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Interpretation of Fault
Plane Solutions
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Fault plane solution
A, located in eastern
Jamaica, indicates compression by an east-dipping reverse
fault.
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Fault plane solution B, located in the
southern Cayman Trough, indicates extension by an east-dipping
normal fault.
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Fault plane solution
C, located on the
NPRSFZ, indicates both compression and strike-slip movement on an
oblique reverse fault with some right lateral slip dipping
to the east.
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Fault plane solutions
D
and
E, located
along the Puerto Rico Trench and the Oriente Fault Zone, respectively,
indicate left-lateral strike-slip faulting with movement of the
Caribbean Plate to the east.
Three Major Zones of Seismicity
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The first zone is composed of the south dipping slab
beneath Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands, which seems to be continuous
with the slab of the Atlantic oceanic crust that is being subducted
beneath the Lesser Antilles island arc (to the east),
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This zone is composed of a northwest-striking,
almost vertical, zone of earthquakes below Mona Passage and eastern
Hispaniola. These earthquakes have virtually vertical T-axes and
extend from 75-210 km deep, and
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This zone is made of a gently dipping plane
which is part of the northward under-thrust of the Caribbean plate below
Hispaniola and Puerto Rico along the Los Muertos trough. The focal
points of earthquakes near the upper portion of the Caribbean slab are
indicative of shallow, north-dipping thrust faulting (Dolan et al.,
1998).
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