Are earthquakes common in the Caribbean?
Asked by
majorrich (
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)
January 12th, 2010
In light of the 7.0 in Haiti I am wondering if earthquakes are common in the Caribbean. Are there fault lines down there I guess the would be kind of like the Pacific Ring_0_Fire
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6 Answers
They said this is the largest quake ever recorded in the region, so I guess not.
Earthquakes can happen anywhere in the world, but there have been a couple recently in the Caribbean. In 2004 there was one in the Dominica & Guadeloupe region, and 2007 a big one in the same region.
It may not be a very well known fact, but there is a Caribbean Plate (check out this map the plates of the world). I myself had totally forgotten about its existence till I heard about the Haitain Earthquake.
Many of the Caribbean islands are located on the edge of the Caribbean Plate, as @Saturated_Brain indicated. This is actually the reason that the islands are there in the first place. The area is therefore volcanically and tectonically active. Earthquakes are not unexpected. Volcanic eruptions are, I think, a little more common, and the area is not exactly the San Andreas fault, but this certainly should not come as a surprise.
The Seismic Research Unit at the University of the West Indies reports that Trinidad has at least 300 tremors every day.
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