GEOMARHIS experiment: Multi-scale geophysical study of oblique tectonics, strain partitioning and associated geological hazards in the northern Hispaniola offshore margin

The Northen Hispaniola margin poses major earthquake and tsunami hazards for the Caribbean. The coexistence of the compressive North Hispaniola Deformed Belt that accommodates the normal shortening component between the Caribbean and the North American plates, and the strike-slip Septentrional Fault Zone that accommodates the along-strike component represents a “textbook example” for the study of oblique tectonics and strain partitioning. In the end of 2025, we will conduct the GEOMARHIS experiment, a controlled-seismic source survey between Puerto Rico and Haiti. GEOMARHIS consists of the acquisition of multi-scale (regional-to-local) seismic reflection profiles: (1) medium resolution multichannel data along- and across-strike of plate boundary; (2) high-resolution multichannel data to characterize the Septentrional Fault Zone in the Samana and Manzanillo bays; (3) continuous ultra-high-resolution data. In addition, we will acquire systematic swath bathymetry-backscatter, gravity and magnetics. Here, we will inform about detailed objectives, datasets and expected results, which we hope to provide new critical constraints to the seismic and tsunami hazard for Dominican Republic and Haiti.