loading page

Late Quaternary Fault-Related Folding, Uplifted Paleoshoreline, and Liquefaction Structures: Clues About Transpressional Activity Along the North America - Caribbean Plate Boundary From a Comprehensive Seismic Reflection Survey of Lake Azuei, Haiti
  • +11
  • Marie-Helene Cormier,
  • Heather Sloan,
  • John W. King,
  • Dominique Boisson,
  • Kelly Guerrier,
  • Casey K. Hearn,
  • Clifford W. Heil,
  • Roger P. Kelly,
  • Roberte Momplaisir,
  • Allyson N. Murray,
  • Christopher C. Sorlien,
  • Steeve Symithe,
  • Sophia M.J. Ulysse,
  • Nigel J. Wattrus
Marie-Helene Cormier
University of Rhode Island

Corresponding Author:[email protected]

Author Profile
Heather Sloan
Lehman College, City University of New York
Author Profile
John W. King
University of Rhode Island
Author Profile
Dominique Boisson
Universite d'Etat d'Haiti
Author Profile
Kelly Guerrier
Universite d'Etat d'Haiti
Author Profile
Casey K. Hearn
University of Rhode Island
Author Profile
Clifford W. Heil
University of Rhode Island
Author Profile
Roger P. Kelly
University of Rhode Island
Author Profile
Roberte Momplaisir
Universite d'Etat d'Haiti
Author Profile
Allyson N. Murray
Stockton University
Author Profile
Christopher C. Sorlien
University of California - Santa Barbara
Author Profile
Steeve Symithe
Universite d'Etat d'Haiti
Author Profile
Sophia M.J. Ulysse
Universite d'Etat d'Haiti
Author Profile
Nigel J. Wattrus
University of Minnesota - Duluth
Author Profile

Abstract

The Enriquillo-Plantain Garden Fault (EPGF), one of two left-lateral transforms that define the Caribbean-North American plate boundary in Haiti, plunges beneath Lake Azuei in the eastern part of the country. In 2017, we acquired 220 km of sub-bottom and multichannel seismic reflection profiles (CHIRP and MCS) in a 1.2 km grid pattern across the lake. The two seismic methods achieved subbottom penetration of up to 15 m and 200 m, respectively. CHIRP and MCS data reveal folded turbidites across the expected extension of the EPGF fault zone at the south end of the lake, although direct evidence for faulting is lacking. Along the west side of the lake, however, MCS data image a broad NW-SE monoclinal fold whose geometry is compatible with an underlying SW-dipping blind thrust fault. CHIRP profiles image patches of soft- sediment deformations above the monoclinal fold; they also image a distinctive 11 m-deep paleoshoreline all around the lake that is uplifted by 1-2 m above that fold. These results are compatible with a scenario where some large slip event(s) on the presumed blind thrust occurred after formation of the paleoshoreline, locally uplifting the lakebed and causing liquefaction. Two short sediment cores sampled a layer correlatable to a reflection in the CHIRP profiles. That reflection extends laterally below the 11m shoreline, and thus predates its formation. On-going 14C dating of material from the two cores are expected to provide a maximum age for the shoreline, and thus for some hypothetical slip event(s) on the presumed blind thrust fault. The prominent character of the paleoshoreline suggests that it was stable, something best achieved if the lake level was controlled by the sill depth of an outlet. Presently, no such outlet exists and the lake level fluctuates. Pending results from radiometric dating, we propose that, earlier in the Holocene, the lake overflowed eastward into adjacent Lake Enriquillo along the narrow valley marking the extension of the EPGF fault zone - a valley that is presently blocked by an alluvial fan. Regardless of the relevance of that model, the uplifted shoreline implies a significant uplift rate on a structure extending up to 10 km north of the EPGF fault zone and striking oblique to it, confirming that transpressional tectonics is partitioned over an area at least as broad as Lake Azuei.