Paleogene tectonics and forearc strike-slip faulting: southern Chile

Conference · Tue Jan 01 04:00:00 EST 1985 · Geol. Soc. Am., Abstr. Programs; (United States)

OSTI ID:6319457

Leslie, R B; Cande, S C

Several lines of evidence suggest that highly oblique Nazca-South America convergence during the middle to late Paleogene resulted in the development of a dextral strike-slip fault landward of the Chile trench. The Linquine-Ofqui fault (LOF) is nearly 1000 km long and trends approximately N10/sup 0/E between 39/sup 0/S and 47/sup 0/S. It consists of several fault strands with the dominant strand represented by a mylonitic zone approximately 3 km wide. Preliminary field mapping (Herve, 1984) indicates seaward trending splay faults that can be projected offshore in the vicinity of two large embayments along the Chile margin. The Golfo de Guafo embayment occurs between 43/sup 0/S and 44/sup 0/S and is approx.40 km wide in the N-S direction. The Golfo de Penas embayment is approx.75 km wide in the N-S direction and occurs between 47/sup 0/S and 48/sup 0/S at the southern end of the LOF. The authors suggest that these embayments are a consequence of NE-SW extension due to movement on splay faults of the LOF system during the middle to late Paleogene. Convergence during this time was highly oblique. Movement decreased on the northern portion of the LOF prior to a decrease in movement on the southern end. Radiometric dates on rocks from the fault zone (Herve, 1984) provide constraints on the timing of movement along the fault. Marine geophysical data allow you to map the structures in these embayments which support the model of dextral shear along the LOF. Reactivation of the LOF may have occurred 6 Ma when a segment of the actively spreading Chile ridge was subducted at the Chile trench adjacent to the Golfo de Penas.

• Research Organization: Columbia Univ., Palisades, NY (USA)
• OSTI ID: 6319457
• Report Number(s): CONF-8510489-
• Conference Information: Journal Name: Geol. Soc. Am., Abstr. Programs; (United States) Journal Volume: 17
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

58 GEOSCIENCES
580201* -- Geophysics-- Seismology & Tectonics-- (1980-1989)
AGE ESTIMATION
CHILE
DEVELOPING COUNTRIES
GEOLOGIC FAULTS
GEOLOGIC FRACTURES
GEOLOGIC STRUCTURES
GEOMETRY
GEOPHYSICAL SURVEYS
ISOTOPE DATING
LATIN AMERICA
MAPPING
MATHEMATICS
MECHANICAL PROPERTIES
ORIENTATION
PLATE TECTONICS
SHEAR PROPERTIES
SOUTH AMERICA
SUBDUCTION ZONES
SURVEYS
TECTONICS