The Paraíso Fault or Palmira-Buga Fault () is a
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 ...
with minor dextral
lateral movement in the
department of
Valle del Cauca in southwestern
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 is part of the megaregional
Romeral Fault System and has a total length of and runs along an average north-northwest to south-southeast
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 012.5 ± 3 in the
Cauca Basin and the
Central Ranges
Central Ranges (code CER) is an Australian bioregion, with an area of 101,640.44 square kilometres (39,244 sq mi) spreading across two states and one territory: South Australia, Western Australia, and the Northern Territory.[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 ...]
.
Etymology
The fault is named after
hacienda El Paraíso.
[Paris et al., 2000a, p.22] An alternative name is Palmira-Buga Fault.
[Mapa Geológico Valle del Cauca, 2001]
Description
The Paraiso Fault is part of the Romeral Fault System in southwestern Colombia. It is located at the western slope of the Central Ranges, east of the city of
Palmira. The fault displaces
alluvial fan
An alluvial fan is an accumulation of sediments that fans outwards from a concentrated source of sediments, such as a narrow canyon emerging from an escarpment. They are characteristic of mountainous terrain in arid to Semi-arid climate, semiar ...
s and
debris flow
Debris flows are geological phenomena in which water-laden masses of soil and fragmented Rock (geology), rock flow down mountainsides, funnel into stream channels, entrain objects in their paths, and form thick, muddy deposits on valley floors. ...
s on the eastern border of the
Valle del Cauca Department. North of the
Amaime River, the fault seems to be more active in late Quaternary than the portion south of the river.
[
The Paraiso Fault is concave to the east and shows an outstanding linear trace for more than . The fault is divided in two portions: the southern portion, about long, is located to the south of the Amaime River; the northern part extends about north of the river. Geographic expression suggests that the northern portion is more active than the southern one. The fault is characterised by a series of discontinuous short sinuous scarps of about long. The height of the scarps varies from .][
]
Activity
The fault is considered active with Holocene
The Holocene () is the current geologic time scale, geological epoch, beginning approximately 11,700 years ago. It follows the Last Glacial Period, which concluded with the Holocene glacial retreat. The Holocene and the preceding Pleistocene to ...
tectonic movement. Two trenches were opened in the northern part of the fault: the Venecia and Piedechinche trenches, each of which show Holocene tectonic deformation. Movement is well defined as early Holocene, it is younger than 6,320 yr as determined from C-14 ages of folded paleosoils sampled in the Venecia trench.[Paris et al., 2000a, p.23]
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 ...
* Cauca Fault System
References
Bibliography
*
Maps
*
*
Further reading
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Paraiso Fault
Seismic faults of Colombia
Thrust faults
Active faults
Faults
Earthquakes in Colombia