The Liquiñe-Ofqui Fault is major geological fault that runs a length of roughly 1000 km in a north-south direction and exhibits current seismicity . It is located in the Chile

Chile

Chile ,officially the Republic of Chile , is a country in South America occupying a long, narrow coastal strip between the Andes mountains to the east and the Pacific Ocean to the west. It borders Peru to the north, Bolivia to the northeast, Argentina to the east, and the Drake Passage in the far...

an northern patagonean Andes

Andes

The Andes is the world's longest continental mountain range. It is a continual range of highlands along the western coast of South America. This range is about long, about to wide , and of an average height of about .Along its length, the Andes is split into several ranges, which are separated...

. It is a dextral intra-arc

Volcanic arc

A volcanic arc is a chain of volcanoes positioned in an arc shape as seen from above. Offshore volcanoes form islands, resulting in a volcanic island arc. Generally they result from the subduction of an oceanic tectonic plate under another tectonic plate, and often parallel an oceanic trench...

 transform fault

Transform fault

A transform fault or transform boundary, also known as conservative plate boundary since these faults neither create nor destroy lithosphere, is a type of fault whose relative motion is predominantly horizontal in either sinistral or dextral direction. Furthermore, transform faults end abruptly...

. When considered a fault zone, the Liquiñe-Ofqui Fault Zone (LOFZ) migh include other neighboring faults such as Reigolil-Pirihueico Fault

Reigolil-Pirihueico Fault

The Reigolil-Pirihueico Fault is a second-order geological fault located in the Chilean and Argentine Andes. As the name implies it runs from Pirihueico Lake to Reigolil Valley...

.

As the name implies it runs from the Liquiñe

Liquiñe

Liquiñe is a town in Liquiñe Valley, in Panguipulli commune, Valdivia Province, Chile. The area around the village is home to South America's densest collection of hot springs. There are literally hundred of sites where geothermal waters flow up out of the earth. The water emerges from the ground...

 hot springs

Hot Springs

Hot Springs may refer to:* Hot Springs, Arkansas** Hot Springs National Park, Arkansas*Hot Springs, California**Hot Springs, Lassen County, California**Hot Springs, Modoc County, California**Hot Springs, Placer County, California...

 in the north to the Ofqui Isthmus in the south, where the Antarctic Plate

Antarctic Plate

The Antarctic Plate is a tectonic plate covering the continent of Antarctica and extending outward under the surrounding oceans. The Antarctic Plate has a boundary with the Nazca Plate, the South American Plate, the African Plate, the Indo-Australian Plate, the Scotia Plate and a divergent boundary...

 meets the Nazca Plate

Nazca Plate

]The Nazca Plate, named after the Nazca region of southern Peru, is an oceanic tectonic plate in the eastern Pacific Ocean basin off the west coast of South America. The ongoing subduction along the Peru-Chile Trench of the Nazca Plate under the South American Plate is largely responsible for the...

 and the South American Plate

South American Plate

The South American Plate is a continental tectonic plate which includes the continent of South America and also a sizeable region of the Atlantic Ocean seabed extending eastward to the Mid-Atlantic Ridge....

 in Chile Triple Junction

Chile Triple Junction

The Chile Triple Junction is a geologic triple junction located on the seafloor of the Pacific Ocean off Taitao and Tres Montes Peninsula on the southern coast of Chile. Here three tectonic plates meet: the South American Plate, the Nazca Plate, and the Antarctic Plate...

. A large part of the fault runs along the Moraleda Channel

Moraleda Channel

Moraleda Channel is a body of water separating the Chonos Archipelago from the mainland of Chile. It is located at . Southward from the mouth of the Aisén Fjord, Moraleda Channel divides into two arms. The east arm, called Canal Costa , is the main one...

. North of Liquiñe the fault is gradually converted into a compression area. At Quetrupillán

Quetrupillán

Quetrupillán Volcano is a stratovolcano located in the Araucanía Region of Chile. It is situated between Villarrica and Lanín volcanoes, within Villarrica National Park. Geologically, Quetrupillán is located in a tectonic basement block between the main traces of Liquiñe-Ofqui Fault and...

 volcano the fault is crossed by the Gastre Fault Zone

Gastre Fault Zone

The Gastre Fault Zone is a NW-SE trending fault responsible for the alignment of Villarrica, Quetrupillán and Lanín volcanoes. The fault is believed to be a continuation of Lanalhue Fault which was active in late Paleozoic Era....

. It may be classified as a dextral intra-arc transform fault

Transform fault

A transform fault or transform boundary, also known as conservative plate boundary since these faults neither create nor destroy lithosphere, is a type of fault whose relative motion is predominantly horizontal in either sinistral or dextral direction. Furthermore, transform faults end abruptly...

.

The 1960 eruption of Cordón Caulle soon after the Great Chilean Earthquake

Great Chilean Earthquake

The 1960 Valdivia earthquake or Great Chilean Earthquake of Sunday, 22 May 1960 is to date the most powerful earthquake ever recorded on Earth, rating 9.5 on the moment magnitude scale...

 was triggered by movements in the fault. The Aysén Fjord earthquake

2007 Aisén Fjord earthquake

The Aisén Fjord earthquakes were a series of seismic events of different magnitudes that occurred in Aisén Fjord from January 22, 2007, to April 22. The biggest occurred at 1:53 p.m. on April 21 and reached a felt intensity of VII on the Mercalli intensity scale. On the moment magnitude scale,...

 in 2007 and the eruption of Chaitén Volcano in 2008 are believed to have been caused by movements in the fault.