Boletín de la Sociedad Geológica Mexicana

Volumen 73, núm. 2, A060121, 2021

http://dx.doi.org/10.18268/BSGM2021v73n2a060121

   

Margen norte costa afuera de Venezuela: sísmica marina de alta resolución entre Golfo Triste y Cabo Codera

 

Northern offshore margin of Venezuela: High-resolution marine seismic survey between Golfo Triste and Cabo Codera

 

Sirel Colón-Useche1,*, Franck A. Audemard M.1, Christian Beck3, Crelia Padrón4, Marc De Batist5

 

FUNVISIS, Prolongación Calle Mara, El Llanito, Caracas 1073, Venezuela.

ISTerre, UMR CNRS 5275, Université de Grenoble-Alpes (UGA), F-73376 Le Bourget du Lac, Francia

Departamento de Ciencias de la Tierra. Universidad Simón Bolívar. Valle de Sartenejas, Caracas, Baruta, Apartado 89000, Venezuela.

Renard Centre of Marine Geology (RCMG), Universiteit Gent, Krijgslaan 281-S8, B-9000 Ghent, Bélgica.

* Autor para correspondencia: (S. Colón- Useche) This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

 

How to cite this article:

Colón-Useche, S., Audemard. M, F., Beck, C., Padrón, C., De Batist, M., 2021, Margen norte costa afuera de Venezuela: sísmica marina de alta resolución entre Golfo Triste y Cabo Codera: Boletín de la Sociedad Geológica Mexicana, 73 (2), A060121. http://dx.doi.org/10.18268/BSGM2021v73n2a060121

  

ABSTRACT

The continental shelf north of Central Venezuela is partially or completely structurally controlled by major right lateral strike slip active faults (e.g. San Sebastián fault), comprising three physiographic provinces, from west to east: The Golfo Triste Platform, the Choroní Basin and the La Guaira Platform. The two mentioned platforms are of erosional type while the Choroní basin is a deep depression, which is incised by submarine canyons. These canyons seem to be related to turbidity currents with greater flows during the Pleistocene wetter periods. Following several authors, these submarine canyons are partially or completely structurally controlled by major structures present in the north-central coastal range of Venezuela. Five major regional unconformities and/or seismostratigraphic limits have been identified. We propose to correlate the most recent to MIS 2 (Last Glacial Maximum ~ 20 ka) lowstand. The chronological significance of the deepest detected major uncomformity (strong erosion) is tentatively attributed to MIS 6 (~130 ka) lowstand. Based on the present-day position of the later one, we propose an estimation of ~1.2 mm.y-1 of the mean subsidence rate in the La Guaira Shelf, considering that the obtained value may locally represent a minor vertical component of the dominantly horizontal displacement along the San Sebastián Fault. The San Sebastián fault shows a linear deformation in the eastern profiles. In contrast to the west, we observe in some profiles an intense deformation zone.

Keywords: seismestratigraphy, neotectonique, San Sebastián fault and La Tortuga fault.