Aug 12, 2010 14:59 GMT  ·  By
Map showing the epicenter of the January earthquake that struck Haiti, developed by the USGS
   Map showing the epicenter of the January earthquake that struck Haiti, developed by the USGS

After a devastating tremor struck the impoverished nation of Haiti back in January, geologists who arrived on the scene to analyze the situation stumbled upon an unexpected discovery – a never-before-seen fault line system.

The new findings bear considerable implications for studies seeking to determine the risk of further major seismic activity affecting the area.

Discovering a new series of fault lines means that the pressure developing between tectonic plates in the Caribbean Sea is divided differently than previously thought.

Tremors occur when tectonic plates that slam into each other begin sliding into the planet's mantle – a process called subduction.

As this happens, tremendous friction occurs between the sinking plate and the one that remains afloat on the vast ocean of magma the Earth's crust covers.

When the flow of plates is hindered, tension begins to build up, and eventually accumulates to such extent that it is able to defeat the obstacle holding the plates in place.

When this happens, the tension is brutally released, resulting in an earthquake, tsunami, or volcanic eruption being triggered.

This is precisely what happened in Haiti on January 12, when a magnitude 7.0 earthquake killed more than 230,000 people, causing massive damage to a country already devastated by famine.

It would now appear that the recently-discovered Leogane fault (temporary name) had a role to play in this event, and so geologists are now scrambling to learn what that role was.

Initially, scientists presumed that the well-known Enriquillo fault was responsible for the tremor, but the data collected in the field did not seem to add up, Science News reports.

The new fault line “is part of a whole system of faults that we hadn’t recognized before,” says Purdue University geophysicist Eric Calais.

He says that the feature was not identified before because Haiti has no network of seismometers to conduct studies with. The neighboring Dominican Republic only has a few such instruments. Follow me on Twitter @TudorVieru