The Enriquillo–Plantain Garden fault zone (EPGFZ or EPGZ) is a system of

active Active may refer to: Music * ''Active'' (album), a 1992 album by Casiopea * Active Records, a record label Ships * ''Active'' (ship), several commercial ships by that name * HMS ''Active'', the name of various ships of the British Royal ...

coaxial left lateral-moving

strike slip fault In geology, a fault is a planar fracture or discontinuity in a volume of rock across which there has been significant displacement as a result of rock-mass movements. Large faults within Earth's crust result from the action of plate tectonic ...

s which runs along the southern side of the island of

Hispaniola Hispaniola (, also ; es, La Española; Latin and french: Hispaniola; ht, Ispayola; tnq, Ayiti or Quisqueya) is an island in the Caribbean that is part of the Greater Antilles. Hispaniola is the most populous island in the West Indies, and th ...

, where

Haiti Haiti (; ht, Ayiti ; French: ), officially the Republic of Haiti (); ) and formerly known as Hayti, is a country located on the island of Hispaniola in the Greater Antilles archipelago of the Caribbean Sea, east of Cuba and Jamaica, and ...

and the

Dominican Republic The Dominican Republic ( ; es, República Dominicana, ) is a country located on the island of Hispaniola in the Greater Antilles archipelago of the Caribbean region. It occupies the eastern five-eighths of the island, which it shares wit ...

are located. The EPGFZ is named for

Lake Enriquillo Lake Enriquillo ( es, Lago Enriquillo) is a hypersaline lake in the Dominican Republic located in the southwestern region of the country. Its waters are shared between the provinces of Bahoruco and Independencia, the latter of which borders Hait ...

in the Dominican Republic where the fault zone emerges, and extends across the southern portion of Hispaniola through the Caribbean to the region of the

Plantain Garden River The Plantain Garden River is a river in the parish of St Thomas on the island of Jamaica. It is the only major river in Jamaica that does not flow in a northerly or southerly direction. See also *List of rivers of Jamaica *Enriquillo–Plantain G ...

in Jamaica.

Geology

The EPGFZ shares approximately half of the relative motion between the

North American North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and the Ca ...

and

Caribbean The Caribbean (, ) ( es, El Caribe; french: la Caraïbe; ht, Karayib; nl, De Caraïben) is a region of the Americas that consists of the Caribbean Sea, its islands (some surrounded by the Caribbean Sea and some bordering both the Caribbean Se ...

tectonic plate Plate tectonics (from the la, label=Late Latin, tectonicus, from the grc, τεκτονικός, lit=pertaining to building) is the generally accepted scientific theory that considers the Earth's lithosphere to comprise a number of large te ...

s with the

Septentrional-Oriente fault zone The Septentrional-Orient fault zone (SOFZ) is a system of active fault, active coaxial left lateral-moving fault (geology)#Strike-slip faults, strike slip faults that runs along the northern side of the island of Hispaniola where Haiti and the Dom ...

which runs along the northern side of Hispaniola. Both faults merge into the

Cayman Trench __NOTOC__ The Cayman Trough (also known as the Cayman Trench, Bartlett Deep and Bartlett Trough) is a complex transform fault zone pull-apart basin which contains a small spreading ridge, the Mid-Cayman Rise, on the floor of the western Caribbe ...

to the west. The fault accommodates about 20.6±1.66 millimeters of lateral motion per year (mm/yr). Additionally, a component of compression is present as the North American Plate pushes toward the southwest. This results in vertical deformation manifest in the mountainous terrain of Hispaniola. Some researchers believe that the EPGFZ and the Septentrional-Orient fault zone bound a microplate, dubbed the

Gonâve Microplate Gonave may refer to: *Gulf of Gonâve *Gonâve Island *Gonâve Microplate See also *Gonaïves Gonaïves (; ht, Gonayiv, ) is a commune in northern Haiti, and the capital of the Artibonite department of Haiti. It has a population of about 300,00 ...

, a area of the northern Caribbean Plate that is in the process of shearing off the Caribbean Plate and accreting to the North America Plate.

Earthquakes

* A magnitude 7.5 earthquake struck southeastern coast of Jamaica in 1692, almost destroying

Port Royal Port Royal is a village located at the end of the Palisadoes, at the mouth of Kingston Harbour, in southeastern Jamaica. Founded in 1494 by the Spanish, it was once the largest city in the Caribbean, functioning as the centre of shipping and co ...

* An earthquake struck along the southern coast of Hispaniola in 1751. * A magnitude 7.5 earthquake struck the Haitian capital

Port-au-Prince Port-au-Prince ( , ; ht, Pòtoprens ) is the capital and most populous city of Haiti. The city's population was estimated at 987,311 in 2015 with the metropolitan area estimated at a population of 2,618,894. The metropolitan area is define ...

in 1770. * The

1907 Kingston earthquake The 1907 Kingston earthquake which shook the capital of the island of Jamaica with a magnitude of 6.2 on the moment magnitude scale on Monday January 14, at about 3:30 p.m. local time (20:36 Coordinated universal time, UTC), is described by t ...

damaged every building in

Kingston, Jamaica Kingston is the capital and largest city of Jamaica, located on the southeastern coast of the island. It faces a natural harbour protected by the Palisadoes, a long sand spit which connects the town of Port Royal and the Norman Manley Inter ...

. * The 2010 magnitude 7.0 earthquake occurred near Port-au-Prince along blind thrust faults associated with this fault zone. *The 2021 Haiti earthquake (magnitude 7.2) struck Haiti's

Tiburon Peninsula The Tiburon Peninsula (french: Péninsule de Tiburon), or The Xaragua Peninsula, simply "the Tiburon" (''le Tiburon''), is a region of Haiti encompassing most of Haiti's southern coast. It starts roughly at the southernmost point of the Haiti-D ...

. Other historical large earthquakes in 1860, 1761, 1684, 1673, and 1618 are also likely attributed to the EPGFZ, though none of these have been confirmed in the field as associated with this fault.

Monitoring

A temporary Canadian seismic sensor network of three stations has been established in Haiti along the fault, as of February 19, 2010. The network is not considered permanent, but will remain for quite some time. The stations are in secure locations, being expensive equipment, and are satellite linked to

Natural Resources Canada Natural Resources Canada (NRCan; french: Ressources naturelles Canada; french: RNCan, label=none)Natural Resources Canada is the applied title under the Federal Identity Program; the legal title is Department of Natural Resources (). is the depa ...

in Ottawa. They are solar powered, so do not require grid connections. One station is at the Canadian Embassy in

(in the suburb of

Pétion-Ville Pétion-Ville ( ht, Petyonvil) is a commune and a suburb of Port-au-Prince, Haiti, in the hills east and separate from the city itself on the northern hills of the Massif de la Selle. Founded in 1831 by president Jean-Pierre Boyer, it was named af ...

, in the district of Juvénat), and has a permanent guard of one. Another is at the

Jacmel Airport Jacmel Airport was the sixth busiest airport in Haiti by passenger volume before the 2010 Haitian earthquake, near the city of Jacmel, on Haiti's south coast. The airport's time zone is GMT –5, and is in World Area Code region #238 (by the U.S ...

, currently run by Canadian Forces personnel. The third is at a

Léogâne Léogâne ( ht, Leyogàn) is one of the List of communes of Haiti, coastal communes in Haiti. It is located in the eponymous Léogâne Arrondissement, which is part of the Ouest (department), Ouest Department. The port town is located about we ...

orphanage, considered secure, but there are problems discouraging children from playing with it. The stations are roughly 50 km apart. These are the first seismic stations ever in the country.

References

;Bibliography *

External links

Magnitude 7.0 - Haiti Region, 2010 January 12 21:53:09 UTC
–

United States Geological Survey The United States Geological Survey (USGS), formerly simply known as the Geological Survey, is a scientific agency of the United States government. The scientists of the USGS study the landscape of the United States, its natural resources, ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Enriquillo-Plantain Garden fault zone 2010 Haiti earthquake Seismic faults of North America Geology of Haiti Geology of the Dominican Republic Geology of Jamaica Geology of the Caribbean Geography of the Caribbean Strike-slip faults Buried rupture earthquakes