Uplift of the western border of the Altiplano on a west-vergent thrust system, Northern Chile

Cenozoic tectonostratigraphic evolution and architecture of the Central Andes in northern Chile based on the Aquine region, Western Cordillera (19°-19º30’ S).

“…The major west to east topographic elevation increase (~1,600 to ~3,500 m a.s.l.) is herein attributed to thrust activity within the WTS (Muñoz and Charrier, 1996;Pinto et al, 2004;Victor et al, 2004;Farías et al, 2005).…”

“…2), with the West-Vergent Thrust System (WTS) located within the Precordillera (Muñoz and Charrier, 1996;Victor et al, 2004;Farías et al, 2005;García and Hérail, 2005;García et al, 2011) and the East-Vergent Thrust System (ETS) located within the Western Cordillera, in the presentday arc Farías et al, 2005;Cortés et al, 2012a). These systems controlled the Neogene structural and depositional evolution of this part of the Andes (Charrier et al, 2007(Charrier et al, , 2013 García et al, 2004García et al, , 2011Charrier et al, 2007Charrier et al, , 2013Cortés et al, 2012a García et al, 2011), exerting a substantial role in the construction of the present-day relief of the region (Muñoz and Sepúlveda, 1992;Muñoz and Charrier, 1996;Pinto et al, 2004;Victor et al, 2004;Charrier et al, 2005;Farías et al, 2005;Jordan et al, 2010;Cortés et al, 2012a, b). Nonetheless, the detailed temporal and geometrical interrelationship of these structural systems has not yet been well established, nor the role they have played in controlling the lithostratigraphy and structure of the region lying between them.…”

“…The abrupt west to east elevation increase (~1,000 to ~6,500 m a.s.l.) from the Central Depression to the Altiplano has been ascribed to the development of a wide, crustalscale monocline (Isacks, 1988), or attributed to the development of the structural systems that bound the Western Cordillera to the west (WTS) and east (ETS) (e.g., Muñoz and Sepúlveda, 1992;Muñoz and Charrier, 1996;Farías et al, 2005;Jordan et al, 2010).…”

“…1; García et al, 2004García et al, , 2013Blanco and Tomlinson, 2013;Valenzuela et al, 2014;Morandé et al, 2015;Tomlinson et al, 2015). It is considered to have accommodated major deformation and consequent uplift (˃3,000 m) in the Andean forearc and arc during the latest Oligocene-latest Miocene, and to have strongly influenced the middle to late Cenozoic paleogeographic evolution of the area (Muñoz and Charrier, 1996;García, 2002;García et al, 2004;Pinto et al, 2004;Victor et al, 2004;Farías et al, 2005;Charrier et al, 2007Charrier et al, , 2013. The high-angle geometry of thrusts of the system in the Belén region (e.g., Ausipar fault of García et al, 2004) suggests that these correspond to re-activated normal faults (Charrier et al, 2013).…”

Slow Long‐Term Exhumation of the West Central Andean Plate Boundary, Chile

“…The CC is crosscut by N‐S striking normal faults, E‐W striking reverse faults, and some NW‐SE striking strike‐slip faults (Figure 2a; Allmendinger et al, 2005; González et al, 2003). Separating the Central Depression from the Coastal Cordillera on the west and the Precordillera on the east are the Atacama Fault Zone and the West Andean Thrust, respectively, accommodating some of the differential uplift between the physiographic domains (Armijo et al, 2015; González et al, 2003; Muñoz & Charrier, 1996; Muñoz & Sepulveda, 1992; Victor et al, 2004). Most of northern Chilean (e.g., Isacks, 1988; Jordan et al, 2010; Wörner et al, 2002) and Peruvian (2.5° northward; e.g., Schildgen et al, 2007) Western Cordilleran uplift, however, is thought to have occurred by way of a crustal‐scale monocline of which the Precordilleran slope constitutes the limb.…”