Cordillera Blanca Fault Zone

Last updated

The Cordillera Blanca Fault Zone (Spanish : Falla Cordillera Blanca) is a system of geological faults located next to Cordillera Blanca in the northern Peruvian Andes. The fault is considered the most active one in northern Peru. The last time the fault ruptured was in the 1500s or before. [1] The fault zone forms the western boundary of Cordillera Blanca Batholith. [2]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cordillera Blanca</span> Mountain range in Peru; part of the Andes

The Cordillera Blanca is a mountain range in Peru that is part of the larger Andes range and extends for 200 kilometres (124 mi) between 8°08' and 9°58'S and 77°00' and 77°52'W, in a northwesterly direction. It includes several peaks over 6,000 metres (19,690 ft) high and 722 individual glaciers. The highest mountain in Peru, Huascarán, at 6,768 metres (22,205 ft) high, is located there.

A cordillera is a small chain and/or network system of mountain ranges, such as those in the west coast of the Americas. The term is borrowed from Spanish, where the word comes from cordilla, a diminutive of cuerda ('rope').

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Andean Volcanic Belt</span> Volcanic belt in South America

The Andean Volcanic Belt is a major volcanic belt along the Andean cordillera in Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru. It is formed as a result of subduction of the Nazca Plate and Antarctic Plate underneath the South American Plate. The belt is subdivided into four main volcanic zones which are separated by volcanic gaps. The volcanoes of the belt are diverse in terms of activity style, products, and morphology. While some differences can be explained by which volcanic zone a volcano belongs to, there are significant differences within volcanic zones and even between neighboring volcanoes. Despite being a type location for calc-alkalic and subduction volcanism, the Andean Volcanic Belt has a broad range of volcano-tectonic settings, as it has rift systems and extensional zones, transpressional faults, subduction of mid-ocean ridges and seamount chains as well as a large range of crustal thicknesses and magma ascent paths and different amounts of crustal assimilations.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">La Pacana</span> Large Miocene-age caldera in northern Chile

La Pacana is a Miocene age caldera in northern Chile's Antofagasta Region. Part of the Central Volcanic Zone of the Andes, it is part of the Altiplano-Puna volcanic complex, a major caldera and silicic ignimbrite volcanic field. This volcanic field is located in remote regions at the Zapaleri tripoint between Chile, Bolivia and Argentina.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Andean orogeny</span> Ongoing mountain-forming process in South America

The Andean orogeny is an ongoing process of orogeny that began in the Early Jurassic and is responsible for the rise of the Andes mountains. The orogeny is driven by a reactivation of a long-lived subduction system along the western margin of South America. On a continental scale the Cretaceous and Oligocene were periods of re-arrangements in the orogeny. The details of the orogeny vary depending on the segment and the geological period considered.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Idaho Batholith</span> Batholith in Idaho and Montana, United States

The Idaho Batholith is a granitic and granodioritic batholith of Cretaceous-Paleogene age that covers approximately 25,000 square kilometres (9,700 sq mi) of central Idaho and adjacent Montana. The batholith has two lobes that are separate from each other geographically and geologically. The Bitterroot lobe is the smaller lobe and the larger lobe is the Atlanta lobe. The Bitterroot lobe is in the north and is separated from the larger Atlanta lobe in the south by the Belt Supergroup metamorphic rocks that compose the Salmon River Arch. Much of the Atlanta and Bitterroot lobes are in the Idaho Batholith ecoregion.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Famatinian orogeny</span> Paleozoic geological event in South America

The Famatinian orogeny is an orogeny that predates the rise of the Andes and that took place in what is now western South America during the Paleozoic, leading to the formation of the Famatinian orogen also known as the Famatinian belt. The Famatinian orogeny lasted from the Late Cambrian to at least the Late Devonian and possibly the Early Carboniferous, with orogenic activity peaking about 490 to 460 million years ago. The orogeny involved metamorphism and deformation in the crust and the eruption and intrusion of magma along a Famatinian magmatic arc that formed a chain of volcanoes. The igneous rocks of the Famatinian magmatic arc are of calc-alkaline character and include gabbros, tonalites, granodiorites and trondhjemites. The youngest igneous rocks of the arc are granites.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Altiplano Basin</span> Sedimentary basin within the Andes in Bolivia and Peru

The Altiplano Basin is a sedimentary basin within the Andes in Bolivia and Peru. The basin is located on the Altiplano plateau between the Cordillera Occidental and the Cordillera Oriental. Over-all the basin has evolved through time in a context of horizontal shortening of Earth's crust. The great thickness of the sediments accumulated in the basin is mostly the result of the erosion of Cordillera Oriental.

Abanico Formation is a 3 kilometres (9,800 ft) thick sedimentary formation exposed in the Andes of Central Chile. The formation has been deposited in a timespan from the Eocene to the Miocene. Abanico Formation's contact with the overlying Miocene Farellones Formation has been the subject of differing interpretations since the 1960s. A small part of the formation crops out in the Mendoza Province of western Argentina.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Choiyoi Group</span>

Choiyoi Group is a Permian and Triassic-aged group of volcano-sedimentary formations in Argentina and Chile. The group bears evidence of bimodal-style volcanism related to an ancient subduction zone that existed along the western margin of the supercontinent Gondwana.

Chinchillas is a lava dome complex in the northern Puna of the Andes, in the Sierra de Rinconada. The complex is constructed on an Ordovician basement called the Acoite Formation. In addition to the dacitic lava dome on the southern end of the complex it also contains small volume massive pyroclastic flows and ash-and-block flows. The complex has a volume of 0.26 cubic kilometres (0.062 cu mi). The complex was formed 13±1 mya over a fault zone. Hydrothermal Ag-Pb-Zn deposits found there in breccia were mined occasionally. According to Coira et al. (1996) it, Cerro Redondo and Pan de Azúcar may be part of a caldera system in the Pozuelos Basin.

Tobífera Formation is a volcano-sedimentary formation of Middle to Late Jurassic age. The formation is crops out in the Magallanes Region in southern Patagonia and Tierra del Fuego of Chile, the Santa Cruz Province of southern Argentina, and in the subsurface of the Malvinas Basin offshore Argentina and the Falkland Islands.

The Vicuña Mackenna Batholith is a group of plutons in the Chilean Coast Range of northern Chile. The plutons of the batholith formed between the Early Jurassic and the Late Cretaceous. The magmas that formed the batholith originated in Earth's mantle and have not suffered any significant crustal contamination. A group of Early Cretaceous plutons were intruded syn-tectonically on the Atacama Fault.

The Cordillera Blanca Batholith is an extensive group of individual plutons that crop out near or at Cordillera Blanca, Peru. The batholith intrudes the Jurassic Chicama Formation. To the west the Cordillera Blanca Fault makes up the border of the batholith. It has been suggested that the magma that originated the batholith was the product of partial melting of underplated basaltic crust.

The Colangüil Batholith is a group of plutons in western Argentina between the latitudes of 29 and 31° S. The plutons of the batholith were emplaced and cooled in the Late Paleozoic and the Triassic. Runs in a north–south direction. The plutons of the batholith are intruded into volcanic rocks produced by the same plutons plus some earlier deformed basement. The most common rocks in the batholith are granodiorite, granite and leucogranite. The batholith contains also a dyke swarm of north–south trending dykes. Compared to other subduction-related batholiths around the Pacific Ocean Colangüil Batholith is more felsic.

Farellones Formation is a geological formation of Miocene age in the Andes of Central Chile made up almost entirely of volcanic and volcaniclastic rocks. At some location reaches thicknesses in excess of 3,000 metres (9,800 ft). It overlies the Oligo–Miocene Abanico Formation across a diachronous unconformity. The best exposure of the formation is said to be at the ski resort of Farellones east of Santiago.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Huincul Fault</span> Fault that extends from the Neuquén Basin eastwards into the Argentine Shelf

The Huincul Fault or Huincul Fault Zone is an east-to-west-oriented, continental-scale fault that extends from the Neuquén Basin eastwards into the Argentine Shelf. To the west, it has been proposed to extend across the Andes to the Chilean Coast Range.

Tocomar is a Pleistocene volcano in the Jujuy Province, Argentina. It is part of the Andean Volcanic Belt, more specifically to its sub-belt the Central Volcanic Zone. The Central Volcanic Zone consists of about 44 active volcanoes and large calderas of the Altiplano-Puna volcanic complex. Volcanism there is caused by the subduction of the Nazca Plate beneath the South America Plate in the Peru-Chile Trench. At Tocomar, volcanism is further influenced by a large fault zone, the Calama-Olacapato-El Toro fault, which runs diagonally across the volcanic arc.

The Ibagué Fault is a major dextral slightly oblique strike-slip fault in the department of Tolima in central Colombia. The fault has a total length of 123.9 kilometres (77.0 mi) and runs along an average east-northeast to west-southwest strike of 067.9 ± 11 cross-cutting the Central Ranges of the Colombian Andes.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Geology of Peru</span>

The geology of Peru includes ancient Proterozoic rocks, Paleozoic and Mesozoic volcanic and sedimentary rocks, and numerous basins and the Andes Mountains formed in the Cenozoic.

References

  1. Siame, L.L.; Sébrier, M.; Bellier, O.; Bourles, D. (2006). "Can cosmic ray exposure dating reveal the normal faulting activity of the Cordillera Blanca Fault, Peru?". Revista de la Asociación Geológica Argentina . 61 (4). Asociación Geológica Argentina: 536–544. Retrieved 24 November 2015.
  2. Petford, Nick; Atherton, Michael (1996). "Na-rich Partial Melts from Newly Underplated Basaltic Crust: the Cordillera Blanca Batholith, Peru". Journal of Petrology . 37 (6): 1491–1521. doi:10.1093/petrology/37.6.1491.