The terrane, dating to the Permo-Triassic, is situated on the North Andes plate.

The contact with the Chibcha, Arquía and Quebradagrande terranes is formed by the megaregional Romeral fault system.

Panzenú refers to the Zenú civilization, that thrived from about 200 BCE to 1600 CE in the Sinú river basin.

A study performed by Mora Bohórquez et al. in 2017 showed no basement variation between the Chibcha terrane San Lucas basement underlying the Lower Magdalena Valley (VIM) and the SNSM basement to the east of the Santa Marta Fault.

[5] bounding faults in bold Gómez Tapias, Jorge; Montes Ramírez, Nohora E.; Almanza Meléndez, María F.; Alcárcel Gutiérrez, Fernando A.; Madrid Montoya, César A.; Diederix, Hans (2015).