CURRENT KINEMATICS OF THE NORTHEASTERN CARIBBEAN FROM A COMPREHENSIVE GPS SOLUTION

The potential for large earthquakes and tsunamis in the northeastern Caribbean hinges on the rate at which major active faults accumulate elastic strain and on the amount of aseismic creep on these faults. Both can be estimated from GPS measurements, together with additional kinematic information such as earthquake slip vector directions. We present a new, comprehensive, velocity field for the northeastern Caribbean based on openly available continuous GPS data and on published campaign results. We use this information, together with earthquake slip vectors, to derive a regional deformation model, test previously proposed block geometries, and assess the amount of aseismic slip at the interface between the Caribbean and North American plates.