Santa Rita Fault
Falla de Santa Rita
Etymology	Santa Rita de Ituango
Coordinates	07°23′25.5″N 75°35′11″W / 7.390417°N 75.58639°W / 7.390417; -75.58639
Country	Colombia
Region	Andean
State	Antioquia
Characteristics
Range	Central Ranges, Andes
Part of	Andean strike-slip faults
Length	81.0 km (50.3 mi)
Strike	010.6 ± 6
Dip	East
Dip angle	High
Displacement	~0.01–0.1 mm (0.00039–0.00394 in)/yr
Tectonics
Plate	North Andean
Status	Active?
Earthquakes	Possibly historic
Type	Strike-slip fault
Movement	Sinistral
Age	Quaternary
Orogeny	Andean

The Santa Rita Fault (Spanish: Falla de Santa Rita) is a strike-slip fault in the department of Antioquia in northern Colombia. The fault has a total length of 81.0 kilometres (50.3 mi) and runs along an average north to south strike of 010.6 ± 6 in the Central Ranges of the Colombian Andes.

Etymology

The fault is named after Santa Rita de Ituango.^[1]

Description

The Santa Rita Fault displaces metamorphosed volcanic and sedimentary rocks through most of its length; in the northern part, the fault places Cretaceous basic volcanic rocks against Tertiary and Quaternary sedimentary rocks. To the south, the Santa Rita Fault intercepts the Espíritu Santo Fault. The fault has a well-defined fault trace seen on satellite images. The trace is characterized by linear valleys, strong breaks in slope, offset alluvial fans and colluvial deposits, and local subsidence of the soil. The Santa Rita Fault might be the source of a historic magnitude 4.8 earthquake.^[2]

See also

• List of earthquakes in Colombia
• Romeral Fault System

References

Further reading

• Page, W.D. 1986. Seismic geology and seismicity of Northwestern Colombia, 1–200. San Francisco, California, Woodward-Clyde Consultants Report for ISA and Integral Ltda., Medellín.