Active Triclinic Transtension in a Volcanic Arc: A Case of the El Salvador Fault Zone in Central America

The El Salvador Fault Zone (ESFZ) is part of the Central American Volcanic Arc and accommodates the oblique separation movement between the forearc sliver and the Chortis block (Caribbean Plate). In this work, a triclinic transtension model was applied to geological (fault-slip inversion, shape of v...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores: Alonso-Henar, Jorge, Fernández, Carlos, Staller, Alejandra, Díaz, Manuel, Hernández, Walter, Valeria García, Ángela, Martínez Díaz, José Jesús, Álvarez-Gómez, José Antonio, Canora Catalán, Carolina
Tipo de recurso: artículo
Fecha de publicación:2022
País:España
Institución:Universidad Autónoma de Madrid
Repositorio:Biblos-e Archivo. Repositorio Institucional de la UAM
Idioma:inglés
OAI Identifier:oai:repositorio.uam.es:10486/719357
Acceso en línea:http://hdl.handle.net/10486/719357
https://dx.doi.org/10.3390/geosciences12070266
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:El Salvador Fault Zone
active volcanic arc
triclinic transtension
Central America
Geografía
Geología
Descripción
Sumario:The El Salvador Fault Zone (ESFZ) is part of the Central American Volcanic Arc and accommodates the oblique separation movement between the forearc sliver and the Chortis block (Caribbean Plate). In this work, a triclinic transtension model was applied to geological (fault-slip inversion, shape of volcanic calderas), seismic (focal mechanisms) and geodetic (GPS displacements) data to evaluate the characteristics of the last stages of the kinematic evolution of the arc. The El Salvador Fault Zone constitutes a large band of transtensional deformation whose direction varies between N90° E and N110° E. Its dip is about 70° S because it comes from the reactivation of a previous extensional stage. A protocol consisting of three successive steps was followed to compare the predictions of the model with the natural data. The results show a simple shear direction plunging between 20° and 50° W (triclinic flow) and a kinematic vorticity number that is mostly higher than 0.81 (simple-shearing-dominated flow). The direction of shortening of the coaxial component would be located according to the dip of the deformation band. It was concluded that this type of analytical model could be very useful in the kinematic study of active volcanic arcs, even though only information on small deformation increments is available