Piendamó Fault

The Piendamó Fault (Spanish: Falla de Piendamó) is an oblique dextral strike-slip fault in the department of Cauca in southwestern Colombia. The fault is part of the megaregional Romeral Fault System and has a total length of 28.3 kilometres (17.6 mi) and runs along a variable average north to south strike of 341.6 ± 18 in the Central Ranges of the Colombian Andes.

Piendamó Fault
Falla de Piendamó
Etymology	Piendamó
Coordinates	02°39′48″N 76°32′53″W
Country	Colombia
Region	Andean
State	Cauca
Cities	Piendamó
Characteristics
Range	Central Ranges, Andes
Part of	Romeral Fault System
Length	28.3 km (17.6 mi)
Strike	Variable from 320 to 010
Dip	East to northeast
Dip angle	High
Displacement	0.2–1 mm (0.0079–0.0394 in)/yr
Tectonics
Plate	North Andean
Status	Inactive
Type	Oblique strike-slip fault
Movement	Reverse dextral
Rock units	Popayán Formation
Age	Quaternary
Orogeny	Andean

Etymology

The fault is named after Piendamó, Cauca.[1]

Description

The Piendamó Fault is part of Romeral Fault System in southwestern Colombia. The fault is located at the base of the mountain front of the western slope of the Central Ranges, north of the city of Popayán. The fault displaces volcanic pyroclastic deposits and mud flows of the Tertiary to Quaternary Popayán Formation. It forms an outstanding topographic and tectonic block bounded by two intersecting faults.[1]

The fault forms an outstanding prismatic-tectonic mountain block composed of pyroclastic flow and ash-fall deposits. This block is bounded by two well developed fault scarps of about 400 metres (1,300 ft) height; one facing west-southwest and the other facing south-southwest. There is geomorphic evidence of scarp degradation and old landslides on the face of these scarps. Deep canyons cut about 200 metres (660 ft) into scarps formed against a flat-topped 400 metres (1,300 ft) high mountain. Several close fault lines parallel the west-southwest-facing scarp. The 400 metres (1,300 ft) high Piendamó scarp is one of the largest for neotectonic Quaternary faults in western Colombia.[1]

See also

• List of earthquakes in Colombia
• Rosas-Julumito Fault

References

1. Paris et al., 2000a, p.23

Bibliography

• Paris, Gabriel; Michael N. Machette; Richard L. Dart, and Kathleen M. Haller. 2000a. Map and Database of Quaternary Faults and Folds in Colombia and its Offshore Regions, 1–66. USGS. Accessed 2017-09-18.

Maps

• Paris, Gabriel; Michael N. Machette; Richard L. Dart, and Kathleen M. Haller. 2000b. Map of Quaternary Faults and Folds of Colombia and Its Offshore Regions, 1. USGS. Accessed 2017-09-18.

Further reading

• Page, W.D. 1986. Seismic geology and seismicity of Northwestern Colombia, 1–200. San Francisco, California, Woodward-Clyde Consultants Report for ISA and Integral Ltda., Medellín.