Montenegro Fault

Montenegro Fault
Montenegro Fault
Falla de Montenegro
Etymology	Montenegro
Coordinates	04°31′00″N 75°46′32″W / 4.51667°N 75.77556°W
Country	Colombia
Region	Andean
State	Quindío
Characteristics
Range	Central Ranges, Andes
Part of	Romeral Fault System
Length	21.7 km (13.5 mi)
Strike	025.1 ± 9
Dip	West
Dip angle	High
Displacement	0.1 mm (0.0039 in)/yr
Tectonics
Plate	North Andean
Status	Inactive
Type	Oblique strike-slip fault
Movement	Normal sinistral
Age	Quaternary
Orogeny	Andean

The Montenegro Fault (Spanish: Falla de Montenegro) is an oblique sinistral strike-slip fault in the department of Quindío in west-central Colombia. The fault is part of the megaregional Romeral Fault System and has a total length of 21.7 kilometres (13.5 mi) and runs along an average northwest to southeast strike of 025.1 ± 9 in the Central Ranges of the Colombian Andes.

Etymology

The fault is named after Montenegro, Quindío.^[1]

Description

The 21.7 kilometres (13.5 mi) Montenegro Fault is part of the Romeral Fault System, running through the western slope of the Central Ranges. The fault is located to the west of the city of Armenia. The fault crosscuts and deforms the Pleistocene volcanic and volcano-sedimentary deposits of the Quindío Fan (Spanish: Abanico del Quindío), which covers about 400 square kilometres (150 sq mi).^[1]

The Montenegro Fault forms outstanding fault scarps as much as 60 metres (200 ft) in height, beheaded streams, hanging valleys, ponded alluvium, aligned and offset drainages, as well as soil and rock slides on the face of the scarps. The fault deforms Quaternary volcanic debris flows and ash deposits.^[2] The Espejo River follows the strike of the Montenegro Fault.^[3]