For centuries, earthquakes have shaken Haiti, now reeling from a 7.2-magnitude tremor that struck early Saturday. Why are quakes so prevalent on the island nation? The island of Hispaniola, home to both Haiti and the Dominican Republic, straddles four tectonic plates in the Caribbean ocean, Incorporated Research Institutions for Seismology said. Earthquakes occur along the […]
For centuries, earthquakes have shaken Haiti, now reeling from a 7.2-magnitude tremor that struck early Saturday. Why are quakes so prevalent on the island nation? The island of Hispaniola, home to both Haiti and the Dominican Republic, straddles four tectonic plates in the Caribbean ocean, Incorporated Research Institutions for Seismology said. Earthquakes occur along the boundaries of these tectonic plates, which make up the Earth’s crust. These borders are called faults. Haiti lies at the intersection of the Caribbean Plate and the Gonave, Hispaniola and North Hispaniola microplates, the institutions said. And it’s “caught in the crunch” between the Caribbean and North America plates, where sudden releases of energy in the crust as the two plates grind together cause earthquakes. The makeup of the crust near the Bahamas exacerbates the problem – thick limestone reef deposits more than 3 miles deep double the crustal thickness with buoyant materials that make it harder for the North American Plate to subduct, the organization said.
