Is an offset mountain range plausible?

For my world, I would like a coastal mountain range that partway along its length is offset by a few (say, 100) kilometres, forming a pass through the mountains, like so:

(N.B. I've drawn this very square and regular to illustrate my point)

From what little I know of plate tectonics, this would require the mountains to be created by a normal continental plate (yellow) meeting an oceanic plate (blue) along one fault line (red), and then a second fault line perpendicular to the first along which one part of the plates slips (so in effect four plates meeting at one point):

My question is therefore:

1. Is this arrangement of tectonic plates, giving rise to this formation, plausible?
2. If not, is there another phenomenon which might give rise to the same formation?

I had in mind a roughly Alps sized range placed in a similar manner to the Andes, but these are less important than the existence of this feature.

posted over 6 years ago

walrus‭

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