The Chitagá-Pamplona Fault () is an inactive sinistral
oblique
Oblique may refer to:
* an alternative name for the character usually called a slash (punctuation) ( / )
*Oblique angle, in geometry
* Oblique triangle, in geometry
* Oblique lattice, in geometry
* Oblique leaf base, a characteristic shape of the ...
thrust fault
A thrust fault is a break in the Earth's crust, across which older rocks are pushed above younger rocks.
Thrust geometry and nomenclature
Reverse faults
A thrust fault is a type of reverse fault that has a dip of 45 degrees or less.
I ...
in the
departments
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
Norte de Santander
Norte de Santander (Spanish for Northern Santander) () is a department of northeastern Colombia. It is in the north of the country, bordering Venezuela. Its capital is Cúcuta, one of the country's major cities.
Norte de Santander is bordere ...
and
Boyacá in northeastern
Colombia
Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country primarily located in South America with Insular region of Colombia, insular regions in North America. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Caribbean Sea to the north, Venezuel ...
. The fault has a total length of and runs along an average north to south
strike
Strike may refer to:
People
*Strike (surname)
* Hobart Huson, author of several drug related books
Physical confrontation or removal
*Strike (attack), attack with an inanimate object or a part of the human body intended to cause harm
* Airstrike, ...
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
The Eastern Ranges is an Australian rules football team that currently competes in the Talent League, the Victorian statewide under-18s competition.
History Inaugural playing squad (1992)
Honours
*Premiers (2): 2002, 2013
*Runners-up (6): 199 ...
of the Colombian
Andes
The Andes ( ), Andes Mountains or Andean Mountain Range (; ) are the List of longest mountain chains on Earth, longest continental mountain range in the world, forming a continuous highland along the western edge of South America. The range ...
and the
Catatumbo Basin.
Etymology
The fault was named after
Chitagá and
Pamplona
Pamplona (; ), historically also known as Pampeluna in English, is the capital city of the Navarre, Chartered Community of Navarre, in Spain.
Lying at near above sea level, the city (and the wider Cuenca de Pamplona) is located on the flood pl ...
,
Norte de Santander
Norte de Santander (Spanish for Northern Santander) () is a department of northeastern Colombia. It is in the north of the country, bordering Venezuela. Its capital is Cúcuta, one of the country's major cities.
Norte de Santander is bordere ...
.
[
]
Description
The Chitagá-Pamplona Fault parallels the Morronegro-Las Mercedes Fault System and places Paleozoic
The Paleozoic ( , , ; or Palaeozoic) Era is the first of three Era (geology), geological eras of the Phanerozoic Eon. Beginning 538.8 million years ago (Ma), it succeeds the Neoproterozoic (the last era of the Proterozoic Eon) and ends 251.9 Ma a ...
rocks on the west against Tertiary
Tertiary (from Latin, meaning 'third' or 'of the third degree/order..') may refer to:
* Tertiary period, an obsolete geologic period spanning from 66 to 2.6 million years ago
* Tertiary (chemistry), a term describing bonding patterns in organic ch ...
and Cretaceous
The Cretaceous ( ) is a geological period that lasted from about 143.1 to 66 mya (unit), million years ago (Mya). It is the third and final period of the Mesozoic Era (geology), Era, as well as the longest. At around 77.1 million years, it is the ...
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
The Boconó Fault is a complex of geological faults located in the Eastern Ranges of northeastern Colombia and the Mérida Andes of northwestern Venezuela. The fault has a NE-SW orientation; it is a strike-slip fault
In geology, a fault is a ...
and associated faults of the Venezuelan Andes
The Venezuelan Andes (Spanish: ''Andes Venezolanos'') also simply known as the Andes (Spanish: ''Los Andes'') in Venezuela, are a mountain system that form the northernmost extension of the Andes. They are fully identified, both by their geologi ...
.[Paris et al., 2000a, p.38] The fault starts in northernmost Boyacá in the municipality Chiscas, just north of the Sierra Nevada del Cocuy
The Sierra Nevada del Cocuy Chita or Guican National Natural Park (or Sierra Nevada de Chita or Sierra Nevada de Güicán, is a national park and a series of highlands and glaciated peaks located within the Cordillera Oriental (Colombia), Cordill ...
, where it places the Devonian
The Devonian ( ) is a period (geology), geologic period and system (stratigraphy), system of the Paleozoic era (geology), era during the Phanerozoic eon (geology), eon, spanning 60.3 million years from the end of the preceding Silurian per ...
Floresta Formation
The Floresta Formation (, Df) is a geological formation of the Altiplano Cundiboyacense in the Eastern Ranges of the Colombian Andes. The sequence of siltstones, shales, coquinas and sandstone beds dates to the Devonian period; Late Emsian, Eif ...
in the hanging wall
In geology, a fault is a Fracture (geology), planar fracture or discontinuity in a volume of Rock (geology), rock across which there has been significant displacement as a result of rock-mass movements. Large faults within Earth's crust (geology ...
against the Cretaceous
The Cretaceous ( ) is a geological period that lasted from about 143.1 to 66 mya (unit), million years ago (Mya). It is the third and final period of the Mesozoic Era (geology), Era, as well as the longest. At around 77.1 million years, it is the ...
Río Negro Formation in the footwall
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 f ...
.[Plancha 122, 1982]
Activity
A rate between per year is estimated for the fault, considered inactive. The fault was probably active in the Pleistocene
The Pleistocene ( ; referred to colloquially as the ''ice age, Ice Age'') is the geological epoch (geology), epoch that lasted from to 11,700 years ago, spanning the Earth's most recent period of repeated glaciations. Before a change was fin ...
, at an estimated range of between 1.6 Ma and 750 ka.[Paris et al., 2000a, p.39]
See also
* List of earthquakes in Colombia
This is a list of earthquakes in Colombia. Colombia is a seismically active country and has a large seismic risk in many areas of its territory due to its location at the boundaries of the Malpelo, Panama, Caribbean, North Andes (where most ea ...
* Bucaramanga-Santa Marta Fault
* Eastern Frontal Fault System
The Eastern Frontal Fault System () is a megaregional system of oblique and thrust faults cross-cutting Colombia from Ecuador in the south to Venezuela in the north. The system from south to north covers ten out of 32 departments of Colombia; Nar ...
References
Bibliography
*
Maps
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Chitaga-Pamplona Fault
Seismic faults of Colombia
Thrust faults
Strike-slip faults
Inactive faults
Faults