My Ph.D. focuses on understanding how strike-slip faults modify and create topography in interaction with surface processes. I use a suite of techniques from geodesy, geomorphology, geochronology, and numerical simulations to address a range of timescales. My study area is in the hyper-arid core of the Atacama Desert but I also work with synthetic landscapes.

I’m part of two research groups: advised by Dr. Alison Duvall in the Geoscapes Lab and co-advised by Dr. Brendan Crowell in the Seismogeodesy Lab.

Salar Grande Fault, Northern Chile

  • Slow strike-slip faulting in a hyperarid landscape: assessing the geomorphic response to the Salar Grande Fault, Atacama Desert, Chile. Aránguiz-Rago, T., Duvall, A., Crowell, B., Henderson, S., Schmidt, D. (in revision) submitted to JGR Earth Surface.

  • Holocene evidence of co-seismic deformation of the Salar Grande Fault using IRSL dating of alluvial deposits. Aránguiz-Rago, T., Duvall, A., Estay, J., Gray. H. (in prep).

Landscape Evolution Models for Strike-Slip Faults

  • Oscillatory fluvial activity in strike-slip fault landscapes: insights from numerical simulations. Aránguiz-Rago, T., Duvall, A., Tucker, G., Campforts, B. (in prep). For Geophysical Research Letters (GRL).

  • Sediment cover hinders ridge and valley migration in strike-slip fault models. Aránguiz-Rago, T., Duvall, A. (in prep).

Fault-driven exhumation in Chilean Coastal Cordillera

  • Exploring the Importance of Cenozoic Fault-driven Erosion in the Hyperarid Atacama using (U-Th)/He Cooling Histories from Coastal Cordillera Rocks. This project is in sample-prep and analysis stage. Aránguiz-Rago, T., Duvall, A.