Bucaramanga-Santa Marta Fault

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Coordinates: 7°05′25″N 73°05′15″W / 7.09028°N 73.08750°W / 7.09028; -73.08750
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Bucaramanga-Santa Marta Fault
Bucaramanga-Santa Marta Fault System
(Sistema de) Falla(s) de Bucaramanga-Santa Marta
Age
Neogene-Holocene
OrogenyAndean

The Bucaramanga-Santa Marta Fault (BSMF, BSF) or Bucaramanga-Santa Marta Fault System (

strike of 341 ± 23 from the Caribbean coast west of Santa Marta to the northern area of the Eastern Ranges of the Colombian Andes
.

The fault system is a major bounding fault for various sedimentary basins and igneous and metamorphic complexes. The northern Santa Marta Fault segment separates the Sinú-San Jacinto Basin and Lower Magdalena Valley in the west from the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta to the east. The buried Algarrobo Fault segment forms the boundary between the Lower Magdalena Valley and northern Middle Magdalena Valley to the west and the Cesar-Ranchería Basin in the east. The Bucaramanga Fault segment separates the middle part of the Middle Magdalena Valley in the west from the Santander Massif in the east.

The fault system bounds and cuts the four largest terranes of the North Andes Plate; the La Guajira, Caribbean and Tahamí Terranes along the Santa Marta section and intraterrane movement in the Andean Chibcha Terrane. Studies of the fault segments have shown the fault was active in the pre-Columbian era, around the year 1020, when the area around Bucaramanga was inhabited by the Guane. Various seismic events analysed to have occurred during the Holocene of the Bucaramanga Fault segment lead to the conclusion the fault is active.

Description

The Bucaramanga-Santa Marta Fault is a major fault system which extends for a total distance of 674 kilometres (419 mi) from the Colombian

strike of 341 ± 23 degrees, is a major wrench fault with a sinistral (left-lateral) displacement ranging from 45 to 110 kilometres (28 to 68 mi) and a fault slip rate of 0.01 to 0.2 millimetres (0.00039 to 0.00787 in) per year.[1] The Santa Marta Fault forms the boundary between several distinct geological provinces: it is the western limit of the Santa Marta Massif with the Sinú-San Jacinto Basin, farther to the south the fault separates the Lower Magdalena Valley and northern Middle Magdalena Valley from the Cesar-Ranchería Basin. The Santander Massif is separated from the central part of the Middle Magdalena Valley along the southern Bucaramanga Fault segment of the fault system.[2]

The fault divides the northern part of the Eastern Ranges in two structurally distinct regions. The

pre-Cambrian age, with lesser amounts of Jurassic, Triassic and Tertiary sedimentary rocks. In the western downthrown block, predominately sedimentary rocks of Quaternary and Tertiary age are found, with lesser amounts of Cretaceous and Jurassic rocks. The northern half of the fault is partially covered by Quaternary deposits in the Cesar and Magdalena valleys.[2]

Segments

The fault is divided into three segments; the main Bucaramanga Fault segment in the south, the Algarrobo Fault in the central section,[3] and the main Santa Marta Fault segment in the northern part of the fault system.[4][5][6] Between the two main outcropping segments, the Algarrobo Fault is present in the subsurface, overlain by Quaternary sediments.[7][8][9][10][11] The urban centre of the major coal producing municipality El Paso, Cesar is located right above the fault.[9] The fault reappears at surface east of Tamalameque, Cesar, where it continues south-southeastward into the Eastern Ranges in the departments of Norte de Santander and Santander.[12][13][14][15][16][17] The fault can be traced until San Andrés, Santander.[18] The Bucaramanga Fault possibly continues as the compressional Boyacá and Soapaga Faults on the Altiplano Cundiboyacense.[19]

Municipalities

Topography of Magdalena
Topography of Cesar
Topography of Norte de Santander
Topography of Santander
Municipality
bold is capital 		Department Altitude
of urban centre 		Inhabitants
2015 		Notes
Santa Marta Magdalena
0 m (0 ft)
466,000
[20][21]
Ciénaga Magdalena
10 m (33 ft)
104,897
[22]
[note 1]
Zona Bananera
 Magdalena
30 m (98 ft)
60,524
[23]
Aracataca Magdalena
40 m (130 ft)
39,473
[24]
Fundación Magdalena
10 m (33 ft)
57,344
[25]
Algarrobo Magdalena
24 m (79 ft)
12,576
[26]
El Copey Cesar
180 m (590 ft)
27,212
[27]
Bosconia Cesar
200 m (660 ft)
37,248
[28]
El Paso Cesar
36 m (118 ft)
22,832
[29]
Chiriguaná Cesar
40 m (130 ft)
19,650
[30]
Curumaní Cesar
112 m (367 ft)
24,367
[31]
Chimichagua Cesar
49 m (161 ft)
30,658
[32]
Pailitas Cesar
77 m (253 ft)
17,166
[33]
Pelaya Cesar
50 m (160 ft)
17,910
[34]
La Gloria Cesar
50 m (160 ft)
12,938
[35]
El Carmen
Norte de Santander
761 m (2,497 ft)
14,005
[36]
Teorama Norte de Santander
72 m (236 ft)
21,524
[37]
González Cesar
1,240 m (4,070 ft)
6990
[38]
Ocaña Norte de Santander
1,202 m (3,944 ft)
98,992
[39]
[note 2]
San Martín Cesar
119 m (390 ft)
18,548
[40]
San Alberto Cesar
125 m (410 ft)
24,653
[41]
Ábrego Norte de Santander
1,398 m (4,587 ft)
38,627
[42]
La Esperanza Norte de Santander
1,566 m (5,138 ft)
12,012
[43]
Cáchira Norte de Santander
2,025 m (6,644 ft)
10,970
[44]
El Playón Santander
469 m (1,539 ft)
11,776
[45]
Rionegro Santander
590 m (1,940 ft)
27,114
[46]
Bucaramanga Santander
959 m (3,146 ft)
528,575
[47]
[note 1]
Floridablanca Santander
925 m (3,035 ft)
266,669
[48]
[note 1]
Piedecuesta Santander
1,005 m (3,297 ft)
156,167
[49]
[note 1]
Cepitá Santander
660 m (2,170 ft)
1865
[50]
San Andrés Santander
1,777 m (5,830 ft)
8540
[51]

Tectonic setting

The tectonic history of the Bucaramanga-Santa Marta Fault, separating the Northern Andean from the Maracaibo Block (shown together as ND), is influenced by the interaction of the Malpelo, South American and Caribbean Plates

The Bucaramanga-Santa Marta Fault system is located in northwestern South America, on the North Andes Plate, where the 20 ± 2 millimetres (0.787 ± 0.079 in)/yr east to southeastward moving Caribbean,[52] 60 mm (2.4 in)/yr eastward subducting Malpelo,[53] and South American Plates converge. Since Early Mesozoic times, the western portion of Colombia was subjected to different episodes of subduction, accretion and collision, at the boundaries of the South America continental and the oceanic Farallon, Nazca, and Caribbean Plates and various island arcs.[54] The interaction of the plate tectonic movements formed the Northern Andean Block, separated from the Maracaibo Block by the Bucaramanga-Santa Marta Fault.[55] The Northern Andean Block is subdivided into tectonic realms, with the Bucaramanga-Santa Marta Fault separating the Central Continental Sub-plate Realm in the west from the Maracaibo Sub-plate Realm in the east.[56] It has been suggested that these two realms are dominated by respectively Nazca and Caribbean Plate subduction.[57] The compressional stress regime caused the formation of the oblique sinistral Bucaramanga-Santa Marta Fault and dextral Oca and Boconó Faults.[58]

The interplay between the Santa Marta and Oca Faults produced offshore Caribbean platforms and valleys north of the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta near Taganga.[59] Uplift along the western margin of the Santa Marta Fault probably commenced in the Pliocene.[60]

The Bucaramanga Fault intersects with the

Wadati-Benioff Zone extending to 175 kilometres (109 mi) depth has been identified.[62]

Activity

Map of seismic threats

A study published in 2009 about the Bucaramanga segment of the fault system revealed that the fault had eight episodes of activity during the late

indigenous Guane. The authors consider the Bucaramanga Fault therefore as active.[63]

Other faults in the seismically active zone, named Bucaramanga Nest, produced 27 earthquakes of magnitudes 4.0 to 5.3 between May 2012 and January 2013.[65]

Panorama

View of the Bucaramanga section of the fault east of Floridablanca, Santander

See also

Notes and references

Notes

  1. ^ a b c d 2017 population data
  2. ^ 2016 population data

References

  1. ^ Jiménez Díaz, 2013, p. 56
  2. ^ a b Paris et al., 2000, p. 10
  3. ^ Cuéllar et al., 2012, p. 77
  4. ^ Plancha 11, 1998
  5. ^ Plancha 18, 1999
  6. ^ Plancha 19, 2007
  7. ^ Plancha 26, 2007
  8. ^ Plancha 33, 2007
  9. ^ a b Plancha 40, 2002
  10. ^ Plancha 47, 2001
  11. ^ Plancha 55, 2006
  12. ^ Plancha 65, 1994
  13. ^ Plancha 66, 2009
  14. ^ Plancha 76, 1980
  15. ^ Plancha 86, 1981
  16. ^ Plancha 97, 1981
  17. ^ Plancha 120, 1977
  18. ^ Plancha 136, 1984
  19. ^ Sánchez et al., 2012, p. 3008
  20. ^ DANE, 2015, p. 29
  21. ^ (in Spanish) Official website Santa Marta
  22. ^ (in Spanish) Official website Ciénaga
  23. ^ (in Spanish) Official website Zona Bananera
  24. ^ (in Spanish) Official website Aracataca
  25. ^ (in Spanish) Official website Fundación
  26. ^ (in Spanish) Official website Algarrobo
  27. ^ (in Spanish) Official website El Copey
  28. ^ (in Spanish) Official website Bosconia
  29. ^ (in Spanish) Official website El Paso, Cesar
  30. ^ (in Spanish) Official website Chiriguaná
  31. ^ (in Spanish) Official website Curumaní
  32. ^ (in Spanish) Official website Chimichagua
  33. ^ (in Spanish) Official website Pailitas
  34. ^ (in Spanish) Official website Pelaya
  35. ^ (in Spanish) Official website La Gloria, Cesar
  36. ^ (in Spanish) Official website El Carmen
  37. ^ (in Spanish) Official website Teorama
  38. ^ (in Spanish) Official website González, Cesar
  39. ^ (in Spanish) Official website Ocaña
  40. ^ (in Spanish) Official website San Martín, Cesar
  41. ^ (in Spanish) Official website San Alberto, Cesar
  42. ^ (in Spanish) Official website Ábrego
  43. ^ (in Spanish) Official website La Esperanza
  44. ^ (in Spanish) Official website Cáchira
  45. ^ (in Spanish) Official website El Playón
  46. ^ (in Spanish) Official website Rionegro
  47. ^ (in Spanish) Official website Bucaramanga
  48. ^ (in Spanish) Official website Floridablanca
  49. ^ (in Spanish) Official website Piedecuesta
  50. ^ (in Spanish) Official website Cepitá
  51. ^ (in Spanish) Official website San Andrés
  52. ^ Egbue et al., 2014, p. 9
  53. ^ Colmenares & Zoback, 2003, p.721
  54. ^ Nevistic et al., 2003, p.132
  55. ^ Colmenares & Zoback, 2003, p. 722
  56. ^ Cediel et al., 2003, p. 818
  57. ^ Yarce et al., 2014, p. 57
  58. ^ Idárraga García et al., 2011, p. 44
  59. ^ Posada Posada et al., 2012, p. 103
  60. ^ Idárraga García et al., 2011, p. 57
  61. ^ Diederix et al., 2009, p. 19
  62. ^ Colmenares & Zoback, 2003, p. 723
  63. ^ a b Diederix et al., 2009, p. 23
  64. ^ Diederix et al., 2009, p. 21
  65. ^ Perico & Perico, 2014, p. 6

Bibliography

  • Cediel, Fabio; Robert P. Shaw, and Carlos Cáceres. 2003. Tectonic Assembly of the Northern Andean Block - The Circum-Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean: Hydrocarbon habitats, basin formation, and plate tectonics. AAPG Memoir 79. 815–848. .
  • Colmenares, Lourdes, and Mark D. Zoback. 2003. Stress field and seismotectonics of northern South America. Geology 31. 721–724. .
  • Cuéllar Cárdenas, Mario Andrés; Julián Andrés López Isaza; Jairo Alonso Osorio Naranjo, and Edgar Joaquín Carrillo Lombana. 2012. Análisis estructural del segmento Bucaramanga del Sistema de Fallas de Bucaramanga (SFB) entre los municipios de Pailitas y Curumaní, Cesar - Colombia. Boletín de Geología, Universidad Industrial de Santander 34. 73–101. Accessed 2017-06-20.
  • Diederix, Hans; Catalina Hernández M.; Eliana Torres J.; Jairo Alonso Osorio, and Paola Botero. 2009. Resultados preliminares del primer estudio paleosismológico a lo largo de la Falla de Bucaramanga, Colombia. Ingeniería, Investigación y Desarrollo, UPTC 9. 18–23. Accessed 2017-06-20.
  • Egbue, Obi; James Kellogg; Hector Aguirre, and Carolina Torres. 2014. Evolution of the stress and strain fields in the Eastern Cordillera, Colombia. Journal of Structural Geology 58. 8–21. .
  • Idárraga García, Javier; Blanca Oliva Posada, and Georgina Guzmán. 2011. Geomorfología de la zona costera adyacente al piedemonte occidental de la Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta entre los sectores de Pozos Colorados y el Río Córdoba, Caribe Colombiano. Boletín de Investigaciones Marinas y Costeras,
    INVEMAR
     40. 41–58. .
  • Jiménez Díaz, Giovanny. 2013. Relationship between curved thrust belts, rift inversion, oblique convergence and strike-slip faulting - an example of Eastern Cordillera in Colombia (PhD thesis), 1–106. Università di Roma.
  • Nevistic, A.V.; E.A. Rossello; C.E. Haring; G. Covellone; F. Bettini; H. Rodríguez; R. Salay; C. Colo, and L. Araque, E. Castro, C. Pinilla, C.P. Bordarampé. 2003. The Andean Santander-Oriental Tectonic Syntaxis: A first-order pattern controlling exploration play-model concepts in Colombia, 130–134. VIII Simposio Bolivariano - Exploración Petrolera en las Cuencas Subandinas.
  • Paris, Gabriel; Michael N. Machette; Richard L. Dart, and Kathleen M. Haller. 2000. Map and Database of Quaternary Faults and Folds in Colombia and its Offshore Regions, 1–66. USGS. Accessed 2017-06-20.
  • Perico Martínez, Néstor Rafael, and Néstor Rafael Perico Granados. 2014. Caracterización y recurrencia sísmica del Nido de Bucaramanga, 1–19. V Congreso Internacional de Ingeniería Civil, Universidad Santo Tomás Seccional Tunja.
  • Posada Posada, Blanca Oliva; Carlos A. Andrade, and Yves-François Thomas. 2012. Estructura del subsuelo de la plataforma continental aledaña a las estribaciones de la Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta, bahías de Taganga, Santa Marta y Gaira. Boletín Científico, CIOH 30. 93–104. .
  • Sánchez, Javier; Brian K. Horton; Eliseo Tesón; Andrés Mora; Richard A. Ketcham, and Daniel F. Stockli. 2012. Kinematic evolution of Andean fold-thrust structures along the boundary between the Eastern Cordillera and Middle Magdalena Valley basin, Colombia. Tectonics 31. 1–24. Accessed 2017-06-20.
  • Various, Authors. 2016. Informe de coyuntura económica regional - Departamento de Magdalena, 1–99.
    DANE
    . Accessed 2017-06-20.
  • Yarce, Jefferson; Gaspar Monsalve; Thorsten W. Becker; Agustín Cardona; Esteban Poveda; Daniel Alvira, and Oswaldo Ordoñez Carmona. 2014. Seismological observations in Northwestern South America: Evidence for two subduction segments, contrasting crustal thicknesses and upper mantle flow. Tectonophysics 637. 57–67. .

Maps

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