Pernambuco Fault

The Pernambuco fault or Pernambuco Shear Zone in northeastern Brazil is a fault radiating from the Trans Brazilian Lineament eastwards to the coast, a major geological feature.[1]

The Pernambuco-Alagoas domain, part of the Borborema Province, is primarily made of rocks aged between 1,600 and 1,000 million years, significantly younger than the areas to the north and south.[2]

The Pernambuco fault in this domain is a continuation of the Foumban Shear Zone in Cameroon, itself the western end of the Central African Shear Zone.[1] To the west, the fault splays into numerous faults along a distance of about 50 km, suggesting that the crust was weak at this point, which is on the line where South America separated from Africa around 115 million years ago.[3]

References

  1. 1 2 J D Fairhead, Nasreddine Bournas and M Chaker Raddadi (2007). "The Role of Gravity and Aeromagnetic Data in Mapping Mega Gondwana Crustal Lineaments: the Argentina - Brazil – Algeria (ABA) Lineament" (PDF). SEG. Retrieved 2011-01-30.
  2. ↑ Robert J. Pankhurst (2008). West Gondwana: pre-Cenozoic correlations across the South Atlantic Region. Geological Society. p. 91. ISBN 1-86239-247-1.
  3. ↑ Alain Vauchez and Marcos Egydio da Silva (November 1992). "Termination of a continental-scale strike-slip fault in partially melted crust: The West Pernambuco shear zone, northeast Brazil". Geology. 20 (11): 1007–1010. doi:10.1130/0091-7613(1992)020<1007:TOACSS>2.3.CO;2. Retrieved 2011-02-03.

Coordinates: 7°50′S 38°15′W / 7.833°S 38.250°W / -7.833; -38.250


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