Stratigraphic responses to a major tectonic event in a foreland basin: The Ecuadorian Oriente Basin from Eocene to Oligocene times

The Eocene to Oligocene sediments of the Ecuadorian Oriente Basin record two kinds of second-order stratigraphic response to the tectonic evolution. Lower Eocene shows evidences of local scale syntectonic deposits. This tectonic activity can be related to right lateral convergent movements inverting pre-cretaceous extensional structures. Upper Eocene and Oligocene sediments are integrated as the expression of an isostatic rebound characterizing a basin scale syntectonic deposition. This response is evidenced by a reciprocal architecture of the depositional sequences identified in the sedimentary formations. These data have allowed us to propose a new geodynamic model for the Paleogene evolution of the Oriente Basin.