Forearc structures and tectonics in the southern Peru?northern Chile Continental Margin

Abstract

Abstract. SeaMARC II side-scan images, bathymetry, and single-channel seismic reflection data along the southern Perunorthern Chile forearc area between 16 ° and 23 ° S reveal a complex region of morpho-structural, submarine drainage and depression patterns. In the subducting plate area, the NW-SE trending primary normal fault system represented by trenchparalleled scarps was incipiently formed as the Nazca Plate was bent in the outer edge and further intensified as the plate approached the trench. The NE-SW trending secondary normal fault system that consists of discontinuous and smaller faults, usually intersect the primary trench-paralleled fault system.

The South American Advances in Submarine Canyons Studies and Their Link to the Ocean Decade

“…Seabed features like submarine canyons are an important evolution approach that can report on the major tectonic studies in subduction zones, describing the origin of basins based on tectonic control (Schubert, 1982; Figure 5E). They can be used to observe the origin and structural evolution of the Valparaiso Basin, which is the only morphologically prominent and structurally significant deep water forearc basin (Laursen et al, 2002), or study the morphotectonics in the forearc region, and their tectonic effect over the subducting Nazca Plate structure on the continental margin (Li, 1995).…”