The Remolino-El Charco Fault ( es, Falla de Remolino-El Charco) is a dextral
strike-slip fault
In geology, a fault is a planar fracture or discontinuity in a volume of rock across which there has been significant displacement as a result of rock-mass movements. Large faults within Earth's crust result from the action of plate tectonic ...
in the
department
Department may refer to:
* Departmentalization, division of a larger organization into parts with specific responsibility
Government and military
*Department (administrative division), a geographical and administrative division within a country, ...
of
Nariño in
Colombia
Colombia (, ; ), officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country in South America with insular regions in North America—near Nicaragua's Caribbean coast—as well as in the Pacific Ocean. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Car ...
. The fault has a total length of and runs along an average northeast to southwest
strike of 046.4 ± 6 in the
Tumaco Basin along the Pacific Coast of Colombia.
Etymology
The fault is named after Remolino Grande and
El Charco
El Charco is a town and municipality in the Nariño Department, Colombia.
Climate
El Charco has a tropical rainforest climate
A tropical rainforest climate, humid tropical climate or equatorial climate is a tropical climate sub-type usually ...
,
Nariño.
[Paris et al., 2000a, p.55]
Description
The Remolino-El Charco Fault extends through the
Pacific coastal lowlands and plains of Colombia to the east of the city of
Tumaco
Tumaco is a port city and municipality in the Nariño Department, Colombia, by the Pacific Ocean. It is located on the southwestern corner of Colombia, near the border with Ecuador, and experiences a hot tropical climate. Tumaco is inhabited mai ...
. The fault begins in the southwesternmost point of Colombia and runs towards
Guapi.
[Paris et al., 2000b] It is close to and parallels the coast. It displaces
alluvial fan sediments of the
Patía,
Mira, and
Telembí Rivers and some
Pleistocene
The Pleistocene ( , often referred to as the ''Ice age'') is the geological Epoch (geology), epoch that lasted from about 2,580,000 to 11,700 years ago, spanning the Earth's most recent period of repeated glaciations. Before a change was fina ...
marine terraces. The fault appears to be a southern continuation of the
Naya-Micay Fault. The fault has a very well defined fault line on aerial
photographs and satellite images. Pattern of deflection of streams suggests west side of fault is up.
[
]
See also
* List of earthquakes in Colombia
* Romeral Fault System
The Romeral Fault System ( es, Sistema de Fallas (de) Romeral) is a megaregional system of major parallel and anastomosing faults in the Cordillera Central (Colombia), Central Ranges of the Colombian Andes and the Cauca Basin, Cauca, Amagá Basin, ...
* Malpelo Plate
The Malpelo Plate is a small tectonic plate (microplate) located off the coasts west of Ecuador and Colombia. It is the 57th plate to be identified. It is named after Malpelo Island, the only emerged part of the plate. It is bounded on the west ...
References
Bibliography
*
Maps
*
{{Tectonism in Colombia
Seismic faults of Colombia
Strike-slip faults
Inactive faults
Faults