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Geology

Active detachment faulting above the Peruvian flat slab

Brendan McNulty and Daniel Farber

Geology 2002;30;567-570
doi: 10.1130/0091-7613(2002)030<0567:ADFATP>2.0.CO;2

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Active detachment faulting above the Peruvian flat slab
Brendan McNulty Department of Earth Sciences, California State University Dominguez Hills, 1000 East Victoria Street,
Carson, California 90747, USA
Daniel Farber Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Institute of Geophysics and Planetary Physics, University of California,
7000 East Avenue, Livermore, California 94550, USA
ABSTRACT
The Cordillera Blanca detachment fault in the Peruvian Andes
is, to our knowledge, the first active detachment to be documented
above a modern flat slab. Crustal detachment has unroofed the ca.
8 Ma Cordillera Blanca batholith, now the backbone of the highest
mountain range in Peru. Large-magnitude slip along the fault was
thermally enhanced by emplacement of the batholith, the penulti-
mate magmatic event prior to flattening of the Nazca slab. However,
extensional models based on arc magmatism and crustal thickening
alone do not adequately explain the scale or structural asymmetry
of a series of young, deep-seated, west-dipping normal faults across
Peru. Here we show that the onset of detachment faulting coincided
with subduction of the aseismic Nazca Ridge and consequent flat-
tening of the Nazca slab. We propose that slab buoyancy from ridge
subduction triggered extensional collapse of the prethickened con-
tinental crust, and that this buoyancy drove footwall uplift that ex-
ceeds basin subsidence. The west-dipping asymmetry of late Ceno-
zoic extensional faults in Peru may be controlled by a preexisting
crustal anisotropy (older thrusts), and/or formation of Riedel-like
shears kinematically linked to the flat Nazca slab.
Keywords: Nazca Ridge, detachment, flat subduction, Peru, Andes,
extension.
INTRODUCTION
Detachment faults—regional low- to moderate-angle normal faults
rooted in the ductile middle crust—are primary structures that allow
extension of Earth’s crust (Davis and Lister, 1988). Here we identify
the Cordillera Blanca detachment fault, an example of a seismogenic,
low-angle extensional shear zone in the Andean continental margin
(Fig. 1). We show that detachment faulting began just after the final
phase of continental-arc magmatism in northern Peru, at a time coin-
cident with subduction of the Nazca Ridge and flattening of the un-
derthrusting Nazca slab. We propose that detachment faulting was trig-
gered by buoyant forces associated with aseismic (hotspot) ridge
subduction, superposed upon prethickened continental crust locally
weakened by arc magmatism.
The Cordillera Blanca offers an ideal geological setting to study
the evolution of detachment systems. Subduction and mountain building
in Peru are ongoing, and both the lithospheric structure and late Miocene
to present plate kinematic framework are well defined. For example, slip
vectors for the Nazca and South American plates have been quantified
over a length of geologic time, including those for today (via the Global
Positioning System [GPS]: Norabuena et al., 1998) and for the late Ce-
nozoic (NUVEL-1A: DeMets et al., 1994; Somoza, 1998). Other well-
defined parameters include the geometry, age, and structure of the sub-
ducting slab, downdip location of subducted hotspot ridges, crustal and
lithospheric thicknesses of both plates, stress fields in the overriding
plate, heat flow, and Andean topography (e.g., Suarez et al., 1983; James
and Sacks, 1999; Gutscher et al., 2000).
CORDILLERA BLANCA DETACHMENT FAULT
The Cordillera Blanca fault has been studied previously (Wilson
et al., 1967; Sebrier et al., 1988; Schwartz, 1988; Petford and Atherton,
1992), but had not been recognized as a detachment fault. This
;N308W-striking fault is exposed as a spectacular 208–458W-dipping
q 2002 Geological Society of America. For permission to copy, contact Copyright Permissions, GSA, or editing@geosociety.org.
Geology; June 2002; v. 30; no. 6; p. 567–570; 4 figures.
scarp fronting a $1-km-thick mylonite belt (Figs. 1 and 2). The foot-
wall block, which forms the highest peaks in Peru (Fig. 1), is primarily
constructed of the ca. 8 Ma (;3 kbar) Cordillera Blanca batholith
(McNulty et al., 1998). The supradetachment basin (Callejon de Huay-
las: Fig. 1) contains 7.8–4.65 Ma ignimbrites (Cobbing et al., 1981;
Bonnot, 1984), glacial deposits, and mass-wasting–dominated alluvial
fans shed off the rapidly elevating arc massif.
Kinematic indicators and mineral assemblages in the Cordillera
Blanca mylonite document oblique (sinistral) down-to-the-west ductile
shear under conditions of the upper to lower greenschist facies. Stretch-
ing lineations in the mylonite and slip directions along brittle Pliocene–
Quaternary faults are oblique (trend, ;2208; pitch, ;708; Bonnot, 1984;
this study). Kinematic indicators (S-C fabric, oblique quartz fabrics, mica
fish, asymmetric tails on feldspar porphyroclasts) perpendicular to foli-
ation and parallel to lineation invariably exhibit a normal-shear sense;
those perpendicular to foliation and lineation show a predominantly si-
nistral shear sense. Mineral assemblages are quartz 1 biotite 1 mus-
covite 6 actinolite 6 epidote 6 titanite; retrograde reactions include
hornblende → actinolite 6 biotite, amphibole 6 biotite → chlorite, feld-
spar → white mica. Upsection, the mylonite is progressively overprinted
by cataclasite and chlorite breccia, recording a retrograde ductile through
brittle history of deformation (Petford and Atherton, 1992). To the west,
seismogenic, west-dipping normal faults cut Quaternary glacial moraines
and alluvial fans (Schwartz, 1988; Deverchere et al., 1989). The 10Be
and 26Al model ages of offset moraines yield vertical uplift rates of ;4
mm/yr (cf. .1 mm/yr long-term rate from exhumed batholith: DeSmedt
et al., 1999). Figure 3 shows the fault to be listric, as inferred from
numerous back-rotated fault blocks in the hanging wall, and deep seated
(microseismicity to 10 km depth; Deverchere et al., 1989). The Cordil-
lera Blanca probably marks the juvenile phase of metamorphic core com-
plex formation (Chery, 2001).
The following heat-flow data, temperature versus time data from
the batholith, and stratigraphic data from the Callejon de Huaylas basin
indicate that active detachment faulting began between ca. 8 Ma and
ca. 5 Ma. (1) Present-day heat flow in the region is low (;20mW/m22;
Henry and Pollack, 1988), indicating a low regional geothermal gra-
dient in the latest Miocene. The lithospheric heat necessary to initiate
detachment faulting (Buck, 1991) thus had to have been derived from,
and localized to, the ca. 8 Ma Cordillera Blanca batholith. Moreover,
mylonite sequences are confined to the batholith. (2) The 40Ar/39Ar
muscovite ages show that the Cordillera Blanca mylonite cooled
through ;350 8C by ca. 3.6 Ma (Petford and Atherton, 1992). The
simplest interpretation is that the rapid cooling was facilitated by uplift
and/or exhumation along the fault prior to this time. (3) In the supra-
detachment basin, Pliocene strata above a ca. 5 Ma basal ignimbrite
coarsen upward, from fine-grained sediment to fanglomerate, and thick-
en upward (tenfold increases in bed thickness; Bonnot, 1984), indicat-
ing substantial fault-generated relief by the earliest Pliocene.
OTHER NORMAL FAULTS
The Quiches fault, located northeast of the Cordillera Blanca (Fig.
3), is an active, N308W-trending, west-dipping normal fault with
oblique sinistral offset (i.e., geometry and kinematics similar to Cor-
dillera Blanca detachment). In 1946, a major earthquake (M 5 6.3–
6.9; Doser, 1987) nucleated on the Quiches fault. The fault-plane so-
lution for the event, the largest well-documented normal-fault
567
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Figure 1. Composite Landsat Thematic Mapper image

(bands 1, 2, 3) of central Peru. Map at lower left shows lo-
cation of Landsat image (red inset box), location of Nazca
Ridge (thick lines) at 8, 5, and 0 Ma, extent of Peruvian flat
slab slip (thin lines), and vector (arrow) of Nazca plate (N).
B is snow-capped Cordillera Blanca batholith, CB is Cordil-
lera Blanca detachment fault, CH is Callejon de Huaylas ba-
sin, CN is Cordillera Negra, Q is Quiches fault, M is Maranon
fault, H is Huascaran (highest peak in Peru, 6768 m). Also
shown are locations of Figure 2 (A–C) photos, cross-
sectional line A-A9 (Fig. 3), extension directions at CB and
Q, and Global Positioning System data at Peruvian coast at
98309 (projected 15 km eastward onto image). Sinistral com-
ponent of these faults is attributed to oblique subduction
beneath Peru (McNulty et al., 1998).

earthquake in the Andes, defines a plane dipping 308 6 108W at a

hypocentral depth of 15–17 km (cf. 588W-dipping surface rupture).
Both the Cordillera Blanca and Quiches faults thus appear to be listric
and extend deep into the upper crust. Farther east, in the Maranon fold-
and-thrust belt, mylonitized Precambrian-Paleozoic rocks are exposed
in the footwall of a west-dipping normal fault (Maranon fault; Figs. 1
and 3). These rocks are interpreted to be a metamorphic core complex.
Three similar, large-scale, west-dipping normal faults occur farther
east, but the age of faulting in this remote region is unknown.
GPS data along the Peruvian coast (98309S) document an anom-
alous motion of the upper plate toward (;2058) the Peru trench (Nor-
abuena et al., 1998; Fig. 1). A simple explanation is that westward slip
along Cordillera Blanca detachment extends under the coast (i.e., ex-
tension is not restricted to high Andes). The lateral extent, depth of
faulting, oblique slip sense, and predominance of one dip direction of
these normal faults (Fig. 3) suggest forcing factors other than the
spreading of orogenic relief (cf. Dalmayrac and Molnar, 1981; Suarez
et al., 1983; Sebrier et al., 1988; Mercier et al., 1992).
DRIVING FORCES FOR EXTENSION
Thermal Forcing: Batholith Emplacement
Thermal effects associated with emplacement of the Cordillera Blan-
ca batholith played a key role in initiation of the Cordillera Blanca de-
Figure 2. Field photos of Cordillera Blanca detachment fault. A:
Mylonitic scarp; for scale, visible topographic relief is 1600 m;
408W-dipping mylonites can be seen in shaded canyon walls.
B: View looking along strike of 208W-dipping mylonitic belt;
road at bottom right for scale. C: Active frontal fault scarp with
down-dropped block in foreground; scarp is ~10–20 m high.
tachment. The batholithic heat source, present from ca. 8 Ma to ca. 3 Ma,
facilitated ductile extensional strain within the $1-km-thick mylonitic belt,
large cumulative slip along the fault, and rapid tectonic and erosional
exhumation of the ;3 kbar batholith. It is evident that this fault has un-
dergone a longer period of displacement, and/or faster slip rates, than other
normal faults in the Peruvian Andes, most of which lack a heat source.
Ridge Subduction, Slab Flattening, and Lithospheric Buoyancy
In Peru, active detachment faulting occurs above the modern flat
slab. Flat subduction here is primarily caused by the subducted part of

568 GEOLOGY, June 2002

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Figure 3. Cross-section A-A9 (no vertical exaggeration) showing west-dipping structural asymmetry across Peru (88S–108S)
from coast to Maranon fold-and-thrust belt (location, symbols, and abbreviations in Fig. 1; Quiches fault is projected into
section). Also shown are hypocenter and microseismicity locations (red ellipses—Quiches and Cordillera Blanca faults), in-
ferred brittle-ductile transition (BDT), Huancaspata (f6) and Huachay (f7) faults, and Eocene thrusts (green lines). Exhumed
metamorphic rocks are Precambrian (Complejo Maranon, P –
Figure 4. Model for formation of detachments above Pe-
ruvian flat slab. Features drawn to scale: yellow—sub-
ducting Nazca slab (N), thick black line on top of slab—
Nazca Ridge (NR), blue—South American lithosphere
(SA), magenta—asthenosphere, light pink—Cordillera
Blanca batholith (B). A: At 8 Ma, Cordillera Blanca arc is
active above normal-dipping slab; Nazca Ridge enters Pe-
ruvian trench. B: At 5 Ma, leading flank of Nazca Ridge
passes under Cordillera Blanca (also see Fig. 1 inset),
calc-alkalic magmatism ceases, and detachment faulting
is underway. C: At 3.5 Ma, entire Nazca Ridge subducts
under Peruvian Andes, driving tectonic and erosional ex-
humation of batholith; up-to-east movement of footwall
blocks is driven by buoyancy (due to ridge subduction)
and basal traction (due to flat slab). D: Riedel shear mod-
el, Y—interplate shear, R—detachment; geometry favored
by preexisting thrust fault anisotropy.
GEOLOGY, June 2002
C —purple waves) and Paleozoic-Mesozoic (Pz—orange).
the aseismic Nazca Ridge (Sacks, 1983; Gutscher et al., 2000). The
orientation of this hotspot track, which is ;2200 km long by ;200
km wide, is oblique (0408) to the vergence direction of the Nazca plate
(0828); the collision zone of the ridge with the Peru margin has thus
moved southward from 88S to 158S during the past 8 m.y. (Fig. 1,
inset). From plate reconstructions (DeMets et al., 1994; Somoza, 1998),
we estimate that the leading (southern) flank of the Nazca Ridge at
088S entered the Peru trench ca. 8 Ma (Figs. 1 and 4A). During this
same time period, the submerged Peruvian margin rapidly thinned by
subduction erosion (von Huene et al., 1996), whereas the calc-alkalic
Cordillera Blanca arc was active 300 km inboard of the trench. If we
assume a plate-margin geometry similar to that of the present and a
plate-convergence rate of 11 cm/yr (Somoza, 1998), the 308-dipping
slab would have brought the southward-migrating edge of the Nazca
Ridge to a depth of 100 km by ca. 6 Ma. The slab then began to pass
subhorizontally, bringing the aseismic ridge beneath the Cordillera
Blanca by ca. 5 Ma (Figs. 1 and 4B). This reconstruction suggests that
arrival of the Nazca Ridge, the leading edge of the flat slab, under the
Cordillera Blanca coincided with the cessation of arc magmatism and
onset of detachment faulting. The time-space correspondence between
subduction of the Nazca Ridge and detachment faulting suggests to us
a fundamental link between ridge subduction and crustal extension.
We propose that subduction of the ;17-km-thick Nazca Ridge
(Bialis et al., 2000) beneath the arc provided sufficient lithospheric
buoyancy to drive uplift in the overriding plate. Furthermore, we sug-
gest that this combined lithospheric buoyancy (thick subducted oceanic
crust plus thick Andean crust) drove footwall uplift in the Cordillera
Blanca that greatly exceeds hanging-wall subsidence. The high topo-
graphic relief of the Cordillera Blanca footwall and the low cumulative
amount of sedimentation in the supradetachment Callejon de Huaylas
basin both support a model of absolute footwall uplift (as opposed to
basin subsidence; Friedmann and Burbank, 1995). Buoyancy effects of
the subducted Nazca Ridge, which were superposed upon preexisting
thermal and gravitational conditions, were at a maximum ca. 3.5 Ma,
when the entire ;300 km width (oblique section) of the ridge was
passing subhorizontally beneath the Cordillera Blanca (Fig. 4C).
Asymmetrical Extension Above the Flat Slab
A question remains as to why the extensional structure in the
Peruvian Andes is dominated by large-scale, west-dipping normal
faults (e.g., Cordillera Blanca, Quiches, Maranon; Fig. 3). One possi-
bility is that this asymmetry is controlled by the reactivation of older
west-dipping thrusts (Fig. 3) formed during Andean shortening (Eocene
569
 Downloaded from geology.gsapubs.org on August 28, 2014
Incaic orogeny; Megard, 1984). We suggest an alternate, yet specula-
tive, model where crustal detachments are kinematically linked to the
subducting Nazca slab. Notably, fault geometry and kinematics relative
to the flat slab resemble Riedel shear systems, where the sense of slip
on detachments (R shears) is the same as that on the plate interface (Y
shear), with an intervening angle of ;108–308 (Fig. 4D; also see Yin
and Kelty, 1991). The model is based on stress reorientation (west-
plunging s1) associated with increased basal traction on the plate in-
terface (Bird, 1998; Gutscher et al., 2000). An increase in interplate
shear might also relax normal compressional stress at the western edge
of the South American plate, thereby enabling extension. The model
also requires that middle to upper crustal strain be coupled to the flat
slab through a strong lower lithosphere. This may be the situation in
Peru, where flat-slab subduction has refrigerated the overriding litho-
sphere and increased its strength and seismicity (Suarez et al., 1983;
Henry and Pollack, 1988; Gutscher et al., 2000).
SUMMARY AND IMPLICATIONS
This study provides one of the few examples of an active low-
angle detachment fault (Wernicke, 1995). The study also documents
detachment faulting in the Andean convergent margin, a tectonic re-
gime where these low-angle faults have not been widely recognized.
Moreover, because it is widely held that flat-slab subduction drives
contraction in the upper plate (e.g., Bird, 1998), our study presents an
example of extensional strain above a modern-day flat slab. Our model
predicts that detachment faults should occur elsewhere above the Pe-
ruvian flat slab and that they should young southward in concert with
southward migration of the Nazca Ridge. Similarly, we would expect
that subduction of the ‘‘Lost Inca plateau’’ to the north (Gutscher et
al., 2000) would have generated crustal extension in that region.
Our consideration differs from previous studies in that it explores
a plate-kinematic–based explanation for detachment faulting. We pro-
pose that buoyancy associated with the subduction of aseismic (hot-
spot) ridges may drive extension in the overriding plate, and that these
regional effects augment more localized effects from magmatism and
thickened continental crust. The example of detachment tectonics in
Peru may provide a perspective for development of post-Laramide
metamorphic core complexes in western North America, where sub-
sequent Basin and Range faulting, isostatic-flexural rebound, and for-
mation of the Pacific–North American transform plate boundary often
mask the driving forces for detachment faulting.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
We thank Greg Davis and Dave Scholl for reviews, and Jim Kellogg, Mian Liu, and
An Yin for comments. This work was supported by the National Science Foundation (grant
EAR-9802825), Institute of Geophysics and Planetary Physics at Lawrence Livermore, and
Instituto de Geológico Minero y Metalurgico in Lima, Peru.
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Manuscript received September 24, 2001
Revised manuscript received February 20, 2002
Manuscript accepted February 26, 2002
Printed in USA
GEOLOGY, June 2002