The North Andes Plate or North Andes Block is a small tectonic plate (microplate) located in the northern Andes. It is squeezed between the faster moving South American Plate and the Nazca Plate to the southwest. Due to the subduction of the Coiba and Malpelo plates, this area is very prone to volcanic and seismic activity, with many historical earthquakes.

The Bucaramanga-Santa Marta Fault or Bucaramanga-Santa Marta Fault System is a major oblique transpressional sinistral strike-slip fault in the departments of Magdalena, Cesar, Norte de Santander and Santander in northern Colombia. The fault system is composed of two main outcropping segments, named Santa Marta and Bucaramanga Faults, and an intermediate Algarrobo Fault segment in the subsurface. The system has a total length of 674 kilometres (419 mi) and runs along an average north-northwest to south-southeast strike of 341 ± 23 from the Caribbean coast west of Santa Marta to the northern area of the Eastern Ranges of the Colombian Andes.