The margin of northern Venezuela is a complex zone representing the orogenic events from basement formation to subsequent subduction and exhumation during transpressional collision. This boundary zone has six east-west–trending belts that each record a different segment of its development. This geologic complexity requires radiometric ages to unravel, and we herein provide 48 new ages including U-Pb (4), Rb-Sr (2), ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar (24), zircon and apatite fission-track (17), and ¹⁴C (1) ages to constrain the evolution of three of these belts. These three belts are the Cordillera de la Costa, Caucagua–El Tinaco, and Serranía del Interior belts.

In the Cordillera de la Costa belt, U-Pb geochronologic data indicate portions of the basement igneous and metaigneous rocks formed in the Cambro-Ordovician (513–471 Ma). New ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar data from Margarita Island indicate that some of the subduction complex was rapidly cooled and exhumed, whereas other portions indicate slower cooling. This contrasts with new ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar data from the Puerto Cabello portion of the subduction complex that has Eocene to Oligocene (42–28 Ma) cooling ages. New fission-track data imply the entire Cordillera de la Costa belt from Puerto Cabello to La Guaira (∼150 km) was uplifted at the same time.

In the Caucagua–El Tinaco belt, the oldest ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar amphibole ages from the Tinaquillo ultramafic complex are Jurassic (190 Ma). Additional amphibole ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar cooling ages are older than previously recorded in either the Tinaco or Tinaquillo complex. One amphibole ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar cooling age for the Tinaco complex is similar to previous U-Pb results.

New apatite fission-track results from the Serranía del Interior foreland fold and thrust belt are synchronous with exhumation in the Cordillera de la Costa belt. In addition, several zircon fission-track ages in the Serranía del Interior belt are older than their fossil ages, indicating a Cretaceous minimum provenance age for Miocene beds.

Significant new findings from these geochronologic studies include (1) several igneous and metaigneous bodies that may be correlated with orogenic events in the Appalachians occur within the subduction mélange; (2) the Tinaquillo complex may record Jurassic rifting; (3) Cretaceous source rocks for the Serranía del Interior sedimentary strata; (4) exhumation of the subduction complex is segmented because two regions have significantly different cooling histories, with Margarita Island exhumed in the Cretaceous, whereas to the west, the Puerto Cabello region has widespread Paleogene cooling and exhumation ages; and (5) earthquake activity in 1812 caused uplift as recorded by exposure of Recent corals.