Solution notches, earthquakes, and sea level, Haiti

Shortly after the 12 January 2010 Haiti earthquake, we installed an array of five tide gauges to determine sea level and its variability in the region of uplifted corals on the coast SW of Leogane, Haiti, that had been uplift ≤30 cm during the earthquake. Each gauge consists of a pressure transducer bolted 50-80 cm below mean sea level, which samples the difference between atmospheric pressure and sea pressure every 10 minutes. The data are transmitted via the Iridium satellite and are publically available with a latency of 10 minutes to 2 hours. The measurements reveal a maximum tidal range of ≈50 cm with 2-4 week oscillations in mean sea level of several cm. Sea slope, revealed by differences between adjacent gauges, varies 2-5 cm per 10 km at periods of 2-5 weeks, which imposes a disappointing limit to the utility of the gauges in estimating post seismic vertical motions. A parallel study of the form and elevation of coastal notches and mushroom rocks (rocks notched on all sides, hence forming a mushroom shape), along the coast west of Petit Goave suggests that these notches may provide an uplift history of the region over the past several hundreds of years. Notch sections in two areas were contoured, digitized, and compared to mean sea level. The notches mimic the histogram of sea level, suggesting that they are formed by dissolution by acidic surface waters. Notches formed two distinct levels, one approximately 58 cm above mean sea level, and the other approximately 157 cm above mean sea level. Several landslide blocks fell into the sea during the 2010 earthquake, and we anticipate these are destined for conversion to future mushroom rocks. Surfaces have been prepared on these blocks to study the rate of notch formation in situ, and samples are being subjected to acid corrosion in laboratory conditions, with the hope that the depth of notches may provide an estimate of the time of fall of previous rocks to help constrain the earthquake history of this area. A provisional interpretation is that this segment of the Haiti coastline was subjected to Intensity VIII shaking and rose 58 cm in the January 2010 earthquake. A previous earthquake presumably caused uplift of ≈1 m at this location, but we cannot constrain its date at present.