Present‐Day Caribbean‐North American Oblique Convergence Through the Ocoa‐Bonao‐La Guacara Fault Zone, Southern Central Hispaniola: A Transition Zone Between Oceanic Subduction and Arc‐Oceanic Plateau Collision

Abstract

The current ENE-directed convergence of ∼20 mm/a between the Caribbean and North American plates in southern Hispaniola (Dominican Republic and Haiti; Figure 1) accommodates partly by northward underthrusting/subduction below the Muertos accretionary prism. To the W, convergence adjusts partially by folding and faulting related to collision between the Beata Ridge, a large bathymetric feature on the Caribbean plate, and the back-arc edge of the Caribbean island-arc (Hernáiz-Huerta,

Active Tectonics, Quaternary Stress Regime Evolution and Seismotectonic Faults in Southern Central Hispaniola: Implications for the Quantitative Seismic Hazard Assessment

“…In the eastern Ocoa Bay, the OBFZ bends the fold and thrust structures of the PB, the SJPFZ and the lower Miocene to Early Pleistocene sedimentary fill of the Azua basin (Figure 2). This fault zone has recently been proposed as the onland transition between oceanic subduction and arc-oceanic plateau collision (Escuder-Viruete et al, 2023).…”

“…Following Bertil et al (2015), the maximum magnitude of rupture for each fault/segment was estimated using the major recorded historical earthquake (Terrier-Sedan & Bertil, 2021), or its geometric parameters (e.g., Wells & Coppersmith, 1994), taking into account its degree of uncertainty. Displacement rates for each seismogenic structure were derived from geological mapping (Escuder-Viruete, 2022;Escuder-Viruete et al, 2023;SYSMIN Project;this work), geodetic GPS measurements (Calais et al, 2002;Manaker et al, 2008), or calculated in the present study through empirical relationships (e.g., Wells & Coppersmith, 1994).…”

“…The presence of the subducting Beata Geochemistry, Geophysics, Geosystems 10.1029/2023GC011003 (Calais et al, 2002;Manaker et al, 2008) and empirical relationships (e.g., Wells & Coppersmith, 1994). b Derived from geological mapping (Bertil et al, 2015;Escuder-Viruete, 2022;Escuder-Viruete et al, 2023;SYSMIN Project, 2010;Terrier-Sedan & Bertil, 2021;this work).…”

“…Since the lower Miocene, the ENE movement of the Caribbean plate gave rise to the oblique collision/accretion of the northern sector of the Caribbean oceanic plateau of transitional crust with the Peralta accretionary prism, resulting in the formation of the SW‐directed Haitian‐Neiba fold‐and‐thrust belt and the San Juan‐Azua basins in the foreland (Figure 1c; Dolan et al., 1991; Escuder‐Viruete et al., 2023; Granja Bruña et al., 2014; Hernáiz‐Huerta & Pérez‐Estaún, 2002; Heubeck & Mann, 1991; Mercier de Lépinay, 1987; Pubellier et al., 2000; Witschard & Dolan, 1990). During the Pliocene and until the present‐day, convergence gave rise to the accretion of the central sector of the Caribbean oceanic plateau of thickened crust, causing in southern Hispaniola the uplift and folding of the Massif de la Serre‐Sierra Bahoruco and the tectonic individualization of the Enriquillo‐Cul de Sac basin.…”

“…The NE‐directed collision and impingement of the thickened crust of the Beata Ridge with the Hispaniola microplate in the Neogene gave rise to a recess of the Muertos accretionary prism and the clockwise rotation of fold and thrust structures of the PB east of the Ocoa Bay (Granja Bruña et al., 2014; Hernaiz Huerta & Pérez‐Estaún, 2002; Mann, McLaughlin, & Cooper, 1991; Mercier de Lépinay, 1987; Ramírez, 1995). Part of the present‐day stress‐field induced by the Beata Ridge collision is accommodated by the Ocoa‐Bonao‐La Guacara Fault Zone (OBFZ) within the Hispaniola microplate (Escuder‐Viruete et al., 2023). This fault zone is an active, NNE to NE‐striking large‐scale fault system that crosses the southern central sector of Hispaniola along more than 250 km (Pérez‐Estaún et al., 2007).…”