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The Andes pp 91–121Cite as

Tectonic Processes along the Chile Convergent Margin

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Part of the book series: Frontiers in Earth Sciences ((FRONTIERS))

Abstract

The Chile subduction zone, spanning more than 3500 km, provides a unique setting for studying, along a single plate boundary, the factors that govern tectonic processes at convergent margins. At large scale, the Chile trench is segmented by the subduction of the Chile Rise, an active spreading center, and by the Juan Fernández hot spot ridge. In addition, the extreme climatic change from the Atacama Desert in the north to the glacially influenced southern latitudes produces a dramatic variability in the volume of sediment supplied to the trench. The distribution of sediment along the trench is further influenced by the high relief gradients of the segmented oceanic lithosphere.

We interpret new and reprocessed multichannel seismic reflection profiles, and multibeam bathymetric data, to study the variability in tectonic processes along the entire convergent margin. In central and south Chile, where the trench contains thick turbidite infill, accretionary prisms, some 50–60 km wide, have developed. These prisms, however, are ephemeral and can be rapidly removed by high-relief, morphological features on the incoming oceanic plate. Where topographic barriers inhibit the transport of turbidites along the trench, sediment infill abruptly decreases to less than 1 km thick and is confined to a narrow zone at the trench axis. There, all sediment is subducted; the margin is extending by normal faulting and collapsing due to basal tectonic erosion. The transition from accretion to tectonic erosion occurs over short distances (a few tens of km) along the trench.

In the turbidite-starved northern Chile trench, ~1 km of slope debris reaches the trench and is subsequently subducted. There, tectonic erosion is causing pronounced steepening of the margin, associated pervasive extension across the slope and into the emerged coastal area, and consequent collapse of the overriding plate. The volume of subducting material varies little along much of the margin. However, the composition of the material varies from slope debris of upper-plate fragments and material removed from the upper plate by basal erosion, to turbidites derived from the Andes.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Instituto de Ciencias del Mar, Paseo Marítimo de la Barceloneta 37-49, 08003, Barcelona, Spain

    César R. Ranero

  2. IfM-GEOMAR, Wischhofstrasse 1-2, 24148, Kiel, Germany

    Roland von Huene & Wilhelm Weinrebe

  3. Bundesanstalt für Geowissenschaften und Rohstoffe (BGR), Stilleweg 2, 30655, Hannover, Germany

    Christian Reichert

Authors
  1. César R. Ranero
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  2. Roland von Huene
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  3. Wilhelm Weinrebe
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  4. Christian Reichert
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department 3 Geodynamik, GeoForschungsZentrum Potsdam, Telegrafenberg, 14473, Potsdam, Germany

    Onno Oncken

  2. Departamento de Geología, Universidad Católica del Norte, Avenida Angamos 610, Antofagasta, Chile

    Guillermo Chong

  3. Petrologie, Institut für Angewandte Geowissenschaften, Technische Universität Berlin, Ernst-Reuter-Platz 1, 10587, Berlin, Germany

    Gerhard Franz

  4. Abteilung Geophysik, Institut für Geowissenschaften, Christian-Albrechts-Universität Kiel, Otto-Hahn-Platz 1, 24118, Kiel, Germany

    Hans-Jürgen Götze

  5. Departamento Ciencias Geológicas, Universidad de Buenos Aires, Ciudad Universitaria, 1428, Buenos Aires, Argentina

    Victor A. Ramos

  6. Institut für Geowissenschaften, Universität Potsdam, Karl-Liebknecht-Strasse 24, 14476, Potsdam, Germany

    Manfred R. Strecker

  7. Fachrichtung Geophysik, Institut für Geologische Wissenschaften, Freie Universität Berlin, Malteserstrasse 74-100, 12249, Berlin, Germany

    Peter Wigger

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Ranero, C.R., von Huene, R., Weinrebe, W., Reichert, C. (2006). Tectonic Processes along the Chile Convergent Margin. In: Oncken, O., et al. The Andes. Frontiers in Earth Sciences. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg . https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-540-48684-8_5

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