RT Journal Article
T1 Along-strike segmentation in the northern Caribbean plateboundary zone (Hispaniola sector): Tectonic implications
A1 Rodríguez Zurrunero, Álvaro
A1 Granja Bruña, José Luis
A1 Muñoz Martín, Alfonso
A1 Leroy, Sylvie
A1 Ten Brink, Uri S.
A1 Gorosabel-Araus, J.M.
A1 Gómez de la Peña, Laura
A1 Druet Vélez, María
A1 Carbo Gorosabel, Andrés
AB The North American (NOAM) plate converges with the Caribbean (CARIB) plate at a rate of 20.0 ± 0.4 mm/yr. towards 254 ± 1º. Plate convergence is highly oblique (20-10º), resulting in a complex crustal boundary with along-strike segmentation, strain partitioning and microplate tectonics. We study the oblique convergence of the NOAM and CARIB plates between southeastern Cuba to northern Puerto Rico using new swath multibeam bathymetry data and 2D multi-channel seismic profiles. The combined interpretation of marine geophysical data with the seismicity and geodetic data from public databases allow us to perform a regional scale analysis of the shallower structure, the seismotectonics and the slab geometry along the plate boundary. Due to differential rollback between the NOAM oceanic crust north of Puerto Rico and the relative thicker Bahamas Carbonate Province crust north of Hispaniola a slab tear is created at 68.5ºW. The northern margin of Puerto Rico records the oblique high-dip subduction and rollback of the NOAM plate below the island arc. Those processes have resulted in a forearc transpressive tectonics (without strain partitioning), controlled by the Septentrional-Oriente Fault Zone (SOFZ) and the Bunce Fault Zone (BFZ). Meanwhile, in the northern margin of Hispaniola, the collision of the Bahamas Carbonate Province results in high plate coupling with strain partitioning: SOFZ and Northern Hispaniola Deformed Belt (NHDB). In the northern Haitian margin, compression is still relevant since seismicity are mostly associated with the deformation front, whereas strike slip earthquakes are hardly anecdotal. Although in Hispaniola intermediate-depth seismicity should disappear, diffuse intermediate-depth hypocenter remains evidencing the presence of remnant NOAM subducted slab below central and western Hispaniola. Results of this study improve our understanding of the active tectonics in the NE Caribbean that it is the base for future assessment studies on seismic and tsunamigenic hazard.
PB Elsevier
SN 0040-1951
YR 2020
FD 2020-02-07
LK https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14352/6019
UL https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14352/6019
LA eng
NO Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación (MICINN)
NO Comunidad de Madrid
NO Institut des Sciences de la Terre de Paris (ISTeP)
NO Universidad Complutense de Madrid
DS Docta Complutense
RD 25 ago 2025