The Chiloé Block or Chiloé Terrane is a geotectonic unit making up the basement of large parts of south-central

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the southernmost country in the world, and the closest to Antarctica, occupying a long and narrow strip of land between the Andes to the east a ...

between 41° and 45°S. Due to its form, it is sometimes called Chiloé Sliver. The Chiloé Block is believed to be an ancient

microcontinent Continental crustal fragments, partly synonymous with microcontinents, are pieces of continents that have broken off from main continental masses to form distinct islands that are often several hundred kilometers from their place of origin. Caus ...

terrane In geology, a terrane (; in full, a tectonostratigraphic terrane) is a crust (geology), crust fragment formed on a tectonic plate (or broken off from it) and Accretion (geology), accreted or "Suture (geology), sutured" to crust lying on another pla ...

that collided with the South American Plate during the Proterozoic. The Chiloé Sliver is however badly sutured to South America as the

Liquiñe-Ofqui Fault The Liquiñe-Ofqui Fault is major geological fault that runs a length of roughly in a NNE-SSW orientation and exhibits current seismicity. It is located in the Chilean Northern Patagonian Andes. It is a dextral intra-arc strike-slip fault. Most ...

runs through its eastern boundary.

References

Geology of Chile Geology of Argentina Historical continents Paleozoic Terranes {{palaeo-geo-stub