Assessing earthquake potential and fault activity from a newly estimated high-resolution geodetic velocity field in Hispaniola
Abstract
The transpressive plate boundary between the Caribbean and North American plates in Hispaniola is a complex system of strike-slip faults, subduction zones, fold-and-thrust belts, and normal faulting. Tectonic deformation studies in this region have traditionally relied on sparse Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) networks. Here we present a new assessment of deformation in Hispaniola using a dense 3D velocity field generated by integrating existing GNSS observations with new Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar (InSAR) velocities. Our InSAR processing approach utilizes phase linking, statistically-based multi-looking, and wrapped phase time-series estimation to mitigate noise, and a spatial covariance model of the troposphere to reduce its effect on the time-series estimation. We use the resulting high-resolution velocity field to calculate strain rates and model crustal faulting in Hispaniola. Strain rate tensors show a transpressional tectonic regime consistent with expectations from the regional tectonics. Modeling results indicate that the Septentrional-Oriente Fault zone is nearly fully locked with moment accumulation consistent with a Mw 7.9 earthquake every 300 years, while the Enriquillo-Plantain Garden Fault is almost fully creeping at the western end of the fault and has a much lower moment accumulation rate.
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BibTeX
@article{lee2026assessing,
title = {{Assessing earthquake potential and fault activity from a newly estimated high-resolution geodetic velocity field in Hispaniola}},
author = {Yi-Chieh Lee and Rishabh Dutta and Jeremy Maurer},
journal = {Scientific Reports},
year = {2026},
month = oct,
doi = {10.1038/s41598-026-73301-4},
url = {https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-026-73301-4},
note = {CC BY 4.0},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - Assessing earthquake potential and fault activity from a newly estimated high-resolution geodetic velocity field in Hispaniola
AU - Yi-Chieh Lee
AU - Rishabh Dutta
AU - Jeremy Maurer
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/10/07
JO - Scientific Reports
DO - 10.1038/s41598-026-73301-4
UR - https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-026-73301-4
AB - The transpressive plate boundary between the Caribbean and North American plates in Hispaniola is a complex system of strike-slip faults, subduction zones, fold-and-thrust belts, and normal faulting. Tectonic deformation studies in this region have traditionally relied on sparse Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) networks. Here we present a new assessment of deformation in Hispaniola using a dense 3D velocity field generated by integrating existing GNSS observations with new Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar (InSAR) velocities. Our InSAR processing approach utilizes phase linking, statistically-based multi-looking, and wrapped phase time-series estimation to mitigate noise, and a spatial covariance model of the troposphere to reduce its effect on the time-series estimation. We use the resulting high-resolution velocity field to calculate strain rates and model crustal faulting in Hispaniola. Strain rate tensors show a transpressional tectonic regime consistent with expectations from the regional tectonics. Modeling results indicate that the Septentrional-Oriente Fault zone is nearly fully locked with moment accumulation consistent with a Mw 7.9 earthquake every 300 years, while the Enriquillo-Plantain Garden Fault is almost fully creeping at the western end of the fault and has a much lower moment accumulation rate.
SN - 2045-2322
ER -