The Bahía Solano Fault (), 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. I ...

in the department of Chocó on the Pacific Coast of

Colombia Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country primarily located in South America with Insular region of Colombia, insular regions in North America. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Caribbean Sea to the north, Venezuel ...

. The fault has a total length of and runs along an average north–south

strike Strike may refer to: People *Strike (surname) * Hobart Huson, author of several drug related books Physical confrontation or removal *Strike (attack), attack with an inanimate object or a part of the human body intended to cause harm * Airstrike, ...

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 tropi ...

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

Chocó Basin Choco or Chocó may refer to: Geography and culture *El Chocó, a region in western Colombia and adjacent parts of Panama and Ecuador **Chocó–Darién moist forests **Pacific/Chocó natural region *Chocó Department, Colombia *Choco District, Pe ...

and the coastal Serranía del Baudó. 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 a ...

, Chocó.Paris et al., 2000, p.16

Description

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

Panama Panama, officially the Republic of Panama, is a country in Latin America at the southern end of Central America, bordering South America. It is bordered by Costa Rica to the west, Colombia to the southeast, the Caribbean Sea to the north, and ...

Coiba Coiba () is the largest island in Central America, with an area of , off the Pacific coast of the Panamanian province of Veraguas. It is part of the Montijo District of that province. History Coiba separated from continental Panama between 1 ...

, Malpelo and North Andes Plates.Zhang et al., 2017 It bounds a structural valley between the Solano Bay and Utría Bay, and displaces the

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

turbidite A turbidite is the geologic Deposition (geology), 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 ...

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 143.1 to 66 mya (unit), million years ago (Mya). It is the third and final period of the Mesozoic Era (geology), Era, as well as the longest. At around 77.1 million years, it is the ...

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, a settlement on Smith Island, ...

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 Rock (geology), rocks cementation (geology), cemented together by a fine-grained matrix (geology), matrix. The word has its origins in the Italian language ...

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 only connected to land on one side. Peninsulas exist on each continent. The largest peninsula in the world is the Arabian Peninsula. Etymology The word ''peninsula'' derives , . T ...

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 ultramaf ...

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" (song), a 2024 song by Asake and Travis Scott from Asake's album ''Lungu Boy'' * Active Records, a record label Ships * ''Active'' (ship), several com ...

and produced the

1970 Bahía Solano earthquake Year 197 (Roman numerals, CXCVII) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Magius and Rufinus (or, less frequently, year 950 ''Ab urbe condita''). The denomination ...

with a

moment magnitude The moment magnitude scale (MMS; denoted explicitly with or Mwg, 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. was defined in a 1979 paper ...

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