Pliocene-quaternary deformation in the Luracatao valley, Puna-Eastern Cordillera border, NW Argentina

MONTERO-LÓPEZ, CAROLINA; HONGN, FERNANDO; ARAMAYO, ALEJANDRO; COSTA, CARLOS; ARAMAYO-BOOTH, GABRIEL

JOURNAL OF SOUTH AMERICAN EARTH SCIENCES

PERGAMON-ELSEVIER SCIENCE LTD

Año: 2025 vol. 165

0895-9811

Quaternary fault activity in the Andean foreland of Northwestern Argentina seems to be a recurrent phenomenon along its eastern deformation front (i.e., Subandean Ranges and Santa Bárbara System). However, increasing studies record recent deformation within the internal zones of the orogenic wedge. An example of this is the neotectonic deformation we document in the Luracatao valley, an elongated N-S area in the Calchaquí region of the Eastern Cordillera of Argentina, limited to the west by the eastern Puna. Both mountain ranges bordering the valley are bounded by opposite-verging fault systems. Our findings based on field mapping, structural analyses, UAV flight, morphometric parameters and new OSL dating, suggest that there was recurrent activity of both fault systems bordering the valley, with several rupture events, which led to the deformation of overlying Pliocene-Quaternary alluvial and fluvial deposits covering both the hillslopes as well as the internal filling.