Assessing Earthquake potential and Fault Activity from a Dense 3D Geodetic Velocity field in Hispaniola

Assessing Earthquake potential and Fault Activity from a Dense 3D Geodetic Velocity field in Hispaniola | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Article Assessing Earthquake potential and Fault Activity from a Dense 3D Geodetic Velocity field in Hispaniola Yi-Chieh Lee, Rishabh Dutta, Jeremy Maurer This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-9372729/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Under Review Version 1 posted 8 You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract The transpressive plate boundary between the Caribbean and North American plates in Hispaniola is a complex system of strike-slip faults, subduction zones, fold-and-thrust belts, and normal faulting. Tectonic deformation studies in this region have traditionally relied on sparse Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) networks. Here we present a new assessment of deformation in Hispaniola using a dense 3D velocity field generated by integrating existing GNSS observations with new Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar (InSAR) velocities. Our InSAR processing approach utilizes phase linking, statistically-based multi-looking, and wrapped phase time-series estimation to mitigate noise, and a spatial covariance model of the troposphere to reduce its effect on the time-series estimation. We use the resulting high-resolution velocity field to calculate strain rates and model crustal faulting in Hispaniola. Strain rate tensors show a transpressional tectonic regime consistent with expectations from the regional tectonics. Modeling results indicate that the Septentrional-Oriente Fault zone is nearly fully locked with moment accumulation consistent with a Mw 7.9 earthquake every 300 years, while the Enriquillo-Plantain Garden Fault is almost fully creeping at the western end of the fault and has a much lower moment accumulation rate. Earth and environmental sciences/Natural hazards Earth and environmental sciences/Solid earth sciences Full Text Additional Declarations No competing interests reported. Supplementary Files SuppYCLScientificReports.pdf Cite Share Download PDF Status: Under Review Version 1 posted Reviews received at journal 03 May, 2026 Reviewers agreed at journal 27 Apr, 2026 Reviewers agreed at journal 14 Apr, 2026 Reviewers invited by journal 14 Apr, 2026 Editor invited by journal 14 Apr, 2026 Editor assigned by journal 11 Apr, 2026 Submission checks completed at journal 11 Apr, 2026 First submitted to journal 09 Apr, 2026 You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. We do this by developing innovative software and high quality services for the global research community. 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Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-9372729","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":626085809,"identity":"2b099906-0cd1-4da7-9785-f2f2505e77ec","order_by":0,"name":"Yi-Chieh Lee","email":"data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAZAAAAAyAQMAAABI0h/eAAAABlBMVEX///8AAABVwtN+AAAACXBIWXMAAA7EAAAOxAGVKw4bAAAArklEQVRIiWNgGAWjYDACdvYDDAwVELYEcVqYeRIYGM4wMPCQoIXBgIGxjRQtBocZUjf+nLfN3p6B+eBtHuK0MB67IbntdmIPA1uyNZFaGNJuGG67ncDDwGMmTawWsxuJc27b8zDwfyNBy8GG24w9DDxsxGmRPMyTdrPhGNAvh9mMLecQo4XvePuxmz9qbtuztzc/vPGGGC0KB2AsZmKUg4B8A7EqR8EoGAWjYOQCAJlPMLYAwy6PAAAAAElFTkSuQmCC","orcid":"","institution":"Missouri University of Science and Technology","correspondingAuthor":true,"prefix":"","firstName":"Yi-Chieh","middleName":"","lastName":"Lee","suffix":""},{"id":626085810,"identity":"855ba760-33ef-4d20-8ba3-eb98d60ed74c","order_by":1,"name":"Rishabh Dutta","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"The University of Texas at Dallas","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Rishabh","middleName":"","lastName":"Dutta","suffix":""},{"id":626085811,"identity":"481b667e-c636-4a4f-8311-3f39aa23fc91","order_by":2,"name":"Jeremy Maurer","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Missouri University of Science and Technology","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Jeremy","middleName":"","lastName":"Maurer","suffix":""}],"badges":[],"createdAt":"2026-04-09 22:38:14","currentVersionCode":1,"declarations":"","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-9372729/v1","doiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-9372729/v1","draftVersion":[],"editorialEvents":[],"editorialNote":"","failedWorkflow":false,"files":[{"id":107705664,"identity":"cae251b0-4d17-4cdd-8215-e85b6beb7e2a","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2026-04-24 09:14:16","extension":"pdf","order_by":1,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"manuscript-pdf","size":5378282,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"","description":"","filename":"PaperYCLScientificReports.pdf","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-9372729/v1_covered_012c0f7f-f3a8-4c38-a203-80b3b4b72262.pdf"},{"id":107585152,"identity":"7bb9bf97-65ee-4fcc-9a97-d6f169ac9fb2","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2026-04-23 01:25:19","extension":"pdf","order_by":0,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"supplement","size":801336,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"","description":"","filename":"SuppYCLScientificReports.pdf","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-9372729/v1/00549f9ceb88d8b275795e65.pdf"}],"financialInterests":"No competing interests reported.","formattedTitle":"Assessing Earthquake potential and Fault Activity from a Dense 3D Geodetic Velocity field in Hispaniola","fulltext":[],"fulltextSource":"","fullText":"","funders":[],"hasAdminPriorityOnWorkflow":false,"hasManuscriptDocX":false,"hasOptedInToPreprint":true,"hasPassedJournalQc":"","hasAnyPriority":false,"hideJournal":false,"highlight":"","institution":"","isAcceptedByJournal":false,"isAuthorSuppliedPdf":true,"isDeskRejected":"","isHiddenFromSearch":false,"isInQc":false,"isInWorkflow":false,"isPdf":true,"isPdfUpToDate":true,"isWithdrawnOrRetracted":false,"journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"scientific-reports","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"externalIdentity":"scirep","sideBox":"Learn more about [Scientific Reports](http://www.nature.com/srep/)","snPcode":"","submissionUrl":"","title":"Scientific Reports","twitterHandle":"","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":true,"editorialSystem":"stoa","reportingPortfolio":"Scientific Reports","inReviewEnabled":true,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":true},"keywords":"","lastPublishedDoi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-9372729/v1","lastPublishedDoiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-9372729/v1","license":{"name":"CC BY 4.0","url":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"},"manuscriptAbstract":"The transpressive plate boundary between the Caribbean and North American plates in Hispaniola is a complex system of strike-slip faults, subduction zones, fold-and-thrust belts, and normal faulting. Tectonic deformation studies in this region have traditionally relied on sparse Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) networks. Here we present a new assessment of deformation in Hispaniola using a dense 3D velocity field generated by integrating existing GNSS observations with new Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar (InSAR) velocities. Our InSAR processing approach utilizes phase linking, statistically-based multi-looking, and wrapped phase time-series estimation to mitigate noise, and a spatial covariance model of the troposphere to reduce its effect on the time-series estimation. We use the resulting high-resolution velocity field to calculate strain rates and model crustal faulting in Hispaniola. Strain rate tensors show a transpressional tectonic regime consistent with expectations from the regional tectonics. 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