San Ramón Fault

The San Ramón (Spanish: Falla de San Ramón) is a Chilean geological fault, located in eastern Santiago Metropolitan Region, passing through the eastern part of Santiago marking the boundary between the Chilean Central Valley and the Andes.

[1] As an active thrust fault it constitutes a seismic hazard zone for the densely populated Santiago.

The Chilean Nuclear Energy Commission has a reactor in La Reina, very close to the fault, which has raised concerns among the population.

Due to its shallowness, it can cause very destructive superficial earthquakes with a magnitude around 7 on the Richter scale, with a general recurrence period of over 300 years.

This range has moved noticeably in the last 10 million years, and grown notably during the recent Quaternary period, which makes it a geologically active fault.