Quaternary Activity of the Bucaramanga Fault in the Departments of Santander and Cesar   

Hans DIEDERIX, Olga Patricia BOHÓRQUEZ, Héctor MORA–PÁEZ, Juan Ramón PELÁEZ , Leonardo CARDONA, Yuli CORCHUELO, Jair RAMÍREZ, and ​Fredy DÍAZ–MILA

https://doi.org/10.32685/pub.esp.38.2019.13

ISBN impreso obra completa: 978-958-52959-1-9

ISBN digital obra completa: 978-958-52959-6-4

ISBN impreso Vol. 4: 978-958-52959-5-7

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The 350 km long Bucaramanga Fault is the southern and most prominent segment of the 550 km long Santa Marta–Bucaramanga Fault that is a NNW striking left lateral strike–slip fault system. It is the most visible tectonic feature north of latitude 6.5° N in the northern Andes of Colombia and constitutes the western boundary of the Maracaibo Tectonic Block or microplate, the southeastern boundary of the block being the right lateral strike–slip Boconó Fault in Venezuela. The Bucaramanga Fault has been subjected in recent years to neotectonic, paleoseismologic, and paleomagnetic studies that have quantitatively confirmed the Quaternary activity of the fault, with eight seismic events during the Holocene that have yielded a slip rate in the order of 2.5 mm/y, whereas a paleomagnetic study in sediments of the Bucaramanga alluvial fan have yielded a similar slip rate of 3 mm/y. This recent activity is not reflected in surveys of instrumental seismicity that indicate a low level of seismic activity whereas the strong geomorphic expression of the fault trace, corroborated by field studies and landscape evolutionary models, suggests higher slip rates during the Pleistocene. The occurrence of a large transpressive duplex structure developed in a right hand restraining step–over along the northern stretch of the fault suggests fault locking that might explain this low level of seismicity. Recent results of GPS instrumentation of certain sectors of the fault indicate a confusing pattern of velocity vectors that are a reflection of considerable deformation within the shear zone of the fault.

Keywords: Ocaña duplex structure, morphotectonic indicators, neotectonics, slip rate, recurrence interval, restraining step–over.

Los 350 km de la Falla de Bucaramanga son el segmento sur y más destacado de los 550 km de la Falla Santa Marta–Bucaramanga que es un sistema NNW de movimiento lateral sinestral. Es el rasgo tectónico más visible al norte de la latitud 6,5° N en los Andes del norte de Colombia y constituye el límite occidental de la microplaca o Bloque Tectónico de Maracaibo, el límite suroriental del bloque inicia en Venezuela en la falla dextral conocida como Falla de Boconó. En los últimos años se han realizado estudios de neotectónica, paleosismología y paleomagnetismo en la Falla de Bucaramanga. Estos estudios han confirmado cuantitativamente la actividad cuaternaria de la falla, con ocho eventos sísmicos durante el Holoceno que han arrojado una tasa de desplazamiento de 2,5 mm/año, mientras que un estudio de paleomagnetismo en sedimentos del abanico aluvial de Bucaramanga arrojó una tasa de movimiento similar de 3 mm/año. Esta actividad reciente no se ve reflejada en los estudios de sismicidad instrumental que indican un nivel bajo de actividad sísmica, mientras que la fuerte expresión geomorfológica del trazo de falla, corroborado por estudios de campo y modelos de evolución del paisaje, sugiere altas tazas de desplazamiento durante el Pleistoceno. La presencia de un gran dúplex transpresivo desarrollado al lado derecho y que restringe el escalón (step–over) a lo largo del segmento norte de la falla sugiere que el bloqueo de la falla podría explicar el bajo nivel de sismicidad. Los resultados recientes de la instrumentación GPS de ciertos sectores de la falla indican un patrón confuso de los vectores de velocidad que son un reflejo de la deformación considerable dentro de la zona de cizalla de la falla.

Palabras clave: estructura dúplex de Ocaña, indicadores morfotectónicos, neotectónica, tasa de deslizamiento, intervalo de recurrencia, escalón (step–over) restrictivo.

BF                                              Bucaramanga Fault

DEMs                                 D igital elevation models

GeoRED                       Grupo de Trabajo Investigaciones Geodésicas Espaciales

GPS                                       Global Positioning System

InSAR                                 Interferometric synthetic aperture radar

JAXA                                    Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency

MTB                                     Maracaibo Tectonic Block

NAB                                      North Andean Block

NASA                                  National Aeronautics and Space Administration

RSNC                                 Red Sismológica Nacional de Colombia

SGC                                      Servicio Geológico Colombiano

Sentinel                      European satellite radar

SMBF                                 Santa Marta–Bucaramanga Fault

SMF                                       Santa Marta Fault

SNSM                                 Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta

SRTM                                  Satellite Radar Topographic Mission

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