Tsunamis in the Caribbean? It's Possible.

The Haiti earthquake epicenter is marked by the star along the displaced portion (shown in red) of the Enriquillo-Plantain Garden Fault. The 7.0 magnitude quake struck along about one-tenth of the 500-km-long strike-slip fault. The region sits on a complex seismic area made up of numerous faults and plates. The fault lines with small arrows denote a different kind of fault called thrust faults, where one plate dives under another. Strike-slip faults grind past one another. The dotted lines at bottom denote complex seafloor formations.

(Source: Jansma, P. and Mattioli, G., 2005, GPS results from Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands: constraints on tectonic setting and rates of active faulting, Geol. Soc. Amer. Spec. Paper 385 (ed. Paul Mann), 13-30.)



Related Links
» Stress interaction between subduction earthquakes and forearc strike-slip faults: Modeling and application to the northern Caribbean plate boundary


» Tsunamis in the Caribbean? It's Possible.


» Earthquake Resources on WHOI.edu
On January 12 a magnitude 7.0 earthquake struck near Port-au-Prince, Haiti causing major destruction. Learn more about WHOI earthquake research and the scientists studying them.