Faulting and strain partitioning in Jamaica from GPS and structural data: Implications for Gonave and Hispaniola microplate kinematics, northern Caribbean

A series of small microplates separate the Caribbean and North America plates in the northern Caribbean. My dissertation focuses on understanding the structural evolution and neotectonic deformation of Jamaica, and how it relates to the overall microplates and tectonics of the northern Caribbean. Jamaica, which lies along the same seismically active plate boundary as Haiti, has had twelve earthquakes with Modified Mercalli intensities of VII to X since 1667. However, remarkably little is known about which faults presently constitute the most significant seismic hazards. This research provides insight into tectonic processes and facilitates mitigation of geological hazards in the region. Two chapters focus on characterizing deformation in Jamaica through modeling GPS velocities and through field mapping. The best-fitting models based on GPS velocities place most strike-slip motion on faults in central Jamaica and suggest that faults in northern Jamaica have minimal motion. I estimate 4--5 mm yr-1 of slip for faults near the capital city of Kingston of southeastern Jamaica, implying significant seismic hazard. Field mapping combined with present-day topography, focal mechanisms, geology, gravity, and well and borehole data indicate that east-west contraction is accommodated by reactivated, NNW-striking reverse faults, which are bound by E-striking strike-slip faults in southern Jamaica. The other two chapters of my thesis focuses on understanding the behavior of the microplates along the Caribbean-North America plate boundary: I model GPS velocities and use shear-wave splitting to understand the crustal and mantle behaviors, respectively of the microplates. The GPS data require an independently moving Hispaniola microplate between the Mona Passage and a likely diffuse boundary just west of or within western Hispaniola. The new microplate angular velocities predict 6.8+/-1.0 mm yr-1 of left-lateral slip and 5.7+/-1 mm yr-1 of convergent motion surrounding the seismically hazardous Enriquillo fault of western Hispaniola, suggesting that one to two M=7 earthquakes are expected for Haiti each century. Using shear-wave splitting analyses, I document fast axis of polarization parallel to the Gonave microplate boundaries along its northern, southern, and eastern boundaries. In the interior of the microplates, weak/no fabric is documented suggesting that the microplate boundaries continue into the upper mantle.