Victor Hugo Garcia

Freelancer

To improve the knowledge about the Quaternary tectonic landforms, their potential level of activity, and the associated inherent seismic hazards in the Cordillera Oriental of northwestern Argentina we analyzed the Lomas de Carabajal area along the western border of the Lerma valley. In this region, Pliocene to Pleistocene synorogenic conglomerates...

The integration of inverse thermal history modeling of new geochronological data with structural analyses from the western flank of the Domuyo volcano (∼36°30′S) allows us to propose a detailed cooling history of a key region in the Southern Andes. The Domuyo area is located in the northwestern part of the Chos Malal fold‐and‐thrust belt in the bac...

The region of the Andean back-arc of northwestern Argentina has been struck by several magnitude ≥6 crustal earthquakes since the first historically recorded event in 1692. One of these events corresponds to the Anta earthquake on 25 August 1948, with epicenter in the Santa Bárbara System causing three deaths and severe damage in Salta and Jujuy pr...

Compared to the thin‐skinned Subandean foreland fold‐and‐thrust belt of northern Argentina and Bolivia, the tectonically active morphotectonic province of the Santa Bárbara System in the Andean broken foreland of northwestern Argentina is characterized by a temporally and spatially disparate deformation style. Although there is no well‐defined orog...

The Santa Bárbara System (SBS), located at the Central Andes of northwestern Argentina, is a thickskinned fold-and-thrust belt (FTB) that represents the outermost portion of the orogenic wedge and the western boundary of the undeformed Chaco-Paraná foreland basin. The present-day structural architecture of the SBS is mainly governed by the reactiva...

Knickpoints are relief features characterized by a convex-up abrupt change in the equilibrium profile of a given river. In the field they can be recognized as rapids or waterfalls. Their presence indicate geological conditions or processes that modify erosive rates, such as contrasting lithologies, base-level changes, or active structures, and, the...

The Acazoque fault is a NNE-oriented crustal scale structure that can be traced for 200 km in the southern Puna of Argentina and is divided into southern, central and northern segments. The southern segment is 53 km long, oriented N23° and forms the eastern boundary of the southernmost part of the Salar de Antofalla. The northern segment, bearing N...

Historical and instrumental seismicity records from the Central Andes of northwestern Argentina spanning the last 350 years has been the primary data source to characterize this region's exposure to seismic hazard as "moderate" to "high" (0.18-0.25 PGA). The lack of detailed studies regarding widespread evidence of Quaternary seismogenic deformatio...

Historical and instrumental seismicity records from the Central Andes of north-western Argentina spanning the last ca. 350 years have been the primary data source to characterize this region’s exposure to seismic hazard as “moderate” to “high” (0.18-0.25 PGA). Despite the relevance of the existing dataset in seismic hazard assessments (SHA), we pro...

The Lerma valley is the easternmost intermontane basin of the Cordillera Oriental in the southern Central Andes of Argentina. This is a seismically active region subject to compressional tectonics. Although the instrumental record in the basin displays seismic activity characterized by small-magnitude earthquakes, an Mw=6.2 earthquake occurred in 2...

The Chachil depocenter is located in the Andean foreland, at ∼39°S. Its origin relates to the syn-rift phase of the Neuquén Basin, a large marine embayment developed along the southwestern margin of Gondwana (30–40°S). In this contribution, we characterize the Late Triassic-Early Jurassic extensional architecture of the Chachil depocenter, based on...

Northwestern Argentina is a seismically active, intraplate region on the back-arc of the Central Andes. Several intermontane valleys record paleo- and historical seismic events, as is the Lerma Valley in the Eastern Cordillera (Salta province). Geological studies in progress in the southern part of the valley focused on the Quaternary morphostructu...

Argentina is known for having one of the most extensive areas with high arsenic (As) concentration in groundwater in the world. These areas correspond to two geological provinces, the Altiplano-Puna plateau and the Chaco-Pampean plain. In this large territory, there are some specific environments where the As concentration in groundwater is lower,...

NW Argentina is located in the retrowedge of the Central Andes, an active subduction orogen driven by the convergence between Nazca and Southamerican plates. In this region, the Eastern Cordillera (EC) geological province consists of a thickskinned fold-and-thrust belt with widely distributed seismicity and many potentially seismogenic structures....

Geothermal fields in subduction-related orogens are closely linked to areas characterized by young magmatic and tectonic activity, both in arc- and back-arc settings. The spatio-temporal interaction of Quaternary volcanic complexes with regional extensional and transtensional structures might favor a hydrothermal circuit between meteoric water and...

Northwestern Argentina is part of the Central Andes, an active subduction orogen that enhances reactivation of older structures and growth of new ones that trigger shallow seismic activity giving to the region the status of high seismic risk. The seismic record (historical and instrumental) shows frequent events including destructive ones. However,...

NW Argentina is part of the Central Andes, an active subduction orogen enhancing reactivation of older structures and growth of new ones. The seismic record (historical and instrumental) shows frequent shallow crustal events including destructive ones, giving to the region the status of high seismic risk. In this paper, I provide an updated synthes...

Los Alisos range is located just to the south of San Salvador de Jujuy city, in the bajada of Eastern Cordillera. It comprises a series of low relief hills with NNW trend. Miocene to early Pleistocene synorogenic strata crop outs in their hillslopes delineating a west verging fault-propagation fold. A tuff interbedded in the subvertical frontal lim...

Geology of the eastern sector of the Curaco plutonic-volcanic Complex (Upper Triassic), Río Negro The Curaco plutonic-volcanic Complex (Upper Triassic), is located at the NE of El Cuy town, Río Negro, and its eastern sector is formed by monzogranites, minor granodiorite and mafic to felsic dikes, and a less amount of syenite, monzonite, and diorite...

We performed a quantitative comparison of brittle thrust wedge experiments to evaluate the variability among analogue models and to appraise the reproducibility and limits of model interpretation. Fifteen analogue modeling laboratories participated in this benchmark initiative. Each laboratory received a shipment of the same type of quartz and coru...

The Curaco plutonic-volcanic Complex (Upper Triassic), is located at the NE of El Cuy town, Río Negro, and its eastern sector is formed by monzogranites, minor granodiorite and mafic to felsic dikes, and a less amount of syenite, monzonite, and diorite. The monzogranites are biotitic with porphyric, equigranular, and granophyric-graphic textures, a...

Resumen. La evolución del Complejo Volcánico Domuyo puede ser dividida en distintas etapas, según las características litológicas de sus afloramientos observados en campo, su extensión y disposición areal. Siguiendo este criterio, en este trabajo se proponen la existencia de dos fases eruptivas principales, y un período intereruptivo. La distribuci...

El objetivo del presente trabajo es comunicar el estado de avance en el estudio geológico del área aledaña al río Jumial en la Cordillera Oriental de la provincia de Salta. La Cordillera Oriental es una faja plegada y corrida de piel gruesa, ubicada entre la Puna y el Sistema Santa Bárbara. Está caracterizada por grandes láminas de corrimiento, ret...

The goal of this study was to determine the main factors that controlled the kinematic evolution and the structural architecture developed during the Late Triassic to Early Jurassic rifting that led to the opening of the Neuquén basin in the southwestern sector of Gondwana. We carried out a series of analog models to simulate an extensional system...

El objetivo del presente estudio es caracterizar la cinemática y edad de la estructuración compresiva responsable del levantamiento de la sierra de Hualfín durante el Neógeno. La metodología de trabajo consistió en el relevamiento de datos estructurales en las zonas de Los Nacimientos de Abajo y el río Villavil. Para cumplir dicho objetivo, se rele...

Las Lomas de Carabajal se ubican en el sector centro-oeste del valle de Lerma en la Cordillera Oriental, poseen bajo relieve y se encuentran alineadas en sentido NO-SE. El valle de Lerma es una cuenca intermontana pliocuaternaria limitada por láminas de corrimiento que exponen al basamento en sus núcleos (García et al. 2013). El borde de esta parte...

The Salta earthquake of February 27, 2010 was the first M6 shallow event recorded in the Lerma valley (where the 800k inhabitants Salta city is located) since the begining of the instrumental registration. Both sinistral transcurrent and reverse with sinistral component focal mechanisms have been proposed as kinematic solutions for this event (Alva...

The Andean retrowedge, located between 33°S and 34°S, lies in the transition region of the Pampean flat-slab subduction zone to the north and a normal subduction zone to the south. Neotectonic structures and shallow seismicity are very common north of this segment and become progressively less frequent southwards. The Frontal Cordillera and the Cer...

We propose an integrated kinematic model with mechanical constrains of the Maipo-Tunuyán transect (33°40´S) across the Andes. The model describes the relation between horizontal shortening, uplift, crustal thickening and activity of the magmatic arc, while accounting for the main deep processes that have shaped the Andes since the early Miocene. We...

Detailed structural and geological mapping was carried out in the Lomas de Carabajal region. In this area the Plio-Pleistocene Piquete Formation appears intensely folded and faulted, being unconformably overlain by the Upper Pleistocene alluvial conglomerates of the La Viña Formation. These conglomerates are folded and show growth strata geometries...

The study of the Las Tunas River incisions, located in the eastern Andean foreland front (33�20'S in Argentina) provides new clues for the interpretation of deep piedmont entrenchments. Both the Las Tunas mountain catchment and its piedmont are strongly entrenched with maximal incision of over 100 m at the mountain front. Three main terrace levels...

The Lerma valley is an intermontane tectonic depression located in the Cordillera Oriental of NW Argentina. Basement-cored thrust sheets are flanking the valley and controlling its N-S elongated shape. The uplift of these basement blocks took place during late Miocene to Plio-Pleistocene, synchronously with the deposition of fluvial-alluvial sequen...

Continuity and evolution in time of the horizontal stress direction in the Neuquen Basin area, derived from the analysis of recent borehole data and orientation of volcanic dykes measured in outcrop in the Cara Cura and Reyes Ranges is presented. The bitumen dykes along the Neuquén Basin were formed during Paleocene - Eocene in a context where the...

El sismo de Salta del 27 de Febrero de 2010 fue el primer evento de intraplaca de magnitud mayor a 6 registrado en el valle de Lerma desde el inicio de las mediciones instrumentales. Las mayores intensidades fueron reportadas en las poblaciones de Campo Quijano, La Silleta, Rosario de Lerma, Cerrillos y La Merced. Utilizando información disponible...

Horizontal Stress Field Evolution from Eocene to Present in Neuquen Basin. Continuity and evolution in time of the horizontal stress direction in the Neuquen Basin area, derived from the analysis of recent borehole data and orientation of volcanic dykes measured in outcrop in the Cara Cura and Reyes Ranges is presented. The bitumen dykes along the...

The Lerma valley is an intermontane basin elongated in N-S sense and located between 24°30’ - 25°35’ SL at Eastern Cordillera geological province. The basin is limited by basement blocks uplifted during Miocene to Plio-Pleistocene times (Monaldi et al., 1996). The neotectonic basement of the region is composed by diverse rocks from Precambrian meta...

The Atuel depocenter of the Neuquén basin originated as an Upper Triassic to Lower Jurassic rift system, later inverted during the Andean contractional deformation. In order to study the extensional architecture and the kinematic evolution of this depocenter, we collected a large amount of field and sub-surface data, consisting of slip data from ou...

The evolution of the landscape is consequence of the interactions between the forces that construct the reliefs (tectonics) and processes contributing for the destruction of them (erosion). Piedmont environments are characterized by the interplay of active tectonics and fluvial processes. Many types of markers (morphologic, structural and stratigra...

Analogue model experiments are widely used to gain insights into the evolution of geological structures. In this study, we present a direct comparison of experimental results of 14 analogue modelling laboratories using prescribed set-ups. A quantitative analysis of the results will document the variability among models and will allow an appraisal o...

We present a direct comparison of experimental results of 16 analogue modelling laboratories for three thrust experiments. Our quantitative analysis of the results documents the variability among models and will allow an appraisal of reproducibility and limits of interpretation. This has direct implications for comparisons between structures in ana...

This study is focused on the Atuel depocentre, which sedimentary infill records the first stages of the Neuquén Basin opening during Late Triassic to Early Jurassic times in response to regional extensional processes. Our main goal was to determine the structural controls related to the kinematics of the Atuel depocentre opening. We propose as the...

The main aim of the present study is to model the interplay between neotectonic growth folds and fluvial-alluvial processes in piedmont areas using an original numerical modeling platform (ERSEDE). ERSEDE allows the quantifying of topographic changes in the model along its evolution. The model outputs can be used to carry out detailed analysis on g...

ABSTRACT: Evidences of oblique rifting in the synrift deposits of the northern sector of the Neuquen Basin. This study is focused on the Atuel depocentre, which sedimentary infill records the first stages of the Neuquen Basin opening during Late Triassic to Early Jurassic times in response to regional extensional processes. Our main goal was to det...

RESUMEN El depocentro Atuel corresponde a una subcuenca triásica superior a jurásica inferior de rumbo NNO y polaridad al oeste, ubicado en el sector septentrional de la cuenca Neuquina. A partir de la integración de datos estratigráficos preexistentes con el análisis de las estructuras relacionadas a la etapa de rift, se pudo establecer que el dep...

In this paper we analyse two end-member models of temporal and spatial interactions between thick- and thin-skinned structures in a thrust front with pre-existing rift structures. In the most commonly accepted model, a hinterland-to-foreland sequence of inversion of pre-existing normal faults is proposed. As a result, the emplacement of shallow thr...

The application of a forward numerical model capable to quantify values of erosion and deposition is presented. This model is here applied to monolithological mountain drainage sub-basins in the Central and Ligurian Alps (N-Italy). The work aims to verify the location and quantity of erosion and that of deposition obtained with the model output....

The Atuel depocentre corresponds to a Late Triassic - Early Jurassic NNW-trending subbasin, located in the northern sector of the Neuquén basin. Based on pre-existing stratigraphical data and present structural analysis we propose that the Atuel depocentre is bounded by the presence of two NNW-trending major normal faults, named Alumbre and La Mang...

Fluvial-erosion control over the structure of a growing thrust belt. Results from analogue models. Some strike changes in structures associated to thin-skinned fold and thrust belts are related to antecedent rivers. These variations are explained commonly as a response of pre-existent structural anisotropies to compressional deformation. In the pre...