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U.S. DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR U.S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OPEN-FILE REPORT 2010–1083-A Revised September, 2011 Seismicity of the 1900–2010 TECTONIC SUMMARY Plate and Vicinity Extensive diversity of tectonic regimes characterizes the perimeter of the Caribbean plate, involving no fewer than four major adjacent plates (, , Nazca, and Cocos). Inclined zones of deep (Wadati-Benioff zones), deep ocean Compiled by Harley M. Benz,1 Arthur C. Tarr,1 Gavin P. Hayes,1 Antonio Villaseñor,2 Kevin P. Furlong,2 Richard L. Dart,1 and Susan Rhea1 trenches, and arcs of volcanoes clearly indicate of oceanic lithosphere along the Central American and margins of the Caribbean plate, while shallow seismicity and focal mechanisms of major shocks in , northern , 2011 and the Cayman Ridge and Cayman Trench indicate transform and pull-apart basin .

1U.S. Geological Survey The depth profile panels on this map portray earthquakes that extend from the axis in the west to depths as 2Institute of Earth Sciences, CSIC, Barcelona, Spain 3 great as 300 km beneath Guatemala, and from the Lesser Trench axis in the east to depths of approximately 200 km beneath Department of Geosciences, Pennsylvania State University, State College, PA 16802 USA 95° 90° 85° 80° 75° 70° 65° 60° and the northeast Caribbean. In contrast, seismicity along the segments of the Caribbean plate margins from Guatemala gh B to and from to western Venezuela is indicative of tectonics. Mexico Basin Bahama BankGreat Exuma a h GG -300 -200 -100 0 ' A r c a h . d Long I. m Gulf of Mexico e C a BAHAMAS Along the northern margin of the Caribbean plate, the North America plate moves west, relative to the Caribbean plate, at approximately Havana a m I s TRENCH AXIS a g Crooked I. l a 20 mm/yr, resulting in major transcurrent faults and troughs. Farther east, the North America plate subducts beneath the Caribbean plate AA'0 100 200 300 400 ü e n d 0 y s resulting in surface expression of the deep Trench and a zone of intermediate focus earthquakes in the subducted slab. Campeche Bank Mayaguana I. ATLANTIC OCEAN TRENCH AXIS Cayo Romano Acklins I. 0 Caicos Is. (U.K.) TURKS AND -100 The plate boundary curves around Puerto Rico and the northern where the plate motion vector of the Caribbean plate Isla de la Caicos CAICOS IS. (U.K.) relative to the North and South America plates is less oblique, resulting in active island-arc tectonics. The North and South America Juventud Bank Turks Island plates subduct beneath the Caribbean plate along the Lesser Antilles Trench at rates of about 20 mm/yr; consequently, there are both -100 Ja Grand Inagua PROFILE G rd -200 intermediate focus earthquakes within the subducted South America plate and a chain of active volcanoes along the . i Island Merida ne s d e Silver la Rein Bank The plate boundary along with the South America plate strikes east-west across Trinidad and western Venezuela Isla Cozumel a Hispaniola Trough -200 Navidad G' and is characterized by major strike-slip faults and shallow seismicity, resulting from relative plate motion of about 20 mm/yr. Further Santiago De Cuba R 20° Bank P U E R T O I C O T R E N C H 20° PROFILE A 1946 to the west, a broad zone of convergent deformation trends southwest across western Venezuela and central Columbia. Plate CAYMAN IS. boundaries are not well defined across northern South America, but there is a transition from Caribbean/South America convergence Bay of (U.K.) H FF' -300 N C -300 -200 -100 0 Veracruz Grand Cayman I. E 1943 in the east to Nazca/South America convergence in the west, described in more detail below. The transition zone is characterized by Campeche R Île de la HAITI 1946 BRITISH T G DOMINICAN 50 VIRGIN h R Gonâve r o u g high seismic hazard. N HispaniolaREPUBLIC ISLANDS (U.K.) T TRENCH AXIS A E r o MEXICO M A Port-au-Prince Santo Domingo e 0 Yucatan Basin Cayman Ridge r Y T 100 b St. Martin The Nazca-Caribbean plate boundary offshore of Columbia is characterized by convergence ( subducting under South A E mAnguilla (U.K.) PUERTO RICO (U.S.) (France & Neth. Antilles) JAMAICA o Villahermosa C R Mona Trough200 S America plate) at about 65 mm/yr. The January 6, 1906 Mw = 8.5 megathrust subduction occurred on a shallow-dipping Kingston Mona I. U.S. VIRGIN Vieques (U.S.) ISLANDS (U.S.) -100 interface of this plate boundary segment. The 1906 earthquake occurred in the -Ecuador region, with a seismic moment A' Barbuda A N St. Croix ST. KITT'S (Mo; equivalent to radiated energy) of 6×10 Exp 28 dyne-cm (Okal, 1992), and a moment magnitude (Mw) of 8.5 (Tarr and others, T AND NEVIS ANTIGUA AND 200 I M Yuma Trough H St. Kitt's Turneffe Is. L U E R T O S T R O U G BARBUDA Rosalind Bank L L L 2010). The nucleation point of this earthquake is indicated on the map (rupture area is from Kanamori and McNally, 1982). P E ee Nevis PROFILE F e d E S w Antigua r o Ban k G S a -200 S E R r Tuxtla Gutierrez d (U.K.) I s Isla de la la F' Along the western coast of , the subducts beneath the Caribbean plate at rates of 72–81 mm/yr, resulting

Gulf of e n Guadeloupe g d Roatán s L 1902 d (France) in a relatively high seismic hazard and a chain of numerous active volcanoes; here intermediate-focus earthquakes occur within the i Alice Kingston Bank E R Shoal subducted Cocos plate to depths of nearly 300 km. Serranilla s A Marie-Galante S B' Beata Ridge o Bank y N S a

San Pedro Sula g Lightning Bank T E 1976 a DATA SOURCES

B' p DominicaI DOMINICA R a

L GUATEMALA P F

Aves Ridge

L A n i

15° s 15° The earthquakes portrayed on the main map and the depth profiles are taken from two sources: (a) the Centennial earthquake catalog E N

. a W B Z o S (France) T o (Engdahl and Villaseñor, 2002) and annual supplements for the interval 1900–2007, where the magnitude floor is 5.5 globally, and (b)

e 1950 HONDURAS C' d g Cayos Miskitos a w I d i d a L a catalog of earthquakes having high-quality depth determinations for the period 1964–2002 and a magnitude range of 5.0≥M≤5.4

a M Tegucigalpa Venezuela Basin R r 1902 d

n L A a

I I ST. LUCIA D 1942 r r s (Engdahl, personal commun., 2009.) Sue Ridge e la E G D n n St. Lucia Tehauntepec Ridge i

r ds L e S

a n i

E San Salvador g M s

d i A Isla de Providencia a The nucleation points of great earthquakes (M≥8.3) are designated with a label showing the year of occurrence. Their rupture areas

T ST. VINCENT AND R M 2001 B

E R THE GRENADINES St. Vincent Barbados are shown as pale reddish polygons. Major earthquakes (7.5≥M≤8.2) are labeled with the year of occurrence, while earthquakes R s o

NETHERLANDS o I g E

C d E a a A Aruba (Neth.) ANTILLES b (8.0≥M≤8.2) are labeled with the year of occurrence and also denoted by a white outline (Tarr and others, 2010). N b Islas o Isla de San Andres r T T R The Grenadines a Golfo de Fonseca 300 Los Roques C E B B N Managua Bonaire (Venez.) C I. del Maiz Grande Isla Grenada H The Seismic Hazard and Relative Plate Motion map displays the generalized seismic hazard of the region (Giardini and others, 1999) and H 1992 Curaçao Lago de Orchilla Isla Blanquilla representative relative plate motion vectors of the Caribbean plate relative to the adjacent North and South America plates using the Nicaragua Colombian Basin (Venez.) (Venez.) 100 Golfo de NUVEL–1A model (DeMets and others, 1994, 2000) and updates (Dixon and others, 1998; Weber and others, 2001). B 0 100 200 300 400 B' 50 Isla La Tortuga Venezuela 1900 Isla de (Venez.) Margarita C Barranquilla (Venez.) TRINIDAD AND Pre-instrumental seismicity for the was obtained from the NOAA National Geophysical Data Center (2010) database TRENCH AXIS TOBAGO Maracaibo of significant earthquakes; locations are approximate, based on macro-seismic reports and field investigations. We selected 0 D' Clark Cartagena Caracas earthquakes with associated reports of moderate to major damage, 10 or more deaths, an estimated magnitude of 7.5 or greater (if Basin Valencia E' Barquisimeto Maracay known), Modified Mercalli Intensities X, or generation. 10° 1991 Lago de Trinidad 10° E -500-400 -300 -200 -100 0 E' -100 Guardian Seamount Maracaibo Volcan Bank Base map data sources include GEBCO 2008, Volcanoes of the World dataset (Siebert and Simkin, 2002), plate boundaries (Bird, Golfo de Los Panama 2003), Digital Chart of the World (1992), and Environmental Sciences Research Institute (ESRI, 2002). Slab contours are from Hayes and Wald Fisher 1983 Mosquitos TRENCH AXIS 0 -200 Seamount Bahia de Panamá (2010). Arch. de las PROFILE B Perlas PANAMA I. del Rey REFERENCES Golfo de Chiriqui -100 -300 D 1934 Golfo de Panamá Cucuta I. Coiba VENEZUELA Bird, Peter, 2003, An updated digital model of plate boundaries: Geochemistry Geophysics Geosystems, v. 4, no. 3, 52 p. I. de Coiba Bucaramanga DeMets, Charles, Gordon, R.G., Argus, D.F., and Stein, Seth, 1994, Effects of recent revisions to the geomagnetic time scale on estimates of current -200 plate motions: Geophysical Research Letters, v. 21, p. 2191–2194. DeMets, Charles, Jansma, P.E., Mattioli, G.S., Dixon, T.H., Farina, F., Bilham, R., Calais, E., and Mann, P., 2000, GPS geodetic constraints on PROFILE E Caribbean–North America plate motion: Geophysical Research Letters, v. 27, p. 437–440. Guatamala Basin PACIFIC Medellin -300 Dixon,. T.H., Farina, F., DeMets, Charles, Jansma, P., Mann, P., and Calais, E., 1998, Relative motion between the Caribbean and North American Isla del Coco plates and related boundary zone deformation from a decade of GPS observations: Journal of Geophysical Research, 103(B7), (Costa Rica) GUYANA p. 15157–15182. . OCEAN West Cocos Panama Manizales 5° Seamount Coiba Ridge MAP EXPLANATION 5° Engdahl, E.R., and Villaseñor, Antonio, 2002, Global seismicity 1900–1999, in Lee, W.H.K., Jennings, P., Kisslinger, Carl, and Kanamori, Hiroo, eds, Basin International Handbook of Earthquake and Engineering , v. 81(A), chap. 41, p. 1–26. Bogota SURINAME . Ibague Magnitude classes Nucleation points GEBCO, 2008, The GEBCO_08_Grid, ver. 20091120, http://www.gebco.net/, last accessed January 8, 2010.

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H 4–5.9 Giardini, D., Grünthal, G., Shedlock, K., Zhang, P., and Global Seismic Hazards Program, 1999, Global Seismic Hazards Map, C Rupture zones http://seismo.ethz.ch/GSHAP, last accessed January 9, 2007. N 6–6.4 E . R Cali Hayes, Gavin, and Wald, David, 2010, Slab models for subduction zones: U.S. Geological Survey Earthquake Hazards Paramount T 6.5–6.9 Active volcanoes Program, last accessed July, 22, 2010 at http://earthquake.usgs.gov/research/data/slab/. Seamount Medina COLOMBIA N Seamount Kanamori, Hiroo, and McNally, K.C., 1982, Variable rupture mode of the subduction zone along the Ecuador-Colombia coast: Bulletin of the A 7–7.4 Colón Ridge I Mean slab depth Seismological. Society of America, v. 72, no. 4, p. 1241–1253. B 7.5 M 50 km NOAA, 2010, National Geophysical Data Center: National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, accessed on March 31, 2010 at O 7.6 L 100 http://www.ngdc.noaa.gov/hazards. 1979 . Isla O Okal, E.A., 1992, Use of the mantle magnitude Mm for the reassessment of the moment of historical earthquakes: Pure and Applied Geophysics, C 7.7 200 Culpepper Isla v. 139, no.1, p. 17–57. CC-100 0 100 200 300 'Wenman 1906 1958 7.8 300 Siebert, Lee, and Simkin, Thomas, 2002, Volcanoes of the world: An illustrated catalog of Holocene volcanoes and their eruptions: Smithsonian 600 7.9 Institution,. Global Volcanism Program Digital Information series, GVP–3, http://www.volcano.si.edu/world/, last accessed January 9, 2007. TRENCH AXIS Galapagos Islands Isla Pinta Plate boundaries Isla Marchena Tarr, A.C., Villaseñor, Antonio, Furlong, K.P., Rhea, Susan, and Benz, H.M., and 2010, Seismicity of the earth 1900–2007: U.S. Geological Survey 0 (Archipiélago de Colón) 1942 8.0 Scientific Investigations Map 3064, scale 1:25,000,000.

Subduction . 0° (Ecuador) 0° Transform Weber, J.C., Dixon, T.H., DeMets, Charles, Ambeh, W.B., Jansma, Pamela, Mattinoli, Glen, Saleh, Jarir, Sella, Giovanni, Bilham, Roger, and Isla San Salvador Quito 8.1 Pérez, Omar, 2001, GPS estimate of relative motion between the Caribbean and South American plates, and geologic implications for Trinidad -100 Isla Fernandina Isla Santa Cruz Divergent . 8.2 Isla Isabela Isla San Cristóbal Convergent and Venezuela: Geology, v. 29, no. 1, p. 75–78. i d g e C a r n e g i e R ECUADOR BRAZIL Depth of focus Inferred -200 Isla Santa Maria Isla Española 0–69 km . PROFILE C SEISMIC HAZARD AND RELATIVE PLATE MOTION D -100 0 100 200 D 70–299 km Algol Guayaquil 90° 80° 70° 60°

600 300–700 km Seamount TRENCH AXIS PERU 100 NORTH AMERICA PLATE 0 CUBA MEXICO FIGURE EXPLANATION 20.0 95° 90° 85° 75° 70° 65° 60° 20.0 Universal Transverse Mercator projection 20° 20° Peak ground acceleration -100 Scale 1:8,000,000 HAITI Digital map database and cartography by Susan Rhea and Art Tarr PRE-INSTRUMENTAL SEISMICITY 1500–1899 DOMINICAN PUERTO 0–0.2 m/s² 0 100200 300400500 600 700 800 20.0 JAMAICA REPUBLIC RICO Manuscript approved for publication Nov. 16, 2011 PROFILE D 0.2–0.4 KILOMETERS 85° 80° 75° 70° 65° 60° Historical earthquakes BELIZE 0.4–0.8 Tsunami/deaths (yr) 20.0 0.8–1.6 CUBA GUATEMALA . MEXICO HONDURAS DEPTH PROFILE EXPLANATION 1842 1.6–3.2 Distance (km) 1766 Deaths (yr) CARIBBEAN PLATE 20° DOMINICAN 10° 3.2–6.4 Magnitude classes Depth of focus -100 0 100 200 300 400 500 600 REPUBLIC HAITI Tsunami 0–69 km Profiles of earthquake and PUERTO 6.4–9.8 4–5.9 RICO 72.6 NICARAGUA locations are constructed from the 100 1780 6–6.4 70–299 km TRENCH AXIS 1673 Others mapped data. Locations of the profile 1770 20.0 20.0 Relative plate motion 6.5–6.9 300–700 km 0 81.2 BELIZE 11.0–19.9 mm/yr Any use of trade, product or firm names is for 1692 10° COSTA RICA 10° Nucleation points intersection with the surface are 1843 7–7.4 descriptive purposes only and does not imply 1897 -100 20.0–39.9 of M>8.3 events drawn in the map and labeled to endorsement by the U.S. Government. PANAMA 7.5 VENEZUELA coincide with the profile label. Length Although this information product, for the most part, 40.0–59.9 7.6 Active volcanoes 15° HONDURAS 15° -200 is in the public domain, it also contains copyrighted 1839 of the profile graphic is the same as in 3 1873 65.0 7.7 materials as noted in the text. Permission to 1788 GUYANA Earth structure the map. Distance in kilometers from -300 reproduce copyrighted items for other than personal For more information concerning this publication, contact: COCOS PLATE 60.0–79.9 7.8 NICARAGUA SOUTH AMERICA PLATE Air the trench axis is indicated in the X Depth (km) use must be secured from the copyright owner Center Director, USGS Geologic Hazards Science Center NAZCA PROFILE X SUR direction, depth in kilometers is -400 This and other USGS information products are Box 25046, Mail Stop 966 1831 7.9 Crust Denver, CO 80225 PLATE 80.0–100.0 available at COLUMBIA Upper mantle indicated in the Y direction. There is http://store.usgs.gov/. (303) 273-8579 1812 8.0 -500 Plate boundaries no vertical exaggeration. See U.S. Geological Survey Or visit Geologic Hazards Science Center Web site at: COSTA Transition zone Box 25286, Denver Federal Center RICA Explanation at side for color key. Not http://geohazards.cr.usgs.gov/ 10° 10° Subduction 8.1 Lower mantle -600 Denver, CO 80225 1878 1797 1870 1853 0° 0° Transform all earth layers, earthquake depths and To learn about the USGS and its information products visit Suggested citation: 1894 magnitude, are visible on every map. -700 http://www.usgs.gov/. Benz, H.M., Tarr, A.C., Hayes, G.P., Villaseñor, Antonio, Furlong, K.P., Dart, PANAMA 1875 Divergent 8.2 COLOMBIA 1610 ECUADOR BRAZIL 1-888-ASK-USGS. R.L., and Rhea, Susan, 2011, Seismicity of the Earth 1900–2010 Caribbean Convergent VENEZUELA GUYANA This report is available at: plate and vicinity: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 2010–1083-A, 1849 PERU Inferred http://pubs.usgs.gov/of/2010/1083/a scale 1:8,000,000. 85° 80° 75° 70° 65° 60° 90° 80° 70° 60°