Neogene sedimentary deformation in the Chilean forearc and implications for Andea basin development, seismicity and uplift

Journal of the Geological Society

Volumn 165, Issue 1, 2008, Pages 291-306

  Houston, John ^a   Hart, Dan ^a,b   Houston, Andrew ^c  

^a Nazca SA   (Chile)

^b Natural Resources Consulting Engineers Inc   (United States)

^c NONE   (United Kingdom)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

ANDEAN OROGENY; BASIN EVOLUTION; CLIMATE CHANGE; COMPACTION; DEFORMATION MECHANISM; DEWATERING; DIAPIRISM; FOREARC BASIN; LACUSTRINE DEPOSIT; MIOCENE; NEOGENE; PLATE CONVERGENCE; PLIOCENE; SEDIMENTARY BASIN; SEDIMENTATION; SEISMICITY; SHEAR STRESS; SLOPE FAILURE; SUBDUCTION; UPLIFT; UPPER CRUST;

EID: 39049130874     PISSN: 00167649     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1144/0016-76492007-022     Document Type: Article

References (87)

1. ALLMENDINGER, R.W., JORDAN, T.E., KAY, S.M. & ISACKS, B.L. 1997. The Evolution of the Altiplano-Puna Plateau of the Central Andes. Annual Review of Earth and Planetary Sciences, 25, 139-174.
2. ALPERS, C.N. & BRIMHALL, G.H. 1988. Middle Miocene climate change in the Atacama Desert, northern Chile: evidence from supergene mineralization at La Escondida. Geological Society of America Bulletin, 100, 1640-1656.
3. ANCORP WORKING GROUP, 2003. Seismic imaging of a convergent continental margin and plateau in the central Andes. Journal of Geophysical Research, 108, doi:10.1029/2002JB001771.
4. AMBRASEYS, N.N. 1988. Engineering seismology: earthquake engineering and structural dynamics. Journal of International Association of Earthquake Engineers, 17, 1-105.
5. 39Ar geochronology of supergene processes in the Atacama Desert, Northern Chile: tectonic and climatic relations. Journal of the Geological Society, London, 163, 107-118.
6. AUDEMARD, F.A., GÓMEZ, J.C., TAVERA, H.J. & ORIHUELA, N.G. 2005. Soil liquefaction during the Arequipa MW 8.4, June 23, 2001 earthquake, southern coastal Peru. Engineering Geology, 78, 237-255.
7. AUDIN, L., HERAIL, G., RIQUELME, R., DARROZES, J. & FONT, E. 2003. Geomorphological markers of faulting and neotectonic activity along the western Andean margin, northern Chile. Journal of Quaternary Science, 18, 681-694.
8. BAO, R., SÁEZ, A., SERVANT-VILDARY, S. & CABRERA, L. 1999. Lake-level salinity reconstruction from diatom analyses in Quillagua Formation (late Neogene, Central Andean forearc, northern Chile). Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology, 153, 309-335.
9. BLANCO, N.. TOMLINSON, A.J., MPODOZIS, C., PÉREZ DE A. & MATTHEWS, S. 2003. Formación Calama, Eoceno, II Región de Antofagasta (Chile): estratigrafia e implicancias tectónicas, In: Proceedings 10th Congreso Geológico Chileno, Concepción.
10. BOWMAN, D., KORJENKOV, A. & PORAT, N. 2004. Late-Pleistocene seismites from Lake Issyk-Kul, the Tien Shan range, Kyrghyzstan. Sedimentary Geology, 163, 211-228.
11. BRUN, J.-P. & FORT, X. 2004. Compressional salt tectonics (Angolan margin). Tectonophysics, 382, 129-150.
12. CHAFETZ, H.S. & FOLK, R.L. 1984. Travertines: depositional morphology and the bacterially constructed constituents. Journal of Sedimentary Petrology, 54, 283-316.
13. COLLINSON, J.D. 1994. Sedimentary deformational structures. In: MALTMAN, A. (ed.) The Geological Deformation of Sediments. Chapman and Hall, London, 95-125.
14. COLLINSON, J.D. & THOMPSON, D.B. 1982. Sedimentary Structures. Allen and Unwin, London.
15. DELOUIS, B., PHILIP, H., DORBATH, L. & CISTERNAS, A. 1998. Recent crustal deformation in the Antofagasta region (northern Chile) and the subduction process. Geophysical Journal International, 132, 302-338.
16. DE SILVA, S.L. 1989. Geochronology and stratigraphy of the ignimbrites from the 21°30′S to 23°30′S portion of the central Andes of northern Chile. Journal of Volcanology and Geothermal Research, 37, 93-131.
17. DEWEY, J.F. & LAMB, S.H. 1992. Active tectonics of the Andes. Tectonophysics, 205, 79-95.
18. DIGBERT, F.E., HOKE, G.D., JORDAN, T.E. & ISACKS, B.L. 2003. Subsurface stratigraphy of the Neogene Pampa de Tamarugal basin, northern Chile. In: Proceedings 10th Congreso Geológico Chileno, Concepción.
19. DUNAI, T.J., GONZŚLEZ LÓPEZ, G.A. & JUEZ-LARRÉ, J. 2005. Oligocene-Miocene age of aridity in the Atacama Desert revealed by exposure dating of erosion-sensitive landforms. Geology, 33, 321-324.
20. ELGER, K.. ONCKEN, O. & GLODNY, J. 2005. Plateau-style accumulation of deformation: Southern Altiplano. Tectonics, 24, doi:10.1029/2004TC001675.
21. FARÍAS, M.. CHARRIER, R., COMTE, D., MARTINOD, J. & HÉRAIL, G. 2005. Late Cenozoic deformation and uplift of the western flank of the Altiplano: Evidence from the depositional, tectonic, and geomorphic evolution and shallow seismic activity (northern Chile at 19°30′S). Tectonics, 24, doi:10.1029/2004TC001667.
22. FERRARIS, F. 1978. Carta Geologica de Chile, 1:250 000, Hoja Tocopilla. Servicio Nacional de Geologia y Mineria, Santiago.
23. FISHER, N.I., LEWIS, T.L. & EMBLETON, B.J. 1987. Statistical Analysis of Spherical Data. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.
24. GARZIONE, C.N., MOLNAR, P., LIBARKIN, J.C. & MACFADDEN, B.J. 2006. Rapid late Miocene rise of the Bolivian Altiplano: Evidence for removal of mantle lithosphere. Earth and Planetary Science Letters, 241, 543-556.
25. 21Ne concentrations. Tectonics, 25, doi:10.1029/200555TC001846.
26. GREGORY-WODZICKI, K.M. 2000. Uplift history of the Central and Northern Andes: a review. Geological Society of America Bulletin, 112, 1091-1105.
27. HANCOCK, P.L., CHALMERS, R.M.L., ALTUNEL, E. & ÇAKIR, Z. 1999. Travertonics: using travertines in active fault studies. Journal of Structural Geology, 21, 903-916.
28. HARTLEY, A.J. & CHONG, G. 2001. Late Pliocene age for the Atacama Desert: Implications for the desertification of western South America. Geology, 30, 43-46.
29. HARTLEY, A.J., MAY, G., CHONG, G., TURNER, P., KAPE, S.J. & JOLLEY, E.J. 2000. Development of a continental forearc: a Cenozoic example from the central Andes, northern Chile. Geology, 28, 331-334.
30. HOUSTON, J. 2004. High-resolution sequence stratigraphy as a tool in hydrogeological exploration in the Atacama Desert. Quarterly Journal of Engineering Geology and Hydrogeology, 37, 7-17.
31. HOUSTON, J. 2006a. Variability of precipitation in the Atacama Desert: Its causes and hydrological impact. International Journal of Climatology, 26, 2181-2189.
32. HOUSTON, J. 2006b. The great Atacama Flood of 2001 and its implications for Andean hydrology. Hydrological Processes, 20, 591-610.
33. JACKSON, J.D., HELM, D.C. & BRUMLEY, J.C. 2004. The role of poroviscosity in evaluating land subsidence due to groundwater extraction from sedimentary basin aquifers. Geofisica Internacional, 43, 689-695.
34. JACKSON, M.P.A. & VENDEVILLE, B.C. 1994. Regional extension as a trigger for diapirism. Geological Society of America Bulletin, 106, 57-73.
35. JENSEN, A. 1992. Las cuencas aluvio-lacustres Oligoceno-Neogenas de la region ante-arco de Chile Septentrional, entre los 19° y 23° Sur. PhD thesis, Universidad de Barcelona.
36. JENSEN, A., DÖRR, M.J., GOTZE, H.J., KIEFER, E., IRBEKEN, E. & WILKE, H. 1995. Subsidence and sedimentation of a forearc-hosted, continental pull-apart basin: the Quillagua trough between 21°30 and 21°45 S, northern Chile. In: SÁEZ, A. (ed.) Recent and Ancient Lacustrine Systems in Convergent Margins. GLOPALS-IAS Meeting, Antofagasta, Chile, Abstracts, 5-6.
37. JIBSON, R.W. & KEEFER, D.K. 1993. Analysis of the seismic origin of landslides: Examples from the New Madrid seismic zone. Geological Society of America Bulletin, 105, 521-536.
38. KEEFER, D.K. & MOSELEY, M.E. 2004. A desert landscape in southern Peru seismically shattered by the great earthquake of 23 June 2001 (MW 8.2-8.4) - characteristics and implications for paleoseismic and paleo-ENSO records. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the USA, 30, 10878-10883.
39. KENNAN, L. 2000. Large-scale geomorphology of the Andes: interrelationships of tectonics, magmatism and climate. In: SUMMERFIELD, M.A. (ed.) Geomorphology and Global Tectonics. Wiley, Chichester, 167-199.
40. KUKOWSKI, N. & ONCKEN, O. 2006. Subduction erosion - the 'normal] mode of fore-arc material transfer along the Chilean margin? In: ONCKEN, O., CHONG, G. & FRANZ, G. ET AL. (eds) The Andes: Active Subduction Orogeny. Springer, Berlin, 217-236.
41. LAJOIE. J. 1972. Slump fold axis orientations: An indication of paleoslope? Journal of Sedimentary Petrology, 42, 584-586.
42. LAMB, S. & DAVIS, P. 2003, Cenozoic climate change as a possible cause for the rise of the Andes. Nature, 425, 792-797.
43. LAMB. S., HOKE, L., KENNAN, L. & DEWEY, J. 1997. Cenozoic evolution of the Central Andes in Bolivia and northern Chile. In: BURG, J.P. & FORD, M. (eds) Orogeny Through Time. Geological Society, London, Special Publications, 121, 237-264.
44. LOWE. D.R. 1975. Water escape structures in coarse-grained sediments. Sedimentology, 22, 157-204.
45. LOWE. D.R. & LOPICCOLO, R.D. 1974. The characteristics and origins of dish and pillar structures. Journal of Sedimentary Petrology, 44, 484-501.
46. MALTMAN, A.J. & BOLTON, A. 2003. How sediments become mobilized. In: VAN RENSBERGEN, P., HILLIS, R.R., MALTMAN, A.J. & MORLEY, C.K. (eds) Subsurface Sediment Mobilization. Geological Society, London, Special Publications, 216, 9-20.
47. MARINOVIĆ, N. & LAHSEN, A. 1984. Carta Geologica de Chile, 1:250 000, Hoja Calama. Servicio Nacional de Geologia y Minería, Santiago.
48. MAY, G. 1997. Oligocene to Recent evolution of the Calama Basin, northern Chile. PhD thesis, Aberdeen University.
49. MAY, G., HARTLEY, A.J., STUART, F.M. & CHONG, G. 1999. Tectonic signatures in and continental basins: an example from the Upper Miocene-Pleistocene, Calama Basin, Andean forearc, northern Chile. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology, 151, 55-77.
50. MAY, G., HARTLEY, A.J., CHONG, G., STUART, F., TURNER, P. & KAPE, S. 2005. Eocene to Pleistocene lithostratigraphy, chronostratigraphy and tectono-sedimentary evolution of the Calama Basin, northern Chile. Revista Geológica de Chile, 32, 33-58.
51. MONTGOMERY, D.R. & MANGA, M. 2003. Streamflow and water well responses to earthquakes. Science, 300, 2047 2049.
52. MORETTI, M., ALFARO, P., CASETTES, O. & CANAS, J.A. 1999. Modelling seismites with a digital shaking table. Tectonophysics, 304, 369-383.
53. MORGAN, J.P., COLEMAN, J.M. & GAGLIANO, S.M. 1968. Mudlumps: diapiric structures in the Mississippi delta sediments. In: BRAUNSTEIN, J. & O'BRIEN, G. D. (eds) Diapirism and Diapirs. AAPG Memoirs, 8, 145-161.
54. MORLEY, C.K. & GUERIN, G. 1996. Comparison of gravity-driven deformation styles and behaviour associated with mobile shales and salt. Tectonics, 15, 1154-1170.
55. MORROW, D.W. 1982. Descriptive field classification of sedimentary and diagenetic breccia fabrics in carbonate rocks. Bulletin of Canadian Petroleum Geology, 30, 227-229.
56. NARANJO, S.A. & PASKOFF, R. 1981. Estratigrafia de los depósitos cenozoicas de la región de Chiuchiu-Calama, Desierto cle Atacama. Revista Geológica de Chile, 13-14, 79-85.
57. NARANJO, J.A. & PASKOFF, R.P. 1982. Estratigrafia de las unidades sedimentarias Cenozoicas de la Cuenca del Río Loa en la Pampa Tamarugal, Region de Antofagasta, Chile. Revista Geológica de Chile, 15, 49-57.
58. NESTER, P.L., JORDAN, T.E., BLANCO, N., HOKE, G. & TOMLINSON, A.J. 2006. Evidence for Late Miocene uplift by long-wavelength rotation of the western flank of Altiplano segment of the Central Andes 20°30′-21°30′S, Chile. In: Backbone of the Americas. Conference Abstracts, Geological Society of America and Asociación Geológica Argentina, Mendoza. http:/ /gsa.confex.com/gsa/06boa/finalprogram/abstract_101485.htm.
59. NEUWERTH, R., SUTER, F., GUZMAN, C.A. & GOREN, G.E. 2006. Soft-sediment deformation in a tectonically active area: The Plio-Pleistocene Zarzal Formation of the Cauca Valley (Western Colombia). Sedimentary Geology, doi:10.1016/j.sedgeo.2005.10.0009.
60. OBERMEIER, S.F. 1996. Use of liquefaction-induced features for paleoseismic analysis - An overview of how seismic liquefaction features can be distinguished from other features and how their regional distribution and properties of source sediment can be used to infer the location and strength of Holocene paleo-earthquakes. In: MCCALPIN, J. (ed.) Paleoseismology. Academic Press, San Diego, 331-396.
61. ONASCH, C.M. & KAHLE, C.F. 2002. Seismically induced soft-sediment deformation in some Silurian carbonates, eastern U.S. continent. In: ETTENSOHN, F.R., RAST, N. & BRETT, C.E. (eds) Ancient Seismites. Geological Society of America, Special Papers, 359, 165-176.
62. OWEN, G. 2003. Load structures: gravity-driven sediment mobilization in the shallow subsurface. In: VAN RENSBERGEN, P., HILLIS, R.R., MALTMAN, A.J. & MORLEY, C.K. (eds) Subsurface Sediment Mobilization. Geological Society, London, Special Publications, 216, 21-34.
63. PANANONT, P., MPODOZIS, C., BLANCO, N., JORDAN, T.E. & BROWN, L.D. 2004. Cenozoic evolution of the northwestern Salar de Atacama Basin, northern Chile. Tectonics, 23, doi:10.1029 /2003TC001595.
64. PARKER, G.G. & HIGGINS, C.G. 1990. Piping and pseudokarst in drylands. In: HIGGINS, C.G. & COATES, D.R. (eds) Groundwater Geomorphology: The Role of Subsurface Water in Earth-surface Processes and Landforms. Geological Society of America, Special Papers, 252, 77-110.
65. PLUMMER. P.S. & GOSTIN, V.A. 1981. Shrinkage cracks: desiccation or syneresis. Journal of Sedimentary Petrology, 51, 1147-1156.
66. PRATT, B.R. 1998. Syneresis cracks: subaqueous shrinkage in argillaceous sediments caused by earthquake-induced dewatering. Sedimentary Geology, 117, 1-10.
67. PRATT, B.R. 2002. Tepees in peritidal carbonates: origin via earthquake-induced deformation, with example from the Middle Cambrian of western Canada. Sedimenuuy Geology, 153, 57-64.
68. PUEYO, J.J., CHONG, G. & JENSEN, A. 2001. Neogene evaporites in desert volcanic environments: Atacama Desert, northern Chile. Sedimentology, 48, 1411-1420.
69. RECIL J.A., CURRIE, B.S., MICHALSKI, G. & COWAN, A.M. 2006. Neogene climate change and uplift in the Atacama desert, Chile. Geology, 34, 761-764.
70. REUTTER, K.J., SCHEUBER, E. & WIGGER, P.J. 1994. Tectonics of the Southern Central Andes: Structure and Evolution at an Active Continental Margin. Springer, Berlin.
71. SÁEZ, A., CABRERA. L., JENSEN, A. & CHONG, G. 1999. Late Neogene lacustrine record and palaeogeography in the Quillagua-Llamara basin, Central Andean fore-arc (northern Chile). Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology, 151, 5-37.
72. SCHEUBER, E., BOGDANIC, T., JENSEN, A. & REUTTER, K.J. 1994. Tectonic development of the North Chilean Andes in relation to plate convergence and magmatism since the Jurassic. In: REUTTER, K.J., SCHEUBER. E. & WIGGER, P. (eds) Tectonics of the Southern Central Andes: Structure and Evolution of an Active Continental Margin. Springer, Berlin, 121-140.
73. SÉBRIER, M., LAVENU. A., FORNARI, M. & SOULAS, J.P. 1988. Tectonics and uplift in Central Andes (Peru, Bolivia and Northern Chile) from Eocene to Present. Géodynamique, 3, 85-106.
74. SILVER, P.G., RUSSO, R.M. & LITHGOW-BERTOLLONI, C. 1999. Coupling of South American and African plate motion and plate deformation. Science, 279, 60-63.
75. SKARMETA, J. & MARINOVIĆ, N. 1981. Carta Geologica de Chile, 1:250 000, Hoja Quillagua. Servicio Nacional de Geología y Minería, Santiago.
76. SOMOZA. R. 1998. Updated Nazca (Farallon)-South America relative motions during the last 40 My: implications for mountain building in the central Andean region. Journal of South American Earth Sciences, 11, 211-215.
77. STANTON, R.J. 1966. The solution brecciation process. Geological Society of America Bulletin, 77, 843-848.
78. TOMLINSON, A.J., BLANCO, N., MAKSAEV, V., DILLES, J.H., GRUNDER. A.L. & LADINO, M. 2001. Geología de la Precordillera Andina cle Quebrada Blanca-Chuquicamata, Regiones I y II (20°30′-22°30′S). Servicio Nacional de Geología y Minería, Santiago.
79. TRUMBULL, R.B., RILLER, U., ONCKEN, O., SCHEUBER, E., MUNIER, K. & HONGN, F. 2006. The time-space distribution of Cenozoic volcanism in the South-Central Andes: a new data compilation. In: ONCKEN, O., CHONG, G. & FRANZ, G. ET AL. (eds) The Andes: Active Subduction Orogeny. Springer, Berlin, 29-44.
80. TSUCHIDA, H. & HAYASHI, S. 1971. Estimation of liquefaction potential of sandy soils. In: Proceedings of the 3rd Joint Meeting, US-Japan Panel on Wind and Seismic Effects, Tokyo, 91-109.
81. TURCOTTE, D.L. & SCHUBERT, G. 2002. Geodynamics. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.
82. VICTOR, P., ONCKEN, O. & GLODNY, J. 2004. Uplift of the western Altiplano plateau: Evidence from the Precordillera between 20° and 21°S (northern Chile). Tectonics, 23, doi:10.1029/2003TC001519.
83. VON HUENE, R. & RANERO, C.R. 2003. Subduction erosion and basal friction along the sediment-starved convergent margin off Antofagasta, Chile. Journal of Geophysical Research, 108, doi:10.1029/2001JB001569.
84. WARREN, J. 1999. Evaporites: Their Evolution and Economics. Blackwell Scientific, Oxford.
85. WHEELER, R.L. 2002. Distinguishing seismic from nonseismic, soft-sediment structures: Criteria from seismic-hazard analysis. In: ETTENSOHN, F.R., RAST, N. & BRETT, C.E. (eds) Ancient Seismites. Geological Society of America, Special Papers, 359, 1-12.
86. 39Ar, K-Ar and He-exposure ages) of Cenozoic magmatic rocks from northern Chile (18-22°S): implications for magmatism and tectonic evolution of the central Andes. Revista Geologíca de Chile, 27, 205-240.
87. ZORBIN, V. 2003. Introduction to Volcanic Seismology. Elsevier, Amsterdam.