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The 2021 Mw 7.2 Haiti Earthquake: Rupture of a Blind Thrust Fault Revealed by Space Geodetic Observations
  • Hidayat Panuntun
Hidayat Panuntun
Geomatics Laboratory, Department of Earth Technology, Vocational College, Universitas Gadjah Mada

Corresponding Author:[email protected]

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Abstract

On 14 August 2021, a large earthquake struck the southern region of Haiti. The epicenter of this earthquake is located relatively close to the Enriquillo–Plantain Garden Fault (EPGF) zone, a major active fault with a strike-slip mechanism in the southern part of Hispaniola. The Sentinel-1 data is utilized to investigate the seismogenic fault responsible for the 2021 Haiti earthquake. The Bayesian inversion and the aftershock distribution indicated that the mainshock ruptured a north-dipping fault, buried at a depth of ~10.4 km from the earth’s surface. The preferred slip model showed that the rupture did not reach the surface and was confined at a depth of ~8 km to ~33 km. These characteristics are inconsistent with those of the EPGF, indicating that the EPGF is probably not the seismogenic fault responsible for the 2021 Haiti earthquake. Instead, results showed that the 2021 Haiti earthquake ruptured an unmapped blind fault.