El Tigre Fault

South America seismic hazard map with estimated El Tigre Fault location inset. Adapted from illustrations[1][2][3][4]

The El Tigre Fault is a 120 km long, roughly north-south trending,[5] major strike-slip fault located in the Western Precordillera in Argentina.[1][6] The Precordillera lies just to the east of the Andes mountain range in South America.[1] The northern boundary of the fault is the Jáchal River and its southern boundary is the San Juan River.[2] The fault is divided into three sections based on fault trace geometry, Northern extending between 41–46 km in length, Central extending between 48–53 km in length, and Southern extending 26 km in length.[2][5] The fault displays a right-lateral (horizontal) motion and has formed in response to stresses from the Nazca Plate subducting under the South American Plate.[6][7] It is a major fault with crustal significance.[5] The Andes Mountain belt trends with respect to the Nazca Plate/South American Plate convergence zone, and deformation is divided between the Precordilleran thrust faults and the El Tigre strike-slip motion.[5] The El Tigre Fault is currently seismically active.[5]

Right lateral strike-slip fault with observable displacement
  1. ^ a b c Fazzito, S.; Rapalini, A.; Cortes, J.; Terrizzano, C. (2011). "Kinematic study in the area of the Quaternary oblique-slip El Tigre fault, Western Precordillera, Argentina, on the basis of paleomagnetism and anisotropy of magnetic susceptibility". Latinmag Letters. 1 (B24): 1–5.
  2. ^ a b c Fazzito, S.; Cortes, J.; Rapalini, A.; Terrizzano, C. (2013). "The geometry of the active strike-slip El Tigre Fault, Precordillera of San Juan, Central-Western Argentina: integrating resistivity surveys with structural and geomorphological data". International Journal of Earth Sciences. 102 (5): 1447–1466. Bibcode:2013IJEaS.102.1447F. doi:10.1007/s00531-013-0873-9. hdl:11336/21288. S2CID 129365816.
  3. ^ Siame, L.; Bourles, D.; Sebrier, M.; Bellier, O.; Castano, J.C.; Araujo, M.; Perez, M.; Raisbeck, G.; Yiou, F. (1997). "Cosmogenic dating ranging from 20 to 700 ka of a series of alluvial fan surfaces affected by the El Tigre fault, Argentina". Geology. 25 (11): 975. Bibcode:1997Geo....25..975S. doi:10.1130/0091-7613(1997)025<0975:cdrftk>2.3.co;2.
  4. ^ "South America seismic hazard map". U.S. Geological Survey USGS. Archived from the original on October 10, 2012. Retrieved 9 November 2013.
  5. ^ a b c d e Siame, L.; Sebrier, M.; Bellier, O.; Bourles, D.; Castano, J.C.; Aurojo, M.; Yiou, F.; Raisbeck, G. (September 1996). Segmentation and horizontal slip rate estimation of the El Tigre fault zone, San Juan Province (Argentina) from SPOT images analysis. Third ISAG. St. Malo (France).
  6. ^ a b Costa, C.; et al. (2006). "An Overview of the Main Quaternary Deformation of South America". Revista de la Asociación Geológica Argentina. 61 (4).
  7. ^ Van Der Pluijm, B.; Marshak, S. (2004). Earth Structure. W. W. Norton and Company. p. 579.