Active Faulting and Quaternary Slip Rates of the Colombian Sub‐Andes
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ACTIVE FAULTING AND QUATERNARY SLIP RATES OF THE COLOMBIAN SUB‐ANDES by Gabriel Eduardo Veloza‐Fajardo B.S., Universidad Nacional de Colombia, 2005 Submitted to the Department of Geology and the Faculty of the Graduate School of The University of Kansas in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science 2012 Advisory Committee ________________________________ Michael H. Taylor – Chair ________________________________ Douglas Walker ________________________________ Craig Marshall Date Defended______10/10/12__________________ The Thesis Committee for Gabriel Eduardo Veloza‐Fajardo certifies that this is the approved version of the following thesis ACTIVE FAULTING AND QUATERNARY SLIP RATES OF THE COLOMBIAN SUB‐ANDES ________________________________ Michael H. Taylor – Chair ________________________________ Douglas Walker ________________________________ Craig Marshall Date Approved_________10/10/12_______________ ii ABSTRACT Active deformation of northwestern South America is the result of the complex interaction between the Caribbean and Nazca plates subducting beneath South America, in sharp contrast to the classic Andean‐type margin, south of 5° south latitude. This change in plate configuration is reflected in the distribution and kinematics of active structures in the upper plate, where strain is distributed over hundreds of active structures capable of generating damaging earthquakes. To achieve the goal of understanding the distribution and kinematics of active faults, digital archives of active structures are being compiled worldwide. These archives can be used in conjunction with many different tools (e.g. Global Positioning Systems) to estimate the modern slip rates of active faults, which in turn can be used by policy makers to determine better ways to build safer buildings. As an example of recent deformation, and with the aim of comparing recent to millennial scale shortening rates, we analyze in detail the structural evolution of the Tame anticline, located in the Colombian sub‐Andes. Here, we use detailed geomorphic and structural analysis from a 300 km2 seismic survey to investigate the relationship between finite shortening and surface uplift and its effects on landscape evolution A quantitative description of finite shortening of the pre‐growth strata from line‐length and excess area calculations along the fold trend are presented and then compared, as an added check, with the uplift and shortening of geomorphic markers dated using in situ produced Terrestrial Cosmogenic Nuclides (TCN), providing the first estimates of Quaternary shortening along the Northern Colombian Andes at millennial time scales. iii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS There are many people that have to be acknowledged for their support, one way or the other, for the completion of this degree. If I miss someone here, please excuse me. First, thanks to Valeria and Guadalupe for joining me during this journey, without them my entire life might have become senseless. I’m also indebted to Mike Taylor, his guidance, encouragement, and constant support helped in my scientific development. I also want to express my gratitude to my committee members, Doug Walker and Craig Marshall for their suggestions and help throughout this process, and in general to all the faculty members that shaped me as a geologist. Thanks also to Rafael, Olga, Julia and Luisa for their love and support from Colombia. I am also thankful to my peers at KU, Richard Styron, Andrew McCallister, Maureen Logan, Tandis Bidgoli, Willy Ritasse, Jeff Oalman and so many people whom embraced me during these years in Kansas, and of course to my friends in Colombia, Pizzas, Pato, Daniel, David, Roscar and Cesar for their constant humor and long‐lasting friendship. Tom Clifton and Greg Chmiel were tremendously helpful during the laboratory phase of the project. Thanks to Andrés Mora, German Bayona and Mauricio Parra for their encouragement to pursue graduate school ‐ there is no better model to follow than theirs. I’m especially thankful to Guillermo Hernandez and Wilson Gil for their help and sharing information from the Llanos Basin. This research was funded by The University of Kansas and Ecopetrol‐ICP, through the collaborative project “Cronología de la deformación en las Cuencas Subandinas”. iv TABLE OF CONTENTS ABSTRACT ........................................................................................................................................... III AKNOWLEDGMENTS ......................................................................... ERROR! BOOKMARK NOT DEFINED. TABLE OF CONTENTS ............................................................................................................................ V OPEN SOURCE ARCHIVE OF ACTIVE FAULTS FOR NORTHWEST SOUTH AMERICA .................................. 1 1.1 ABSTRACT ............................................................................................................................................ 1 1.2 INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................................................... 2 1.3 TECTONIC SETTING .............................................................................................................................. 4 1.3.1 Northern Andean Domain (~5°S ‐ 12°N) ...................................................................................... 5 1.3.2 Central Andean Domain (~5° S ‐ 15°S) ......................................................................................... 7 1.4 TECTONIC MODEL FOR ACTIVE DEFORMATION .................................................................................. 8 1.5 CONCLUSIONS ................................................................................................................................... 11 1.6 ACTIVE TECTONICS OF THE ANDES DATABASE .................................................................................. 12 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ........................................................................................................................... 12 REFERENCES ............................................................................................................................................ 12 FIGURES ................................................................................................................................................... 19 Figure 1.1 ............................................................................................................................................ 19 Figure 1.2 ............................................................................................................................................ 21 Figure 1.3 ............................................................................................................................................ 23 Figure 1.4 ............................................................................................................................................ 25 ACTIVE MOUNTAIN BUILDING ALONG THE EASTERN COLOMBIAN SUB‐ANDES: A FOLDING HISTORY FROM FLUVIAL TERRACES ACROSS THE TAME ANTICLINE, LLANOS BASIN .......................................... 27 v 2.1 ABSTRACT .......................................................................................................................................... 27 2.2 INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................................................. 28 2.3 SURFACE GEOLOGY OF THE TAME ANTICLINE ................................................................................... 30 2.3.1 Basin Stratigraphy and Petroleum systems ........................................................................ 31 2.3.2 Structural setting of the Eastern Cordillera and Llanos Basin ............................................. 32 2.3.3 Neotectonic development of the Tame Anticline ................................................................ 34 2.3.4 Terrace Geochronology ........................................................................................................ 35 2.3.5 Uplift Rates .......................................................................................................................... 37 2.4 SUBSURFACE GEOLOGY OF THE TAME ANTICLINE ........................................................................... 38 2.4.1 Finite shortening ................................................................................................................. 40 2.4.2 Quaternary shortening ........................................................................................................ 45 2.5 DISCUSSION ................................................................................................................................. 45 2.6 CONCLUSIONS ............................................................................................................................. 48 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ........................................................................................................................... 50 REFERENCES ............................................................................................................................................ 50 FIGURES ................................................................................................................................................... 60 Figure 2.1 ...........................................................................................................................................