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The southernmost portion of the Liquiñe-Ofqui fault zone (LOFZ) lies within the proposed slab window which formed due to oblique subduction of the Chile Ridge in Patagonia. Mapping of paleo-surface ruptures, offsets, and lithological separations along the master fault allowed us to constrain geologic slip rates for the first time with dextral rates of 11.6–24.6 mm/year (Quaternary) and 3.6–18.9 mm/year (Late-Cenozoic) respectively. We had trouble mapping the LOFZ in one local because of a partially collapsed and previously undiscovered volcanic complex, Volcan Mate Grande (VMG: 1,280 m high and thus Vesuvius-sized) that grew in a caldera also offset along the LOFZ and has distinct geochemistry from adjacent stratovolcanoes. Besides the clear seismic and volcanic hazard implications, the structural connection along the main trace of the fast slipping LOFZ and geochemistry of VMG provides evidence for the slab window and insight into interplay between fast-slipping crustal intra-arc crustal faults and volcanoes.

Early inhabitants along the hyperarid coastal Atacama Desert in northern Chile developed resilience strategies over 12,000 years, allowing these communities to effectively adapt to this extreme environment, including the impact of giant earthquakes and tsunamis. Here, we provide geoarchaeological evidence revealing a major tsunamigenic earthquake that severely affected prehistoric hunter-gatherer-fisher communities ~3800 years ago, causing an exceptional social disruption reflected in contemporary changes in archaeological sites and triggering resilient strategies along these coasts. Together with tsunami modeling results, we suggest that this event resulted from a ~1000-km-long megathrust rupture along the subduction contact of the Nazca and South American plates, highlighting the possibility of M w ~9.5 tsunamigenic earthquakes in northern Chile, one of the major seismic gaps of the planet. This emphasizes the necessity to account for long temporal scales to better understand the variability, social effects, and human responses favoring resilience to socionatural disasters.

The intra-arc Liquiñe-Ofqui Fault System (LOFS) is an active transpressive fault zone located in the Patagonian Andes of Chile. In 2007, a seismic sequence occurred in the Aysén Fjord region of Chilean Patagonia along the LOFS, with a M w 6.2 main earthquake that triggered dozens of landslides, some of which induced tsunami waves that caused severe damage and casualties. Through the analysis of high-resolution seismic reflection and bathymetric data, we identify six submarine faults cutting the Late Quaternary postglacial sedimentary infill of the fjord. The most conspicuous are the dextral-normal NE-SW striking Quitralco fault (QF) and the N-S striking strike-slip Río Cuervo (RCF) and Punta Cola faults (PCF). Our paleoseismological analysis reveals at least seven paleolandslide events buried in the fjord sediments that were triggered by local paleoearthquakes, which occurred since local ice sheet retreat, that is, circa 12 kyr. By combining tectonic observations with local seismicity data, we propose a seismotectonic model for the evolution of the 2007 seismic sequence where three structures were progressively activated from the depth toward the upper continental crust, causing surface rupture along the PCF and with earthquakes, suggesting only partial ruptures along other faults. Because the other faults did not rupture to the seafloor they remain important sources of seismic hazard. Thus, the last seismic sequence was a consequence of a stress transfer from the lower-ductile toward the upper-brittle continental crust, close to the triple junction of the Nazca, South American, and Antarctica Plates. Our results emphasize on the potential synergies between multiple geological and geophysical methods to assess complex events. Plain Language Summary When crustal faults rupture, the energy released is the earthquakes we feel at the surface of the Earth. Recent studies along strike-slip faults demonstrate that these phenomena are often not only related to a single fault but instead take place along several faults like was seen in the 2016 Kaikoura earthquake in New Zealand. Using novel high-resolution seismic reflection imagery and bathymetric data together with the reanalysis of local seismicity, we show (i) multiple active faults in the Aysén Fjord area along the Liquiñe-Ofqui Fault System in the Patagonian Andes; (ii) several of these faults were activated during the last 2007 seismic sequence and one of them (the Punta Cola fault), ruptured to the surface causing a M w 6.2 earthquake that generated massive landslides and local tsunami; and (iii) mapping of similar landslides in the fjord sediments demonstrates similar events occurred at least seven times since the last ice sheet retreat in the area, that is, in the last 12,000 yr. This demonstrates the necessity for including the possibility of complex ruptures involving multiple faults regarding seismic hazard assessment along crustal faults, especially for faults near populated areas.

On 16 September 2015, the Mw 8.3 Illapel megathrust earthquake broke the subduction contact of the Nazca plate beneath the South American plate, causing unexpectedly high tsunami waves that strongly impacted the coast along the Coquimbo region in central–northern Chile. Here, we report results from a postearthquake and tsunami survey, evidencing a complex coastal geological response driven by the near coast and near trench seismic patches that ruptured during this event. Systematically, high tsunami run-ups, up to 10–11 m a.s.l., were measured on the western coast of the Punta Lengua de Vaca Peninsula in front of the near trench rupture patch, whereas tsunami run-ups up to 5–6 m were measured close to the near coast rupture patch. Detailed measurements conducted in the Coquimbo area revealed tsunami run-ups systematically higher than 6–6.5 m and up to 7.8 m. Field observations of bleached coralline algae supported by ulterior laboratory experiences were compared with geodetic measurements that evidenced complex and variable alongshore uplift-subsidence responses of the coast, suggesting a relative consistency with respect to its modern geomorphological configuration. From the analysis of pit dug in the Tongoy area, which was strongly impacted by this last tsunami, we evaluated distinctive sandy layers with benthic foraminifera tests interbedded between alluvial fine sediments, which we interpreted as paleotsunami events dated before 1108 ± 77 C.E., shortly before 1346 ± 50 C.E., and approximately 1473 ± 37 C.E. In addition to the historical massive tsunamis that occurred in 1730, 1877, and 1922 C.E. in central and northern Chile, we interpreted prehistoric tsunamis revealed here as events triggered by large megathrust earthquake ruptures, evidencing the high exposition of these coasts to near fields as well as to distant tsunamis produced along the Chilean subduction margin but also in the pan-Pacific region.