The Trans-Haitian fault system

March 11, 2013 9:08 AM

It was previously inferred that a lateral left relative motion has been occurring between North American and Caribbean plates along the fault-zone that is located on the northern side of the Hispaniola Island. It was also inferred that a near linear fracture zone known as Septentrional Fault Zone present on the eastern side of the northern Dominican Republic actually extended into the subduction zone of Puerto Rico. Again, extending into Muertos Trench is the Enriquillo-Plantain Garden Fault Zone on the southern side of Haiti, which is the major fault on the boundary of the tectonic plate.

Scientists argue that the deformation has a peculiar chronology involving:

• Initial coupling of the allochthonous terranes during transition from Paleocene epoch to Eocene epoch.
• A development during the Late Miocene epoch when a spaced cleavage was formed within the terrane suture overlapping strata of late Paleocene epoch to late Miocene epoch.
• Diffusion of Pliocene epoch to Pleistocene epoch strike-slip faulting along the traces, reactivating older planes with spaced cleavage.
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Scientists say that basalts within the age range of 0.4 Ma to 1.3 Ma (Ma stands for Mega Anum) were extruded during Pleistocene epoch in the pull-apart basins those were related to N130-trending and N30-normal faults. The N130-trending faults are Septentrional Fault Zone's antagonistic features whereas N30-normal faults are Septentrional Fault Zone's precursory synthetic features.

Open and broad folding and strong uplifts along the NW-striking axes are the part of recent tectonism phase which are very much uniform with the prediction of deformation pattern for EW lateral-left splinter along the boundary of Caribbean-North American tectonic plates.

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The Trans-Haitian fault system

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