Chitagá-Pamplona Fault

Chitagá-Pamplona Fault
Falla de Chitagá-Pamplona
Etymology	Chitagá, Pamplona
Coordinates	07°32′34.2″N 72°36′30.4″W
Country	Colombia
Region	Andean
State	Norte de Santander, Boyacá
Cities	Pamplona, Chitagá
Characteristics
Range	Eastern Ranges, Andes Catatumbo Basin
Part of	Andean oblique faults
Length	192.5 km (119.6 mi)
Strike	355.2 ± 30
Dip	Variable
Dip angle	Variable
Displacement	0.2–1 mm (0.0079–0.0394 in)/yr
Tectonics
Plate	North Andean
Status	Inactive
Type	Oblique strike-slip fault
Movement	Reverse sinistral
Rock units	Floresta & Río Negro Formations
Age	Pleistocene
Orogeny	Andean

The Chitagá-Pamplona Fault (Spanish: Falla de Chitagá-Pamplona) is an inactive sinistral oblique thrust fault in the departments of Norte de Santander and Boyacá in northeastern Colombia. The fault has a total length of 192.5 kilometres (119.6 mi) and runs along an average north to south strike of 355.2 ± 30, but varies in orientation from northwest–southeast in the south to northeast–southwest in the north. The fault cross-cuts the northern part of the Eastern Ranges of the Colombian Andes and the Catatumbo Basin.

Etymology

The fault was named after Chitagá and Pamplona, Norte de Santander.

Description

The Chitagá-Pamplona Fault parallels the Morronegro-Las Mercedes Fault System and places Paleozoic rocks on the west against Tertiary and Cretaceous rocks on the east. The structural behavior of the fault is very similar to faults of the Morronegro-Las Mercedes Fault System. Both faults are believed to be an extension of the Boconó Fault and associated faults of the Venezuelan Andes. The fault starts in northernmost Boyacá in the municipality Chiscas, just north of the Sierra Nevada del Cocuy, where it places the Devonian Floresta Formation in the hanging wall against the Cretaceous Río Negro Formation in the footwall.

Activity

A rate between 0.2 and 1 millimetre (0.0079 and 0.0394 in) per year is estimated for the fault, considered inactive. The fault was probably active in the Pleistocene, at an estimated range of between 1.6 Ma and 750 ka.

See also

• List of earthquakes in Colombia
• Bucaramanga-Santa Marta Fault
• Eastern Frontal Fault System

References

Bibliography

• Paris, Gabriel; Machette, Michael N.; Dart, Richard L.; Haller, Kathleen M. (2000a), Map and Database of Quaternary Faults and Folds in Colombia and its Offshore Regions (PDF), USGS, pp. 1–66, retrieved 2017-09-18

Maps

• Daconte B., Rommel; Salinas E, Rosalba (1982), Plancha 122 - Río Cobugón - 1:100,000 (PDF), INGEOMINAS, p. 1, retrieved 2018-06-01
• Paris, Gabriel; Machette, Michael N.; Dart, Richard L.; Haller, Kathleen M. (2000b), Map of Quaternary Faults and Folds of Colombia and Its Offshore Regions (PDF), USGS, p. 1, retrieved 2017-09-18