The Bahía Solano Fault ( es, Falla Bahía Solano), Utría Fault or Utría-Bahía Solano Fault is a westward dipping

thrust fault A thrust fault is a break in the Earth's crust, across which older rocks are pushed above younger rocks. Thrust geometry and nomenclature Reverse faults A thrust fault is a type of reverse fault that has a dip of 45 degrees or less. If ...

in the

department Department may refer to: * Departmentalization, division of a larger organization into parts with specific responsibility Government and military *Department (administrative division), a geographical and administrative division within a country, ...

of Chocó on the Pacific Coast of Colombia. The fault has a total length of and runs along an average north–south

strike Strike may refer to: People * Strike (surname) Physical confrontation or removal *Strike (attack), attack with an inanimate object or a part of the human body intended to cause harm *Airstrike, military strike by air forces on either a suspected ...

of 347 ± 13 from the Panama-Colombia border to

Bajo Baudó Bajo Baudó () is a municipality and town in the Chocó Department, Colombia. It was founded in 1821 and converted into a municipality in 1825. Most of the town's population of 16,375 live in rural areas. Climate Bajo Baudó has a very wet trop ...

. The fault is partly offshore in the bays of Solano and Utría and crosses the Chocó Basin and the coastal

Serranía del Baudó The Serranía del Baudó is a coastal mountain range on the Pacific coast of Colombia. It is separated from the West Andes by the Atrato valley where the Atrato River flows and Quibdó is located. From the south the range extends from the Baud� ...

. Movement of the fault produced the 6.5 1970 Bahía Solano earthquake.

Etymology

The fault is named after

Bahía Solano Bahía Solano is a municipality and town in the Chocó Department, Colombia. Bahia, as it is locally known, is an economic and tourist center of coastal Choco. The municipal head is Ciudad Mutis. Bahia is home to José Celestino Mutis Airport ...

, Chocó.Paris et al., 2000, p.16

Description

The Bahía Solano Fault extends along the Pacific Coast of Colombia, bordering the

Panama Panama ( , ; es, link=no, Panamá ), officially the Republic of Panama ( es, República de Panamá), is a transcontinental country spanning the southern part of North America and the northern part of South America. It is bordered by Co ...

Coiba Coiba is the largest island in Central America, with an area of , off the Pacific coast of the Panamanian province of Chiriquí. It is part of the Tolé District of that province. History Coiba separated from continental Panama about 12,000 to ...

, Malpelo and

North Andes Plate The North Andes Plate or North Andes Block is a small tectonic plate ( microplate) located in the northern Andes. It is squeezed between the faster moving South American Plate and the Nazca Plate to the southwest. Due to the subduction of the Mal ...

s.Zhang et al., 2017 It bounds a structural valley between the Solano Bay and Utría Bay, and displaces the

Eocene The Eocene ( ) Epoch is a geological epoch that lasted from about 56 to 33.9 million years ago (mya). It is the second epoch of the Paleogene Period in the modern Cenozoic Era. The name ''Eocene'' comes from the Ancient Greek (''ēṓs'', " ...

turbidite A turbidite is the geologic deposit of a turbidity current, which is a type of amalgamation of fluidal and sediment gravity flow responsible for distributing vast amounts of clastic sediment into the deep ocean. Sequencing Turbidites w ...

s of the Uva Formation in the south,Galvis Vergara, 1980, p.10 and

Cretaceous The Cretaceous ( ) is a geological period that lasted from about 145 to 66 million years ago (Mya). It is the third and final period of the Mesozoic Era, as well as the longest. At around 79 million years, it is the longest geological period of ...

oceanic Oceanic may refer to: *Of or relating to the ocean *Of or relating to Oceania **Oceanic climate **Oceanic languages **Oceanic person or people, also called "Pacific Islander(s)" Places *Oceanic, British Columbia Oceanic is an unincorporated set ...

Baudó Basalts in the north,Galvis Vergara, 1980, p.23 The fault forms a well developed and continuous fault line (scarp), and the

breccia Breccia () is a rock composed of large angular broken fragments of minerals or rocks cemented together by a fine-grained matrix. The word has its origins in the Italian language, in which it means "rubble". A breccia may have a variety of d ...

ted zone of the fault reaches in width.Galvis Vergara, 1980, p.31 The

peninsula A peninsula (; ) is a landform that extends from a mainland and is surrounded by water on most, but not all of its borders. A peninsula is also sometimes defined as a piece of land bordered by water on three of its sides. Peninsulas exist on al ...

s of Cabo Corrientes and Bahía Solano are composed of

oceanic crust Oceanic crust is the uppermost layer of the oceanic portion of the tectonic plates. It is composed of the upper oceanic crust, with pillow lavas and a dike complex, and the lower oceanic crust, composed of troctolite, gabbro and ultramafi ...

displaced by the Bahía Solano Fault.Galvis Vergara, 1980, p.34 Segments of the fault have been called Utría Fault,Plancha 183, 2002Plancha 202, 2002Plancha 127, 2002Plancha 163, 2002 and Utría-Bahía Solano Fault.Plancha 143, 2002

Activity

The slip rate of the fault is estimated at between per year. The fault is

active Active may refer to: Music * ''Active'' (album), a 1992 album by Casiopea * Active Records, a record label Ships * ''Active'' (ship), several commercial ships by that name * HMS ''Active'', the name of various ships of the British Royal ...

and produced the 1970 Bahía Solano earthquake with a

moment magnitude The moment magnitude scale (MMS; denoted explicitly with or Mw, and generally implied with use of a single M for magnitude) is a measure of an earthquake's magnitude ("size" or strength) based on its seismic moment. It was defined in a 1979 pape ...

of 6.5 and a depth of .Ramírez, 1975, p.207 The earthquake was followed by 123 aftershocks in the period from September 26 to October 7, 1970.Ramírez, 1975, p.208

Etymology

Description

Activity

See also

References

Bibliography

Maps

Further reading