HOME HELP FEEDBACK SUBSCRIPTIONS ARCHIVE SEARCH TABLE OF CONTENTS		QUICK SEARCH:   [advanced] Author: Keyword(s): Year:  Vol:  Page:

This Article Full Text (PDF) References Citation Map Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by ARABASZ, W. J. Search for Related Content GeoRef GeoRef Citation

Geologic structure of the Taltal Area, Northern Chile, in relation to the earthquake of December 28, 1966

SEISMOLOGICAL LABORATORY CALIFORNIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY, PASADENA, CALIFORNIA

Abstract

The Taltal area, which lies within the coastal cordillera of northern Chile, is dominated by a group of major active faults that cut a eugeosynclinal section of predominantly Jurassic andesites overlying Paleozoic metamorphic and plutonic rocks and intruded by Late Mesozoic plutons. The Atacama fault, a suggested regional strike-slip fracture parallel to the coastline, has been obliquely cut and left-laterally offset 10 km by the Taltal fault, which passes through the town of Taltal. Three distinctive features were found to be consistently offset 10 km by the Taltal fault: the easternmost strand of the Atacama fault, an intrusive contact, and a unique volcanic unit. Former continuity of the Atacama fault through the Taltal region is proposed, and subsequent disruption by the Taltal fault appears to have caused major structural readjustments in the still-active Atacama fault zone.

The tentative offshore epicenter and aftershock distribution of the December 28 earthquake are not directly correlative with faults that have been mapped in the nearby on-shore areas; this lack of correlation is not surprising in view of the suggested depths of hypocenters in the lower crust or upper mantle.

This article has been cited by other articles:

				C. MORTIMER The Cenozoic history of the southern Atacama Desert, Chile Journal of the Geological Society, October 1, 1973; 129(5): 505 - 526. [Abstract] [PDF]

				A. M. PITT and J. O. ELLIS Preliminary report on some aftershocks of the December 28, 1966 earthquake in Northern Chile Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America, June 1, 1968; 58(3): 843 - 850. [Abstract] [PDF]