Tectonic Interactions at the Northwest Margin of the South American Plate

The area of the Tayrona contract offshore northern Colombia, with participation of Petrobras, ExxonMobil,<br>and Ecopetrol, is located at the tectonically complex boundary between the southern Caribbean and<br>northwestern South America plates. The tectonic history of the area has been dominated by the oblique nature of<br>the collision between the two plates. Complex interactions from Paleogene to Recent have resulted in a<br>tectonic fabric that includes accretionary prisms and compressive belts along with major strike-slip elements<br>of transtension and transpression.