted as the result of incomplete inversion and the dominance of strike‐slip tectonics. The “normal” subduction of the Malpelo microplate beneath southern Colombia might be linked to a higher heat flow and localized deformation in the intra‐ and back‐arc regions. 

Abstract The tectonic configuration of the Caribbean plate is defined by inward‐dipping double subduction at its boundaries with the North American and Cocos plates. This geometry resulted from a Paleogene plate reorganization, which involved the abandonment of an older subduction system, the Great Arc of the Caribbean (GAC), and conversion into a transform margin during Lesser Antilles (LA) arc formation. Previous models suggest that a collision between the GAC and the Bahamas platform along the North American passive margin caused this event. However, geological and geophysical constraints from the Greater Antilles do not show a large‐scale compressional episode that should correspond to such a collision. We propose an alternative model for the evolution of the region where lower mantle penetration of the Farallon slab promotes the onset of subduction at the LA. We integrate tectonic constraints with seismic tomography to analyze the timing and dynamics of the reorganization, showing that the onset of LA subduction corresponds to the timing of Farallon/Cocos slab penetration. With numerical subduction models, we explore whether slab penetration constitutes a dynamically feasible set of mechanisms to initiate subduction in the overriding plate. In our models, when the first slab (Farallon/Cocos) enters the lower mantle, compressive stresses increase at the eastern margin of the upper plate, and a second subduction zone (LA) is initiated. The resulting first‐order slab geometries, timings, and kinematics compare well with plate reconstructions. More generally, similar slab dynamics may provide a mechanism not only for the Caribbean reorganization but also for other tectonic episodes throughout the Americas. 

Abstract Mantle plumes are typically considered secondary features of mantle convection, yet their surface effects over Earth's evolution may have been significant. We use 2‐D convection models to show that mantle plumes can in fact cause the termination of a subduction zone. This extreme case of plume‐slab interaction is found when the slab is readily weakened, for example, by damage‐type rheology, and the subducting slab is young. We posit that this mechanism may be relevant, particularly for the early Earth, and a subdued version of these plume‐slab interactions may remain relevant for modern subduction zones. Such core‐mantle boundary–surface interactions may be behind some of the complexity of tomographically imaged mantle structures, for example, in South America. More generally, plume “talk back” to subduction zones may make plate tectonics more episodic.