We observed an old strike-slip fault with schist shear damage zone about 20 m wide, with no Pleistocene-Holocene activity. Associated to this fault there are huge cracks Mode 1 opening tensile stress normal to the plane of the crack, with current activity. The opening of the cracks is really huge, about 4 m and several meters depth, cutting schist outcrops perpendicular to the foliation. This cracks are no associated to any gravitational collapse.
Is it possible to explain this fault "reactivation" as a mega-crack mode? Which could be the possible mechanism that produce this tensile-crack opening of the fault? Is it any regional deformation capable to explain this fault-crack behavior?
The zone is located on the overriding plate of the chilean subduction zone, and near to the Liquiñe-Ofqui Fault System.
Kind regards.
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