Late Pleistocene kinematics of the Great Southern Puerto Rico Fault Zone, Puerto Rico

Seismological Research Letters
By: , and 

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Abstract

Several onshore faults in southern Puerto Rico have recently been recognized as Quaternary active. However, the kinematics of these faults, particularly any lateral component, remain largely unconstrained. It is difficult to characterize low strain‐rate faults, partially due to extensive erosional and anthropogenic landscape modification, steep relief, and frequent landsliding, limiting the preservation of geomorphic features that could serve as recorders of fault motion. Here, we constrain the kinematics along sections of the Great Southern Puerto Rico Fault Zone (GSPRFZ) on the southern coastal plain of Puerto Rico. We integrate ∼1‐m‐resolution light detection and ranging (lidar)‐derived topography, historical air photos, and field mapping to identify a series of ∼50–1200‐m‐long fault scarps and lineaments that trend northwest–southeast and extend for ≥25 km across the southern coastal plain. Fault scarps are primarily south facing, cut across topography, and displace Quaternary deposits and landforms. We document multiple offset geomorphic markers, including channel thalwegs and interfluves formed in deposits previously mapped as Quaternary piedmont alluvial plain. We observe both vertical (south‐side‐down) and right‐lateral meter‐scale displacements, which indicate that the GSPRFZ accommodates right‐lateral oblique motion in the late Pleistocene, consistent with northeast motion of the Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands microplate away from the Hispaniola block.

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Publication type Article
Publication Subtype Journal Article
Title Late Pleistocene kinematics of the Great Southern Puerto Rico Fault Zone, Puerto Rico
Series title Seismological Research Letters
DOI 10.1785/0220250116
Edition Online First
Publication Date October 02, 2025
Year Published 2025
Language English
Publisher Seismological Society of America
Contributing office(s) Geologic Hazards Science Center - Landslides / Earthquake Geology
Description 20 p.
Country United States
Other Geospatial Puerto Rico
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