
Carlos Benavente EscóbarInstituto Geologico Minero Metalurgico, Peru | INGEMMET · Geology
Carlos Benavente Escóbar
PhD
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June 2016 - present
Publications
Publications (90)
The Western flank of the Central Andes presents a high concentration of giant paleo-landslides that are well preserved due to the long-term aridity of the region. However, the precise timing of most of these features remains unknown, hindering our understanding of their forcing factors and frequency. To address this knowledge gap, we focused on eig...
Known worldwide for its rich and well-preserved pre-Columbian and Spanish architecture, the city of Cusco (Peru) is listed as a World Heritage Site since 1983. However, less well known is the seismic hazard, which represents a major threat to the city’s 400,000 inhabitants and its cultural outreach. Despite the moderate magnitudes recorded in the a...
The Colca River area is affected by shallow small-to-moderate earthquakes due to the activity of normal and strike-slip crustal faults on the overriding South American plate. In addition, volcanic activity from the Sabancaya volcano has been recorded. However, the complex relationship between seismic and volcanic activities and the factors that tri...
Known worldwide for its rich and well-preserved pre-Columbian and Spanish architecture, the city of Cusco (Peru) is listed as a World Heritage Site since 1983. However, less well known is the seismic hazard, which represents a major threat to the 400,000 Cusco’s inhabitants and city’s cultural outreach. Despite the moderate magnitudes recorded in t...
The city of Cusco (Peru, Central Andes) has been severely damaged by several major earthquakes during pre-Hispanic times, and more recently in 1650 and 1950 CE. While the sources of those earthquakes are unknown, a system of active normal faults trending SE-NW and cutting Quaternary glacial deposits borders the city to the north. A detailed neotect...
Thermochronological data are essential to constrain thermal and exhumation histories in active mountain ranges. In the Central Andes, bedrock outcrops are rare, being blanketed by widespread late Palaeogene–Neogene and younger volcanic formations. For this reason, the exhumation history of the Western Cordillera (WC) in the Peruvian Andes has only...
The relationship between parallel and oblique to the orogen faults and the magmatic evolution is key to understanding the evolution of a hot orogen, such as the Central Andes. The Andean orogenesis along the southern Central Andes, during the Neogene is characterized by regional compression and magmatic processes associated with subduction. The out...
En este estudio, se presenta los resultados obtenidos de la investigación magnetotelúrica (MT) llevada a cabo en abril de 2018 en las principales fallas y sistemas de fallas identificados a lo largo del valle del Cusco, sur del Perú. El perfil magnetotelúrico tiende en dirección suroeste-noreste (SO-NE) y consiste de 14 sondeos MT, con espaciamient...
Devastated by two earthquakes in historical times (1650 and 1950 CE), the Cusco Basin is now characterized by dense and chaotic urbanization that makes it even more vulnerable. Unfortunately, the large recurrence intervals of the local crustal earthquakes, the shortness of the historical record (∼500 yr) and the persistent lack of palaeoseismologic...
The western flank of the Central Andes hosts some of the largest terrestrial landslides (v > km³), which morphologies are particularly well-preserved due to low erosion rates related to the hyper-arid climate prevailing in this region since the Miocene. First-order questions are pending about the factors controlling the development and the triggeri...
Active faults in the forearc of southern Peru pose a poorly understood hazard to the region. The Purgatorio Fault is a 60 km-long fault that extends between Moquegua and Tacna that has hosted several scarp-forming earthquakes over the last 6 ka. We present new measurements of the fault scarp geomorphology along the Purgatorio Fault, and use dating...
As recent dramatic and numerous examples demonstrate, earthquakes still constitute a significant threat to cultural heritage (Bam 2003; L’Aquila 2009; Haiti 2010; Nepal 2015). By damaging the historical legacy, telluric phenomena affect economic and touristic incomes and alter regional identities and collective psyche. In the Andes, as in other eme...
El Sistema de Fallas Pachatusan está localizado 5 km al este de la ciudad del Cusco. Se presenta como segmentos sub paralelos, distribuidos a lo largo de 25 km en un ancho de
2 km. Afecta a depósitos y geoformas de origen glacial, así como a rocas volcánicas (0.5 Ma). Estudios anteriores, como los de Benavente et al. (2013) y Sébrier et al. (1985)...
En el presente trabajo ponemos en evidencias fallas geológicas activas y cuaternarias, que se emplazan a lo largo de las pampas costeras, la Cordillera Occidental y el Altiplano. Para determinar esta relación de morfología y cinemática de fallas con la msagnitud del sismo, utilizamos un conjunto de metodologías, que incluyen las geología estructura...
We present the results of a paleoseismic survey of the Incapuquio Fault System, a prominent transpressional fault system cutting the forearc of South Perú. High‐resolution Digital Elevation Models, optical satellite imagery, radiocarbon dating, and paleoseismic trenching indicate that at least 2–3 m of net slip occurred on the Incapuquio Fault gene...
The 2016 Mw 6.1 Parina earthquake ruptured a shallow-crustal normal fault within the high Andes of south Peru. We use high-resolution DEMs and field mapping of the surface ruptures generated by the earthquake, in combination with co-seismic and post-seismic InSAR measurements, to investigate how different features of the geomorphology at Parina are...
A colonial chronicle written by the indigenous Peruvian author Pachacuti Yamqui Salcamaygua ([1613?]) relates a legend of the sudden appearance of a huge animal-kilometres in length and approximately 4 m in width-and described as the Andean snake-like deity amaru. Pachacuti Yamqui alleged that this fantastic event occurred on the day that the sover...
The Abancay Deflection, forming the northern edge of the Altiplano in the Peruvian Andes, is a remarkable geomorphological feature marking the along-strike segmentation of the Andes. Little is known about the timing and spatial distribution of exhumation in this area. To constrain the exhumation history of the Abancay Deflection and its drivers, we...
seismogenic sources do occur. This fact has led to different approaches for mapping and inventory neotectonic
structures. The South American Risk Assessment project promoted the discussion and update under uniform
standards of the available information on neotectonic deformation, for its application in regional Probabilistic
Seismic Hazard Assessme...
The Historic Sanctuary of Machu Picchu (Cusco, Peru) is one of the most important archaeological monuments in Peru and worldwide. Machu Picchu is classified as a UNESCO World Heritage site and at risk from climatic change. However, the seismic centennial history of Peru reports large earthquakes generated both along the subduction zone (Mw8) and on...
The Abancay Deflection, forming the northern edge of the Altiplano in the Peruvian Andes, is a remarkable geomorphic feature marking the along-strike segmentation of the Andes. Little is known about the timing and spatial distribution of exhumation in this remote area. To constrain the exhumation of the Abancay Deflection, we present apatite (U-Th)...
Orogenic plateaus can exist in a delicate balance in which the buoyancy forces due to gravity acting on the high topography and thick crust of the plateau interior are balanced by the compressional forces acting across their forelands. Any shortening or extension within a plateau can indicate a perturbation to this force balance. In this study we p...
The central part of the Western Andes holds an exceptional concentration of giant paleolandslides involving very large volumes of rock material (v > km3). While those gravitational slope failures are interpreted consensually as an erosional response to the geodynamic activity of the Andes (relief formation and tectonic activity), the question of th...
In Cusco Valley, have been highlighted the Tambomachay, Pachatusan and Cusco active faults
(Cabrera, 1988 & Benavente et al., 2013). Cusco has a historical and instrumental seismic record Mw>
5, events occurred in 1650, 1950 and 1986 (Silgado, 1978, Tavera, 2002). In the same way, during
pre-Inca and Inca periods, they suffered the occurrence of ea...
Too often, the seismic hazard evaluation in the Andes is limited to the subduction zone. While it is true that the most powerful earthquakes that affected the Pacific fringe (Lima, 1746; Arica, 1868) had little impact on the Altiplano, this area exhibits a combination of strong seismic hazard and high vulnerability through the presence of active fa...
Conference abstract
Talk done by Xavier Robert
Subduction earthquakes are considered the main source for seismic hazard in Peru (Villegas-Lanza et al., 2016). However, in recent years, it has been made an effort to generate a database of active faults for southern Peru (Benavente Carlos et al., 2017, Benavente et al., 2018), to propose these as a potential danger. In this way, we carried out mo...
For several decades now, engineers have argued and assumed that the Inkas developed seismic-resistant construction techniques (Calderón Peñaylillo, 1963) . While it is true that some architectural features and masonry types in their monumental public buildings seem to be particularly well suited to face the seismic risk of the Cuzco region, no stru...
Esta trabajo invita a ver la geología desde otra perspectiva, conocer los atributos naturales necesarios para producir el pisco, los cuales obedecen a la evolución geológica de millones de años, donde los procesos geológicos internos y externos han logrado modelar el valle y han condicionado el clima e hidrografía; el desarrollo de los suelos es la...
Conference abstract - Poster presentation
La ciudad del Cusco se caracterizada por tener importante actividad sísmica asociada a fallas activas adyacentes a la ciudad. Los sismos son de magnitudes moderadas a elevadas (>5.5 Mw) (Silgado, 1978); sin embargo, la información histórica e instrumental aún es limitada para entender y realizar una coherente evaluación sismotectónica.
La falla Tam...
Introducción: La caracterización de las fallas geológicas activas para generar escenarios de peligro sísmico, ha llegado a ser una tarea importante en zonas de tectónica activa (e.g. Himalaya, Andes, Nueva Zelanda, entre otros). Uno de los factores importantes para lograr este objetivo, es la estimación de la altura del escarpe de falla. Actualment...
Conference abstract - Poster presentation
The Mw 6.1 2016 Parina earthquake led to extension of the south Peruvian Andes along a normal fault with evidence of Holocene slip. We use interferometric synthetic aperture radar, seismology, and field mapping to determine a source model for this event and show that extension at Parina is oriented NE-SW, which is parallel to the shortening directi...
En el presente trabajo ponemos en evidencia fallas activas y cuaternarias con potencial sismogénico que están relacionadas con la evolución neotectónica de la región Arequipa. La neotectónica es una ciencia que estudia las últimas deformaciones de la corteza terrestre con la finalidad de entender la evolución geodinámica reciente de cadenas montaño...
Our understanding of the style and rate of Quaternary tectonic deformation in the forearc of the Central Andes is hampered by a lack of field observations and constraints on neotectonic structures. Here, we present a detailed analysis of the Purgatorio fault, a recently recognized active fault located in the forearc of southern Peru. Based on field...
Timing and mechanisms of uplift in the Central Andes have been a matter of debate since at least the 1970’s. Our study focuses on Cenozoic deformation and exhumation of the Central Andean forearc in Peru, in Cuzco region, and between the Western Cordillera and the Coastal Cordillera in Nazca region. Our new mapping of active faults provides new ins...
Subduction earthquakes are commonly regarded as the most significant seismic threat for South America. However, historic destructive earthquakes related to shallow crustal sources have occurred onshore where many important cities, capital towns and critical facilities are settled nearby faults, whose seismogenic capability is known or suspected. De...
The Andean range stretches for thousands of kilometers from Patagonia to Venezuela and its recent tectonic evolution results from the ongoing subduction of the Nazca plate. Less studied than the subduction mega earthquakes, several M>7 continental earthquakes did affect the Andean human settlements since the Pre Incaic period. Although neglected in...
The contribution of landslides to the Quaternary evolution of relief is poorly documented in arid contexts. In southern Peru and northern Chile, several massive landslides disrupt the arid western Andean front. The Chuquibamba landslide, located in southern Peru, belongs to this set of large landslides. In this area, the Incapuquio fault system cap...
The contribution of landslides to the Quaternary evolution of relief is poorly documented in arid contexts. In southern Peru and northern Chile, several massive landslides disrupt the arid western Andean front. The Chuquibamba landslide, located in southern Peru, belongs to this set of large landslides. In this area, the Incapuquio fault system cap...
The geodynamic characterization of the Metropolitan Lima and El Callao region (Peru) has allowed inventorying 848 geological and geohydrological hazards (including 718 movements mass and 130 hydrometeorological events and others) and 107 zones critical susceptible to such processes.
36% of the total inventoried are recent processes (occurred
betwee...
Understanding the forearc structure and processes related to Quaternary evolution and uplift of the Western Andean Cordillera remains an outstanding scientific issue. Models of Andean Plateau evolution based on Tertiary volcanic stratigraphy since 5Ma suggest that the deformation was focused along the eastern margin of the plateau and that minimal...
Active transpressive deformation has been occurring along the Andean hyperarid forearc for the last 3 Myrs but many of these faults are still not described even if able to produce large damaging earthquakes. Active faulting along the northern part of the Arica Bend can be recognized due to the presence of well-preserved and sharp fault scarps indic...
The Andes is the classic example of a mountain range formed during subduction of an oceanic plate under a continental plate. Recent studies suggest that the 80 km-thick crust related to the Altiplano plateau 1 is mainly due to crustal shortening focused at the eastern edge of the orogen during the Miocene 2-3 . However, the timing of uplift remains...
Numerous post-tsunami surveys have been conducted in the last two decades, especially since the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami. These studies have documented a variety of characteristic sedimentary and erosional features that can be ascribed to known events. Nevertheless, the question arises whether these structures are just ephemeral or have a potentia...
The entire coast of Perú was surveyed to document deposits of historical tsunami. Evidence of four tsunami
was found. At Puerto Casma, in northern Perú, a graded, heavy mineral-rich layer with shell- and rock
fragments was detected. OSL dating revealed an age of 0.37±0.03 ka (1615-1667 AD). Inverse modelling
of tsunami onshore flow parameters indic...
In a South American scientific frame, 40 years of common efforts and regional studies give rise to a dense literature, available in several types of international publications, ranging from geological survey maps to review papers and even open-source databases that are not cited in this paper (for example: INGEMMET, http:// geocatmin.ingemmet.gob.p...
El pueblo de Maca y alrededores durante los últimos años viene siendo afectado de manera
recurrente por procesos de movimientos en masa y actividad sísmica. Estos fenómenos
están afectando viviendas, áreas de cultivos (andenes), canales y reservorios, así como
infraestructura vial vital para el desplazamiento de la población local y la actividad tu...