Vertical deformation along the northern Caribbean plate boundary zone: the uplifted marine terraces of northern Haiti.

North of Haiti, oblique convergence occurs between the Caribbean plate and the Bahamas carbonate banks which belong to the North American plate. In this zone, plate motion is accommodated by: (1) the EW-trending North Hispaniola reverse Fault Zone (NHFZ), (2) a NE-trending transpressional domain across Haiti, and (3) two EW-trending sinistral transform faults the Septentrional Oriente Fault Zone (SOFZ) and the Enriquillo-Plantain Garden Fault Zone (EPGFZ)  located north and south of the country, respectively. 

This study focuses on the emerged sequences of marine terraces of Haiti that have been uplifted since the beginning of the Quaternary, with an aim to provide geomorphological insights into deformation caused by oblique convergence since this period. Our research was carried out on terraces located on Tortue Island and in the northern region of Haiti, situated North and South of the SOFZ, respectively. We present topographic measurements, the number of successive strandlines, and the spatial variation of the sequence. 

The results reveal contrasting patterns of deformation of these geomorphological features on either side of the SOFZ with significant spatial and temporal EW-trending uplift gradients associated with long-wavelength tilting and short-wavelength folding. The data suggest a EW-trending spatial and temporal change in the coupling between the North American plate and the Caribbean plate.