The M! erida Andes is a mountain chain that trends SW–NE in western Venezuela, extending for some 350 km from the Colombian–Venezuelan border to the city of Barquisimeto. Its highest peaks reach 5000 m in elevation in the central portion, near M! This chain appears to be the northeastward topographic prolongation of the Eastern Cordillera of the Colombian Andes. The latter belongs to the main Andes chain that extends along the Pacific coast of South America. However, there is no direct genetic relationship between the M! Andes and Eastern Cordillera. The M! Andes uplift is not produced by convergence across a conventional type-B subduction, as most of the South American Andes are. In addition, the M! Andes and Eastern Cordillera are separated by the southern termination of the left-lateral strike-slip Santa Marta-Bucaramanga fault, and the NW–SE trending Santander Massif. The present M! erida Andes chain build-up results from Pliocene–Quaternary transpression due to oblique convergence between two continental blocks: South America and Maracaibo Triangular Block. The present geodynamic setting is responsible for ongoing strain partitioning along the M! erida Andes where the foothills and the mountain belt have been shortened transversely in a NW–SE direction whereas the Bocon ! o fault, roughly located in the core and along the M! Andes axis, accommodates dextral slip. Tectonic inheritance in the M! erida Andes plays a major role, since the chain growth partly results from inversion of Jurassic (half-) grabens, exposing Precambrian and Paleozoic rocks of the South American continental crust along the chain core. Evidence of very different kinds attests to the ongoing growth of the chain. From the geomorphic viewpoint, the axial valleys display well-preserved Quaternary staircase terrace systems with more than 500 m of vertical drop between the oldest terrace and present river beds. Rivers cutting across the structural grain of the chain show very distinct transverse ‘‘wine cup’’ profiles, attesting to the rapid uplift of the chain. In some cases, rivers have downcut over a 1000 m of relief, where the lower 200–300 m of these profiles exhibit subvertical walls. Other features that support the significant uplift of the chain and its youth are synorogenic mollasic deposits along both flanks of the chain, deposited in flexural basins, whose thicknesses reach 8 and 3 km on the northwest and southeast of the M! erida Andes, respectively. These continental deposits of essentially Plio–Quaternary age are arranged in up-dip convergence growth wedges, which are being deformed or destroyed by basin-vergent intracutaneous wedges, triangular zones and/or flat-and-ramp structures rooted under the M! Andes. The M! Andes core comprises igneous and metamorphic rocks formed at depths of 8–10 km, that are cropping out at its highest summits at about 5000 m elevation, implying a total uplift of the order of 12–15 km in the last 3–5 Ma (average uplift rate of 2–5 mm/a). Activation age and amount of uplift match rather well with those derived from fission-track thermochronology. The entire mountain belt exhibits widespread seismicity, essentially restricted to upper crustal levels (seismogenic layer). As well, focal mechanism solutions confirm the strain partitioning taking place in the M! Andes at present: right-lateral strike-slip along the sub-axial Bocon ! o fault and basinward thrust solutions on both flanks. Underfed/under-destruction pull-apart basins (Las Gonz! alez and Apartaderos) along the Bocon ! o fault appear to be complementary evidence of rapid uplift of the M! Andes.

Geomorphic and geologic evidence of ongoing uplift and deformation in the M! erida Andes, Venezuela

Trench investigation on the main strand of the Boconó fault in its central section, at Mesa del Caballo, Mérida Andes, Venezuela

We applied the Bakun and Wentworth (1997) method to the 26 March 1812 Venezuelan earthquake. Previous studies have shown that it had at least two large subevents, one associated with the Bocono fault and an intensity center between Barquisimeto and San Felipe, the other associated with the San Sebastian fault near Caracas. We used the method with two modifications. First, we introduced intensity intervals to account for the uncertainties associated with historical information. Second, we incorporated a correction that considers the fault’s strike, but not its actual position. These modifications were tested with three earthquakes: the 1989 Loma Prieta; a 1980 M w 5.2 event in Tachira, Venezuela; and the 1967 earthquake in Caracas, M w 6.6. The third one was important for the interpretation of the 1812 Caracas subevent. For the Barquisimeto–San Felipe subevent we obtained M WI 7.4±0.35, and an intensity center 10.20° N, 69.95° W that lies between Barquisimeto and San Felipe. Our preferred rupture length was between 90 and 100 km. The Caracas subevent had M WI 7.1±0.33, with an intensity center 10.60° N, 67.10° W, close to the Venezuelan north coast. The expected rupture length was on the order of 70 km.

Macroseismic Interpretation of the 1812 Earthquakes in Venezuela Using Intensity Uncertainties and A Priori Fault-Strike Information

This article examines the formative platform of the Congress of Panama of 1826. It seeks to support the hypothesis that the nature and scope of the first test of integration in the Western Hemisphere depended critically on the platform created by Simon Bolivar and other Latin American Independence heroes from the Declaration of Independence of Venezuela in 1810 until the last bilateral agreement of 1826. In that respect, it corroborates the Latin American Identity of the initiative.

/pdf/the-formative-platform-of-the-congress-of-panama-1810-1826-4wk4tjam4i.pdf

The formative platform of the Congress of Panama (1810-1826): the Pan-American conjecture revisited

Earthquake geology of the last millennium along the Boconó Fault, Venezuela

The 1812 earthquake is one of the most controversial of the seismic history of Venezuela and, even at present, it is not known what really happened on those days because diverse factors distorted the facts related to this event. In this paper a review of the historical information concerning to the damage and other effects of this earthquake in the Merida Andes has been made. From the analysis of this information it could be inferred a new epicentral location and it was possible to assign to this earthquake a value of magnitude different from that accepted until present.

El terremoto del jueves santo en Mérida: año 1812

El alud sísmico de La Playa: causas y efectos. El terremoto de Bailadores (1610)

El terremoto del año 1894 en Los Andes venezolanos

La aplicacion de una novedoaa metodologia para el estudio de la habilitacion de zonaa de banjo en areas montafloaaa se enaaya para La Vega del Hospital. Comunidad de unaa 30 viviendaa que ocupa 3 hectareaa aobre una maaa deslizada dentro del caaco urbano de la ciudad de Merida. Deapuea de una cuidadosa evaluacion de loa condicionea fiaicaa, la definicion de la vulnerabilidad baaada en la tipologia conatructiva y distribucion de danoa en laa viviendas, ae determinaron las limitacionea y areas criticas en baae a niveles de susceptibilidad, lo que permitio plantear una serie de sugerenciaa sobre el uao de la tierra y recomendaciones orientadas a ampliar los margenea de aeguridad en un area urbana altamente conflictiva entre amenazaa naturales latentea y una mala utilizacion del eapacio. Se intenta hacer asequible al publico una informacion compleja que contribuyo a canalizar las inquietudes de la comunidad con fines autogestionarios. Se pretende que un estudio con estas caracteriaticas, cuyos costos de elaboracion se mantienen bojo parametros moderados de un morco de referencia para una amplia discusion sobre las tecnicas a ser desarrolladas en la microzonificacion de zonas debarriosyconstituya un insumo importante en los estudios de los componentes social y urbanistico.

Una aproximación al estudio de niveles de susceptibilidad en un barrio ubicado en la ciudad de Mérida-Venezuela

La region ubicada entre Merida - Ejido y Estanques, de clima semi-arido y tectonicamente activa, constituye un magnifico laboratorio para el estudio de una zona sometida a una acelerada expansion urbana. En un pequeno sector de aproximadamente 4 km2, margenes del rio Chama, ocupado por el caserio La Gonzalez el Conjunto Residencial/Urbanizacion Chama-Merida, se analizan dos escenarios a partir de la actividad desarrollada por un pequeno torrente: (i) posible reactivacion a partir del ano 1999 de un muy agresivo flujo de detritos cuyo abanico represo parcialmente (2005) el rio Chama; este sistema parece configurar un interesante geoindicador de una tendencia (?) a un significativo incremento de las precipitaciones en esta region. (ii) Amenaza real que el deslizamiento El Paraiso (250.000 - 385.000 m3) pueda convertirse en un alud sismico, cuyas consecuencias serian desastrosas. Se llama la atencion del alto potencial que tiene este torrente de obturar el rio Chama. Se senalan las peculiaridades relacionadas con la presencia de dos cuencas de drenajes adyacentes, rio La Gonzalez y quebrada La Sucia, con rocas altamente disimiles que han generado amplios abanicos aluviales. Se adelantan algunos resultados preliminares asociados con 'crecidas' del rio Chama y la accion de algunos torrentes locales.

Un estudio de amenazas múltiples en la cuenca media del río Chama (Andes centrales venezolanos): caso zanjón El Paraíso

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