Geodetic determination of relative plate motion and crustal deformation across the Scotia-South America plate boundary in eastern Tierra del Fuego

doi:doi:10.1029/2002GC000446

Abstract

Cited By (9)

Abstract

GEOCHEMISTRY GEOPHYSICS GEOSYSTEMS, VOL. 4, 1070, 19 PP., 2003
doi:10.1029/2002GC000446 [Citation]

Geodetic determination of relative plate motion and crustal deformation across the Scotia-South America plate boundary in eastern Tierra del Fuego

R. Smalley Jr.

Center for Earthquake Research and Information, University of Memphis, 3876 Central Avenue, Ste. 1, Memphis, Tennessee 38152, USA

E. Kendrick

School of Ocean, Earth and Space Technology, University of Hawaii, 1680 East West Road, Honolulu, Hawaii 96822, USA

M. G. Bevis

School of Ocean, Earth and Space Technology, University of Hawaii, 1680 East West Road, Honolulu, Hawaii 96822, USA

I. W. D. Dalziel

Institute of Geophysics, Jackson School of Geosciences, University of Texas at Austin, 4412 Spicewood Springs Road, Building 600, Austin, Texas 78759, USA

F. Taylor

Institute of Geophysics, Jackson School of Geosciences, University of Texas at Austin, 4412 Spicewood Springs Road, Building 600, Austin, Texas 78759, USA

E. Lauría

Instituto Geográfico Militar de Argentina, Cabildo 381, Buenos Aires, 1426 Argentina

R. Barriga

Instituto Geográfico Militar de Chile, Nueva Santa Isabel 1640, Santiago, Chile

G. Casassa

Centro de Estudios Científicos, Avda. Arturo Prat 514, Casilla 1469, Valdivia, Chile

E. Olivero

Centro Austral de Investigaciones Científicas, Av. Malvinas Argentinas s/n, Caja de Correo 92, Ushuaia, Tierra del Fuego, 9410 Argentina

E. Piana

Centro Austral de Investigaciones Científicas, Av. Malvinas Argentinas s/n, Caja de Correo 92, Ushuaia, Tierra del Fuego, 9410 Argentina

Global Positioning System (GPS) measurements provide the first direct measurement of plate motion and crustal deformation across the Scotia-South America transform plate boundary in Tierra del Fuego. This plate boundary accommodates a part of the overall motion between South America and Antarctica. The subaerial section of the plate boundary in Tierra del Fuego, about 160 km in length, is modeled as a two dimensional, strike-slip plate boundary with east-west strike. Along the Magallanes-Fagnano fault system, the principal fault of this portion of the plate boundary, relative plate motion is left-lateral strike-slip on a vertical fault at 6.6 ± 1.3 mm/year based on an assumed locking depth of 15 km. The site velocities on the Scotia Plate side are faster than the relative velocity by an additional 1–2 mm/yr, suggesting there may be a wider region of diffuse left-lateral deformation in southern Patagonia. The north-south components of the velocities, however, do not support the existence of active, large-scale transpression or transtension between the South America and Scotia plates along this section of the plate boundary.

Received 23 September 2002; accepted 15 May 2003; published 19 September 2003.

Citation: Smalley, R., Jr., E. Kendrick, M. G. Bevis, I. W. D. Dalziel, F. Taylor, E. Lauría, R. Barriga, G. Casassa, E. Olivero, and E. Piana (2003), Geodetic determination of relative plate motion and crustal deformation across the Scotia-South America plate boundary in eastern Tierra del Fuego, Geochem. Geophys. Geosyst., 4(9), 1070, doi:10.1029/2002GC000446.

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