Holocene Activity of the North American-Caribbean Plate Boundary: A Fault Trench Study of the Septentrional Fault Zone, Dominican Republic

了解沿板块边界断层的走滑运动速率对晚新生代构造和减少地震危险的努力是重要的。该项目涉及多米尼加共和国的七层断裂带，该断裂带是北美-加勒比板块边界的活跃的岸上延伸。结合放射性碳测年，重点研究了三个第四纪断裂带的断沟作用。这些数据有望确定断层沿线过去地震的年代，并直接确定地质滑动率。这些结果可用于测试相互冲突的板块运动模型，并可整合到正在进行的沿板块边界的海洋地球物理调查和GPS实验中。

Knowledge of the rates of strike-slip motion along plate boundary faults is important to late Cenozoic tectonism and to earthquake hazard reduction efforts. This project addresses the Septentrional fault zone in the Dominican Republic which is the active, on shore extension of the North American- Caribbean plate boundary. The work will focus on fault trenching at three Quaternary fault scarps combined with radiocarbon age dating. These data are expected to date the ages of past earthquakes along the fault and directly determine geologic slip rates. These results can be used to test conflicting plate motion models and can be integrated into ongoing marine geophysical survey and GPS experiments along the plate boundary.