Purdue University Purdue e-Pubs Open Access Dissertations Theses and Dissertations 4-2016 Present day plate boundary deformation in the Caribbean and crustal deformation on southern Haiti Steeve Symithe Purdue University Follow this and additional works at: https://docs.lib.purdue.edu/open_access_dissertations Part of the Caribbean Languages and Societies Commons, Geology Commons, and the Geophysics and Seismology Commons Recommended Citation Symithe, Steeve, "Present day plate boundary deformation in the Caribbean and crustal deformation on southern Haiti" (2016). Open Access Dissertations. 715. https://docs.lib.purdue.edu/open_access_dissertations/715 This document has been made available through Purdue e-Pubs, a service of the Purdue University Libraries. Please contact [email protected] for additional information. Graduate School Form 30 Updated ¡ ¢¡£ ¢¡¤ ¥ PURDUE UNIVERSITY GRADUATE SCHOOL Thesis/Dissertation Acceptance This is to certify that the thesis/dissertation prepared By Steeve Symithe Entitled Present Day Plate Boundary Deformation in The Caribbean and Crustal Deformation On Southern Haiti. For the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Is approved by the final examining committee: Christopher L. Andronicos Chair Andrew M. Freed Julie L. Elliott Ayhan Irfanoglu To the best of my knowledge and as understood by the student in the Thesis/Dissertation Agreement, Publication Delay, and Certification Disclaimer (Graduate School Form 32), this thesis/dissertation adheres to the provisions of Purdue University’s “Policy of Integrity in Research” and the use of copyright material. Andrew M. Freed Approved by Major Professor(s): Indrajeet Chaubey 04/21/2016 Approved by: Head of the Departmental Graduate Program Date PRESENT DAY PLATE BOUNDARY DEFORMATION IN THE CARIBBEAN AND CRUSTAL DEFORMATION ON SOUTHERN HAITI A Dissertation Submitted to the Faculty of Purdue University by Steeve J. Symithe In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy May 2016 Purdue University West Lafayette, Indiana ii This work is especially dedicated to all the lives lost during the January 12, 2010 Haiti earthquake and thoses whose lives have been also drastically affected by this tragic event. This thesis is my contribution to the ongoing effort of the Haitian community to understand and to mitigate the seismic hazards posed by existing geological structures in Haiti. I want to express also a feeling of profound gratitude to my family, especially my dear regreted mother Carmita Brignolle, my brother Evens Dossous for all his supports prior and also during this process, my aunt Anne Marie Brignolle for all the love that she had given me. A special thanks goes to my dear friends: Dieudonn´e Belto, Ronald Cad´emus, Natacha Dor´elien, Blanc Pierre–William, Chrisla Joseph, Roby Douilly, Cassandre Joseph, Kathiana Raymond and Brainly Eugene. You guys have been a great source of motivation during these last 5 years. I want to thank the people from the Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences, especially my labmates (Joshua Boscheli, Chen Chen) and all the people from the Business Office. A lot of thanks go to Dave Blair and the Grillot’s for the great memories that I have shared with them during my stay in the US. I also want to thank the colleagues from the Department of Geology in Ecole Normale Superieure de Paris (ENS) for sharing with me their work space during my visit in the ENS. My gratitude goes to the Dieudonn´e, Bien-aim´e and Desrameau families to have welcomed me in their homes during my long trips in Paris. iii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS This research is supported by a COCONet fellowship from UNAVCO to Steeve Symithe and the National Science Foundation awards EAR-0409487, EAR-RAPID- 1024990, and EAR-1045809 to professor Eric Calais. GPS data used in these projects were provided by the UNAVCO Facility with support from the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) and National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) un- der NSF Cooperative Agreement EAR-0735156. I thank the IGS and its centers for providing open GNSS data and data products to the community. Some of the data were also collected from campaign measurements by agencies in the Dominican Republic (Direccion General de Mineria the Instituto Cartografico Militar, Colegio Dominicano de Ingenieros, Arquitectos y Agrimensores (CoDIA), Holasa S.A.) and in Haiti by the Bureau of Mines and Energy (BME). I want to thank all the individuals who participated in the data collection process, especially: Claude Preptit, Macly Jeannite, Frantz Saint-Preux and Daniel from the BME in Haiti. This work would never have been possible without the guidance and support of my advisor Andrew Freed. Thank you, not only for your contribution to this work but also for your moral support all along this process. I can never be grateful enough to Professor Eric Calais for his contributions in my formation but also for the guidance and all the supports that he have provided me during these 5 long years. I am also thankful to the members of my study committee for insight on the documents: Julie Elliot, Christopher Adronicos and Ayhan Irfanoglu. Finally, my recognitions also go to my former professor from the Facult´e Des Sciences (FDS) of the Universit´e d’Etat d’Haiti (UEH): Roberte Momplaisir, Raould Momplaisir, Edgard Etienne, Janin Jadotte, Dominique Boisson for their contribution in my solid education. iv TABLE OF CONTENTS Page LIST OF TABLES ................................ vi LIST OF FIGURES ............................... vii ABSTRACT ................................... ix 1 Introduction .................................. 1 1.1 Plate Boundary Deformation and Earthquakes ............ 1 1.1.1 Brief Tectonic Setting ..................... 1 1.1.2 Large Earthquakes in the Caribbean ............. 2 1.2 Caribbean Plate Boundary Deformation: State-of-the-art ...... 3 1.3 The January 12, 2010 Haiti Earthquake ................ 5 2 Research Questions .............................. 7 3 Current Block Motion and Strain Accumulation on Active Faults in the Caribbean ................................... 8 3.1 Background ............................... 9 3.1.1 Tectonic Setting ......................... 9 3.1.2 Previous GPS-Based Models .................. 13 3.2 Data and Models ............................ 16 3.2.1 GPS Data Analysis ....................... 16 3.2.2 Model Setup ........................... 18 3.2.3 Model Results .......................... 20 3.3 Discussion ................................ 25 3.3.1 Best Fit Model ......................... 25 3.3.2 Low Coupling on the Lesser Antilles Subduction ....... 29 4 Present-day Shortening in Southern Haiti from GPS Measurements ... 34 4.1 Tectonic Setting ............................. 35 4.2 GPS Data ................................ 37 4.3 Elastic Model .............................. 38 4.4 Discussion ................................ 41 4.4.1 Present-day Tectonic Model .................. 41 4.4.2 Implication for Seismic Hazard ................ 42 5 Conclusion ................................... 45 REFERENCES .................................. 75 v VITA ....................................... 89 vi LIST OF TABLES Table Page 1 χ2 variations amongst tested model .................... 71 2 Angular velocity estimates ......................... 72 3 Slip deficit rates for major faults ..................... 73 4 Estimated model parameters and associated uncertainties. ....... 74 vii LIST OF FIGURES Figure Page 1 Seismotectonic setting of the Caribbean region .............. 47 2 Current tectonic setting of the northeastern Caribbean ......... 48 3 GPS velocities ................................ 49 4 Earthquake focal mechanisms and locations ............... 50 5 Model reduced χ2 .............................. 51 6 Block geometry used in the models tested ................ 52 7 Total model χ2 as a function of model tested ............... 53 8 Best-fit model geometry .......................... 54 9 observed, modeled and residuals velocities ................ 55 10 observed, modeled and residuals velocities in the Lesser Antilles .... 56 11 Euler poles for block pairs with their 95% confidence ellipse. ...... 57 12 Test of the consistency of Lesser Antilles GPS velocities ......... 58 13 Coupling ratio estimated along the Greater-Lesser Antilles subduction in- terface .................................... 59 14 Predicted motion of the North American plate .............. 60 15 Sections across the Lesser and Greater Antilles Antilles subduction .. 61 16 Resolution tests ............................... 62 17 More resolution tests ............................ 63 18 Comparison of tectonic interpretations of the eastern termination of the Enriquillo fault system ........................... 64 19 GPS velocities shown with respect to the Caribbean plate and to the North American plate ............................... 65 20 comparison between the best-fit model and GPS observations ..... 66 21 Parameter estimates for strike-slip rate, dip-slip rate, locking depth, and locking depth ................................ 67 viii Figure Page 22 Ground motion scenarios illustrating the two end-member models dis- cussed in the text. ............................. 68 23 SUPPLEMENTAL: Site selection. ..................... 69 24 SUPPLEMENTAL: Comparison between GPS observations and model re- sults for a range of surface fault trace location and dip angles. ..... 70 ix ABSTRACT Symithe, Steeve J. PhD, Purdue University, May 2016. Present Day Plate Boundary Deformation in the Caribbean And Crustal