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 Roya ...

coaxial left lateral-moving strike slip faults which runs along the southern side of the island of Hispaniola, where Haiti and the Dominican Republic are located. The EPGFZ is named for Lake Enriquillo 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 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 S ...

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 coaxial left lateral-moving strike slip faults that runs along the northern side of the island of Hispaniola where Haiti and the Dominican Republic are located and continues along ...

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

* 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 UTC), is described by the United States Geological ...

damaged every building in Kingston, Jamaica. * The 2010 magnitude 7.0 earthquake occurred near Port-au-Prince along blind thrust faults associated with this fault zone. *The

2021 Haiti earthquake At 08:29:09 EDT on 14 August 2021, a magnitude7.2 earthquake struck the Tiburon Peninsula in the Caribbean nation of Haiti. It had a 10-kilometre-deep (6.2 mi) hypocenter near Petit-Trou-de-Nippes, approximately 150 kilometres (93 ...

(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 dep ...

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 a ...

, 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 coastal communes in Haiti. It is located in the eponymous Léogâne Arrondissement, which is part of the Ouest Department. The port town is located about west of the Haitian capital, Port-au-Prince. L ...

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 {{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