Magnetic stratigraphy of the Bucaramanga alluvial fan: Evidence for a ≤3 mm/yr slip rate for the Bucaramanga-Santa Marta Fault, Colombia

Jiménez, Giovanny; Speranza, Fabio; Faccenna, Claudio; Bayona, Germán; Mora, Andrés

doi:10.1016/j.jsames.2014.11.001

Cited by 19 publications

(15 citation statements)

References 27 publications

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“…In the western structural domain, bounded by the Chiguata and the San Mateo faults, Paleozoic metasediments constitute the ridge of the Floresta massif that lies between the Chiguata and Bucaramanga faults (Figure a). The Bucaramanga fault is a transpressive structure that reactivates a preexisting structure (e.g., Jiménez et al, ). South of this structure, two west dipping inverse faults, the Boyaca and Soapaga faults, have been interpreted as the horsetail terminations of the Bucaramanga fault system (Kammer & Sánchez, ; Toro, ).…”

Section: Geological Backgroundmentioning

confidence: 99%

Constraints on the Cenozoic Deformation of the Northern Eastern Cordillera, Colombia

et al. 2018

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The Eastern Cordillera of Colombia rose to maximum elevations of >5 km during the Cenozoic by inversion of a Mesozoic rift basin. Previous studies proposed that the exhumation of the Eastern Cordillera increased from ~6 Ma to the present due to the interplay between tectonic shortening and climate. In this study, we integrate new field observations, structural data, low‐temperature thermochronology, thermobarometry, and vitrinite reflectance along a section through the Tablazo, Cocuy, and Llanos regions to estimate the amount of shortening and the exhumation history. Our results indicate that shortening started as early as the latest Maastrichtian‐Paleocene in the Tablazo and Cocuy regions. Exhumation migrated eastward, starting in the Paleocene in the west and continuing in the Miocene in the east. The amount and rate of exhumation peaked in the Cocuy region with values of <5 km and < 0.4 km/Ma, respectively. At the highest elevations in the Cocuy Sierra, we also found evidence of a low‐pressure/high‐temperature metamorphic overprint, possibly related to shallow and local magmatic intrusions that occurred in the Late Miocene. Our cross‐section interpretation suggests a low amount of shortening (13%) that is mainly accommodated by high‐angle inverted faults and by the frontal thrust system. The presence of shallow magmatic bodies, moderate exhumation, and low shortening raises questions about the processes (isostatic versus dynamic) that drove the topographic growth of the high Cocuy Sierra.

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Section: Geological Backgroundmentioning

confidence: 99%

Constraints on the Cenozoic Deformation of the Northern Eastern Cordillera, Colombia

et al. 2018

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“…This tectonic escape is mainly occurring along the south‐eastern boundary of the Maracaibo Block, along the Bocono Fault (Merida Andes) at a rate of 9–12 mm/year (Pérez et al, ; Symithe et al, ; Trenkamp et al, ). The block is also moving on the south‐western border along the Santa Marta‐Bucaramanga Fault at 6 mm/year (Trenkamp et al, ) or <3 mm/year (Jiménez et al, ; Symithe et al, ), and on the northern border along the Oca Fault at <3 mm/year (Audemard, ; Audemard & Castilla, ; Symithe et al, ). Further to the east, the eastward movement of the Caribbean Plate has been transferred to the El Pilar Fault in northern Venezuela where the rate of displacement reaches 20 mm/year (Jouanne et al, ; Reinoza et al, ; Symithe et al, ).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Assuming that Fault C has been offset, and the eastern branch displaced northward by the indentation of the Santa Marta Massif, the current distance between the two parts of the fault is ~30 km, which suggests a left‐lateral displacement of 6 mm/year for Fault D during the last ~5 Ma (Figure e). This slip‐rate equals the value estimated by Trenkamp et al () but is double that the maximum rate expected from kinematic models (Symithe et al, ) and measured along the Bucaramanga Fault (i.e., 3 mm/year, Jiménez et al, ). However, it is important to highlight that assuming a clockwise‐rotation model of the Santa Marta Massif, the left‐lateral escape would occur at the same time with the rotation and not just as a final stage.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Basin Evolution and Shale Tectonics on an Obliquely Convergent Margin: The Bahia Basin, Offshore Colombian Caribbean

Galindo

Lonergan

2020

Tectonics

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Oblique convergent margins accumulate strike-slip deformation that controls basin formation and evolution. The Bahia Basin is located offshore, proximal to major strike-slip fault systems that affect northern Colombia. It lies behind the toe of the modern accretionary prism, where the Caribbean Plate is being subducted obliquely beneath South America. This is the first attempt using 3-D seismic reflection data to interpret a complex strike-slip basin at the western end of the southern margin of the Caribbean Plate. Detailed 2-D and 3-D seismic mapping of regional unconformities and faults is used to describe the structural geometry, timing, and evolution of extensional and strike-slip faults, which controlled the formation of the basin. Analysis of the fault zones is coupled with a description of the seismic-stratigraphic units observed within the Bahia Basin to reconstruct the spatial and temporal evolution of deformation and to evaluate the influence of the pervasive shale tectonics observed in the area. The results, presented as a series of structural-paleogeographic maps, illustrate an initial stage of transtension that controlled the formation of shale-withdrawal minibasins from late Oligocene to late Miocene times. The continuous deformation and northward expulsion of the Santa Marta Massif resulted in transpression during Pliocene times, leading to basin inversion and ultimate closure of the basin. Basin evolution along the southern Caribbean oblique, convergent margin, shows the occurrence of a complex interaction between subduction and major-onshore strike-slip fault systems and illustrates how strain-partitioning led to the break-up and lateral displacement of early accretionary prisms formed along the margin.

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“…Along the stretch of fault between Bucaramanga and the village of Cepitá in the valley of the Chicamocha River to the south, numerous morphotectonic indicators, such as sagponds, L-shaped spurs, shutteridges, stream offsets, aligned fault saddles, and stream deviations can be identified that, because of their alignment along the fault trace, can be taken as evidence of recent fault activity (Diederix et al, 2008(Diederix et al, , 2009aVelandia et al, 2007). The most remarkable of these features is the 2.5 km left hand northward offset of the Suratá River that has been considered to be the main feeder stream of the large Bucaramanga fan that has now been abandoned because of this offset (Diederix et al, 2009b;Jiménez et al, 2015). In one place a Quaternary few kilometers to the north of Bucaramanga and to the north of the Suratá River, a paleoseismologic study has been carried out in a sagpond deposit next to the fault trace that yielded evidence of 8 seismic events during the Holocene and a possible slip rate of 2.5 mm/y (Diederix et al, 2008).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In one place a Quaternary few kilometers to the north of Bucaramanga and to the north of the Suratá River, a paleoseismologic study has been carried out in a sagpond deposit next to the fault trace that yielded evidence of 8 seismic events during the Holocene and a possible slip rate of 2.5 mm/y (Diederix et al, 2008). A paleomagnetic study carried out by Jiménez et al (2015) on sediments of the Bucaramanga fan produced a comparable slip rate of 3 mm/y for the middle Pleistocene (800 000 years). The present work presents a description of the more salient structural features that are evidence of Quaternary activity of the BF.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Chapter 13

SGC¹

2019

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The 350 km long Bucaramanga Fault is the southern and most prominent segment of the 550 km long Santa Marta-Bucaramanga Fault that is a NNW striking left lateral strike-slip fault system. It is the most visible tectonic feature north of latitude 6.5° N in the northern Andes of Colombia and constitutes the western boundary of the Maracaibo Tectonic Block or microplate, the southeastern boundary of the block being the right lateral strike-slip Boconó Fault in Venezuela. The Bucaramanga Fault has been subjected in recent years to neotectonic, paleoseismologic, and paleomagnetic studies that have quantitatively confirmed the Quaternary activity of the fault, with eight seismic events during the Holocene that have yielded a slip rate in the order of 2.5 mm/y, whereas a paleomagnetic study in sediments of the Bucaramanga alluvial fan have yielded a similar slip rate of 3 mm/y. This recent activity is not reflected in surveys of instrumental seismicity that indicate a low level of seismic activity whereas the strong geomorphic expression of the fault trace, corroborated by field studies and landscape evolutionary models, suggests higher slip rates during the Pleistocene. The occurrence of a large transpressive duplex structure developed in a right hand restraining step-over along the northern stretch of the fault suggests fault locking that might explain this low level of seismicity. Recent results of GPS instrumentation of certain sectors of the fault indicate a confusing pattern of velocity vectors that are a reflection of considerable deformation within the shear zone of the fault.

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Magnetic stratigraphy of the Bucaramanga alluvial fan: Evidence for a ≤3 mm/yr slip rate for the Bucaramanga-Santa Marta Fault, Colombia

Cited by 19 publications

References 27 publications

Constraints on the Cenozoic Deformation of the Northern Eastern Cordillera, Colombia

Constraints on the Cenozoic Deformation of the Northern Eastern Cordillera, Colombia

Basin Evolution and Shale Tectonics on an Obliquely Convergent Margin: The Bahia Basin, Offshore Colombian Caribbean

Chapter 13

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