The Septentrional-Orient fault zone (SOFZ) is a system of
active coaxial left lateral-moving
strike slip faults
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 ...
that runs along the northern 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 and continues along the south of
Cuba
Cuba ( , ), officially the Republic of Cuba ( es, República de Cuba, links=no ), is an island country comprising the island of Cuba, as well as Isla de la Juventud and several minor archipelagos. Cuba is located where the northern Caribbea ...
along the northern margin of the
Cayman Trough. The SOFZ 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
Enriquillo-Plantain Garden fault zone and
Walton fault zone
The Walton fault zone is a major active left lateral (sinistral) strike-slip fault, forming part of the southern boundary to the Cayman Trough. It extends from the Mid-Cayman Rise spreading center in the west to Jamaica in the east. It has a total ...
which run along the southern side of Hispaniola and aong the southern margin of the Cayman Trough. Both fault zones terminate at the
Mid-Cayman Rise
The Mid-Cayman Rise or Mid-Cayman Spreading Center is a relatively short (110 km long) divergent plate boundary in the middle of the Cayman Trough. It forms part of a dominantly transform boundary that is part of the southern margin to the N ...
to the west. Some researchers believe that the Enriquillo-Plantain Garden fault zone and the SOFZ 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.
In
1766
Events
January–March
* January 1 – Charles Edward Stuart ("Bonnie Prince Charlie") becomes the new Stuart claimant to the throne of Great Britain, as King Charles III, and figurehead for Jacobitism.
* January 14 – Chr ...
a devastating earthquake struck Cuba killing 40 to 120 inhabitants. And in
1842
Events
January–March
* January
** Michael Alexander takes office, as the first appointee to the Anglican-German Bishopric in Jerusalem.
** American medical student William E. Clarke of Berkshire Medical College becomes the first pe ...
a major tremor on this fault destroyed the city of
Cap-Haïtien and other cities in the northern part of Haiti and the Dominican Republic on 7 May 1842. In January 2020, there was an M 7.7
earthquake
An earthquake (also known as a quake, tremor or temblor) is the shaking of the surface of the Earth resulting from a sudden release of energy in the Earth's lithosphere that creates seismic waves. Earthquakes can range in intensity, from ...
on this fault between the southern tip of Cuba and the
Cayman Islands
The Cayman Islands () is a self-governing British Overseas Territory—the largest by population in the western Caribbean Sea. The territory comprises the three islands of Grand Cayman, Cayman Brac and Little Cayman, which are located to the ...
that involved episodes of
supershear rupture.
See also
*
List of earthquakes in Cuba
A ''list'' is any set of items in a row. List or lists may also refer to:
People
* List (surname)
Organizations
* List College, an undergraduate division of the Jewish Theological Seminary of America
* SC Germania List, German rugby union ...
*
List of earthquakes in Haiti
Some of the earthquakes in Haiti have been very destructive to the country. The widespread damage and high-number of casualties of events in 2010 and 2021 can be partially blamed on the fact that most of the population in Haiti resides in struc ...
References
Seismic faults of North America
Geography of Hispaniola
Geology of the Caribbean
Strike-slip faults
Supershear earthquakes
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