Earthquakes

PJT

Silver
Jan 8, 2002
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"shaken, not stirred"

Where is a fault line there is always a risk of a serious quake. Fortunately, the many quakes in our vicinity are of low magnitude providing us with a few anxious moments when we sense the ground shaking. Usually there is little or no damage other than a jolt to our personal comfort zones. This is not to say we will not experience a "big one". It is reasonable to suggest all these little temblors, "shaken, not stirred" give release of the pressures of tectonic plate movement about us, thus helping avoid a larger one. It provides us and the tourists a bit of Dominican ambiance.

A link to the USGS website provides a view of activity within the region.

http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthqua...ue,"list":true,"settings":true,"help":false}}


Regards,

PJT
 

william webster

Platinum
Jan 16, 2009
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perhaps Mike Fisherman can verify this but I am told there is an underwater mountain range out in the Atlantic, to the north, where you can step out of your boat into chest deep water.

Shallow in the middle of nowhere...........

It must be along that fault line.
 

PJT

Silver
Jan 8, 2002
3,562
298
83
perhaps Mike Fisherman can verify this but I am told there is an underwater mountain range out in the Atlantic, to the north, where you can step out of your boat into chest deep water.

Shallow in the middle of nowhere...........

It must be along that fault line.

The fault line is part of the Puerto Rico Trench, maximum depth is 8,648 meters. Guess you would have to stand back a bit from the trench edge to find the mountain range.


Regards,

PJT
 

Left on Red

New member
Mar 10, 2012
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Actually, PJT, I believe the view that many little ones might relieve some pressure and avoid the big one is incorrect. This from the USGS, and then a larger quote below for your reading enjoyment, WW.....(I especially like the part about our potential for a "Megathrust" event! )

" Seismologists have observed that for every magnitude 6 earthquake there are about 10 of magnitude 5, 100 of magnitude 4, 1,000 of magnitude 3, and so forth as the events get smaller and smaller. This sounds like a lot of small earthquakes, but there are never enough small ones to eliminate the occasional large event. It would take 32 magnitude 5's, 1000 magnitude 4's, OR 32,000 magnitude 3's to equal the energy of one magnitude 6 event. So, even though we always record many more small events than large ones, there are far too few to eliminate the need for the occasional large earthquake."

Our area:

" Seismotectonics of the Caribbean Region and Vicinity
Extensive diversity and complexity of tectonic regimes characterizes the perimeter of the Caribbean plate, involving no fewer than four major plates (North America, South America, Nazca, and Cocos). Inclined zones of deep earthquakes (Wadati-Benioff zones), ocean trenches, and arcs of volcanoes clearly indicate subduction of oceanic lithosphere along the Central American and Atlantic Ocean margins of the Caribbean plate, while crustal seismicity in Guatemala, northern Venezuela, and the Cayman Ridge and Cayman Trench indicate transform fault and pull-apart basin tectonics.

Along the northern margin of the Caribbean plate, the North America plate moves westwards with respect to the Caribbean plate at a velocity of approximately 20 mm/yr. Motion is accommodated along several major transform faults that extend eastward from Isla de Roatan to Haiti, including the Swan Island Fault and the Oriente Fault. These faults represent the southern and northern boundaries of the Cayman Trench. Further east, from the Dominican Republic to the Island of Barbuda, relative motion between the North America plate and the Caribbean plate becomes increasingly complex and is partially accommodated by nearly arc-parallel subduction of the North America plate beneath the Caribbean plate. This results in the formation of the deep Puerto Rico Trench and a zone of intermediate focus earthquakes (70-300 km depth) within the subducted slab. Although the Puerto Rico subduction zone is thought to be capable of generating a megathrust earthquake, there have been no such events in the past century. The last probable interplate (thrust fault) event here occurred on May 2, 1787 and was widely felt throughout the island with documented destruction across the entire northern coast, including Arecibo and San Juan. Since 1900, the two largest earthquakes to occur in this region were the August 4, 1946 M8.0 Samana earthquake in northeastern Hispaniola and the July 29, 1943 M7.6 Mona Passage earthquake, both of which were shallow thrust fault earthquakes. A significant portion of the motion between the North America plate and the Caribbean plate in this region is accommodated by a series of left-lateral strike-slip faults that bisect the island of Hispaniola, notably the Septentrional Fault in the north and the Enriquillo-Plantain Garden Fault in the south. Activity adjacent to the Enriquillo-Plantain Garden Fault system is best documented by the devastating January 12, 2010 M7.0 Haiti strike-slip earthquake, its associated aftershocks and a comparable earthquake in 1770.

Moving east and south, the plate boundary curves around Puerto Rico and the northern Lesser Antilles where the plate motion vector of the Caribbean plate relative to the North and South America plates is less oblique, resulting in active island-arc tectonics. Here, the North and South America plates subduct towards the west beneath the Caribbean plate along the Lesser Antilles Trench at rates of approximately 20 mm/yr. As a result of this subduction, there exists both intermediate focus earthquakes within the subducted plates and a chain of active volcanoes along the island arc. Although the Lesser Antilles is considered one of the most seismically active regions in the Caribbean, few of these events have been greater than M7.0 over the past century. The island of Guadeloupe was the site of one of the largest megathrust earthquakes to occur in this region on February 8, 1843, with a suggested magnitude greater than 8.0. The largest recent intermediate-depth earthquake to occur along the Lesser Antilles arc was the November 29, 2007 M7.4 Martinique earthquake northwest of Fort-De-France.

The southern Caribbean plate boundary with the South America plate strikes east-west across Trinidad and western Venezuela at a relative rate of approximately 20 mm/yr. This boundary is characterized by major transform faults, including the Central Range Fault and the Bocon?-San Sebastian-El Pilar Faults, and shallow seismicity. Since 1900, the largest earthquakes to occur in this region were the October 29, 1900 M7.7 Caracas earthquake, and the July 29, 1967 M6.5 earthquake near this same region. Further to the west, a broad zone of compressive deformation trends southwestward across western Venezuela and central Colombia. The plate boundary is not well defined across northwestern South America, but deformation transitions from being dominated by Caribbean/South America convergence in the east to Nazca/South America convergence in the west. The transition zone between subduction on the eastern and western margins of the Caribbean plate is characterized by diffuse seismicity involving low- to intermediate-magnitude (M<6.0) earthquakes of shallow to intermediate depth.

The plate boundary offshore of Colombia is also characterized by convergence, where the Nazca plate subducts beneath South America towards the east at a rate of approximately 65 mm/yr. The January 31, 1906 M8.5 earthquake occurred on the shallowly dipping megathrust interface of this plate boundary segment. Along the western coast of Central America, the Cocos plate subducts towards the east beneath the Caribbean plate at the Middle America Trench. Convergence rates vary between 72-81 mm/yr, decreasing towards the north. This subduction results in relatively high rates of seismicity and a chain of numerous active volcanoes; intermediate-focus earthquakes occur within the subducted Cocos plate to depths of nearly 300 km. Since 1900, there have been many moderately sized intermediate-depth earthquakes in this region, including the September 7, 1915 M7.4 El Salvador and the October 5, 1950 M7.8 Costa Rica events.

The boundary between the Cocos and Nazca plates is characterized by a series of north-south trending transform faults and east-west trending spreading centers. The largest and most seismically active of these transform boundaries is the Panama Fracture Zone. The Panama Fracture Zone terminates in the south at the Galapagos rift zone and in the north at the Middle America trench, where it forms part of the Cocos-Nazca-Caribbean triple junction. Earthquakes along the Panama Fracture Zone are generally shallow, low- to intermediate in magnitude (M<7.2) and are characteristically right-lateral strike-slip faulting earthquakes. Since 1900, the largest earthquake to occur along the Panama Fracture Zone was the July 26, 1962 M7.2 earthquake."
 
May 29, 2006
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There are numerous fault lines on the island including the one that caused the big one in PaP. That one also goes through Santo Domingo.
 

caribmike

Gold
Jul 9, 2009
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There are numerous fault lines on the island including the one that caused the big one in PaP. That one also goes through Santo Domingo.

Wrong... the lines do not go through Santo domingo.

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http://woodshole.er.usgs.gov/project-pages/caribbean/images/Antilles_fault_map_USGS_big.jpg
 

chrisrose97

Member
May 2, 2010
302
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It Goes west-east North of Santiago, making the septentrional mountain range north of Santiago. Ive heard of mining for amber in those mountains and sea water coming in! I heard of a school built right on the fault in Tamboril! Presa de Taveras Dam is built right on a sub fault, if that goes, Santiago will be flooded if theres enough water, people say....many towers in Santiago will go down too...By the way, Presa de Taveras is South of Santiago on the Cordillera Central side...
 
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ju10prd

On Vacation!
Nov 19, 2014
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Accountkiller

There is one fault to add.......'Megasplay de Los Muertos' which is between the Surcos de Los Muertos and the DR south coast and back in 2010 a survey identified this fault which was responsible for quakes in 1751 (8.0) and in 1984 (6.7) and is capable of causing a tsunami along the south coast.

6st5r4.jpg


The fact is that the whole of DR is susceptible to the effects of a major earthquake, if it ever happens in our lifetime, and tremors in all parts of the country are common.......1041 in 2015.......http://www.diariolibre.com/medioamb...a-gran-actividad-sismica-en-el-2015-YF2304203

The quality of design and construction of the property where you live and the nature of the subsoil may well be major factors in what you experience and endure should a major event occur.........rock subsoil for foundations with modern construction would be far better than soft subsoil foundations.
 

Mauricio

Gold
Nov 18, 2002
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very interesting article about geological situation of DR, perdition of the "big one" with info regarding water/sewage:
http://www.elcaribe.com.do/2016/07/16/ldquopodemos-esperar-sismo-32-veces-mayor-que-haitirdquo

"Santo Domingo no tiene alcantarillado sanitario y cada apartamento lo que hace es que descarga todos sus inodoros en aguas subterr?neas, pero como no hay agua 24 horas al d?a, la gente hace un pozo al lado para su cisterna y saca del subsuelo la misma agua que descarg? del inodoro. Entonces, con la misma agua que descargamos el inodoro fregamos los platos y lavamos las frutas."

:paranoid:
 

dv8

Gold
Sep 27, 2006
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yep. rather neat, no? i wanted to put this in a thread about hard hock hotel but then it would be too much off topic.

even here, it is not exactly the subject of the thread but then the interview was about many subject with stress on the earthquakes so i hope it still fits.
 

Cdn_Gringo

Gold
Apr 29, 2014
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We just had a brief discussion in the Residents forum about a sizable earthquake and the general consensus was that wearing rose coloured glasses and chanting "Dios me proteger?" would make everything alright. I am of the opinion that a mag 8 here would paralyze the country and take years to rebuild and rebound.