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V E N E Z U E L A

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B R A Z I L

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S T. L U C I A

S T. V I N C E N T A N D T H E G R E N A D I N E SN E T H E R L A N D S

A N T I L L E S

G R E N A D A

B A H A M A S

T U R K S A N DC A I C O S I S . ( U . K . )

G U Y A N A

C U B A

B R I T I S HV I R G I N

I S L A N D S ( U . K . )

U . S . V I R G I N I S L A N D S ( U . S . )

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Golfo de LosMosquitos

Golfo de ChiriquiGolfo de Panam

Lago de Maracaibo

Lago de

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Leeward Islands

Antigua

Barbuda

Guadeloupe (France)

Martinique (France)

Montserrat (U.K.)

Isla deMargarita(Venez.)

TobagoIsla La Tortuga(Venez.)

Aruba (Neth.)

Curaao

Marie-Galante

Grand InaguaIsland

Isla Blanquilla(Venez.)

The Grenadines

IslaOrchilla(Venez.)

Islas Los Roques

(Venez.)

Dominica

St. Kitt'sNevis

Anguilla (U.K.) St. Martin (France & Neth. Antilles)

Grenada

St. Vincent

St. Lucia

Barbados

T r i n i d a d

St. Croix

Mona I.

le de laGonve

Isla de laJuventud

Isla de laRoatn

Turneffe Is.

Isla Cozumel

Arch. de las Perlas

Long I.

Crooked I.

Acklins I.Mayaguana I.

Caicos Is. (U.K.)

Vieques (U.S.)

Turks IslandJardines de la Reina

A r c h . d e C a m a g e y

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Great Exuma

Grand Cayman I.

B a h a m a I s l a n d s

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Isla Isabela

Isla Fernandina Isla Santa Cruz

Isla Santa Maria

Isla Pinta

I. del Rey

I. de Coiba

Isla Isabela

Isla San Salvador

Isla San Cristbal

Isla Espaola

Isla MarchenaGalapagos Islands

(Archipilago de Coln)(Ecuador)

Isla del Coco(Costa Rica)

IslaCulpepper Isla

Wenman

Cayos Miskitos

Isla de San Andres

Isla de Providencia

I. del Maiz Grande

I. Coiba

B a h a m a I s l a n d s

Woodward Islands

C A Y M A N I S .( U . K . )

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B

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G'G'G'

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50

300

100

200

200

50

100

2001

1900

1902

1942

1943

1946

1958

1979

1991

1902

1934

1942

1946

1950

1976

1983

1992

Panama

Bucaramanga

Villahermosa

Tuxtla Gutierrez

MaracayValencia

Ibague

Cartagena

Barranquilla

San Pedro Sula

Veracruz

Quito

Guayaquil

Merida

Tegucigalpa

Santo Domingo

Santiago De Cuba

Caracas

Kingston

Cucuta

Maracaibo

San Salvador

Port-au-Prince

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Bogota

Manizales

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Guatemala City

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20

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COCOS PLATE

P E R U

P A N A M A

BELIZE

DOMINICANREPUBLIC

NORTH AMERICA PLATE

V E N E Z U E L A

N I C A R A G U A

JAMAICA

G U Y A N A

NAZCAPLATE

GUATEMALA

M E X I C O

PUERTO RICO

SOUTH AMERICA PLATE

C O L U M B I A

COSTA RICA

HAITI

S U R

CARIBBEAN PLATE

B R A Z I L

H O N D U R A S

C U B A

E C U A D O R

20.0

20.0

81.220.0

20.0

72.6

20.0

65.0

20.0

20.0

20.0

81.220.0

20.0

72.6

20.0

65.0

20.0

70

80 60

80 60

90 70

90

0

20

0

20

10 10

SEISMIC HAZARD .

AND RELATIVE PLATE MOTION

.

6.56.9

Depth of focus

77.4

069 km

7.5

70299 km

7.6

300700 km

Active volcanoes

7.7

Air7.8

Nucleation pointsof M>8.3 events

7.9

Upper mantle

Distance (km)

8.0

8.1 Lower mantle

8.2

Earth structure

Crust

Dep

th (k

m)

Magnitude classes

Transition zone

45.966.4

DEPTH PROFILE EXPLANATION

Profiles of earthquake and volcanolocations are constructed from themapped data. Locations of the profileintersection with the surface aredrawn in the map and labeled tocoincide with the profile label. Lengthof the profile graphic is the same as inthe map. Distance in kilometers fromthe trench axis is indicated in the Xdirection, depth in kilometers isindicated in the Y direction. There isno vertical exaggeration. SeeExplanation at side for color key. Notall earth layers, earthquake depths andmagnitude, are visible on every map.

PROFILE X

TRENCH AXIS

-100 0 100 200 300 400 500 600

-700

-600

-500

-400

-300

-200

-100

0

100

PROFILE G

G G' -300

-100

0 -200

0

-200

-100

TRENCH AXIS

PROFILE F

-200

0

-200

-100-300

-100

0F F'

TRENCH AXIS

PROFILE E

-100

0

-300

-200

-500 0-200

-100

-400

-300

TRENCH AXIS

E E'

PROFILE D

-100 0 100 200

-100

0TRENCH AXIS

DDPROFILE C

-100

-200

2000

-100

300100

0TRENCH AXIS

C C'

PROFILE B

300

0

100

-200

400200

-100

0

-300

TRENCH AXIS

TRENCH AXIS

PROFILE A

0

-300

300

0

100

-200

400200

-100

B B'

A A'

3

1870

1897

1873

189417971853

1878

1849

1610

1843

1842

1839

1831

1788

1812

17801770

1766

1692

1875

1673

PRE-INSTRUMENTAL SEISMICITY 15001899

V E N E Z U E L A G U Y A N A

C U B A

H A I T IP U E R T O

R I C O

D O M I N I C A NR E P U B L I C

C O L O M B I AP A N A M A

N I C A R A G U A

H O N D U R A S

B E L I Z E

M E X I C O

C O S T AR I C A

65

10

85 60

85 80 60

15

10

80

15

10

20

75

75

70

70

65

REFERENCES

Bird, Peter, 2003, An updated digital model of plate boundaries: Geochemistry Geophysics Geosystems, v. 4, no. 3, 52 p.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

plate motions: Geophysical Research Letters, v. 21, p. 21912194.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

CaribbeanNorth America plate motion: Geophysical Research Letters, v. 27, p. 437440.Dixon,

.

T.H., Farina, F., DeMets, Charles, Jansma, P., Mann, P., and Calais, E., 1998, Relative motion between the Caribbean and North Americanplates and related boundary zone deformation from a decade of GPS observations: Journal of Geophysical Research, 103(B7),p. 1515715182.

.

Engdahl, E.R., and Villaseor, Antonio, 2002, Global seismicity 19001999, in Lee, W.H.K., Jennings, P., Kisslinger, Carl, and Kanamori, Hiroo, eds,International Handbook of Earthquake and Engineering Seismology, v. 81(A), chap. 41, p. 126.

GEBCO, 2008, .

The GEBCO_08_Grid, ver. 20091120, http://www.gebco.net/, last accessed January 8, 2010.Giardini, D., Grnthal, G., Shedlock, K., Zhang, P

.

., and Global Seismic Hazards Program, 1999, Global Seismic Hazards Map,http://seismo.ethz.ch/GSHAP, last accessed January 9, 2007.

Hayes, Gavin, and . Wald, David, 2010, Slab models for subduction zones: U.S. Geological Survey Earthquake HazardsProgram, last accessed July, 22, 2010 at http://earthquake.usgs.gov/research/data/slab/.

Kanamori, Hiroo, and McNally, K.C., 1982, Variable rupture mode of the subduction zone along the Ecuador-Colombia coast: Bulletin of theSeismological Society of

.

America, v. 72, no. 4, p. 12411253.NOAA, 2010, National Geophysical Data Center: National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, accessed on March 31, 2010 at

http://www.ngdc.noaa.gov/hazards.Okal, E.A., 1992, Use of the mantle magnitude Mm for the reassessment of the moment of historical earthquakes: Pure and . Applied Geophysics,

v. 139, no.1, p. 1757.Siebert, Lee, and Simkin, Thomas, 2002, Volcanoes of the world: An illustrated catalog of Holocene volcanoes and their eruptions: Smithsonian

Institution, Global .

Volcanism Program Digital Information series, GVP3, http://www.volcano.si.edu/world/, last accessed January 9, 2007.Tarr, A.C., Villaseor, Antonio, Furlong, K.P., Rhea, Susan, and Benz, H.M., and 2010, Seismicity of the earth 19002007: U.S. Geological Survey

Scientific Investigations Map 3064, scale 1:25,000,000.Weber

.

, J.C., Dixon, T.H., DeMets, Charles, Ambeh, W.B., Jansma, Pamela, Mattinoli, Glen, Saleh, Jarir, Sella, Giovanni, Bilham, Roger, andPrez, Omar

.

, 2001, GPS estimate of relative motion between the Caribbean and South American plates, and geologic implications for Trinidadand Venezuela: Geology, v. 29, no. 1, p. 7578.

DATA SOURCES

The earthquakes portrayed on the main map and the depth profiles are taken from two sources: (a) the Centennial earthquake catalog(Engdahl and Villaseor, 2002) and annual supplements for the interval 19002007, where the magnitude floor is 5.5 globally, and (b)a catalog of earthquakes having high-quality depth determinations for the period 19642002 and a magnitude range of 5.0M5.4(Engdahl, personal commun., 2009.)

The nucleation points of great earthquakes (M8.3) are designated with a label showing the year of occurrence. Their rupture areasare shown as pale reddish polygons. Major earthquakes (7.5M8.2) are labeled with the year of occurrence, while earthquakes(8.0M8.2) are labeled with the year of occurrence and also denoted by a white outline (Tarr and others, 2010).

The Seismic Hazard and Relative Plate Motion map displays the generalized seismic hazard of the region (Giardini and others, 1999) andrepresentative relative plate motion vectors of the Caribbean plate relative to the adjacent North and South America plates using theNUVEL1A model (DeMets and others, 1994, 2000) and updates (Dixon and others, 1998; Weber and others, 2001).

Pre-instrumental seismicity for the Caribbean basin was obtained from the NOAA National Geophysical Data Center (2010) databaseof significant earthquakes; locations are approximate, based on macro-seismic reports and field investigations. We selectedearthquakes with associated reports of moderate to major damage, 10 or more deaths, an estimated magnitude of 7.5 or greater (ifknown), Modified Mercalli Intensities X, or tsunami generation.

Base map data sources include GEBCO 2008, Volcanoes of the World dataset (Siebert and Simkin, 2002), plate boundaries (Bird,2003), Digital Chart of the World (1992), and Environmental Sciences Research Institute (ESRI, 2002). Slab contours are from Hayes and Wald(2010).

TECTONIC SUMMARY

Extensive diversity of tectonic regimes characterizes the perimeter of the Caribbean plate, involving no fewer than four major adjacentplates (North America, South America, Nazca, and Cocos). Inclined zones of deep earthquakes (Wadati-Benioff zones), deep oceantrenches, and arcs of volcanoes clearly indicate subduction of oceanic lithosphere along the Central American and Atlantic Oceanmargins of the Caribbean plate, while shallow seismicity and focal mechanisms of major shocks in Guatemala, northern Venezuela,and the Cayman Ridge and Cayman Trench indicate transform fault and pull-apart basin tectonics.

The depth profile panels on this map portray earthquakes that extend from the Middle America Trench axis in the west to depths asgreat as 300 km beneath Guatemala, and from the Lesser Antilles Trench axis in the east to depths of approximately 200 km beneathGuadeloupe and the northeast Caribbean. In contrast, seismicity along the segments of the Caribbean plate margins from Guatemalato Hispaniola and from Trinidad to western Venezuela is indicative of transform fault tectonics.

Along the northern margin of the Caribbean plate, the North America plate moves west, relative to the Caribbean plate, at approximately20 mm/yr, resulting in major transcurrent faults and troughs. Farther east, the North America plate subducts beneath the Caribbean plateresulting in surface expression of the deep Puerto Rico Trench and a zone of intermediate focus earthquakes in the subducted slab.

The plate boundary curves around Puerto Rico and the northern Lesser Antilles where the plate motion vector of the Caribbean platerelative to the North and South America plates is less oblique, resulting in active island-arc tectonics. The North and South Americaplates subduct beneath the Caribbean plate along the Lesser Antilles Trench at rates of about 20 mm/yr; consequently, there are bothintermediate focus earthquakes within the subducted South America plate and a chain of active volcanoes along the island arc.

The southern Caribbean plate boundary along with the South America plate strikes east-west across Trinidad and western Venezuelaand is characterized by major strike-slip faults and shallow seismicity, resulting from relative plate motion of about 20 mm/yr. Furtherto the west, a broad zone of convergent deformation trends southwest across western Venezuela and central Columbia. Plateboundaries are not well defined across northern South America, but there is a transition from Caribbean/South America convergencein the east to Nazca/South America convergence in the west, described in more detail below. The transition zone is characterized byhigh seismic hazard.

The Nazca-Caribbean plate boundary offshore of Columbia is characterized by convergence (Nazca plate subducting under SouthAmerica plate) at about 65 mm/yr. The January 6, 1906 Mw = 8.5 megathrust subduction earthquake occurred on a shallow-dippinginterface of this plate boundary segment. The 1906 earthquake occurred in the Colombia-Ecuador region, with a seismic moment(Mo; equivalent to radiated energy) of 610 Exp 28 dyne-cm (Okal, 1992), and a moment magnitude (Mw) of 8.5 (Tarr and others,2010). The nucleation point of this earthquake is indicated on the map (rupture area is from Kanamori and McNally, 1982).

Along the western coast of Central America, the Cocos plate subducts beneath the Caribbean plate at rates of 7281 mm/yr, resultingin a relatively high seismic hazard and a chain of numerous active volcanoes; here intermediate-focus earthquakes occur within thesubducted Cocos plate to depths of nearly 300 km.

8.2

200

Tsunami/deaths (yr)

600

Divergent

Magnitude classes

Mean slab depth

45.9

100

66.4

6.56.9

Historical earthquakes

Depth of focus

300

77.4

069 km

Deaths (yr)

7.5

Plate boundaries

70299 km

Tsunami

7.6

300700 km

Rupture zones

Others

7.7

Nucleation points

7.8

MAP EXPLANATION

Active volcanoes

7.9

8.0

50 km

8.1

FIGURE EXPLANATION

80.0100.0

00.2 m/s

Divergent

Relative plate motion

0.40.8

1.63.2

Subduction

20.039.9

Transform

6.49.8

Inferred

60.079.9

Convergent

Peak ground acceleration

Plate boundaries

0.20.4

Transform

0.81.6

11.019.9 mm/yr

Inferred

3.26.4

Convergent

40.059.9

Subduction

OPEN-FILE REPORT 20101083-ARevised September, 2011

U.S. DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIORU.S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY

Seismicity of the Earth 19002010Caribbean Plate and VicinityCompiled by Harley M. Benz,1 Arthur C. Tarr,1 Gavin P

. Hayes,1 Antonio Villaseor,2 Kevin P. Furlong,2 Richard L. Dart,1 and Susan Rhea1

20111U.S. Geological Survey2Institute of Earth Sciences, CSIC, Barcelona, Spain3Department of Geosciences, Pennsylvania State University, State College, PA 16802 USA

600Scale

500KILOMETERS

01:8,000,000400 800100 300 700200

Universal Transverse Mercator projection

Digital map database and cartography by Susan Rhea and Art Tarr

Manuscript approved for publication Nov. 16, 2011

Any use of trade, product or firm names is for descriptive purposes only and does not imply endorsement by the U.S. Government.

Although this information product, for the most part, is in the public domain, it also contains copyrighted materials as noted in the text. Permission to reproduce copyrighted items for other than personal use must be secured from the copyright owner

This and other USGS information products are available athttp://store.usgs.gov/. U.S. Geological SurveyBox 25286, Denver Federal CenterDenver, CO 80225

To learn about the USGS and its information products visithttp://www.usgs.gov/. 1-888-ASK-USGS.

This report is available at:http://pubs.usgs.gov/of/2010/1083/a

For more information concerning this publication, contact:Center Director, USGS Geologic Hazards Science CenterBox 25046, Mail Stop 966Denver, CO 80225(303) 273-8579

Or visit Geologic Hazards Science Center Web site at:http://geohazards.cr.usgs.gov/

Suggested citation:Benz, H.M., Tarr, A.C., Hayes, G.P., Villaseor, Antonio, Furlong, K.P., Dart, R.L., and Rhea, Susan, 2011, Seismicity of the Earth 19002010 Caribbean plate and vicinity: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 20101083-A, scale 1:8,000,000.

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