S t r a i t s o f F l o r i d a

AT L A N T I C O C E A N

M I D D L E A M E R I C A T R E N C H

P U E R T O R I C O T R E N C H

C A Y M A N

T R E N C H

M U E R T O S T R O U G H

M o n a T r o u g h

Y u m a T r o u g h

S o m b r e r o T r o u g h

E x u m a T r o u g h

H i s p a n i o l a T r o u g h

C

O L O M

B I A

N T R E N C H

T e h a u n t e p e c

F . Z .

L E S S E R

A

N

T I L L E

S

T

R

E

N

C

H

Golfo de Panamá

Bahia de Panamá

G u l f o f M e x i c o

G o l f o d e

Ve n e z u e l a

G u l f o f

H o n d u r a s

Golfo de Fonseca

Golfo de Los

Mosquitos

Golfo de Chiriqui

Lago de 

Nicaragua

Lago de 

Maracaibo

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

Windward Islands

Leeward Islands

Antigua

Barbuda

Guadeloupe 

(France)

Martinique 

(France)

Montserrat (U.K.)

Isla de Margarita

(Venez.)

Isla La Tortuga Tobago

(Venez.)

Aruba (Neth.)

Curaçao Bonaire

Marie-Galante

Andros Island

Grand Inagua

Island

Cayman Is. (U.K.)

Isla Blanquilla (Venez.)

The Grenadines

Isla

Orchilla

(Venez.)

Islas 

Los Roques

(Venez.)

Dominica

St. Kitt's

Nevis

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.

Île de la

Gonâve

Isla de la

Juventud

Isla de la

Roatán

Turneffe Is.

Flo rida Keys

Isla Cozumel

Key West

Arch. de las 

Perlas

Eleuthera

New Providence I.

Long I.

Crooked I.

Acklins I. Mayaguana I.

San Salvador

Cat Island

Caicos Is. (U.K.)

Vieques (U.S.)

Grand Cayman Island

Turks Island

Isla Isabela

Isla Fernandina Isla Santa Cruz

Isla San Salvador

Isla San Cristóbal

Isla Santa Maria Isla Española

Isla Marchena

Isla Pinta

G a l a p a g o s I s l a n d s

( A r c h i p i é l a g o d e C o l ó n )

( E c u a d o r )

Isla del Coco

(Costa Rica)

Isla Culpepper

Isla Wenman

Great

Exuma

Cayos Miskitos

Isla de San Andres

Isla de Providencia

I. del Maiz Grande

I. Coiba

C a r n e g i e R i d g e

B e a t a R i d g e

N a r e s P l a i n

Y u c a t a n

B a s i n

T o b a g o B a s i n

C o l o m b i a n

B a s i n

A v e s R i d g e

G r e n a d a B a s i n

B a r b a d o s R i d g e

C o c o s

R i d g e

S u e R i d g e

S i g s b e e E s c a r p m e n t

S i g s b e e D e e p

V e n e z u e l a n B a s i n

C a m p e c h e B a n k

G r e a t B a h a m a B a n k

C o l ó n R i d g e

P a n a m a

B a s i n

Ser rani ll a

Ba nk

Al i ce

Sho al

S i g s b e e E s c a r p m e n t

M a r i n e r R i d g e

P a p a g a y o s R i d g e

V o l c a n B a n k

R o s a l i n d B a n k

P e d r o B a n k

K i n g s t o n B a n k

L i g h t n i n g B a n k

C a y m a n R i d g e

S i l ve r

Ba n k

Na v i da d

Ba n k

C ai co s

Ba n k

T e h a u n t e p e c

R i d g e

Paramount

Seamount Medina

Seamount

B e r l a n g a R i d g e

M e x i c o B a s i n

S i g s b e e E s c a r p m e n t

T e h u a n t e p e c

R i d g e

S i g s b e e E s c a r p m e n t

G u a t a m a l a

B a s i n

S i g s b e e E s c a r p m e n t

C l a r k B a s i n

T e h a u n t e p e c

R i d g e

S a r m i e n t o R i d g e

A l v a r a d o R i d g e

G r i j a l v a R i d g e

Algol Seamount

M a l p e l o R i d g e

C o i b a R i d g e

Fisher Seamount

Guardian Seamount

West Cocos

Seamount

R e s e a r c h e r R i d g e

50

100

200

300

600

200

100

100

50

2001

1992

1991

1983

1979

1976

1958

1950

1946

1946 1943

1942

1942

1934

1902

1902

1900

Cali

Quito

Bogota

Ibague

Cucuta

Panama

Merida

Havana

Maracay

Caracas

Managua

Veracruz

Medellin

Valencia

Kingston

San Juan

Camaguey

Guayaquil

Manizales

Cartagena

Maracaibo

Guatemala

Bucaramanga

Tegucigalpa

Barquisimeto

Barranquilla

San Salvador

Villahermosa

Santo Domingo

San Pedro Sula

Port-au-Prince

Tuxtla Gutierrez

Santiago De Cuba

1906

CARIBBEAN PLATE

NORTH AMERICA PLATE

SOUTH AMERICA PLATE COCOS PLATE

NAZCA

PLATE

NORTH AMERICA PLATE

65.0

81.2

72.6

20.0

20.0 20.0

20.0 20.0

20.0

60°

60°

70°

70°

80°

80°

90°

90°

20° 20°

10° 10°

0° 0°

FIGURE EXPLANATION

Peak ground acceleration

Relative plate motion

Plate boundaries

MAP EXPLANATION

–

Extensive diversity of tectonic regimes characterizes the perimeter of the Caribbean plate, involving no fewer than four major adjacent

plates (North America, South America, Nazca, and Cocos). Inclined zones of deep earthquakes (Wadati-Benioff zones), deep 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 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 as

great as 300 km beneath Guatemala, and from the Lesser Antilles Trench axis in the east to depths of approximately 200 km beneath

Guadeloupe and the northeast Caribbean. In contrast, seismicity along the segments of the Caribbean plate margins from Guatemala

to Hispaniola and from Trinidad to western Venezuela is indicative of transform fault tectonics.

Along the northern margin of the Caribbean plate, the North America moves west, relative to the Caribbean plate, at approximately 20

mm/yr, resulting in major transcurrent faults and troughs. Farther east, the North America plate subducts beneath the Caribbean plate

resulting 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 plate

relative to the North and South America plates is less oblique, resulting in active island-arc tectonics. The North and South America

plates subduct beneath the Caribbean plate along the Lesser Antilles Trench at rates of about 20 mm/yr; consequently, there are both

intermediate 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 Venezuela

and is characterized by major strike-slip faults and shallow seismicity, resulting from relative plate motion of about 20 mm/yr. Further

to the west, a broad zone of convergent deformation trends southwest across western Venezuela and central Columbia. Plate

boundaries are not well defined across northern South America, but there is a transition from Caribbean/South America convergence

in the east to Nazca/South America convergence in the west, described in more detail below. The transition zone is characterized by

high seismic hazard.

The Nazca-Caribbean plate boundary offshore of Columbia is characterized by convergence (Nazca plate subducting under South

America plate) at about 65 mm/yr. The 6 January 1906 Mw = 8.5 megathrust subduction earthquake occurred on a shallow-dipping

interface of this plate boundary segment. The 1906 earthquake occurred in the Colombia-Ecuador region, with a seismic moment

(Mo; equivalent to radiated energy) of 6x10 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 72–81 mm/yr, resulting

in a relatively high seismic hazard and a chain of numerous active volcanoes; here intermediate-focus earthquakes occur within the

subducted Cocos plate to depths of nearly 300 km.

TECTONIC SUMMARY

The earthquakes portrayed on the main map and the depth profiles are taken from two sources: (a) the Centennial earthquake catalog

(Engdahl and Villaseñor, 2002) and annual supplements for the interval 1900–2007, where the magnitude floor is 5.5 globally, and (b)

a catalog of earthquakes having high-quality depth determinations for the period 1964–2002 and a magnitude range of 5.0≥M≤5.4

(Engdahl, personal commun., 2007.)

The nucleation points of great earthquakes (M≥8.3) are designated with a label showing the year of occurrence. Their rupture areas

are shown as pale yellow polygons. Major earthquakes (7.5≥M≤8.2) are labeled with the year of occurrence.

The Seismic Hazard and Relative Plate Motion map displays the generalized seismic hazard of the region (Giardini et al., 1999) and

representative relative plate motion vectors of the Caribbean plate relative to the adjacent North and South America plates using the

NUVEL-1A 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) database

of significant earthquakes; locations are approximate, based on macro-seismic reports and field investigations. We selected for

earthquakes with associated reports of moderate to major damage, 10 or more deaths, an estimated magnitude of 7.5 or greater,

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, and Environmental Sciences Research Institute (ESRI).

DATA SOURCES

.

Profiles of earthquake and volcano

locations are constructed from the

mapped data. Locations of the profile

intersection with the surface are

drawn in the map and labeled to

coincide with the profile label. Length

of the profile graphic is the same as in

the map. Distance in kilometers from

the trench axis is indicated in the X

direction, depth in kilometers is

indicated in the Y direction. There is

no vertical exaggeration. See

Explanation at side for color key. Not

all earth layers, earthquake depths and

magnitude, are visible on every map.

PROFILE X

TRENCH AXIS

DEPTH PROFILE EXPLANATION

–

–

PROFILE A

PROFILE B

PROFILE C

PROFILE D

PROFILE F

PROFILE E

PROFILE G

 -300 -200 -100 0

 -200

 -100

 0

1874

1859 1873

1805

1785

1773

1897

1894

1878

1875

1874

1870

1854

1797

1853

1849

1843

1842

1839

1831

1812

1805

1788

1785

1780

1770

1766

1692

1673

1873

1773

1610

REFERENCES

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

DeMets, C., Gordon, R.G., Argus, D.F., and Stein, S., 1994, Effects of recent revisions to the geomagnetic time scale on estimates of current

.

plate motions: Geophysical Research Letters, v. 21, p. 2191–2194.

DeMets, C., Jansma, P.E., Mattioli, G.S., Dixon, T.H., Farina, F., Bilham, R., Calais, E., Mann, P., 2000, GPS geodetic constraints on

.

Caribbean–North America plate motion: Geophysical Research Letters, v. 27, p. 437–440.

Dixon, T.H., Farina, F., DeMets, C., Jansma, P., Mann, P., and Calais, E., 1998, Relative motion between the Caribbean and North American

.

plates and related boundary zone deformation from a decade of GPS observations: Journal of Geophysical Research, 103(B7), .

p. 15157–15182.

Engdahl, E.R., and Villaseñor, Antonio, 2002, Global seismicity 1900–1999, in Lee, W.H.K., Jennings, P., Kisslinger, C., and Kanamori, H., eds, .

International Handbook of Earthquake and Engineering Seismology, v. 81(A), chap. 41, p. 1–26.

GEBCO, 2008, The GEBCO_08_Grid, ver. 20091120, http://www.gebco.net/, last accessed January 8, 2010.

Giardini, D., Grünthal, 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.

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

.

Seismological Society of America, v. 72, no. 4, p. 1241–1253.

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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. 17–57.

Siebert, L., and Simkin, T., 2002, Volcanoes of the world: An illustrated catalog of Holocene volcanoes and their eruptions: Smithsonian

.

Institution, Global Volcanism Program Digital Information series, GVP-3, http://www.volcano.si.edu/world/, last accessed January 9, 2007.

Tarr, A.C., Villaseñor, Antonio, Benz, H.M., and Furlong, K.P., 2010, Seismicity of the earth 1900–2007: U.S. Geological Survey Scientific

.

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Weber, J.C., Dixon, T.H., DeMets, C., Ambeh, W.B., Jansma, P., Mattioli, G., Saleh, J., Sella, G., Bilham, R., and Pérez, O., 2001, GPS estimate

.

of relative motion between the Caribbean and South American plates, and geologic implications for Trinidad and Venezuela: Geology, v. 29, .

no. 1, p. 75–78.