Cimitarra Fault

Cimitarra Fault
Cimitarra Fault
Falla de Cimitarra
Etymology	Cimitarra River
Coordinates	07°20′12″N 73°55′23″W / 7.33667°N 73.92306°W
Country	Colombia
Region	Andean
State	Antioquia, Bolívar, Santander
Cities	Cantagallo, Puerto Wilches
Characteristics
Range	Central Ranges, Andes
Part of	Andean oblique faults
Length	136.5 km (84.8 mi)
Strike	323 ± 3
Dip	unknown
Dip angle	unknown
Displacement	0.1–1 mm (0.0039–0.0394 in)/yr
Tectonics
Plate	North Andean
Status	Inactive
Type	Oblique thrust fault
Movement	Sinistral reverse
Age	Quaternary
Orogeny	Andean

The Cimitarra Fault (Spanish: Falla de Cimitarra) is a sinistral oblique thrust fault in the departments of Antioquia, Bolívar and Santander in central Colombia. The fault has a total length of 136.5 kilometres (84.8 mi) and runs along an average northeast to southwest strike of 323 ± 3 in the Middle Magdalena Valley and Central Ranges of the Colombian Andes.

Etymology

The fault is named after the Cimitarra River, Antioquia, a left tributary of the Magdalena River.^[1]

Description

The Cimitarra Fault splays from the Palestina Fault in a northeasterly direction on the eastern border of the Central Ranges of the Colombian Andes,^[1] passes north of Barrancabermeja,^[2] and possibly connects to the Bucaramanga-Santa Marta Fault in the northeast.^[3] The fault displaces Jurassic to Cretaceous volcanic rocks, Mesozoic igneous rocks, a Tertiary erosion surface in the Central Ranges, and late Quaternary sediments. Portions of the fault are pre-Pliocene in age, since it is locally covered by undeformed Pliocene sediments. Farther northeast, the fault is overlain by young alluvial deposits of the Middle Magdalena Valley.^[1]

The fault is marked by well preserved fault scarps, long straight traces, displaced drainages, and it forms aligned river courses. The slip rate is calculated at 0.1 to 1 millimetre (0.0039 to 0.0394 in) per year.^[4]