全球变化知识资源中心

The 500-km-long Boconó strike-slip fault runs as a major active fault along the backbone of the Mérida Andes fold-and-thrust belt. The recent right-lateral motion on the fault led to formation of numerous structures such as pull-apart basins which have formed in releasing bends and/or right-step offsets along the fault strands. The La González pull-apart is the biggest basin generated as an extensional strike-slip duplex in the central part of the fault. This duplex is made up of two strands of the Boconó fault as master/first-order faults, while normal right-lateral faults which formed during evolution of the basin are second-order faults. The extension of the basin is associated with seismic activities and surface offsets along the Boconó fault. InSAR investigations over a 31-month period also support active deformation within the basin. These data indicate that the La González basin is continuously being extended as a result of motion along the Boconó fault and formation of subsequent normal faults. In addition, the basin is being transversely shortened in NW–SE direction due to regional shortening across the Mérida Andes range followed by convergence between the Maracaibo microplate and the Guyana shield. © 2015, Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg.