The structures of the Peninsula Ushuaia in the Beagle Channel (Tierra del Fuego, Argentina)

Federico Esteban (a), Donald Bran (a), Melina Santomauro (a), Alejandro Tassone (a), Marco Menichetti (b), Emanuele Lodolo (c), Horacio Lippai (a) & J. Francisco Vilas (a)
(a) Instituto de Geociencias Básicas, Aplicadas y Ambientales de Buenos Aires (IGeBA). UBA-CONICET. (b) Dipartimento di Scienze della Terra, della Vita e dell'Ambiente. Università di Urbino. E-mail: marco.menichetti@uniurb.it (c) Istituto Nazionale di Oceanografia e di Geofisica Sperimentale (OGS), Trieste.

New geophysical data (bathymetry, electrical resistivity tomography and seismic profiles) show the structural and morphological characteristic of the Peninsula Ushuaia structural high. The bathymetry and seismic data show that the structural high is bordered by two troughs controlled by the E-W Beagle channel strike-slip fault system and a NW-SE extensional system. Electrical resistivity tomography profiles allow us to identify similar oriented meso-scale structures onshore at the Peninsula Ushuaia. The collected evidence supports the idea that the NW-SE extensional system should be younger than the E-W system.

Southernmost Andes, Beagle Channel, transtensional faults, geophysical survey