A. Bathymetric map of the study area showing the relevant transform faults and their orientations. The focal mechanism (beachball diagram) for the magnitude-7.7 earthquake is in red and focal mechanisms for other earthquakes greater than magnitude-6 are shown in grey. B. Seismic waveforms at stations SACV and DBIC. The locations of these station are shown as red triangles on the inset world map. The areas shaded grey and red are, respectively, highlighting regions of similarity and difference in the waveform shapes. Credit: Tadapansawut et al., 2021
Bends in Caribbean transform fault requires rethinking simple models
By Alka Tripathy-Lang and Wendy Bohon
September 29, 2021
On January 28th, 2020, beneath pristine Caribbean waters, a magnitude-7.7 strike-slip earthquake ruptured the Oriente fault that separates Jamaica and Cuba. This transform fault splits spreading centers—where new oceanic plate forms—from one another. Scientists typically frame these near-vertical crustal-scale gashes as simple planar features.