Tuesday 25 January 2022

Magnitude 5.3 Earthquake beneath the Tiburon Peninsula, Haiti.

The United States Geological Survey recorded a Magnitude 5.1 Earthquake at a depth of 10.0 km roughly 4 km to the south of the commune of Anse-à-Veau on the northern side of the Tiburon Peninsula, Haiti, slightly after 8.15 am local time (slightly after 1.15 pm GMT) on Monday 24 January 2022. Two people are reported to have died in the incident, with dozens more injured and damage reported to hundreds of buildings. The initial event was followed by a number of significant aftershocks, including a Magnitude 5.1 Earthquake 50 minutes after the initial quake.

 
 The approximate location of the 24 January 2022 Haiti Earthquake. USGS.

Haiti forms the western part of the island of La Hispaniola, in the Greater Antilles. The island has a complex geological structure, with parts of it lying on three different tectonic plates, and two plate margins running east-to-west across the island. The northernmost part of the island lies on the North American Plate. This is divided from the Gonâve Microplate by the Septentrional Fault Zone, which runs through Rio San Juan, along the north coast of the Dominican Republic and the Tiburon Peninsula of Haiti, then across the Windward Passage and along the south coast of Cuba. The Gonâve Microplate is moving east relative to the North American Plate, pushed by the Mid-Cayman Spreading centre to the west of Jamaica. To the south the Gonâve Microplate is separated from the Caribbean Plate by the Enriquilo-Plantain Garden Fault Zone, which runs across Southern Haiti and the Dominican Republic. To the west the fault runs through central Jamaica. The Caribbean Plate is rotating clockwise, effectively moving east relative to the Gonâve Microplate.
 
Plate movements and fault zones around the Gonâve Microplate. Mike Norton/Wikimedia Commons.
 
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